Home of the Lee Valley Lions Ice Hockey Team
The Lee Valley Lions are sad to announce the departure of forward Calum Heath.
Calum, joined us from Basingstoke in the 2008/09 season and has scored 52 points (24+28) in 80 games for the club. Regrettably, Calum has asked to be transferred to Slough which is nearer his home in South London.
The club would like to thank Calum for all his effort and commitment and wish him luck in the future.
Fans of the original Lions might be interested to know that import Barry Smith went on to an impressive coaching career and he is currently based at Swedish side, Modo. Mikael Uhlin, who runs a site about the former London Lions, has kindly sent me an article about Barry that featured in a Swedish magazine, together with an English translation. You can find it in the Team History section, here.
Lee Valley were looking continue their good form from the end of 2013 with a win in Essex against a Chelmsford Warriors side, who’d beaten the Lions in the dying moments of their previous encounter early in the season. Missing from the line up were George Alley, Max Gerstein, Gennadi Yufit, Graham Lewis, Phillip Carson, Jarvis Mewett and Bailey Wootton.
First Period: The Lions got off to a slow start and Chelmsford were on the scoreboard early on, when Thomas Wilson (2:45, assist Brown) scored the first goal. The Warriors then doubled their lead thanks to Courtney Grant (9:06, assists Woodford and Staples). This was the boost the visitors needed and Joe Berry (12:39, assists Peach and Ball) reduced the lead, before Nick Alley (18:16, assists Hatfull and Gosling) tied proceedings up just before the end of the period.
Second Period: It was the Lions’ turn to strike early when Theo Abban (22:13, assist Alley) knocked in from his old junior line mate Nick Alley to put the visitors ahead. Just under three minutes later, though, the hosts were back on level terms, Gary Brown (25:05, assist Woodford) with the goal. James Hatfull (33:10, assists Cave and Peach) knocked the Lions ahead to make it 4-3 but Chelmsford responded quickly and made sure the game stayed tied in the third when Sean Easton (35:23 assists Brown and Woodford) scored.
Third Period: Despite being hugely outnumbered, the Lions’ resolve, which has come on hugely in recent games, held up and the fruitful line of James Hepburn, Richard Hodge and Romanas Fedotovas finally got on the scoreboard. Fedotovas (40:28, assists Hepburn and Hodge) put the visitors ahead, and although Thomas Wilson (43:24, unassisted) went in alone to equalise for Chelmsford, Lee Valley pulled away when Richard Hodge (48:18 assists Hepburn and Fedotovas) got the go-ahead goal. A tense final 10 minutes followed but it was the Lions who pulled through, Theo Abban (58:03, assist Hodge) putting the exclamation point on a fine win against the second-placed Warriors.
The win is Lee Valley’s 4th in the last 6 games and sees the Lions move up one place to 7th in NIHL Division 2, only one place behind local rivals Haringey Racers.
Period Scores: Chelmsford 2-2/2-2/1-3 Lee Valley
Shots on Goal: 33 on Long (CMS), 36 on Mallet (LVL)
Penalties in Minutes: Chelmsford 4-4 Lee Valley
Scorers: Lee Valley – Richard Hodge (1+2), Theo Abban (2+0), James Hatfull, Romanas Fedotovas & Nick Alley (1+1), James Hepburn & Adam Peach (0+2), Joe Berry (1+0) Ashlee Cave & Jack Ball (0+1)
Chelmsford – Gary Brown (1+2), Stephen Woodford (0+3), Thomas Wilson (2+0), Sean Easton & Courtney Grant (1+0), Daniel Staples (0+1)
Man of the Match: Richard Hodge
This Saturday sees the visit of bottom side Invicta Mustangs in the teams’ first meeting of the season. Face-off is at 5:30pm.
The Lions were looking to finish what has been a very mixed 2013 on a high but faced a tough journey to Cambridgeshire, to face a Peterborough Islanders side who had already won at Lea Bridge Road this season. The Pride of East London have improved considerably since and were confident ahead of the clash. Missing for the fixture were George Alley, Bailey Wooton and Jarvis Mewett.
First Period: The first period was a close affair with the shot count very even. The Lions weren’t able to beat Simon Price in the home net though, and later into the session it was Steven Maile (15:49, assist Turley) who put the hosts ahead. Lee Valley weren’t able to pull a goal back and ended the period short-handed as Joe Berry sat two minutes late on for Roughing.
Second Period: Lee Valley came quickly out of the blocks and their efforts were rewarded as the Islanders’ discipline began to falter. As Connor Hunter sat a cross-checking penalty, the Lions scored their first of what would be three powerplay goals through James Hepburn (24:22, assists Fedotovas and Hatfull). 59 seconds later, while Dale Jowett was in the box, Joe Berry (25:21, assists Gosling and Yufit) was put through to edge the Lions ahead. The Islanders continued to take penalties, the man advantage showed on the shot count and the pressure eventually told when Berry (33:03, assists Cave and Yufit) doubled the visitors’ lead. Peterborough didn’t give up though, as Maile (33:56, assists Lazenby and Cleves) got his second to end the period 3-2 to the Lions.
