Basingstoke Buffalo 04/10/08

Lee Valley Lions -v- Basingstoke Buffalo 04/10/08

Lose 2-4 (Home)

Lee Valley Lions

Basingstoke Buffalo

07
08
09
11
12
16
17
19
22
26
32
37
44
49
Ashlee Cave
Joe Berry
Nick Alley (C)
Freddie Trimble
Ashley Curtin
Chris Wilson
Stas Prokofiev
Romanas Fedotovas
James Hatfull (A)
Michael Jacobs
James Scott-Joseph
George Alley (G)
Nick Breigoos
Andrew Boot (G)
01
05
06
07
08
09
14
15
16
17
18
19
24
Craig Agass (G)
Mark Pitts
Jack McCaughan
Mark Stratford (A)
Michael Leary (A)
Daniel Lackey
Adrian Haigh
Richard Woolhouse
Matt Thornhill
Lee Hardy
Simon Beere (C)
Scott Padwick
Ryan Cathcart

 

Goals

Penalties

Lions
Buffalo
Lions
Buffalo
Period 1:
1
3
2
6
Period 2:
0
0
0
14
Period 3:
1
1
2
4
MATCH TOTALS:
2
4
4
24

 

Shots on Goal
Lee Valley Lions(shots on Alley)
Basingstoke Buffalo(shots on Agass)
Period 1:
14
13
Period 2:
3
8
Period 3:
7
14
MATCH TOTALS:
24
35

 

Lee Valley Lions

Basingstoke Buffalo

Highest Scorer in Match:
Joe Berry (0+2)
Simon Beere (2+1)/Scott Padwick (1+2)
Man of the Match Winner:
Romanas Fedotovas
Craig Agass

Additional Comments:

Lee Valley’s woes continued as they were beaten at home by the Basingstoke Buffalo in a game that epitomised their season to date. Making another poor start with the first period being full of mistakes, notably the lack of marking of their forwards in their defensive zone, the Lions went on to play significantly better in the second and third but were just not able to find the finishing touches to catch the herd from down the M3.

Missing an import defenceman, the Lions had to use Nick Alley, one of their highest-scoring forwards, to bolster the blue line, and although he did a good job, this put more pressure on the forwards who were weakened by the continuing absence of captain Michael Ranby with a hand injury.

It seems that the Lions have trouble regularly getting off to a good start and this game was no exception, with the opening goal against them scored in under ninety seconds. A scramble around the goal mouth enabled the puck to dribble under netminder George Alley. They were fortunate not to give up a second moments later when the Buffalo had an open net begging for a puck, but the Basingstoke player fanned on his backhand shot. At the other end, Craig Agass in the Basingstoke goal made his first save of a stand-out afternoon from Nick Breigoos, who made a very good impression on his first game for the Lions in a few weeks.

The Basingstoke second goal was very well taken by their captain, Simon Beere, as he pounced on a rebound from a save made by Alley, but he was on his own in the slot with no white shirts near him, a sight that was all too familiar in the first session. Lee Valley nearly pulled one back when a Freddie Trimble shot cannoned off the post and a second chance was foiled by Agass, who made excellent pad saves down low in the corner of his net from Stas Prokofiev and Joe Berry.

Basingstoke scored again before the home crowd finally thought that their luck had changed when Brigoos fired home from the blue line but the goal was disallowed due to a team mate being in the goalie’s crease. Minutes later Nick Alley went coast-to-coast but his shot found the pads of a goalie who seemed to fill the net. The Lions had another goal disallowed as the first session drew to a close as the puck found the net after the whistle had been blown for another player in the crease.

The home team upped their game in the final two periods but they were still leaving the Buffalo forwards way too much room. At the other end no-one was crashing the net looking for any rebound opportunities, so the visiting defence were finding it relatively easy to clear their zone. The second period ended scoreless, both goalies having made some excellent saves.

In the final session the teams traded one goal, the Buffalo captain got his second and Stas Prokofiev got one back for the Lions. Freddie Trimble had a good chance but his breakaway effort was again stopped by the Basingstoke Man of the Match netminder. Lee Valley pulled their goalie with 1.27 left to try to get the elusive goals, but to no avail, and with a face-off in their zone the Lions had to send him back out. As he tried to get off again Basingstoke found the net, but the puck was deemed to have crossed the line after the buzzer sounded and the game finished 4–2 to the visitors.

The Lions effectively lost the game in the first period and as the bench sizes were equal the loss cannot really be blamed on their injury crisis, although this is something that still needs addressing urgently as future opponents will have significantly larger squads.

Referees were Tottman & Solovjovs.

Thanks to Tony Boot for writing this match report.