Nottingham Lions

[Nottingham Lions]

Apologies for not posting sooner, I've not been too well this weekend and as such updating The Cage has been the last thing on my mind!

That was an unexpected win to be honest! The Lions have, believe it or not, struggled to recruit this summer, and have only got 4 new signings, but what good signings they have turned out to be!!
We have signed Ciaran Quinn, a young defenceman who is going to be studying in Sheffield, coming from Dundee Stars Ciaran is going to be a solid no-nonsense D, and he's already fitted into the squad, despite having limited training due to still living in Scotland!
Returning to the Lions is Adam Radmall. 'Radders' has previously played for the Lions, and will be remembered for an awesome centre-circle shot against Invicta Dynamos in the EPL. Adam has had plenty of Elite and EPL experience, most recently with Milton Keynes Lightning.
Forward Keiren De'Ath comes from Peterborough Islanders, and played in the National League Finals against the Lions a couple of seasons ago. A small forward, he has quick hands and a turn of speed, so should fit in well with the quick-passing Lions team. Initially signed as a spare forward, he may not see regular ice time in the start of the season.
The final new signing is Ben Wilson, who returns to the Lions after spells with Sutton in the ENL, and also Sheffield Scimitars.

Lions will also have Josh Ward on a 2-way deal with the Panthers, and will also regularly be playing Under-18's Tom Soar, Will Weldon & Callum Bowley.

For those that haven't seen it on the Lions site - this years roster:
(Numbers subject to change!)
02 Ben Foster-Wilson
03 Marcus Maynard A
04 Mark Corfield
06 Ciaran Quinn
07 Chris Colegate C
08 Daniel Taylor
09 Josh Ward
10 Kieren De’Ath
11 Nick Whyatt
12 Adam Robinson
14 Callum Bowley
15 Stewart Bliss
16 Tom Soar
17 Will Weldon
18 Gareth O’Flaherty
20 Joe Wightman A
21 Adam Radmall
23 Robert Ferrara
25 Ben Bliss
30 Richard Griffiths N/M
31 Alan Levers N/M

Coach: Martyn Etheridge
Managers: Richard Blount & Jan Lachowicz

[Nottingham Lions]

Final Score Sheffield Spartans 3 Nottingham Lions 0.

Man of the Match was Adam Robinson.

[whiskey1]

Looking forward to the game against Whitley on the 3rd Oct.

Panthers are away in Belfast that weekend so Panthers fans have no excuses not to get their asses along to see the mighty Warriors give the Lions another stuffing! ;D

Seriously though it was a good night of hockey last time I went along and perfect for those who want to get a hockey fix that weekend.

[pantherinmanc]

Sept 13, 2010 18:31:37 GMT whiskey1 said:

Panthers are away in Belfast that weekend so Panthers fans have no excuses

Can we use the excuse of being in Belfast... ?

;-)

[whiskey1]

Suppose I can let you off with that one. Apart from that though...

Whitley bring a few down for their away games and they're a loud bunch...wouldn't want to see them drowning out Lions again!

[Nottingham Lions]

Result last night Telford 5 Lions 4.
Goals from Gareth O'Flaherty, Will Weldon, Adam Robinson & Chris Colegate.
MoM for Lions was Adam Radmall.

Lions started well but it was the Titans who scored first, and were 2-0 up at the end of the first. Lions pulled 1 back in the 2nd to be behind 2-1 but it was soon 3-1 before the 2nd ended wtih the Titans leading 4-2. Two quick goals at the start of the 3rd pulled it back to 4-4 but another sloppy goal put the home side back in the lead, and despite pulling Alan Levers for the last few mins when the Lions were on the PP we just couldn't get past Titans Ben Hunt.

Something is not quite right with the Lions at the moment, but it's hard to pin down exactly what it is.. From the Newcastle game it'd been around 93 minutes before we scored another goal - we have the firepower, but it's just not gelling yet!
It could be that we're still players short at training.. Not all the University players are back yet (although most move to Uni during the next week).
There are positives, the "kid line" of Will Weldon, Tom Soar and Callum Bowley are playing very well, and Josh Ward fitted in well last night.
The lines were mixed around, tactics changed and at one point we had Nick Whyatt as an extra forward - and he played so much better this week than he did against Sheffield!

The League table is not pretty at the moment, we're currently in 7th - a place we haven't been for ages!! But the season is still early.

Next Sunday sees us play at home for the first time, against Coventry Blaze, face off 7.40.

