Coach angered by serious injury blows
Milton Keynes Lightning player coach Nick Poole left Romford an angry man after two of his players suffered serious injuries in the team's first league defeat of the season on Sunday.
Both Ales Parez and Greg Randall were taken to hospital where x-rays initially show the Czech sustained a separated shoulder while his team-mate appears to have a fractured leg in the 1-0 defeat.
Reflecting on the game on the Lightning website Poole said: "Despite the loss the most upsetting aspect of the game was the injuries that we have suffered. Greg got caught with his planted in the ice with a clean hit and looks to have suffered a broken tibia.
"Ales made a great hit on one player behind their net and was then jumped by a Romford bench warmer from behind. The most disappointing thing in British hockey is that a fellow sportsman can have such a lack of respect for their opponents."
The only goal of the game came when Danny Hammond set up Juraj Rusic after 1min 59secs and signalled the start of an onslaught on the Romford goal by Lightning as they outshot their hosts 19-7 in the first period.
By the first buzzer both Raiders' Norman Pinnington and Lightning's Kurt Irvine had been thrown out of the game following fisticuffs.
The Lightning pressure continued into the third period with the final shots on goal 44-14 in their favour. But despite that the city side could not find a way to beat netminder Geoff Woolhouse.
The previous day Lightning took another step towards English Premier League Cup semi final qualification with a 9-2 win over Chelmsford Chieftains after being given an early scare as the Essex side took the lead with a second minute powerplay goal from Kaupo Kaljuste.
A blue line rocket shot from Chris McEwen beat Chieftains goalie Andy Moffat on a delayed penalty to level the tallies after 12mins 39secs and Lightning went into the break one goal to the good when Gary Clarke's powerplay shot was spilled to Toni Alasaarela to score at 19mins 46secs.
Chieftains quickly got back on terms with a 22nd minute goal from Darren Cotton but Clarke netted the first of a hat-trick with a powerplay goal at 33mins 48secs to give Lightning the edge again.
A further powerplay effort – a Mikko Skinnari blue line blast - gave the home side a two goal cushion three minutes later and that signalled the start of a collapse by Chieftains.
Alasaarela's long up ice pass found Clarke to make it 5-2 after 43mins 12secs before a disastrous final ten minutes for Chieftains saw them concede four more times.
Alasaarela was able to pick his spot in the top of the goal after 51mins 54secs before he supplied Ales Parez on 54mins 40secs.
Clarke rounded off his hat-trick on 57mins 11secs with Alasaarela doing likewise at 57mins 59secs – although he was the most surprised player on the ice to see the puck go in – the final touch actually coming from Chieftains' Bari McKenzie who formerly played for Lightning!
Lightning v Chelmsford statistics:
Lightning scorers: Toni Alasaarela 3+4; Gary Clarke 3+3; Mikko Skinnari 1+1; Chris McEwen 1+0; Ales Parez 0+2; Kurt Irvine 0+2; Michael Wales 0+1.
Chelmsford scorers: Kaupo Kaljuste 1+0; Darren Cotton 1+0; Ratislav Palov 0+1; Euan Forsyth 0+1; Michael Timms 0+1; Tom Long 0+1.
Shots on goal: On Barry Hollyhead 33/2
On Andy Moffat 59/9
Romford v Lightning statistics:
Lightning scorers: None.
Romford scorers: Juraj Rusic 1+0; Danny Hammond 0+1.
Shots on goal: On Barry Hollyhead 14/1
On Geoff Woolhouse 44/0.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
