Category Archives: Results

Valiant Lions Relegated As Sting Triumph

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Nottingham Lions 4 Sutton Sting 4

The Nottingham Lions have been relegated to ENL Division 2 North after a thrilling encounter at the National Ice Centre in their 2nd leg playoff game against Sutton Sting on Sunday evening.

The result meant that Sutton won the tie 11-8 on aggregate and are now promoted to ENL Division 1 North.

After a lackluster performance in yesterday’s first leg defeat at Ice Sheffield, the Lions needed to overturn a three-goal deficit to get back on level terms with their Nottinghamshire rivals.

"1st Goal" - Gareth O'Flaherty.

After a ten-minute delay to allow the record crowd of 1048 to take their seats, Nottingham started the game brightly, Gareth O’Flaherty bouncing the puck off Alex Birch’s crossbar seven minutes in. The feisty winger wasn’t to be denied three minutes later,  finding the net after some good initial work from ex-Panther Nicky Balchin.

After a tight first ten minutes of the second period, the Lions stunned their local rivals with three quick goals in three minutes to put them into an 8-7 aggregate lead. Jack Clarkson grabbing the second goal on the half-hour mark, followed by Joe Wightman and a classy finish on a one-on-one with Sting goalie Birch, from Chris Colegate.

Chris Colegate celebrates after putting the Lions four goals ahead.

Nottingham netminder Alan Levers had to be in fine form as the Lions took a succession of roughing and checking penalties late in the period. However, just as Lions had killed a 5-on-3 Sutton powerplay and a fourth man was leaving the penalty box, the Sting pounced through ex-Hull Stingrays winger Ben Lowe to level the aggregate scores.

In the first ten minutes of the final period, both sides looked nervous and a little fatigued, having played over 100 minutes of hockey in just over 24 hours.

With five minutes left, Birch made a fine point-blank save from Jack Clarkson before Sutton broke away at the other end and Ben Lowe fired past Levers to give the Sting the advantage.

Just seconds later, Lowe was there again to complete his hat-trick, triggering wild celebrations from the Sutton contingent in the crowd.

Nottingham battled on but couldn’t find another score and with seconds remaining, the Sting sealed the Lions’ fate with an empty net goal, tying the game on the night and putting the aggregate score out of the reach of their opponents.

Marcus Maynard testing Alex Birch in the Sting goal.

So a tough season for the Lions ended up, disappointingly, in relegation. There were however, many positives in the young squads’ performances over the 34-game season which show plenty of promise for the future and some consolation can be taken from such a big, noisy crowd coming down to watch what was a great advert for ENL hockey.

A LionsTV post-game interview with head coach Matt Bradbury can be found below;

Stats:

Gareth O’Flaherty 1+0, Jack Clarkson 1+1, Joe Wightman 1+0, Chris Colegate 1+1, Christy Johnson-Brown 0+1, Nicky Balchin 0+1, Danny Rose 0+1.

Period Scores: 1st 1-0, 2nd, 3-1, 3rd 0-3.

Shots: TBC

Lions MOTM: Chris Colegate.

 

Avantage Sting At Halfway Point

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Sutton Sting 7 Nottingham Lions 4

Sutton Sting gained the upper hand in today’s ENL relegation playoff first leg with a deserved victory over the Lions at Ice Sheffield, out-shooting them 63-35 in the process.

The Lions will now have to overturn a three-goal deficit tomorrow at the National Ice Centre if they are to avoid the drop into ENL 2 North.

Sutton got off to a great start with Richie Oliver weaving his way around the Lions defence to fire home with less that four minutes gone. Nottingham responded immediately with Jack Clarkson levelling matters.

"Two Equalisers" - Jack Clarkson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sting dominated much of the possession in the first period and the Lions rode their luck at times, especially after Ben Lowe’s wrist-shot crashed against the metalwork with fifteen minutes on the clock.

Five minutes into the second, Thomas Jeffery made the most of a hole in the Nottingham’s defence to put Sutton back in the lead but for the second time, Jack Clarkson tied up the game on the powerplay, spotting a gap and slotting past Sting goalie Alex Birch.

The Lions then took the lead with another powerplay goal from Joe Wightman. It was justice for Wightman as Andrew Offord was sent to the box for tripping the forward, who was through on his way to the net seconds earlier.

However, Nottingham’s hold on the game looked destined to be relinquished as Sutton once again began to dominate the play with the Lions goaltender Richard Griffiths pulling off a number of fine saves within the space of three or four minutes before he was finally beaten by Shaun Ashton on 35 minutes.

Two more goals quickly followed, both scored by Ben Lowe, as the Sting put themselves firmly in the driving seat going into the third.

A cagey start to the final period from both sides saw little action until Paul Lane grabbed Sutton’s sixth goal with ten minutes remaining, before Nicky Balchin rattled the home side’s post two minutes later.

