Third period goal blitz keeps Streatham top of the league

The home side had been rocked pre-game with lengthy suspensions dished out to forwards Adam Wood and Brandon Miles for incidents the week prior against Solent. The arena did however have a sweet aroma to welcome disappointed fans, thanks to a charity bake sale for the Sandcastle Trust on the balcony.

  

With the essence of lemon drizzle in the air, it took just over a minute for the RedHawks to take the lead as in-form winger Ryan Watt fired the puck past Graham Laverick on his backhand after good work from Michael Farn down low.

Two minor penalties halted any momentum for the hosts, but with eight minutes gone and Player Coach Adam Carr serving his first minor in the league this season, it was Farn this time netting to make it 2-0.

Four minutes later Streatham scored a second shorty, this time through new boy Luke Brittle to make it 3-0 that had the home support wondering what the eventual score line might be.

The visitors weren’t ready to roll over however and they pulled a goal back with under two minutes remaining in the first period as Reece Wickens buried a Sam Dean pass past Nate Gregory in the RedHawks net.

The second period sparked into life three minutes in, as Ben Paynter and Dean tangled after a face off, but once things died down the game turned scrappy.

Neither Gregory in the Streatham net nor Graham or Hayden Laverick –the latter heading between the MK pipes midway through, were tested too often across the rest of the period.

With a minute left before the buzzer, a check to the head call on Dean sparked a melee and Scott Bailey was handed a two minute roughing penalty by referee Sevruk.

Thunder Coach Antti Kohvakka and his team would have known at 3-1 down that the next goal would be crucial and that they would need to start the period strongly to pull off a shock result. As is often the way when you’re down at the bottom, things didn’t go to plan.

Within just over five minutes of the restart Streatham had smashed in four more goals, effectively ending the game as a contest.

The first came via a superb individual effort by Brittle, who bagged his second of the night with a wraparound. Defensive pair Rupe Quiney and Michael Farn then scored a goal each in the space of 18 seconds, before Quiney netted another to make it 7-1 – assisted by Nate Gregory for the netminder’s Holy Grail moment.

The lively Watt made it 8-1 on the powerplay three minutes later before sealing his hat trick in style with just over two minutes remaining in the game. 

Resisting the temptation to remove his helmet and salute the fans as he was punished for in the Cup final, the enigmatic number 49 wheeled away with a smile with the warmth of the red light on his back for the 22nd time this season.

The 9-1 win leaves Streatham four points ahead of second placed Solent Devils, who thrashed Invicta Dynamos 11-3 on the South Coast.

Streatham now travel to Invicta today (Sunday) and are back on home ice next Sunday as we host Bracknell Hornets. Tickets are on sale online now: http://ticket.streatham-hockey.co.uk/e/43/streatham-v-bracknell

Scorers: Watt 3+0, Brittle 2+2, Farn 2+1, Quiney 2+0, Bailey 0+4, Ingoldsby 0+3, Cook 0+2, Smith 0+1, Gregory 0+1, Beesley 0+1, Paynter 0+1

Shots on goal: Gregory (STR) 25 shots/1 goal – 96% save average. Graham Laverick (MK) 24 shots/3 goals – 87.5% save average, Hayden Laverick (MK) 27 shots/6 goals – 77.7% save average