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| Mayhem team at Play Offs (Photo by Lee White) |
The Mayhem sledge team won the silver medal at the British Para Ice Hockey League play offs at Lee Valley over the weekend, after losing 5-0 – to Sheffield Steelkings in the final on Sunday.
The semi finals on Saturday had seen
league champions Sheffield Steelkings A easily sweep aside Cardiff Huskies 11-3
and then the Mayhem beat the Sheffield B team 0-4 in a much closer game.
Anton Tomlinson opened the scoring for
the Mayhem in the first period and two goals from Karl Nicholson saw them
leading 0-3 at first break. The second
period played out goal-less and a hat-trick strike from Nicholson in the third
saw the Mayhem progress to the final for the first since 2017.
Dan Hartshorn put in a superb display
in the Mayhem goal to keep the “Stings” attack at bay, picking up his third
shut-out of the season and Peggy Assinck was named Mayhem MVP.
The gold medal game against the
Steelkings A team on Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether. The Kings
had dominated the league competition, easily winning the title with a 100%
record. They had shut out the Mayhem in
both of their league encounters – winning 10-0 in Sheffield and 0-3 in Widnes – and were clearly odds-on favourites.
And the game went to league form - the
Mayhem team played their hearts out and didn’t give up until the final buzzer
but it was not to be on the day.
While it is always disappointing to
lose, this is the first time that the Mayhem have won the silver medal and it
is their best performance at the play offs since they won the crown back in
2017.
In the 9 years since they formed as
the Mayhem, they have won 1 gold, 1 silver and four bronze medals at the end of
season jamboree.
