Lee Valley Lions

We now can announce that we will play Wightlink Buccaneers in a mixed seniors/juniors match this Sunday at Lee Valley Ice Centre.

The Buccaneers are the Isle of Wight’s sole surviving team after their rink was controversially closed late last year, and are coached by former Lions’ Captain Blair Dubyk.

Both sides won’t meet competitively this season so the game is an opportunity to give the Buccaneers some much needed ice time inbetween games, and the Lions a chance to blood some youngsters in the line-up.

The Lions will feature a majority of players from the current side, as well as some players from our Under 18’s & 20’s teams, with the visitors also featuring some junior players.

Face off is at 5:30 this Sunday and entrance to the game is free.

Lions return to league competition this Saturday when Chelmsford Warriors visit East London

#LeeValleyLions

After a long holiday break, Lee Valley were looking to start 2017 with a win as they travelled to Oxford to take on Bristol Pitbulls in their penultimate NIHL 2 Cup group game. Though the Lions were already elimnated from competition, Bristol needed the win to keep themselves in contention to make the finals weekend in April.

Missing from the Lions lineup were Jay Hepburn, Chris Fox, Joe Weare, Simon Geldart & James Gosling.

1st Period: The Pitbulls started the stronger, taking advantage of some stray passes out of the Lions zone and despite some big saves from James Andrew, they capitalised early when Thomas Asprey (08:53, assists Hargreaves, Mcfarlane) found himself open to give them the lead. Lee Valley started began to grow into the game and the line of Nick Alley, Lee Hounslow & Ross Sin-Hidge had several chances but Ross Miller held strong in the Pitbulls’ goal. The game was going back and forth, with the Lions creating the majority of the chances however, it was Bristol who doubled their lead late in the period when another loose pass found Zachary Dolphin (19:20, unassisted). The period ending 2-0 to the home side.

2nd Period: Bristol again started strongest, but couldn’t break through despite some clear cut chances. The pressure led to the Lions calling a time out half way through the period, and soon after Daniel Murrells was called for Charging. The resulting Power-Play proved fruitful, when Oskar Horter (PP goal 36:03, assist Sin-Hidge) found the goal through a screen from the blue line. Despite the goal, they couldn’t maintain the pressure and score remained 2-1 going into the final stanza.

3rd period: Lions never got going in this period and Bristol were 3-1 up early on through Olly Shone (42:41, assist Josh Dolphin), and a few minutes later the same pairing had tripled the hosts’ lead when Shone (47:05, assist Josh Dolphin) pounced on a face off to score. 45 seconds later the favour was returned, Josh Dolphin (47:50 assists Olly Shone, Smith) adding Bristol’s fifth. The had lost it’s spark at this point and though Lee Valley got a few chances to reduce score, it was the Pitbulls who had the final say as Zach Dolphin (54:33, unassisted) broke away to end the game 6-1 to Bristol.

GAME STATS

Final Score: Bristol Pitbulls 6-1 Lee Valley Lions

Period Scores: 2-0/0-1/4-0
Shots on Goal: Bristol 44-28 Lee Valley (7-13/17-7/20-8)
Penalties: Bristol 6-8 Lee Valley
Scorers: Lee Valley – Oskar Horter (1+0), Ross Sin-Hidge (0+1)
Bristol: Olly Shone (2+1), Josh Dolphin (1+2), Zach Dolphin (2+0), Thomas Asprey (1+0), Richard Hargreaves, Ryan Mcfarlane & Adrian Smith (0+1).
Goaltenders: Lee Valley – James Andrew 44 shots/6 goals, 86.36%
Bristol – Ross Miller 28 shots/1 goal, 36.43%

The Lions return to league action next week when they host Chelmsford Warriors at Lee Valley Ice Centre on Saturday 21st.

Face off is at 5:30pm

Ticket and travel information can be found in the Game Day section of our website.

You can follow the Lions on Facebook & Twitter with #LeeValleyLions for up to date news and live scores.

