Played at Silver Blades, Widnes
Manchester Mayhem 2 – Kingston Kestrels 5
Period Scores: 0-2, 0-2, 2-1
Penalties in Minutes: Manchester 14 – Kingston 4
Match Officials: Richard Wang & Stephen French
Mayhem line-up: Karl Nicholson (2+0),
Graham Wilson, Pat Bailey, Dean Lahan, Ant Booth (0+1), Rob Allen (0+2), Steve
Midgehall (NM),
Kestrels line-up: Matthew Woollias (2+3), Matt Clarkson (2+1), Sam
Fitzgerald, Tony King, Simon Berry(1+1), Ian Houliston (NM), Stephen Gibson, Dave
Blakeston
The Manchester Mayhem Para Ice Hockey
Team ended the regular season on the wrong end of 2-5 defeat after a hard-fought
and spirited performance against league champions Kingston Kestrels at Silver
Blades Widnes on Sunday.
The Hull
based team had already secured the league title several weeks ago but were
hoping to make history by becoming the first team to complete the season with a
100% record, while the Mayhem were hoping to build on their previous win
against Peterborough to build up some momentum heading into the end of season
play offs in September.
The Kestrels took
the lead as early as the 17th second of the game with a goal from Matt
Woollias and it was 0-2 just 2½ minutes later when Woollias set up Matt
Clarkson to double the Kingston advantage.
The Mayhem
battled hard and had a few chances of their own but were unable to break down
the solid Kingston defence.
It was a
similar story in the second period where Manchester failed to make the most of
their opportunities while the Kestrels extended their lead with goals from Simon
Berry on 20 minutes and then Woollias again on 28 minutes.
Whatever was
said during the team talk during the second break certainly had an effect as
the Mayhem looked a changed side in the 3rd period. Karl Nicholson fired in the first Manchester
goal just 90 seconds from the restart and then struck again a minute later to
halve the deficit to 2-4 with 12½ minutes still to play.
This resurgence
was not to last, however, as just 30 seconds
after scoring his second goal, Nicholson was caught up in an altercation with
some Kestrels players against the boards behind the Kingston goal.
The fracas
escalated and resulted in a 10 minute stoppage in play while various skirmishes
ensued and grievances were aired and dealt with.
The result of
all this was a 2+2+10 minute penalty for fighting for Nicholson and a 2+2 for
Kingston’s Clarkson for his role in the original incident. This decision saw Nicholson
banished for the rest of the match and, as he was the leading player for the
Mayhem, effectively ruled out any chance of them getting back into the game.
Clarkson scored
Kingston’s 5th goal on 41 minutes and, try as they might, the Manchester
players were unable to make any further breakthrough.
So Kingston finish
the regular season with 8 wins form their 8 games – the first time any team has
done that. But Manchester could still get a chance to have the last laugh over the Kestrels in the play offs when then two teams
could meet again - depending on eventual league finishing positions - at Hull Arena over the weekend of 2nd
& 3rd September.
