Karl Nicholson scored a hat-trick at the Play Offs (Photo by Xander Van Der Poll)
The Mayhem sledge team put in a couple of impressive performances at the British Para Ice Hockey League play offs in Lee Valley and saw their efforts rewarded with a bronze medal.
The top 4 teams in the league qualify for the play offs and the semi finals saw the Mayhem pitched up against league champions Sheffield Steelkings. Despite the Mayhem travelling to East London with a smaller squad than usual, this game was actually pretty close.
It
took the Steelkings until the 13th minute of the game to score the first goal
to take a 1-0 lead into the first break - and their second had to wait until
right at the end of the second period. A third goal just 32 seconds into the
third period made sure of the win for Sheffield but the Mayhem players could
take heart from their showing against a team that had gone the whole season
unbeaten.
With
Peterborough Phantoms beating Cardiff Huskies in the other semi final, this
meant that the Mayhem faced the Welshmen in the third place play off on the
Sunday, which turned out to be another close and entertaining game.
Cardiff
took the lead on 9 minutes but the Mayhem struck back with a goal from Karl
Nicholson on 12 minutes and then took the lead with a Nicholson powerplay
strike 69 seconds after that.
The
Mayhem led 2-1 at first period break but were pegged back right at the start of
the second period when a fluke long shot straight from the face off beat an
unsighted Dan Hartshorn to trickle into the net for a Cardiff equaliser. Heads
did not drop, however, and a hat-trick goal for Nicholson on 24 minutes edged
the Mayhem back into the lead.
Despite
numerous chances for both teams, that turned out to be the last goal of the
game and the Mayhem were able to hold on to secure their third third place
finish in recent years.
Sheffield
Steelkings beat Peterborough Phantoms 5-1 in the final to take their third play-off
title in a row and their fourth overall.
Talking
about the play offs, Mayhem manager and head coach Peter Hagan said:
“It
was a good effort by the squad, despite depleted numbers and was always going
to be a tough ask against Sheffield with only two defence and five forwards –
but we gave a good account despite the score line.”
“The
bronze medal game showed resilience the team has and the determination to get
the win, so a good foundation to build on.”
Looking
back over the season as a whole, Hagan said:
“It
was a tough season with players being unavailable due to injuries and personal
circumstances so we never had a settled squad. But we showed flashes of what we
can be so, hopefully, we can show that consistently in 2026.”
“A
huge shout out to our netminder Dan Hartshorn who played every game despite
only a few months training in that position and really showed his potential -
so we have lots of positives to build on going forward.”
You can see full games from the 2025 BPIHL Play Offs – with excellent commentary from Petter Bradders - on YouTube HERE