Lions skipper insists there should be no excuses for poor run of results, as Don McDermott reports…
The Lee Valley Lions’ tricky road trip continued on Sunday night as they fell to the Basingstoke Buffalo, 6-2, in a tough cup match at the Planet Ice Arena.
The struggling east London side failed to build on their winning performance of last weekend which saw them overturn the Slough Jets. Despite putting up a good fight to the Buffalo, the defeat was their third from their last five matches. Though, Lions captain Nicholas Alley insisted that the team cannot put their poor form down to their recent string of away matches.
“We play these teams so often each year – we play Slough six times in a season. You get accustomed to these rinks. So I don’t think we can use [the away run] as an excuse. On the flip side, we had a lot of home games earlier in the season, and one could argue that we should have taken full advantage of them. But it really shouldn’t matter. We know where we’re playing, nothing’s a surprise.”
The Lions travelled to Basingstoke with a weakened side however, goals from Alley and Oliver Glover kept them in the game. With the scores level, a fantastic penalty shot save from netminder James Tipple midway through the second period appeared to give the visitors a platform to push on from and seal the win.
But Lee Valley failed to use the save to their advantage and a couple of Basingstoke goals towards the end of the period doomed them to a four-goal loss.
Basingstoke were first on the scoreboard as Daniel Lackey put the home side ahead in the 12th minute.
Tipple was unable to smother a shot from Samuel Campton and Lackey punched in the rebound through Tipple’s legs.
Missed opportunity
The Lions equalized just 34 seconds later with Alley taking advantage of a scramble in front of the net.
Lee Valley’s failure to capitalize on a 5-on-3 power play resulted in them giving up another goal as the Buffalo returned to full strength.
The Lions drew level once more in the second period as Oliver Glover beat Basingstoke goalie Jordan Lawday with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
Five minutes later came the momentous penalty shot after Liam Coleman was tripped as he raced in on Tipple on a breakaway. Coleman held onto the puck too long causing him to collide with Tipple, who kept his calm and stopped the puck from leaking into his net.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZpgclIRTp8
With just a few minutes left in the period, it was Basingstoke who showed a greater response to Tipple’s heroics in goal. Refusing to allow the Lions back into the game, they scored another two goals forcing an uphill battle for the Lions going into the final period. Managing to defend their lead, Basingstoke added two more goals to seal a victory and the Lions were forced to return to London with plenty to think about.
Alley said after the match that the Lions have to improve on keeping up a high level of play against the stronger teams in the NIHL Division 2 South.
Alley added: “It was very frustrating. I think we all switched off, but in hockey it’s a game of sixty minutes. I think we’re just a couple of steps of consistency off running teams like this. A lot of the guys have only been playing together for a few weeks, so once we start to build on that and get to know each other, then that will come.”
Alley said he saw improvement from the last time they faced Basingstoke, when they lost 11-1.
He continued, “A few guys are out injured, so to come with two lines and to only lose by a few goals—we’ll take some positives. But we’re always looking to win.”
The Lions finish the cup with a record of 0-6, and are now 1-1-3 overall on their six-game road trip.
Lee Valley drew against Invicta and defeated Slough last weekend, 4-3, but this weekend was tough for the team as they also lost to Chelmsford Warriors, 8-3, on Saturday.
The disappointing defeat to Basingstoke rounded off a difficult weekend for the Lions in which they also lost to the Chelmsford warriors.
Next Saturday the road trip concludes with another trip to Chelmsford. After next weekend’s match, the Lions finish the season playing four out of five matches on home ice.