Megan McEvoy (#27) put in a plucky display as stand-in netminder for the Mayhem away at Sheffield (Photo by @haganovaphoto)
20th August 2023 - British Para Ice Hockey League: Sheffield Steelkings 16 – Mayhem 0
The Mayhem sledge team rounded off their 2023 British Para Ice Hockey League season with a 16-0 defeat away at high flying Sheffield Steelkings on Sunday.
While a defeat is always disappointing, this wasn’t particularly unexpected as the Mayhem team had been without a number of key players for the whole season and had already accepted that this campaign would be one of restructuring and giving experience to new players.
As it was, the depleted Mayhem squad travelled across the Pennines with only 6 team members, meaning that they were unable to make any line changes during the game and that everyone had to remain on the ice for the full 45 minutes’ playing time. Plus regular netminder Darren Pomfret was unavailable and his place in goal was filled by Megan McEvoy as an emergency back up, who had to borrow some equipment from the host side.
In view of the fact that the host Sheffield team had two full lines to choose from – plus a backup netminder – it was no surprise that they were able to maintain player freshness throughout and ran away with the game.
The opening goal came with just 22 seconds on the clock and the score stood at 6-0 at the end of the first period. 7 more goals followed in the second period and 3 more in third but it was quite a testament to the plucky Mayhem side to “only” lose by the same margin that they had lost the previous home game against the Steelkings while playing with a fuller line up.
McEvoy – who hadn’t played in goal since she stood in for a game last season for the Mayhem – put in an heroic display, facing 54 shots overall and keeping out 38 of them.
Sunday’s result means that the Mayhem end the season with 8 defeats from their 8 games and finish bottom of the 5 team league. But plans are already in place for next season when they hope to bounce back better and stronger!