The Lee Valley Lions are delighted to announce the signing of Lee Hounslow for the rest of the season.

Lee arrives at Lea Bridge after spells with Haringey & Chelmsford Warriors where he has accumulated 68 points from 66 games in all competitions but most recently has been playing with Chelmsford Nighthawks and Southern Snipers in the UK’s inline hockey leagues.

“Lee has shown great enthusiasm since he started training with us and it’s great that we can add a player that I think will get the best out his team mates. He’s extremely fit and gives us more depth in scoring, which is an area I think we haven’t quite hit expectations yet”

“Adding competition for places is important as we will have a game almost every weekend until the season finishes, come new year.”

Lee made his debut last night at Invicta where he picked up an assist.

You can view Lee’s Ice Hockey stats in the link below.

Lee Hounslow Stats

After two weeks off following the Cup loss to Peterborough. Lee Valley were looking to end the calendar year with a win against an Invicta side, who hadn’t played the sides last played each other in October.

Making his debut for the Lions was former Chelmsford and Haringey forward Lee Hounslow, who made it to Gillingham after his registration was confirmed at the 11th hour.

Missing were Oskar Horter, Joe Weare &  Jordan Turner.

1st Period: Lions made a shakey start and withstood a lot of early pressure from the Mustangs. The game took a controversial turn when James Hepburn was given a game misconduct for Boarding in the 10th minute, which resulted in the Lions battling a 5 minute powerplay. A strong effort saw the Lions kill the penalty but after going back to 5-on-5 they remained under pressure but James Andrew was a stand out performer, including a superb diving save to stop a certain open net goal. Andrew’s heroics were enough to see the Lions through the end of the period with honours even at 0-0.

2nd Period: Lee Valley started the second stanza much more settled hockey. They created more opportunities and Matthew Passmore was the busier of the goalies in this period. Roughing penalties were given to Invicta’s Greg Hales, Thomas Mallet, Lee Valley’s Nick Alley & Chris Fox, but shortly after became a Powerplay opportunity for the Lions when Danny Terry was called for Delay of Game. The play remained even but when Mustangs’ Jake Stedman was given 2+10 for Checking from Behind, Lee Valley begun to gain control of the match and thought they’d taken the lead but referee Ian Hayden waved it off. With the clock ticking down, Lions won a face off in the Mustangs’ zone and Simon Jones (39:33, assist Hounslow) found the net through a screen created by Matt Hepburn & Simon Geldart, seeing the period end 1-0 to Lee Valley.

3rd Period: It didn’t take long for Lee Valley to pick up where’d they’d left off and a quick chip out of the zone allowed Chris Fox to rush up the ice, fire a shot and Ben Duffy (41:15, assist Fox) poke in the rebound. From there though the game turned in Invicta’s favour. Lee Valley failed to clear the puck several times and after an attempt to skate out of their zone was turned over, Jake Luton (43:22, unassisted) halved the lead, before another turnover allowed Danny Terry (48:54, unassisted) to tie the game, despite a timeout being called in between the two goals. Lee Valley remained under the kosh and more poor play saw Invicta take the lead through Jake Luton (52:55, assist Dennis). This forced a response from the Lions but they weren’t picking up the rebounds coming from Passmore, and despite pulling Andrew for the extra man, they weren’t able to steal a draw like they had last season. The game finishing 3-2 to Invicta.

GAME STATS

Final Score: Invicta Mustangs 3-2 Lee Valley Lions (0-0/0-1/3-1)

Shots on Goal: Invicta 43-44 Lee Valley (17-13/13-12/13-19)
Penalties: Invicta 24-37 Lee Valley
Scorers: Lee Valley – Ben Duffy & Simon Jones (1+0), Chris Fox & Lee Hounslow (0+1)
Invicta – Jake Luton (2+0), Danny Terry (1+0), Thomas Dennis (0+1)
Goaltenders: Lee Valley – James Andrew 43 shots/3 goals, 93.02%
Invicta- Matthew Passmore 44 shots/2 goals, 95.45%

Man of the Match: Lee Hounslow

The Lions now have a month’s break over the festive period before returning to action on Saturday 14/01/2017 vs Bristol Pitbulls in Oxford.

