[18
MAR 01] COVENTRY BLAZE REPORT
Coventry Blaze 7
Milton
Keynes Kings 4
It was a
well-attended wake, sombre yet jolly as Coventry Blaze handed out an
end-of-season beating to their local rivals.
In play-off terms
the match was dead, and so, it seemed were most of the crowd as the
Skydome faithful sat and pondered where the season had gone.
After a blistering
start to their first year in their new home, the Blaze wobbled in
January and never really got back on track.
But determined to
prove that they could still turn it on, they came out of the blocks
like greyhounds, and started rattling in goals.
The BNL player of
the season, influential captain Steve Chartrand, who has signed a
new contract with the team, started the rout after just a minute,
swivelling and shooting while unmarked in front of goal.
Kings weren’t to
be outdone, and pulled the scores level with a slick move, Poole
being given space to fire past Barry Hollyhead.
Chartrand crossed
from the right for Dumas to score the first of an eventual hat
trick, before Tasker and Knights made goals for each other seconds
apart.
The young players
Eley and Yardley were given more ice time, and had a few good
efforts, but the line of Chartrand, Dumas and Kelham was proving
dominant.
The partnership was
fractured when Kelham went off injured, but Dumas scored while
unmarked, being supplied by the ever-resourceful Chartrand.
Goal celebrations
apart, the crowd were moribund, and stayed that way for the second
period as almost nothing happened.
The referee dished
out minor penalties, mostly to James Pease, for a series of
innocuous offences, to try and keep the interest going, but the
biggest cheer came when Kings netminder Craig Lindsay left the ice
to take the final bow of a fine career on ice.
Kings then decided
to make a game of it, and Randall picked up a rebound from a hot
that glanced off Sjodin’s stick to bring the score back to 5-2.
Shewan scored
Coventry’s sixth on 45 minutes after Chartrand rounded several
players but couldn’t quite squeeze the shot in himself, but the
team couldn’t really be bothered to celebrate.
Chartrand was then
tripped but fed the puck to Johnson, who put Dumas through for his
third and Coventry’s seventh before a late Milton Keynes rally saw
two goals by Mike Breadmore.
The
Planet Ice Shield was awarded to the team at the end, and now the
re-building process begins as Paul Thompson sets about securing a
squad for next season.
Period
scores: 5-1/0-1/2-2
Penalty
minutes: 12-8
Shots
on goal: 37-32
Attendance:
1924
Referee:
Simon Kirkham
Blaze:
Dumas 3+2; Chartrand 1+4; Knights 1+1; Shewan 1+1; Tasker 1+1;
Johnson 0+2; Soderstrom 0+1. Nets
- Hollyhead (31’26) 17/1; Sjodin (28’34) 15/3
Kings:
Breadmore 2+1; Randall 1+2; Poole 1+0; Long 0+2; Coutts 0+1; Smillie
0+1. Nets - Lindsay
(31’26) 25/5; Spells (28’34) 12/2
SEE
[17 MAR 01] MILTON KEYNES
KINGS 2 COVENTRY BLAZE 4
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