Joe Wightman scored his second of the night with four minutes left to make it a two-goal game but the Sting restored their three-goal advantage in the dying seconds through Shaun Ashton.

"Two Goals" - Joe Wightman

After the game, a still upbeat Lions head coach, Matt Bradbury spoke to nottinghamlionsenl.com saying:

“Personally, I’d have been quite happy to come out of here with a two-goal deficit but unfortunately that last goal went in and I don’t think we deserved a three goal one.”

“The worst thing that happened to us in the game was going 3-2 up – our game changed, they stepped it up and we didn’t. Sutton had all of their big game players turn up whilst we had four players turn up tonight and that just can’t happen and must be rectified.”

“We’ve very quickly analysed where the problem areas were tonight and it’s our jobs as the coaches and players to take a lead and put things right.”

“Not playing for nine weeks hasn’t helped at all but now we’ve got to get our game heads on for sixty minutes – It’s only a goal a period – that’s all it is and it’s key that we’re first to the puck tomorrow and play the way we know we can play.”

“We need the support from the people of Nottingham, we need people to come down, cheer us on and get behind the lads because this tie is far from over.”

Tickets for tomorrow’s big clash are still available to buy from the Arena Box Office. We strongly recommend you purchase in advance using the hotline, thus avoiding any possible queues on the day.

Ticket Prices:

Adults £5.00
Children (Under 16) & OAP’s £3.00
Students (with NUS Card) £2.50
Panthers Season Ticket Holders (must show Panthers Season Ticket) £3.00

Tickets are available in advance from the Arena Box Office or via the Arena Ticket Hotline – 0843 373 3000.

Game Stats:

Jack Clarkson 2+1, Joe Wightman 2+1, Chris Colegate 0+3, Ciaran Quinn 0+2

Period Scores: 1st 1-1, 2nd 4-2, 3rd 2-1.

Shots: 63-35.

Lions MOTM – Jack Clarkson.

Lions End Regular Season With Defeat

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Nottingham Lions 4 Blackburn Hawks 7

The Nottingham Lions ended their 32-game regular season with a 7-4 loss to the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday night at the National Ice Centre.

Goals from Gareth O’Flaherty, Nicky Balchin and brothers, Michael and Danny Rose were not enough to prevent the Lancashire outfit taking the points as they marched towards the play-offs.

Michael Rose - penalty shot goal.

With the Lions’ fate already sealed 24 hours earlier, as a Coventry ENL Blaze win condemned Nottingham to a two-legged relegation play-off and the Hawks having already qualified for the play-offs, this game had and real end-of-season feel to it with plenty of open play and lots of chances at both ends.

Blackburn’s Finnish import, Sami Narkia put the Hawks in front after four minutes, only for O’Flaherty to equalise two minutes later.

David Meikle gave the visitors the edge at the end of the first period, scoring with eight minutes to go.

At the start of the second, Blackburn looked to be in the driving seat, Jordan Bannon grabbed his first of three on the night before Narkia scored his second with seven minutes gone.

The Lions didn’t let their heads drop and fought their way back into the game thanks to goals from Balchin and then Danny Rose on the power play.

Meikle restored the Blackburn’s two goal advantage, before a penalty shot, coolly slotted past Hawks’ goalie Stuart Ashton by Michael Rose, again reduced the Lions’ deficit heading into the third.

Once again the Lions out-shot their opponents in the final period but couldn’t make that pressure count. Bannon completed his hat-trick with two goals. The first eight minutes in and the second putting a Lions comeback to bed, with three minutes remaining.

Marcus Maynard takes on the Hawks' Jordan Bannon.

LionsTV has post-game interviews with Matt Bradbury and Cameron Good as well as Blackburn’s Danny Brittle and Jordan Bannon – click on the link on the top of your page to watch them.

All thoughts in the Lions’ camp now turn to the two relegation play-off games with local rivals Sutton Sting. Game dates and times are to be confirmed, so keep an eye on nottinghamlionsenl.com for further updates.

Game Stats:

Danny Rose 1+1, Michael Rose 1+1, Gareth O’Flaherty 1+0, Nicky Balchin 1+0, Joe Wightman 0+2, Jack Clarkson 0+1, Marcus Maynard 0+1.

Period Scores: 1st 1-2, 2nd 3-3, 3rd 0-2.

Penalty Mins: 1st 4-4, 2nd 0-4, 3rd 2-2. Total 6-10.

Shots: 1st 11-8, 2nd 17-12, 3rd 17-15. Total 45-33.

Lions MOTM: Cameron Good.

Hawks Edge The Lions

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Nottingham Lions 0 Blackburn Hawks 3

The Nottingham Lions were shut out at home for the first time this season as they went down by three goals to the Blackburn Hawks on Sunday evening.

