Swooping In:Out of Steam

As my main weekly dose of Hockey is going to be at Streatham from now on I have decoded to separate posts on the Redhawks in to a new category. Swooping In will from now on will be the section for posts on the Hawks. While Love Hockey Will Travel will cover games I attend in Basingstoke, Coventry and further afield.

Pre Game Thoughts

So my last trip to Streatham for a dose of hockey had been, against the Invicta Dynamos for a flash point filled bad tempered affair. In that game the Mo's had looked disorganized, and lacking in any strategy. So after seeing that the night before this Mo's side had pulled off the huge upset of beating Bracknell 5-1 I was looking forward to a better game. However the Mo's arrived in SW16 with only 1 and a half lines,mid week the team had lost import Adam Rehak, they would also be without Calum Fowler,Tom Long, Harrison Lillis and Mason Webster.

The short benched Dynamo's team were facing a fresh and rested Redhawks, who though missing Ryan Watt had called up Alec Goldstone from the Junior ranks to take his place in the line up. Invicta would need to dig deep and find something extra, as they had done the night before. 

1st Period

However in the first 12 seconds of the game, that something extra seemed to desert the Dynamo's. As the Redhawks broke in quickly cycling the puck to Michael Farn who would feed Ryan Webb who blasted it home for the opener. 1-0 Redhawks. One criticism that could be levelled at the Dynamo's last visit was the team never regrouped after conceding. Tonight that was different as the Dynamo's regrouped and soon would find themselves on the power play. Focussing on buzzing the net and getting in starting net minder Nate Gregory's space.  While Gregory seemed calm in the face of this, the Redhawks high energy offence, seemed to be throwing Dibble for a loop at the other end. As time after time he seemed to be struggling to see the puck and track his rebounds. Then the games tone took a bit of a shift as Ben Paynter blindsided Seb Downing. In the ensuing melee Paynter and Downing went 1 on 1 while Brendan Miles held Strawson at bay. 

The Dynamo's would convert the following power play, as a well organized unit quickly cycled the puck round. Finally Strawson fed Ryan Morgan who got the puck back to Ondrej Zosiak who would roof the puck over Gregory and tie the game 1-1. But shortly after the Redhawks would pull away again. A neutral zone turn over would lead to Ryan Webb collecting the puck, Andreas Siagris would break in and get a shot off, that was tipped in front by Adam Carr making it 2-1. 

2nd Period

The second period began with the Dynamo's on the back foot as they had 1:21 of PK to play. It looked like the Hawks had punished them within 55 seconds of the start of the period. As Jamie Hayes collected the puck off the cycle at the point and was given space to skate in from low. However it was just a couple of inches wide and wound up ruffling the outside of the net. However despite this the Dynamo's PK looked good and the team seemed to be more focussed and energetic than the Hawks. One bright spot of this was George Hoang who at one point found himself in 1 on 1 but he missed a step and fell. Yet still getting the shot away. 

But despite this new focus, Nate Gregory was withstanding everything the Dynamos could throw at him. Then just after the half way mark the Redhawks won a face off the puck escaped back to Joe Baird at the blue line, who skated in to space and fired towards the net, the puck would take a deflection of a Mo's player on the way in but it made it past Dibble and it was 3-1 Redhawks

In quick succession the Redhawks would look to kill off the game, as it was becoming apparent the short bench and the performance the night before had taken it out of the Dynamo's at this point. As Danny Rose and Alex Sampford combined in a game of tic tac toe, after a lapse in concentration lead to two Mo's defencemen colliding at the point. With only Dibble to defend the net the two passed back and forth drawing him out of place before Sampford fired home 4-1 Redhwaks. The period would end 4-1, with the Redhawks very much in control. 

3rd Period

The 3rd period would begin with a continuation of the Hawks dominance of the game, as Aidan Doughty found a way in from the boards after collecting the puck from Baird. Firing high it again found its way past Dibble and it was 5-1 Streatham. Shortly after this coach Parrish would use his time out,most likely just to get a breather for his exhausted players. Streatham would keep applying the pressure though, and the Dynamo's cause would not be helped by Brandon Webster taking a checking from behind penalty near the 46 minute mark. Though the penalty would be killed, the energy had been drained from the limited number of bodies on the bench as Webster would sit for 10. Eventually another defensive lapse would see Joe Allen fire the puck down low to Siagris who would find Adam Carr alone in the slot area who who put it away for 6-1.

It seemed that the Dynamo's were done at this point, however they still had some fight in them. With the Dynamo's attempting a break in Aiden Doughty would attempt a big hit, however despite knocking down Tom Ralph this was not enough to stop him giving the puck to Louis Colvin who would find Scott Bailey. Who would fire high in to the net beating Gregory to make it 6-2. 

It looked like the possibility of a late fight back would be on, as after successfully killing a penalty Ashley Jackson found himself with the puck upon exiting the penalty box in alone, with support from Bailey. Opting to pass cross ice than shoot Bailey couldn't beat Gregory to generate a 3rd goal. Combined with 2 Dynamo's delay of game penalties in the final minutes of the game meant that would be how it ended. 

Afterthoughts

Brendan Baird would collect man of the match for Streatham, one of many good choices from an overall good team performance. I felt Ryan Webb deserved a look in for this as well, as he not only scored one but generated plenty of offence, and was the one to step up and challenge Webster following the hit on Siagris. Siagris himself was another stand out to me, as whenever he got the puck he seemed to generate chances. But Baird had put in a solid performance at both ends of the ice all night and deserved it. 

John Dibble would get the beers for Invicta. Despite the 6-2 scoreline, John Dibble put in the best performance he could. He frustrated the Hawks offence as long as he could, and gave the Dynamo's a chance to try and claw things back. However in my opinion the whole Dynamo's team deserved the beers purely for putting on a performance that is not reflected in the scoreboard. As they were still doing all they could to generate offence and frustrating the Redhawks own forwards. However they just ran out of steam against the depth of Streatham

Streatham will look to keep the winning streak going next weekend, once again with no game on the Saturday the Redhawks will be well rested as they welcome the London Raiders to SW16. The Raiders should be a tougher opponent for the Redhawks as they have a fuller roster, and will be looking to bounce back from 2 defeats to ex epl sides. Though they did run Swindon very close they were shut out 6-0 by Bison on Sunday night. Having taken the last game in Streatham to a shootout and having taken the points the last time these two teams met the Raiders will be tough opposition.