Streatham Redskins 1, Invicta Dynamos 0
To Streatham Ice Rink! …early Saturday evening for the first leg of the English National League Cup semi against Invicta Dynamos.
Which is quite a mouthful, for what basically comes down to three periods of the good ‘ol hockey game down in South London.
I simply LOVE these double-header weekends. Talk about a game of two halves (or three periods - or is it six periods?) etc.
The tactics for Saturday set up the Sunday showdown.
Who do you rough up on Saturday, in order to set the scene for 24 hours? Or do you play a cagey game of dump and chase, and then wait to drop the gloves if it becomes a lost cause in the return leg?
What was for certain is that Saturday night is HOCKEY night in Streatham. It was ACE to see an almost sold out Streatham rink.
Rebel Rebel sounded bloody brilliant being blasted out ahead of the first dropping of the puck.
The Redskins got off to slow start. The puck was turned over too many in the home offensive zone.
The drums of Streatham helped out though. This was an immense effort from the home support, with the scoreboard showing 0-0 at the end of the first period.
Streatham did well to kill a power-play at the start of the second period, and then repeat the exact same feat soon after.
Fancy another?
Wiggins was in, out, and then back in the penalty box for the Redskins. I would’t fancy shaking it all about with the big fella, mind.
But no worries - Redskins skated down the other end and scored with a short-handed effort.
Short handed goals are the BEST @StreathamHockey. *doing my short handed goal dance*
— Jason_Cobb (@Jason_Cobb) February 27, 2016
The third period saw Streatham fail to make the most of a five on three power-play. I hope that this isn’t costly down in Gillingham on Sunday.
But a home shut out in a major Cup semi was a major achievement for the Redskins, setting up a tense second leg on Sunday.