The biggest crowd of the season at the National Ice Centre were hoping for a night of entertaining hockey, with the Lions looking for points to avoid a potential relegation play-off and the Hawks still within touching distance of first placed Billingham Stars.

Alas, the end-to-end, free-flowing play expected, never materialised as Referee, Rick Adams took centre stage by dishing out a total of 134 penalty minutes between the two sides, making 5-on-5 hockey something of rarity over the sixty minutes.

A scoreless first period saw Nottingham out-shoot Blackburn, 17 to 12, but they couldn’t find a way past Hawks goalie Danny Brittle, who was in fine form.

From thereon in, it was penalties and power plays that decided the outcome of the game, as a great many of Referee, Adams’ calls left both benches scratching their heads in bewilderment and leaving the players on the ice, massively frustrated.

Richard Hughes broke the deadlock with a penalty shot goal just before the half hour, despite Lions protests that Hughes was not in full control of the puck when he was brought down on his way to goal.

Chris Arnone got Blackburn’s second on the power play, two minutes later.

As play continued, numerous scuffles broke out in front of both creases resulting in a string of roughing penalties for both sides, and culminated in Hawks’ Jordan Bannon being thrown out of the game for abuse of an official with three minutes to go in the second and Lions’ Jonny Bell being ejected for cross-checking with nine minutes of the game remaining.

Hawks player-coach Jared Owen effectively ended the game as a contest with five minutes left on the clock, scoring Blackburn’s third on another power play.

The Lions now have just one more game remaining to pick up points to potentially lift them out of the relegation play-off place in ENL Divsion 1 North. Rivals, Coventry have two games left and Matt Bradbury’s men will be hoping that Blackburn can claim the two points at the Skydome next Saturday before retuning to the NIC on Sunday (18th March – 7.15pm) for a second game against the Lions in eight days.

Don’t forget, you can watch post-game interviews with Lions’ Matt Bradbury and Alan Levers as well as Blackburn’s Jared Owen and Danny Brittle on LionsTV – our official online TV channel.

Game Stats:

Period Scores: 1st 0-0, 2nd 0-2, 3rd 0-1.

Shots: 1st 17-12, 2nd 15-13, 3rd 9-15. Total 42-40.

Penalty Mins: 1st 2-16, 2nd 16-37, 3rd 59-4. Total 77-57.

Lions MOTM: Alan Levers.

Lions Maul Metros

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Trafford Metros 2 Nottingham Lions 5

Four goals from Joe Wightman and one from Gareth O’Flaherty helped the Lions to a deserved 5-2 victory over the Trafford Metros at Altrincham Ice Dome on Saturday evening.

In one of their best performances of the season, Nottingham dominated the game with some controlled passing and decisive finishing, whilst Trafford spurned the majority of chances that did fall their way.

Wightman grabbed his first after six minutes, combining well with Nick Whyatt to fire past Metros goalie Dave Clancy.

Trafford found Lions netminder Richard Griffiths in fine form from the off, as he tipped a Jamie Rogerson shot onto the post six minutes later, but he couldn’t prevent Max Drakeley equalising with seven remaining in the first period.

four goal hero - Joe Wightman

Wightman put Nottingham back in front within three minutes of the start of the second period before Michael Rose got a good few more punches in than his opponent John Murray after the pair dropped their gloves on the half-hour mark.

A prolonged Lions attack on Clancy’s goal then followed, Gareth O’Flaherty finally slotting home with twenty seconds left to give Nottingham a two goal cushion going into the third.

Wightman completed his hat-trick after three minutes of the restart before getting his fourth of the night ten minutes later.

Metros’ Sean Day scored what was only ever going to be a consolation goal with six minutes remaining before referee Dave Emmerson was kept busy, dishing out a plethora of penalties after a line brawl in the dying seconds of the game.

Post-game interviews with Man of the Match Joe Wightman and Head Coach Matt Bradbury are available to watch on LionsTV – the Lions’ online TV channel.

Nottingham now have two more games left to pick-up more points in the hope of avoiding the uncertainty of a relegation play-off against the runners-up in Division 2. Both games are at home against the Blackburn Hawks and the first is this Sunday (11th March) with a 7.15pm face-off at the National Ice Centre.

Game Stats:

Joe Wightman 4+1, Gareth O’Flaherty 1+0, Jack Clarkson 0+3, Nick Whyatt 0+2.

Period Scores: 1st 1-1, 2nd 0-2, 3rd 1-2.

Shots: 1st 12-6, 2nd 11-13, 3rd 12-11. Total 35-30.

Penalty Mins: 1st 0-0, 2nd 4-6, 3rd 40-12. Total 44-18.

Lions MOTM: Joe Wightman.