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Rockets Find the going tough Vs Nottingham Cougars
27th Mar, 2008
Game against - Nottingham Cougars U16s at Nottingham Ice.
Sunday 23.03.08 FO 16.30 - 3x 15 minute Periods.
Rockets Find the Going Tough
Nottingham Cougars were crowned league champions on the 8th March when they beat Flintshire 23 - 0.
They have played 13 games with 13 wins - and most games they have won convincingly with 115 goals for and only 9 against.
A great credit to their players and coaches.
The last meeting in December produced a close game but the Cougars came away the winners 4-2.
Callum Taylor returns to the team after his broken toe injury but a crucial D man Dan Harrison is out due a knee strain sustained
at the last outing against Manchester Phoenix.
So the time had come for the Rockets to step up to the plate and see if they can beat the Cougars.
The Rockets knew that Nottingham were not prepared to roll over and were going to play hard to retain their unbeaten record.
The game started with a flurry of activity from the Cougars forward line.
Rushing the net and scoring no 1 goal after only 17 seconds.
Not the greatest start that the Rockets could have hoped for. This quick goal left all the team a little shell shocked .
The Cougars were on a high and managed to secure their second after another 71 seconds.
The Rockets backs were truly against the wall and had a fight on the hands to turn the game around.
Some very hard challenges from the Cougars were evident as they continued to control the game.
Andrew Whitehouse finished up eating ice after a strong cross check and one minute later Luke Brittle suffered a check from behind
with the Cougars player receiving 2 +10. The Rockets were not able to breach the Cougars D zone so did not take advantage
of four minutes of 5 on 4. They worked hard to hold the score line and at the end on the first period went in 2 goals down.
It could have been much worse.
The Cougars started the second period as strong as the first had finished the first.
At 18.18 the Cougars went 3 up. A slash from Luke Brittle at 19.28 put the Cougars on a power play and it took only
20 seconds for the Cougars to make it 4- not looking good for the Rockets as some heads begin to go down.
At 20.08 a tripping call on Dan Stathan put the Cougars on their second power play .
With the style and gritted determination the Cougars fifth came at 20.53.
A long awaited even handed goal from Luke Brittle at 21.14 gave some hope to the Rockets.
Net minder Ben Hunt who had taken 27 shots after 23 minutes but time had come for Nathan Craig to step between the pipes.
Two minutes from the end of the second period the Cougars go to 6 - game over all but the shouting.
Although most of the Rockets were giving 110% they still could not perpetrate the Cougars defence.
The third period saw the Cougars put another 5 goals passed the Rockets and the game ended 11 -1.
The Cougars had out shot and out played the Rockets showing that they were worthy champions of Div 1 North.
A day to forget by the Rockets and return to Telford for some hard training and reflect on how to continue the challenge for second place spot.
With 4 games left the Rockets need only 5 points - 3 of these game are with the bottom two teams Kingston and Newcastle
Our Next game is at Telford on 12th April against Kingston - FO 17.40
Game Result
Nottingham 11 Telford 1
Shots on goal Nottingham 10 Telford 46
PIMS Nottingham 26 Telford 8
Goals/Assists
Luke Brittle 1 + 0
SOG Luke Brittle