[Nottingham Lions]

Sunday night sees us open at home, against Coventry Blaze.

Hopefully we can pick ourselves up from the two disappointing defeats and that the game on Sunday will be a good one. It should see the new players making their home debuts, and although we have some niggling injuries already they shouldn't prevent anyone playing - and I will have an update after training tonight.

So, as there's no Panthers game at all, if you've got a couple of quid to spare and have been thinking of checking out the Lions then feel free to pop along on Sunday!
Face off 19:40 on the Olympic pad, costs £5 adults, £4 concessions & £3 U16.

[Shaggy]

Just noticed that we've not actually posted last night's result yet!

Unfortunately, we lost 6-4... dominated the 1st period, but Coventry got better (and the Lions lost their way a bit) in the 2nd and 3rd.
I didn't see all that much of the game, doing this and that as usual, so will have to rely on others to give an objective view of it all.

Oh, and I would just like to thank Charlotte and Daryl, two of the new volunteer stewards, for helping out and making things a LOT easier to handle! We're trying to run things a little more professionally on match nights now, and they helped a lot.

Next Sunday sees the first visit this season of Whitley... always a tough test. Can the Lions beat them? - Yes, definitely. Will they need to step it up a gear or two from last night? Also... yes, definitely!
Could be a good one, could be a rough one... will surely be a tough one. Sunday 3rd October, 7:30 face-off in the Olympic Rink. Be there or be.... well, not!

[bez67]

This game can be summed up by the period scores really, 2-0/1-2/1-4, plus the Blaze only got 2 shots on goal in the first period. After the first they upped their game and swamped the Lions for long periods. The game changer was when Josh Nicholls saved the penalty shot, I think it was 3-3 then and after the Lions wilted until they got it together again for the last 5 minutes but is was all over by then.

I like the way the Blaze are playing this year, they have a lot more about them now and have a deeper bench than I seen before. The Lions are a strong side but it's just not working for them at the moment, there's a couple of individuals that played like individuals last night and the the Lions are going to have a job on their hands if they are going to stop the Warriors, they are flying at the moment, 21 goals and 4 points against Sheffield at the weekend.

The ENL seems to have a different look this season which is good.

[Outlaw]

Excellent game last night against the Warriors with the Lions going down 3-1 after conceding 3 late goals.
Good game though and can't begrudge a fiver to watch it.
6 of us made the trip, with 3 driving from Leicester for the game.
Thought there might have been a few more there last night who could not get over to Belfast, but turnout still seemed low.

[Nottingham Lions]

The crowd last night was actually quite a good one, can't remember the exact number through the door however.

That was a much better performance from the Lions.. I think we're getting there, it's slow but we are.

We held off the Warriors for 53 mins - Alan Levers stopping everything that they threw at him, and we had a chance in the 2nd where Flavell scooped the puck out of the crease - it was going across the line! And Joe Wightman had a shot ping off the post! As usuall Flavell was top class and definately kept the Warriors in it - we should have been 4 or 5 up at the end of the 2nd!

The Lions conceeded 2 goals from a couple of errors - not sure how but maybe we were just tired.

I'm not sure if it's something mentally stoppnig the Lions playing to their potential - after all there's not been that many changes to the team. We are running with a shorter bench this year - the team that played against Coventry last weekend, and against Whitley last night is it! There's no players waiting in the wings as there were last season.

Last season, a 3-1 loss to the Warriors would have been a disappointment and a setback, this season it's a positive.

We have Coventry 3 times before the end of October, as well as Telford home & Blackburn away... the next 4 weeks are going to be crucial to determine what will happen to the Lions in the rest of the season.

[bealybong]

To All Nottingham Lions fans

If your not coming down to the dome saturday to see the Lions V Blaze game, feel free to take advantage of our free Ustreaming of the game complete with commentary

www.ustream.tv/channel/scorched-ice-tv

Im just going to apologise now,just incase, we are using a wireless service for this so we get a lag on the video. If the feed goes down well do our best to get it back up ASAP.

If you miss anything later in the week highlights will be on our youtube channel

www.youtube.com/scorchedicetv.

[Nottingham Lions]

Final score from ENL Blaze - Lions was 5-10.

Period scores 1-3, 2-2, 2-5.

