Lady Bulls vs Cubs (Game Updates)

0:00-5:00 – Cubs have sustained pressure but, the Bulls defense is resilient and Samantha Fleming has made a couple of nice saves, scoreless thus far. Cubs are missing their big offensive threat in Martina Palaskova. Lady Bulls are without Catherine O’Reilly.

5:00-10:00 – Jana Gerkina finishes a nice solo effort beating Flemming short side at 8:35. Rebecca Callan has a chance on a breakaway, Rebekah Burke stands her ground. There is a lottle more flow to the game now as the teams begin to loosen up.

10:00-15:00 – Cubs have a couple of chances to pull away but, Flemming makes a couple of nice saves on Celia Robillard, Anne Whipple, and Jana Gerkina. The teams head into the break 1-0. Rough estimate on the shots would be 13-2 in favor of the Cubs.

15:00-20:00 – Cubs extend their lead on a point shot from Dagmar Palaskakova. Bulls still unable to find their stride. Callan’s chance still there best chance.

20:00-25:00 -Flemming makes a couple solid stops and the Cubs look to pour it on.

25:00-30:00 – Bulls have some fight and despite a couple of good chances they come away empty handed. Anne whipple extends the lead to three. Head into the break 3-0 Cubs.

30:00-35:00 – Rebecca Callan beats Gabby at the blue line and wires one under the pad of Burke. Bulls turn it up and and Burke has to be sharp.

35:00-40:00 – Fleming takes a Gerkina rocket and stands her ground. Nice save! Game has a lot more end to end now.

40:00-45:00 – Bulls taking on a bit of pressure but the defense is holding their ground. Jana pots her second on a nice back hand after a nice move across the top of the zone.

45:00-50:00 – Cubs looking to close this one out up 4-1. Time ticking down on the Bulls who have been much stronger in the later stages of the game. Jana grabs her hattrick in the dying minutes. Good effort by both teams, Cubs full value for he win.

The Hellenic Ice Sports Federation informed that they will not be able to host the tournament in Athens by the last deadline on January 31 after problems with government funding.

Subject to the participation of the four involved teams – Luxembourg, Greece, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates – the tournament will take place in Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg, April 13-16 with minimal changes in the previous schedule.

Article taken from www.iihf.com.

The Flyers take on the Bulls on Saturday night (8pm) while the Chiefs are to take on the Spartans (6pm) on Sunday. Since there hasn’t been a game since early December there is no real clear way to know how the teams will shake off the winter’s rust.

Flyers have benefitted from the Rams departure picking up Brad Heraghty, Brent Trull, and goalie Sean Gibson to replace the departed Seanna Conway. Mark Renyolds has also left the Spartans to join up with the Dublin based Flyers.

They will be looking to play the Dundalk Bulls who have lost backup goalie Sean Pepper while signing Gareth Roberts from the Spartans. Expect this game to be a feisty affair and entertaining no matter the amount of rust.

While on Monday the Chiefs have been steadily competing in the Celtic Cup however without much in the way of recent success losing their last four games. The Chiefs have signed Sean Pepper as a backup goalie and it is expected that he will see some action in the Irish League.

The Spartans have been in disarray since late November and finally have committed to completing the season. Noticeable loses include Gareth Roberts and Mark Reynolds.  However, the Spartans have signed ex-Rams; David Clarke, James Diver, and the pesky Aaron Cuskeran.

This will be a physical affair and should be tightly contested but, the high flying Chiefs may have the edge as they have played regular hockey over the course of the long break.

Recreational Division

There are three matches slated in the recreational division this Sunday with the Blackrock Whalers in search of their first win against the Ice Breakers at 9:30pm. The follow-up sees the BlackHawks take on the Whalers. The Black Hawks will be looking to keep their lead a top the table while the Whalers will be looking to move out of 5^th place. This game is scheduled for 10:45pm. The last game of the night is expected to be a cracker with the Hawks ‘B’ taking on the Bulls ‘B’. Both teams are realitively even in the standings and could come down to goaltending. The Bulls ‘B’ have yet to find a suitable replacement for the departed Sean Pepper while Andres Maisaks has been solid all season long. This game faces off Monday night at 11pm.

