On a lovely Sunday afternoon, the air filled with the smell of roses Streatham Storm met the Basingstoke Bison Ladies on what came close to a beautiful scene of a frozen lake in the remote hills of some country far far away (the Streatham Ice Arena). The next 45 minutes can only be described as a storm of passionate hockey. Pucks were flying and tension grew. The Bison got off to a strong start, penetrating the Storm defence and Lisa Collingwood scored in the fourth minute of the game after a pass from Peri Edmiston. This was quickly equalised by an unassisted goal from Laura Price who skilfully whizzed the puck past the Basingstoke goalkeeper. Emma Toose triumphed towards the end of the first period, scoring three more goals for Basingstoke assisted by Julia Burns and Lisa Collingwood.
After souls and bodies were freshened up in the period break, Storm accelerated and battled in front of the net. This resulted in a goal by Alina Tuerk who slid the puck in from behind after an assist from Debra Buckland. Wanting to join in the glory of goal celebrations Natty Briggs scored a beautiful goal only 46 seconds later after a pass from Kate Fisher and Sue Richards applying their special moves. The strong defence and athletic goalkeeping kept the puck clear of Storm’s net until the 23rd minute when Lisa Collingwood scored after an assist from Julia Burns. What a pair!
Both teams accelerated their skating and passionately fought in the final period with one more goal being scored by Lisa Collingwood after a pass from Emma Toose. As the referee manly blew his whistle after 45 minutes (ish) of a hockey love affair, it ended 3:6 with a total of 10 penalty minutes for some naughty Streatham girls and four minutes for the Lady Bison.
Alina Tuerk (MVP)
This game saw Streatham take on the league leaders for the first time this season on home ice. From the first drop of the puck, it was clear this was going to be a fast paced and physical game, and Swindon quickly took control, by getting a quick goal off a deflection by forward Lyn Taylor. Two more followed in succession, making the score 0-3 in the first ten minutes. Another couple of goals from the high slot ended the first period with a 0 - 5 scoreline; which meant a shocked Streatham had go back to the bench to re-group and re-focus as a team.
After a pretty intense team talk, Streatham went into the second period intent on getting even, and things quickly started looking up, when an odd man rush from Sarah Taylor put the Storm on the scoreboard for the first time. Two more goals through traffic in front of the net from Rachel Wells and Marketa Weiglova made the score at the end of the second a much more close 3 goals to 5, so in the third period both teams had it all to play for.
Despite winning the face off and seeing off a 3 on 5 penalty kill, Streatham goalie Mel Higgs was up against a flurry of slapshots from the Swindon defence, and one from #20 Merrick finally made its way through to make the score 3 - 6. Streatham then took the initiative once more, launching an aggressive offence and keeping the puck in the Swindon end for a good part of the period. Nevertheless, a quick breakaway from Swindon plus one final goal wrapped up the game with a scoreline of 3 goals to 8.
Despite the scoreline telling a simple story of the league leaders taking another easy 2 points, those present at the match witnessed a much more complex game. In the second period, albeit for 15 minutes, Streatham out-played, out skated and out-match Swindon on every level, taking a 3-0 win in the period after a shaky start. Their heads never went down, and the whole game was played with heart and soul. You win some, you lose some, but that was something extraordinary, something to be proud of. Here's to the next game, let's go get 'em girls!
Wellsie #77 (MVP)