Blaze had Selwood thrown out after just 6 mins on a 2+10 for Checking from Behind, then another 10 for arguing with Evans. Lions were 5-1 ahead at one point before the Blaze pulled it back to 5-5.
Then with about 8 mins left there was a bit of a scramble in front of the net and Pease and Nichols having a go at Weldon & Colegate - ended up with Pease getting 2+5+Game for Roughing and goalie Nichols getting Match for Roughing (that was changed to Travesty) meaning the Blaze played the final 8 mins shorthanded - the Lions scoring 4 more goals.

A much better performance from the Lions, and hopefully we've done enough to put the bad games behind us.

[Nottingham Lions]

Final Score Lions 14 Telford 2.

Telford's Dave Fielder got a Match pen at the end of the 1st after an off-ice incident involving some of the Telford players and the Lions coach & goalie - Lions were already leading 4-0 at this point and Simon Harrison had already got 2x10 mins.

Total pens were 12 on the Lions, 79 on Telford.

Lions scored 7 PP goals, and all 5 2nd period goals were on the PP.

Man of the Match awards went to Lions Adam Radmall (playing his last Lions game before his move back to EPL) & Titans Ryan Stanton.

[Nottingham Lions]

Defenceman Adam Radmall has left the Lions to move to Sheffield Steeldogs in the EPL.

Adam will be missed at the Lions - although we haven't had the best starts, he's been a calming influence on our defence and will be sorely missed.

We'd like to wish Adam the best of luck - even in Sheffield!

[Roxie]

Hi - wondered if someone could tell me if the Lions still playing at home tonight?

[Shaggy]

Oct 17, 2010 9:48:07 GMT Roxie said:

Hi - wondered if someone could tell me if the Lions still playing at home tonight?

No games at all for the Lions this weekend... we're back next Sunday, hosting the Coventry ENL Blaze (and we want payback! ;D)

Fixtures are here:-
nottinghamlions.com/site/?page_id=160

[Roxie]

Thanks Shaggy - next week it is then

[BlackburnHawk]

I went to watch the Lions last night.....3rd time this season ! I have to say that all 3 games I've seen have been very entertaining. If anyone's thinking of ever going to watch the Lions.....don't think, just go !!! I can't imagine anyone who has any sort of liking for this great game of ice hockey coming away disappointed.

For the record, Lions beat Blaze 2 - 1, and it really was a thriller.

And, no, I'm not being given a back-hander to say all these nice things about my Lions match night experiences !!!

Ironically, their next home game is on Sunday 7th November, against Blackburn Hawks. I'm afraid I'll have to support my 'native' team !

[Nottingham Lions]

Lions continued their good run of form in Coventry last night as they beat Coventry Blaze 3-2.

First period ended 0-0, 2nd Lions were up by 2 with goals from Tom Soar & Joe Wightman. Last period was tense as the Blaze pulled it back to 2-2 but Callum Bowley stepped up to score a blistering Game-winner on the powerplay.

Young Daniel Rose made his Lions debut last night, and fitted into the side really well. He's the first of a few under-18's we have who have now turned 16 and are old enough to play senior hockey.

Blaine Evans was the ref, and even for him the calls were interesting...! Thats the series ended now against the Blaze, and the Lions take it 3-1.

Next weekend sees us back on home ice, we face the Blackburn Hawks - who lost to Telford 5-4 last night after being 3-0 up.

[icebandit]

Hi

Are kids (under 10's) free to come and watch ?

Cheers

[Shaggy]

Nov 7, 2010 17:11:39 GMT icebandit said:

Hi

Are kids (under 10's) free to come and watch ?

Cheers

Sorry, icebandit... didn't see this before the game.
Kids get in to Lions games for £3.

[Shaggy]

A very good win tonight for the Lions, beating Blackburn Hawks 9-4!
I was expecting a much closer scoreline than this, as Blackburn are no pushovers... but we went 6-0 up, and even though we faltered a bit at times after that, they never even got close.
No idea for most of the scorers (as usual, only saw bits of the game) but one was a blistering short-handed breakaway score by Gareth O'Flaherty... beautiful to watch.

Apologies to the person who PM'd me asking for updates... unfortunately, none of us was able to post period scores on the Cage from the rink!

[Nottingham Lions]

For those that want score updates - we can't always update the Cage during the game, but we do update our Twitter feed with end of period scores - follow @nottinghamlions for updates!

[Nottingham Lions]

Lions faced Sheffield Spartans at IceSheffield tonight and came away with an 8-2 win - our first win in Sheffield for a couple of seasons!
I'm away so wasn't at the game, however I'm sure that Luke will be along later to update with scorers.