Better late than never

It can’t be just me that finds life getting in the way of hockey occasionally - especially at this time of year. I found myself on a Christmas cupcake decorating course recently just outside MK, having to find a way of getting back and to the Thunderdome in a way that didn’t involve me having to take the cupcakes into the rink with me through lack of time (the friend I did the course with suggested if I had to take the cakes in, I could use them to smooth over any roughing in the game: ("now now, boys - stop hitting each other, have a cupcake and be friends, hmm?") That was the Basingstoke game when Grant and some 6ft 4 hulk had a ding-dong right under my nose, and I don’t think cupcakes would’ve smoothed that one over.

Last Saturday I was in Brum on a Christmas shopping trip – something else I’d carelessly thrown myself into without thinking about the possible impact on my hockey attendance (how do I end up doing all these twee girly things? I’m not generally a ‘girly girl’, honestly – a weekend involving any combination of ice hockey, formula one, football and some beer, and I’m happy!!) As it turns out, not much shopping was involved, but a long lunch at an Italian restaurant and some lovely, cold Peroni Gran Riserva beer, followed by nodding off in the cinema were much nicer alternatives to joining my colleagues at the Battle of New Street. I confess to a fleeting visit to Selfridges though. What’s not to love in a shop that’s got a lifesize bull made from jelly beans?!

The down-side of all this was not leaving Brum until 6.15, so I knew I’d be lucky to catch any of the first period at all. The iphone was a gem yet again, letting me follow the action via updates on the MKIH forum (honourable mention to Skinny#49 for match updates week in, week out!) Good to hear that Baz was dressed for us, albeit on the bench, and that Grant was icing again after two games out. To be fair, we were ‘only’ playing the Bees – rock bottom of the league and struggling, so we could’ve probably let G-man have another game’s recuperation, but it’s always good to have him playing and if HE said he was fit enough, it’s probably difficult to say no to – he’s been on fire since Dave Slimes’ “code” drivel, and a joy to watch.

Arrived back at the rink hoping it’d still be in the first period break but as I ran down to the ticket office I could see players on the ice...not only had I missed the first period but the first three minutes of the second – ah well, better late than never. I’d joked with The Boy, to tell the team not to score until I got there so I wouldn’t miss anything, and when I saw that after 24 minutes of play it was still 0-0, I wondered if he HAD actually told them as they skated on – I was going to start jumping up and down and going “oy, you can start now!” but they’d have wondered who the mad woman was, and I didn’t want to unsettle them.

So I finally turned my attention to the game. The Bees came to MK propping up the league, with a measly two wins from 19 games, having conceded an average six goals a game. Faced with facts like that, I can’t have been the only MKL supporter who thought we’d see an easy victory. So how come we were in the second period without a score?

There were shots aplenty from Lightning so it wasn’t for the want of trying, that’s for sure. The Bees’ nettie, Carl Ambler, was outstanding – he saved and covered so many shots that it was pretty obvious, even to me, that he was going to get their MoTM award. The first ever hockey game I saw, I remember wondering how much of a mentalist (or Chris Kamara) do you need to be, to WANT to be in goal? But Ambler did a superb job, considering the 47 shots our guys fired his way. Mettsey, in comparison, had a relatively easy game with a relatively meagre 21 shots coming at him. So whilst the Bees’ weren’t firing on all cylinders up front, they seemed to have stepped up their defence to give Lightning such a hard time. Finally, Lukas helped Smults find a way through to bang home a fantastic top shelf goal with only five minutes of the second period left. I didn’t care that I’d been up and around and mostly in the cold for over 12 hours, I was jumping up and down and cheering, absolutely ecstatic!!

The Bees equalised early in the third but our advantage was quickly restored when Captain Carr got our second, assisted by Nick and Smults. Bracknell equalised again but within seconds, MKL’s advantage was restored thanks to Monir and Britts setting up Clarkey for our third. Bees called a time out with less than two minutes left and it was a nailbiting final 90 seconds or so, but our boys held their nerve and bagged the two points.....better late than never.

Sunday finally saw a deserved lie-in for your correspondent, whilst Lightning had a trip to the exotic surroundings of Swindon to look forward to, and a trip to the local stray cats' home. Like the Bees, the Pussies are also tail-end Charlies, going into Sunday’s game having won only a quarter of their 20 games. Whilst Lightning were battling to break down the Bees on Saturday, Swindon were getting a proper stuffing (9-3) courtesy of our friends in Manchestoh – with a nice, tiring, three hour, late night journey back to Wiltshire to lick their wounds.

And it looked like normal fantastic Lightning service was resumed, Clarkey on the score sheet after only seven minutes, set up by Monir and Lewis. The guys doubled the score shortly afterwards when Monir set up another, this time for Britts. The guys put their foot on the gas to pull away in the second period thanks to goals from Lukas and Jamo, before the moggies scored. Were they going to put up a fight? Britts got his second of the night but the moggies came back with another, to make it 2-5 at the end of the second. But whilst that was the last that MKL’s goal saw of the puck, Swindon’s goal welcomed it twice more in the final period, courtesy of Messrs Carr and Zatopek. Final score Moggies 2, Lightning 7 – so it took until Sunday to get the convincing win, but better late than never – another four point weekend in the bag, four points that help us stay within sight of Basingstoke.

On Saturday 4th we play the Moggies again, and hopefully the lads can get into top gear a bit quicker than they did against Bracknell – please, lads, I’m trying to grow my nails not bite them all down!! Sunday 5th sees a road trip up the A1 to Peet Bog Horror, who we’re pulling away from in the league after they lost three of their last four games. They’ve beaten Lightning the last twice we’ve played at their place, so lets hope Sunday sees us put an end to that pattern – better late than never J