Our next home game is on Saturday 21/01/2016 vs Chelmsford Warriors.

The Lions would like to wish our supporters & everyone involved with the club a Merry Christmas and Happy new year.

#LeeValleyLions

After a weekend off following their game against Haringey. The Lions welcomed cup group leaders Peterborough to East London for the first time this season.

Lions were missing Ben Gillingham, Jordan Turner, Joe Weare & James Gosling.

Peterborough featured the returning James Pentecost, who had just left the Lions’ co-tenants London Raiders.

1st Period: The Lions started strongly, forcing several turnovers early on. After James Andrew had made a save, the puck found its way to James Hepburn (3:28, assists Duffy, Andrew) who blasted a slap shot from long range, that somehow trickled through Dan Lane’s legs. Shortly after James Joseph was calling for Hooking and the Islanders began to gain momentum, creating several near chances on Andrew’s net but the Peterborough native held firm. After a sustaining their pressure Conor Pollard (11:44, assist Pentecost) was left unmarked to score, but Lee Valley returned fire soon after as James Hepburn (14:51, assists Geldart, Matt Hepburn) slotted home after good work from his line mates.  Ten seconds later though, and the goal-scorer was in the box for Kneeing, but strong work from Nick Alley & Chris Fox (SH goal 15:26, assist Alley) saw the Lions double their lead despite the man advantage. Oskar Horter then received 2 minutes for Interference and Peterbough used the 5-on-3 advantage to score through Robert Mcdonald (PP goal 16:30, unassisted). Islanders maintained possesion but Andrew stood strong to close the period at 3-2 to Lee Valley.

2nd Period: Peterborough tied proceedings quickly when Conor Pollard (22:22, unassisted) broke away after a turnover in the neutral zone. The play went back and forth and the Lions were given a power-play opportunity when Callum Worthington-Evans was called for Tripping. As the powerplay moved the puck along the blue line, a misplaced pass allowed Peterborough to score short-handed through Bradley Moore (SH goal 34:29, assist Groom). Lee Valley returned the pressure but were unable to reply before period ended at 4-3 to the visitors.

3rd Period: The Islanders went two goals ahead early on through Deivid Cetvertak (41:17, assists Pollard, Barlow) and from there they continued to pile pressure on the Lions’ goal. Shaun Yardley (45:21, assists Cetvertak, Pollard) (SH goal 53:39, assist Hunter) twice finding the net before Bradley Moore (PP goal, assist Long) finished the scoring in the last 4 minutes.

GAME STATS

Final Score: Lee Valley Lions 3-8 Peterborough Islanders

Period Scores: 3-2/0-2/0-4
Shots on Goal: 29-60 (7-23/11-13/11-24)
PiMs: Lee Valley 22-10 Peterborough.
Scorers: Lee Valley – James Hepburn (2+0), Chris Fox (1+0), James Andrew, Simon Geldart, Ben Duffy, Matt Hepburn & Nick Alley (0+1)
Peterborough – Conor Pollard (2+2), Shaun Yardley & Bradley Moore (2+0), Deivid Cetvertak (1+1), Robert Mcdonald (1+0), Leon Groom, Sam Barlow, Nathan Long, Connor Hunter & James Pentecost

The result ends Lee Valley’s chances of qualifying for the cup semi-finals but there are still two trips to Swindon and Bristol coming up in January and February.

In our next game the Lions travel to Invicta Mustangs for our last game before the Christmas break on Saturday, December 10th.

Our game at Chelmsford, initially scheduled for January 7th is currently under consideration, we will announce a new date when we are notified by the league.

Our next game is on January 14th when we travel to Bristol in the Cup.
Our next home game is on January 21st against Chelmsford Warriors.

Ticket and travel information can be found in the Game Day section of our website.

You can follow the Lions on Facebook & Twitter with #LeeValleyLions for up to date news and live scores.