Recapping the third week of the NIHL
Saturday 28th September:
The weekend's first game saw the Swindon Wildcats maintain their 100% winning record at home after beating the Leeds Knights 6-3. Despite missing star import Tomasz Malasinski, the Cats put on a very strong performance to hand the Knights their first-season loss. It would be the third line that came up trumps for Swindon with Josh Shaw scoring twice and Luc Johnson adding a goal.
The Lightning would get a big 6-3 victory on the road in Slough against the Berkshire Bees. Ross Venus had a brilliant game getting five points on the night. As for the Bees, they are currently struggling with a few injuries and were only able to ice 14 players on the night.
The Solway Sharks played a brilliant game on Saturday beating the Telford Tigers 9-3 with nine different goal scorers. Gardiner, Arseneau, and Dunbar all had three-point nights. As for Telford, still no points on the board this season.
The Steeldogs bounced back from their home defeat last weekend with a 5-3 victory over the Peterborough Phantoms. Sam Tremblay scored a Hat-trick for the Dogs, taking his total to seven goals for the season. This is now back-to-back 5-3 wins for the Steeldogs over the Phantoms.
The final game of the night saw the Romford Raiders get a comfortable 8-3 win in Bristol against the Pitbulls. Laishram being the stand-out player with two goals and one assist. Bristol was without both Tommy Nappier and Tyler De La Bertouche meaning Owen Rider from the Invicta Dynamos stepped in to be the Netminder for the weekend.
Sunday 29th September
Now Sunday started with arguably the best game of the weekend as the Romford Raiders came from behind again to beat the Hull Seahawks 5-4 in overtime. 17-year-old Seb Mohr who is on a two-way with the Slough Jets scored the winning goal to maintain the Raiders 100% record at home this season. This also handed the Seahawks their first loss of the campaign.
The Leeds Knights bounced back from their first loss on Saturday night to beat the Bristol Pitbulls 7-2 at home. Kieran Brown had a four-point night whilst Harrison Walker got his second win against the Pitbulls this season. This win puts the Knights back up to the top of the table.
The Phantoms got an important two points against the Swindon Wildcats beating them 4-3 with all four goals coming in the second period. Hayden Lavinge saved 34 shots on the night. Nathan Salem however was the stand-out performer with two big powerplay goals.
The MK Lightning secured their first four-point weekend of the season as they defeated the Solway Sharks 7-3 with Venus adding another two goals. This win also keeps their home league win streak going from last season with the Seahawks coming to town next weekend who were the last team to beat MK at home in the league.
Finally, it was another tough night for the Telford Tigers as they lost 6-3 at home to the Berkshire Bees. Marcel Balaz scored four goals on the night with Mogg getting two assists and tallying over 30 minutes of ice time with the Bees only having 14 skaters. Max Wright also had a brilliant game saving 40 shots on the night.
Photo Credit - Tony Sargent
