Last Saturday saw Vipers travel to Hull to play against Kingston's 'B' team!!! Oh yes, do not forget that Kingston have a premier team. However, as Vipers only play in Division 1, we play against their second team, the development team. We travelled as a focussed and concentrated merry bunch, although we were upset for the noticeable absent of 3 regular starting players of the team (Cookie and Jade were still in prison completing their sentences for being overeager at England training camp) and poor little Michaela Rose really isn’t too well at the moment. (We wish you a speedy recovery oh glittery one!).
It was some of the girls first ever visit to Hull ice rink. We thank all the supporters who made the trip also; your support was greatly appreciated. The first period was probably Vipers' worst. Not that we played too badly. We just didn't make too many decent scoring chances. However, we defended well. We killed off penalties like a well-oiled unit. Goalie (I can't call you Spazzie B in a match report) made some great saves and grew noticeably in confidence. We didn't give them too many really good scoring opportunities. Only one opportunity that Kingston player number 35 created through some great stick handling was finished by the same player as she got the better of Kerryanne. We weren't deflated - far from it. Heads did not go down. Spirits did not fall. Coach was pleased. No yelling today.
The second period started well. An early penalty for the home team saw Vipers on the power play and create some chances of their own. Although they didn't manage to convert on the power play, shortly afterwards a chance was converted as some nice heads up play by the defensive pairing of Kerry and Laura put Anna in down low. Taking it round the back of the net, she circled and with some good traffic in front by Laura and Hanna, and the goalie didn't see the puck. Game tied. Game on. Clearly today I am going for short sentences in this report. Short. Snappy. Direct. No flowery, eloquent passages. Not today. This was not a flowery game. This was hard work. Defensively once again we were strong. Kerryanne's glove save - did anyone catch that on camera? A thing of beauty. Some impressive stops for a goalie playing only her third game in net!!
Game tied 1-1. Kingston B not having it quite their own way. However, they still found the ability to laugh at us. Not quite sure why they were laughing. They weren't exactly playing like pro-hockey players. To be fair, I wasn't expecting them to play anything like their premier team, for example. Start of the third period saw a change in the Kingston net minder - according to the game sheet this too was number 35! A fairly even third period had chances both ways. Vipers actually outshot the Kingston team in the third period. However, despite some loose pucks around the goal on several occasions, they were unable to convert. Kingston on the other hand with 7 minutes left to play found the back of the net again as they finished off a bit of a goal mouth scramble. As Vipers tried to get the game tied and be more offensive, again player 35 managed to break through the defence to round off her hat-trick as she was assisted for the second time by player 11. This was how the game ended. A 3-1 loss to the Vipers is not what we would have wanted. Final shots on net were 32-26 in favour of the home team.
If you are interested player 35 goes by the name of Natalie Davies and 11 by the name of Holly Cornford. You may even have heard of them! These weren't the only 2 premier players that played that Saturday. The league allows them to do it. We probably would do it if we could. Fear not, I am not bitter. Holly I know - she's a nice girl and a good hockey player. I don't know Natalie, but I'm sure she's very nice too. I actually like the fact that they played. I would much rather play a team who played the best players at their disposal. Then we have the ability to judge ourselves. We have the motivation to see the difference in skill level and put it right in training. 3-1 isn't a bad result. Yet, we could have done better. I just don't like losing!!!
At the post-match press conferece JS told this reporter:
"I am very proud of the way the girls faced the task in front of them today. They should good spirit and determination. They listened to what I said on the bus and in the changing room. From here I know we can getter better and better. The sky is the limit, as they say, but the ambition is limitless."