WC - double over Legion

Monday night saw the 2nd game against the Legion in the Winter Cup and a must win for the Statesmen to finish off the bottom. The Statesmen knew the Legion would be up for it and with some bad ice the game wasn't exactly going to be a classic from the get go, but all credit to the Legion for not giving us the time or space and clogging up the middle to prevent a lot of scoring chances. The Legion took the lead in the 1st period and with Ben Durcan stealing the show and playing a blinder kept the Statsmen in the game, the Legion added another in the 2nd, this forced us to change up the lines on the PP which really changed the game with the Statesmen pegging 1 back to 2-1, and bought the Statesmen back in the game. 2-1 down going into the thrid saw crazy J get his 2nd of the night and continue his impressive form against the Legion and with Marcus Cast continuing in form with 3 helpers, James Wood added to the total for the Statesmen to go 3-2 up.
A last gasp effort from the Legion with their netminder pulled fell right into the hands of Bob Hedley as he slotted the empty net goal from centre ice and seal the game 4-2. MOTM a very well deserved Ben Durcan.

WC - Loss v Spitfire

This was the second meeting of the WC against the London Spitfire, in a closely contested game the Spitfire took the lead after 10mins, then scored 3 goals in 4 mins of the second and 1 near the end of the period to take a 5-0 lead. With some key players missing the Statesmen though the scoreline not reflecting the play just couldnt put the puck in the net till the 3rd and controlled most of the play in that period as well coming close a few times, 5-1 loss. MOTM James Wood (if anyone reads this can you pick someone else ;)

WC- Win v Legion

You'd have to go back to Nov 07 for the last win against the Legion, the Statesmen jumped out to a 4-0 lead in teh first with crazy J leading the way with a brace and Mike and James chipping in a goal apiece, the Statesmen were in control for the first 15mins and looked like they could run away with the game, but tired legs and a loss of concentration led to conceding a couple of goals late on.
The 2nd was marred by the refs whistle and really took the wind out of our sails, with crazy completing his hat trick and less than a minute after the Legion scored their 3rd.
The Statesmen then got back into it in the 3rd with crazy on the scoresheet again for his 4th and Ty answering the Legions goal on 53mins to put the game out of reach. Good game and well done everyone. MOTM James (Im beginning to think bribes are going on here, J - you were robbed;)

WC- Draw v Spitfire

The Statesmen kicked off the Winter Cup on 8th Dec 09 v Spitfire, in what was a fast paced encounter and the lead being shared by the two teams ended in a draw and the Statesmen to ponder the 3 gifted goals, 5-5 a good start to the campaign.

WC scores so far

October:
15.10.08 - London Eagles 13 vs London Legion 2
22.10.08 - London Legion 3 vs Westminster Statesmen 3
29.10.08 - London Eagles 4 vs Queensway Spitfires 4
November:
05.11.08 - London Legion 3 vs Queensway Spitfires 4
12.11.08 - Statesmen 2 vs London Eagles 12
19.11.08 - London Legion 3 vs London Eagles 5
26.11.08 - London Spitfires 3 vs London Legion 8
December:
03.12.08 - Spitfires 3 vs Eagles 5
10.12.08 - Statesmen 3 vs London Legion 4
January:
10.01.09 - Statesmen 5 vs Spitfires 4
14.01.09 - Statesmen vs Eagles

First Winter Cup game v Legion

Wednesday 22nd October saw the first Winter Cup game for the Statesmen against the London Legion. With both sides fielding stronger teams than the last encouter it seemed like it would be a good match. With debutants for the Statesmen, Glen Moorhouse, Frank Bruce, Marcus Cast, Brandon Paluzzi and Mark Freitag, with the game ending in a 3-3 draw.

The first period was a tight affair with both teams coming close until the Legion opened the scoring, a few minutes later Mark Freitag got the equaliser and his first goal for the club. The second period started off the same as the first and shorthanded, this period became tighter with both teams not wanting to make a mistake and it started getting a physical edge, the Statesmen then got the upper hand with a goal from Paddy and afterwards consolidated a 3-1 lead going into the third.

As with most games between the two clubs this may not have been enough and the Legion pulled a goal back and with some end to end hockey and a bit more physicality between the two squads the Legion then pulled level with 1.40 to go in the game. We look forward to the next encounter and play the London Eagles in 3 weeks time which will be a very tough game.

Winter League

It is now official and the Winter League will be going ahead, should be good. There will be away games still arranged during the winter. Note:- ALL games are at Ally Pally.

Provisional dates are as follows:-

Wed 22nd Oct v London Legion @ 20.45
Wed 12th Nov v London Eagles @ 22.15
Wed 10th Dec v London Legion @20.45
Wed 14th Jan v London Eagles @ 20.15

Also note there are 2 games v Queensway Spitfires (a couple of them we know ;-)) are yet to be arranged.