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.
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| 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) |
