Mayhem's Felicity Gregory and Mark Colquitt in action against the Sheffield Steelstings (Photo by @haganovaphoto) |
Saturday 16th July – British Para Ice Hockey League
Mayhem 6 – Sheffield Steelstings 3
The Mayhem sledge team finished off their regular season schedule in the 2022 British Para Ice Hockey League with a highly entertaining 6-3 win over the Sheffield Steelstings at Planet Ice Widnes on Saturday.
Some of the matches in this first season of competition back after two years of inactivity due to the Covid lockdowns have been a bit one-sided but this game was very closely contested throughout and the final result remained in doubt until the very last seconds.
The first period was especially tight with plenty of chances for both teams and it took until the 14th minute for the deadlock to be broken.
The opening goal came from the stick of the Mayhem’s team captain Karl Nicholson and the score remained 1-0 at the first period break.
Tom Kimm extended the lead for the Mayhem with a goal just 46 seconds from the restart and Nicholson added his second just 60 seconds after that.
Two minutes later Sheffield pulled a goal back but a hat-trick goal from Karl Nicholson on 21 minutes brought the score to 4-1 and meant that the Mayhem carried a 3-goal cushion into the final period.
A fourth goal from Nicholson on 35 minutes looked to have put the Mayhem well in command of the game but the Sheffield team did not lose heart and hit back with a strike of their own just 20 seconds later. A further goal for the Steelstings with only 28 seconds left on the clock narrowed the score to 5-3 and set up a tense last few moments.
A dramatic goal from the Mayhem’s Anthony Booth with just 2 seconds left to play rounded off the scoring for the game and the home side were able to celebrate a hard fought 6—3 victory.
The Mayhem now have a few weeks’ break while the other teams in the league finish off their outstanding fixtures. The top 4 teams in the final table will qualify for the end of season playoffs which will be held at the Planet Ice rink in Widnes over the weekend of 10th and 11th September.