Following the two week Christmas break the Fire were back in action last Sunday against last seasons runners up the Basingstoke Buffalo.
Fire started brightly and missed two opportunities to go ahead in the very first shift of the game. But, it was Basingstoke who took the lead after 11mins of play. Fire looked rusty and had to dig deep as Basingstoke now had their backs up. It wasn’t until 16mins into the first that things started to click, and click they certainly did. Sam Smith scored his first goal for the Fire driving the back post, following a nice play by Tamas Elias and Jackson Price. It took exactly 30 seconds for Sam Smith to score again, picking up a pass from Dan Self, Sam skated the length of the ice and fired a rocket of a shot beating Calder from just wide of the hash marks. Fire kept going but took a hooking penalty with just 2 1/5 mins to go in the first. Tamas Elias working hard to turn the puck over on the penalty kill managed to force a chance for himself in front of net, putting the puck away on his own rebound. Period ended 3-1 to the Fire.
The 2nd period Buffalo started on the defensive and it took Fire 14 mins to score the 4th of the night, this time through the impressive Robert Sedlak. By the end of the 2nd period Basingstoke had only managed 12 shots on net, with Fire racking up 23 shots. It was Ellis Sheppard who opened the scoring for the 3rd period, picking up a back pass from Alan Armour, Elis skated from his own blue line as the ice opened up for him, Elis ruffled a hard shot straight past Calder making the score 5-1 to the Fire. Basingstoke did get another goal through the experienced Greg Martin. Fire didn’t leave it there though and in the last 9mins of the game two further goals from Jordan Powell and a lovely solo effort from David Sadler put the game to bed. 10 wins in a row for the Fire.
A nice 7-2 win for the Fire easing ourselves back into league action following the Christmas break. Next up for Fire is cup competition against the famous London Racers at home Sat 21st Jan, followed by an road game against a resurgent Swindon Wildcats team on the 22nd.
Sam Smith 2+0
robert Sedlak 1+1
Tamas Elias 1+1
Jordan Powell 1+0
David Sadler 1+0
Elis Sheppard 1+0
Alan Armour 0+1
Dan Self 0+1
Sam Bryant 0+1
Jackson Price 0+1
MOM Sam Smith