Third Period: Tensions ran high in this stanza with both sides taking penalties, but the Islanders were quick to tie the game up as Maile (40:30, assist Perkins) got his hat-trick. It all boiled over when a scramble in front of the net eventually found Gennadi Yufit coming to blows with Dale Jowett with both sitting 2+2 for Roughing. Only a moment later Connor Hunter was penalised for Slashing and soon after Lee Valley were ahead again, Fedotovas (50:16, assist Hepburn) taking advantage of the home side’s lack of discipline again. As the period wore on, the Lions’ fatigue saw Berry and Hepburn sit late penalties and in the dying moments, Peterborough pulled their goalie for the extra man but couldn’t grab a goal despite their 6-on-3 advantage. In the end the Lions prevailed, picking up their fourth win of the season and fourth win in 2013.
Having started the year so despondently, the Lions look to pick up where they left off this year with a win at Chelmsford on January the 5th.
We also hope to announce a new signing in time for the new year, so make sure keep up with us over the festive period on Twitter and Facebook.
The Lions’ Management would like to thank you, the fans, for your support this year and wish all those involved with the club a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Match Stats
Period Scores Peterborough 1-0/1-3/1-1
Shots on Goal: On Price (P’boro) 40, On Mallet (LV) 27
Penalties in Minutes: Peterborough 26 – 16 Lee Valley
Scorers: Lee Valley – Joe Berry (2+0), James Hepburn & Romanas Fedotovas (1+1), Gennadi Yufit (0+2), Ashlee Cave, James Hatfull & James Gosling (0+1).
Peterborough – Steven Maile (3+0), Alex Cleves, Thomas Perkins, Josh Turley & Craig Lazenby (0+1)
Man of the Match: Peterborough – Steven Maile, Lee Valley – Nick Alley
Lee Valley were looking to continue their form from a strong away performance at Swindon two weeks ago. They had previously drawn in Cardiff and there was belief they could improve on that result and move up the league table. Missing were Theo Abban and James Hatfull.
Richard Hodge © Patrick Ayling
First Period: The game started at a furious pace, the Lions making several inroads into the Cardiff zone. First Nick Alley (playing in defence to cover the absent Hatfull) rung a wrist shot off the post; the resulting rebound was almost turned in by a Cardiff defence-man but Ross Miller recovered well to stop an own goal being scored. The very next play, Alley took the puck from his own zone, skinning the Cardiff defence-men before forcing a good save from Miller. As the Lions swarmed, James Hepburn latched onto James Gosling’s pass (5:30) to put the Lions ahead. Lee Valley continued to dominate the period but in the last five minutes, Cardiff began to work their way into the game. In the final minute of the period the Lions failed to clear the zone and as the pressure built up, Owen Griffiths (20:00, assist Raffaelli) tipped a shot on the buzzer to equalise for the visitors – much to the anger of the Lions’ bench as it appeared to go in after the clock had run down.
Second Period: Needing to bounce back early, both sides failed to find any spark and with the ice still soaking from the resurface between periods. Lee Valley found several chances squandered as the puck stopped dead, including a breakaway chance for Gennadi Yufit. Once the pressure eased, Cardiff again found their stride and it was them who took the lead. After a turnover in their own end, the Devils rushed up ice and set up well for Giacomo Raffaelli (34:17, assist Elias) to take advantage of a planned screen on Aaron Mallet and shoot low to score. Few chances were created after that and the period ended 2-1 to Cardiff.
Calum Heath attempts to break through © Patrick Ayling
Third Period: Things failed to get better for the home side, as they couldn’t find the cutting edge needed to break the hard-working Devils. Several chances went begging for the Lions before Griffiths (44:11, unassisted) found himself open in front of net after sloppy Lions’ play to double the visitors’ lead. Cardiff continued to press and with the Lions tiring, Callum Wallace (48:51, assist Newton) latched onto a rebound and managed to roof the puck from a tight angle past a scrambling Mallet, to essentially kill off the game. Wallace’s part in proceedings hadn’t quite finished, though. As he made a late hit on young defenceman Jarvis Mewett, the under 18 took exception and slashed Wallace. This led to a coming together of players on the ice and when Mewett went to let Wallace know what he thought of him, a scrap between himself and Matt Griffiths ensued, both players sitting roughing penalties as a result. Giacomo Raffaelli was thrown from the game for abuse of an official but as a contest the game was done and Cardiff eased to victory, departing East London with a 4-1 win.
The Lions travel to Peterborough next weekend for our final game of the year.
Period Scores: Lee Valley 1-1/0-1/0-2
Shots on Goal: 33 on Mallet (Lee Valley), 26 on Cardiff (24 on Miller, 2 on Bird)
Penalties in Minutes: Lee Valley 6-20 Cardiff
Man of the Match: Lee Valley – Joe Berry, Cardiff – Callum Wallace
Photos from the game are here. You can also follow the Lions on Twitter and on Facebook.