Development Division

This Monday see’s the battle for top spot and a battle for a first win. In the 8:30pm game the Flyers ‘B’ look to extend their lead atop the DD standings while the well-rested Raiders look to defeat their division rivals. In the second game the Cubs look to do battle with the Lady Bulls in the first encounter between these two teams. The Cubs will be licking their wounds after a 5-1 loss at the hands of the Vixens while the Lady Bulls look to get into the win column themselves. Expect the later to be the game of the night. This game gets under way at 9:45pm.

Look to see you out this weekend.

This was the statement released by the Greek Ice Hockey Website earlier this week, “Following the meeting of the IIHF council earlier today it was decided to cancel the World Championship Div.III for the season 2010. It’s the first time in the IIHF history that a World Championship gets cancelled 2 months before the drop of the puck. Also any sanctions against the Hellenic Ice Sport Federation according IIHF Bylaws and Regulations will be discussed and decided by the Council in their meeting in March 2010.”

Though there have been rumours liked to the UAE and Ireland to host the division, it would be highly unlikely that teams could organise the four team tournament and a completely different thing to organise travel at such short notice. IIHL.ie will endeavour to uncover any additional news as it unfolds. It is unfortunate for those who were trying out for the National team but, maybe this will allow the powers to focus their efforts on a successful U-18 Campaign, Development,  and the IIHL.

The Lady Bulls Caoimhe Lynch who was under siege most of the game made an impressive 30 saves in the loss while Rebecca Callan’s second period goal broke Emmet Dowlings shutout bid.

With the win the Flyers take over top spot in the IIHL Development Division with a big top of the table clash against the Raiders next monday night, while the Lady Bulls take on the Cubs and both of these teams will be looking to find their way into the win column.

After a tentative opening to the game, with action at both ends the Vixens made the first break through at the 8:05 mark of the first period when Dorinda Foot got a breakaway and buried it between the legs of the Cubs goalie.

The Cubs would come close to equalising a couple minutes later as a goal mouth scramble saw Vixens goalie Sarah McFarland make a series of saves in close thwarting the efforts of the Cub’s Jana Gerkina and Martina Petrvsova.  Just four minutes after their first goal, Foot was send on another partial break away and managed to bury her second of the game and take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Vixens started the second period down a player as Foot found herself in the box for a cross-check in front of the Cubs bench. But, the Cubs were unable to capitalise through the efforts of the Vixen’s defence. Kate Morrison, Claire Adams, and Erica Murphy all were putting their bodies on the line to block shots while Mcfarland stood tall.

The second period was closely played with the Cubs having nine shots on goal while the Vixens managed just four. The period would remain scoreless and the Ice Vixens held to their 2-0 lead going into the third period.

The Ice Vixens would get a power play in the early stages of the third period and with seven seconds remaining in the man advantage, Elaine McCann’s point shot found the way to goal to mark her first goal of the season. The Vixens were not done there as just three minutes later at 6:11 of the third Jade McCrainor would fire home a shot from a tight angle for her third goal of the season.

Sarah Mcfarland would be called upon to make the save of the night robbing Jana Gerkina’s top corner effort in close preserving the 4-0 lead midway through the period.

Dorinda Foot would finish off her hat-trick and the Vixen’s scoring at the 13:21 mark of the third scoring on another breakaway putting the game out of touch.

The Cubs would get a goal back with just 41 seconds remaining when, Martina Petrvsova grabbed a goal on a late Cubs power-play. The final whistle sounded and the Ice Vixens skated to a gritty 5-1 win.

Look for next weeks IIHL preview.

In the second game the Ice Breakers got into the win column with a hard fought 3-1 victory over the Whalers. While on MOnday night the Blackhawks skated to an impressive 4-1 win over the Bulls ‘B’. This takes the Hawks B and Blackhawks to a joint lead at the top of the standings.

January 24 Blackrock Whalers 2 – 9 Hawks B
January 24 Whalers 1 – 3 IceBreakers
January 25 Bulls B 1 – 4 Blackhawks

Development Division
In the Development Division both the Flyers B and Raiders romped to convincing victories over the Ice Vixens and Lady Bulls respectively.

January 25 Flyers B 10 – 0 Ice Vixens
January 25 Lady Bulls 1 – 12 Raiders

U18s 7 – Lady Bulls 1 after two periods.

U18s 4 – Lady Bulls 1 at the end of one period.