The game was scoreless deep in to the first period after various missed chances by both teams. First blood, however, went to Oxford close to the end of the first period and the scene was set for nail-biting night.
Trailing by one goal the Spitfires took control of the second period with an early goal by Richard Facey assisted by Rich Nembhard to open their account. Ten minutes later the second went in with a lovely shot and tip-in by Dan Lackey and Rich Nembhard (second assist by Ash Toomey) shortly followed by a third with a great solo effort by Rich Facey. The momentum was building for the Spitfires and Oxford picked up another penalty so a great opportunity to stretch the 3-1 lead but some sloppy passing out of defence gifted Oxford's second goal just before the end of the second period leaving the scoreline at a precarious 3-2.
Oxford's late goal in the second clearly gave them the boost they needed and they came out in the third skating hard and this paid off with interest leading to two quick goals within 9 seconds. This could have spelt the end but the Spitfires aren't British national champions by chance and they soon picked themselves up. An Oxford penalty five minutes later was all the Spitfires needed for a unique chip-in from behind the goal by Otto Nyberg assisted by Ryan Burgess and Richard Facey. The game was tied at 4-4 with 13 minutes remaining and suddenly the roles were reversed just one minute later with the Spitfires picking up a penalty. This time, however, with the Spitfires on a penalty kill, Richard Facey picked up the puck in the defensive zone and carried it all the way to the Oxford net for a lovely short-handed goal to take the lead again. 5-4 Spitfires. The remaining ten minutes were tense and as the clock ticked down with two minutes to go Oxford played their last card and pulled their goalie to give them a one man advantage but leaving an empty net. The Spitfires had a shot from half way and narrowly missed and a few seconds later just a couple metres out were denied by some desperate Oxford defence. The end was however inevitable with an unselfish pass from Rich Facey to Otto Nyberg who calmy shot from the blue line on target to seal the game. Final score 6-4! A fantastic game to continue the Spitfires A two season unbeaten run made all the more satisfying since half the players hadn't skated since the Nationals in April.
Man of the match went to Rich Facey. Also of note were two strong debuts by Otto Nyberg and Stefan Georgiev.
The players:
Ashley Toomey
Daniel Lackey
Declan Finn
Dom Lion
Niall Quinn
Otto Nyberg
Stefan Georgiev
Richard Nembhard
Richard Facey
Ryan Burgess
Christian Cole (N/M)
Many thanks to all the supporters who came along, it was great to see so many people there and the guys were all genuinely overwhelmed by all the support! A special thanks to Alice, James 'The Meister' Shepherd, and Mike B for the scoring, timekeeping, penalty box, and music. Thanks to Dan for filming the game and James R for taking hundreds of photos
