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| The Connah's Quay Cobras team celebrate their first ever win - away at Shropshire Huskies on 1st July. |
Saturday 1st July – Challenge Match: Shropshire Huskies 2 - Connah’s Quay Cobras 8
The Connah’s Quay Cobras team picked up their first ever win with a 2-8 victory away to Shropshire Huskies in Telford on Saturday.
The Deeside-based outfit have only been training together since the start of the year and this was their third game in total, having previously lost at home to Riverside Raiders and Trafford Thunder.
This was a very entertaining game to watch with lots of end to end hockey – and both teams enjoying a similar amount of puck possession and shots on goal - but the Cobras were able to make more of their chances when they had them.
The Connah’s Quay side took the lead with a goal from Louis Ellwood on 3 minutes and the same player doubled the advantage 11 minutes later. The score remained 0-2 to the Cobras at the first break and, despite the Huskies having a much better second period, the goals continued to go the way of the visitors. Andrew Cooke made the score 0-3 on 32 minutes and then a goal from Kenny Williams just 70 seconds brought it to 0-4.
A goal from Slavomir Sykora just 90 seconds into the third period edged the Cobras further ahead and the Huskies finally scored a goal of their own with 10 minutes left in the game. The 5-goal cushion was restored just 80 seconds later with a goal from Martin Rybka but then a second goal for the Huskies with 5 minutes left on the clock sparked a rather tense finale.
The home side withdrew their netminder in favour of an extra attacking player in the hope of mounting a late rally but this move was punished with a well-taken strike from his own blue line by Rybka resulting in an Empty Net Goal. The scoring was rounded off with a second goal of the game for Sykora with 59 seconds left on the clock to record a 2-8 victory.
The Most Valuable Player award (MVP) for the Cobras went to netminder Paul Jones who turned away 28 of the 30 shots that he faced.
The Connah’s Quay Cobras are in action again this weekend as they travel to Sheffield to take part in the annual Recfest tournament.
You can find out more about the Connah’s Quay Cobras by following their Facebook page HERE
