Monday 23 April 2018

Mayhem Lose Out To Kestrels In Sledge Season Opener


Sunday 22nd April 2018 – British Para Ice Hockey League
Manchester Mayhem 1 – Kingston Kestrels 9 (at Widnes)
Period Scores: 0-3, 0-2, 1-4
Shots on Goal: Mayhem 14 – Kestrels 30
Penalties in Minutes: Mayhem 0 – Kestrels 0

Match Officials: Tadeusz Kolarz & Simon Anders

Team Line-Ups & Scorers:
Mayhem: Dougy Hankinson (NM), Karl Nicholson (0+1), Graham Wilson, Dean Lahan, Anthony Booth (1+0), Rob Allen, Andrew Thompson, James Rogerson

Kestrels: Matthew Woollias (2+0), Matt Clarkson (7+0), James Morris, Tony King (0+1), Simon Berry, Ian Houliston (NM), Stephen Gibson, Dave Blakeston

The Manchester Mayhem sledge hockey team slumped to a disappointing 1-9 defeat in the opening game of the 2018 British Para Ice Hockey League season against the Hull-based Kingston Kestrels at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.

The game saw last season’s play off champions, the Mayhem, paired up against last season’s league title winners - the Kestrels - and was expected to be a cracking curtain raiser for the 2018 season, which is played throughout the summer months.

With the sport having received a lot of TV exposure at the recent Winter Paralympic games in South Korea, there was a good sized crowd in attendance but nothing seemed to go the way of the home team.

After a close start, the visitors scored the opening goal after 5 minutes of play and led 0-3 at the end of the first period. It was 0-5 at the end of the second period but a goal from the Mayhem’s Anthony Booth at the start of the third gave the home side some hope of a late revival.

Unfortunately, it was not to be and 4 unanswered goals for Kingston - all scored by Matt Clarkson to add to his earlier 3 – fired the visitors to a comprehensive victory. The other two goals for the Kestrels were scored by Matt Woollias.

The Mayhem’s next game is away to Peterborough Phantoms on Saturday 12th May.

A minute's silence was held before the game in memory of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos ice hockey team bus crash in Canada two weeks ago (Photo by David Law)
 Photos by David Law - see lots more great ice hockey photos HERE