THE IW under 18 Wildcats ice hockey team made the trip to Lee Valley for a top of the table clash.
The game was even more important as it would be for double points, and the Wildcats could not have had a much better start to the season with their only loss being two weeks earlier to a very strong Cardiff side.
In the first period the hosts pressurised the Wildcats net from the whistle, leaving the Island side to look for counter-attacks. That was what they did after nine minutes when a poor pass in the Lee Valley offensive zone allowed Aidan Doughty to break clear with Sophie Herbert and Ben Thomas-Hart in support.
Doughty found space to thread the pass to Thomas-Hart whose shot was steered in by captain Herbert. The goal was against the run of play but was exactly what the Wildcats needed, and they carried the advantage to the interval.
The second period started where the first one finished with Lee Valley putting the Isle of Wight under a lot of early pressure. The defenceman of George Smith, James McClellan, Connor Price and Luke Bontoft did however stand very firm with the support of Weller in the nets who was stopping everything that was thrown at him.
But the pressure finally paid off when a scramble in front of goal allowed Lee Valley to score a well placed goal to draw the game level. The Wildcats then stepped up a gear and for the rest of the period were matching Lee Valley both physically and technically, and Jordan Ricketts was unlucky after he hit the bar with a sublime wrist shot.
With eight seconds of the period remaining Price picked up the puck deep in his own half and laid off a pass to Bontoft who immediately found Ricketts who used his power from the half way line to beat one player and with only two seconds remaining launched an unstoppable bullet which rifled into the top corner of the net to put Wildcats back in front.
Weller pulled off two excellent pad saves early on to deny a buoyant Lee Valley side, but midway through the half they once again drew level with a well worked goal.
Wildcats thought they had scored the winner. The puck went into the net and the referee signaled for a goal. A quick time out was immediately called by the coach to re-compose the team, but as this was happening the ref then skated to the scorer and signaled a ‘no goal’ saying that a player was in the crease. The poor decision left both sides level at 2-2.
Man of the Match: Daniel Weller.
Points: Jordan Ricketts 1+0, Sophie Herbert 1+0, Luke Bontoft 0+1, Ben Thomas-Hart 0+1, Connor Price 0+1, Aidan Doughty 0+1.
The next game is at home to Swindon tomorrow (Sat) followed by another home game on Sunday to local rivals Gosport. Face off for both games is 6.30pm with free entry.
