Ice hockey Hargreaves so proud of Pitbulls after semi-final defeat
THE Bristol Pitbulls’ season came to an exhilarating end as they succumbed 4-3 in overtime in the play-off semi-finals against the Chelmsford Chieftains, but not before an incredible late comeback to get the game to OT.
The Pitbulls travelled to Milton Keynes missing Oli Endicott and Cain Russell, Mike Hargreaves remained away, while head coach Jamie Elson was also away with Great Britain Under-16s.
Tyler Perre made some big saves in the opening 20 minutes and faced nearly twice as many shots as opposition netminder Sonny Phillips, but Perre’s net was finally breached with just more than 17 minutes on the clock. With Sam Shone in the box, James Ayling worked the puck well down low and found Matt Turner in front and he bundled the puck home.
The Pitbulls grew into the game a bit more and had a long spell on the powerplay in the first five minutes of the second, but they failed to convert, and they found themselves down 2-0 after 40 minutes. Josh Shaw took two minor penalties meaning the Pitbulls were shorthanded. They conceded a penalty shot which Perre saved from Bartlett, but on the man advantage Bartlett got his revenge, sniping past Perre.
As time ticked away in the third, the task for the Pitbulls was getting tougher and tougher, then with less than six minutes to go it looked almost impossible. Stanislav Lascek found plenty of room in the offensive zone and beat Perre with Tom Asprey in the box and it looked like the game was done.
However, Bailey Chittock tripped Sam Smith and with 3:24 to play,
the Pitbulls got a powerplay goal courtesy of Jay Warren, who found the loose puck at the back door and slammed it home. Twenty seconds later, Steve Osman worked the puck back to the blue line, Joe Morris fired a blast at net which took a deflection and beat Phillips.
Chelmsford called their timeout but that didn’t stem the tide and Kieran Raynor found himself in the box with less than two minutes to play. Tyler Perre vacated the Pitbulls net with 61 seconds left. Time continued to tick off the clock until the Pitbulls found the equaliser with 9.6 seconds remaining. Sam Smith picked the puck up on the blue line, skated down low feeding
the puck to Elias, the puck was fed out in front and Steve Osman was credited with the goal, sending the travelling Pitbulls fans into raptures.
Unfortunately, the Pitbulls couldn’t complete the comeback and Chelmsford found the OT winner in the first minute of the threeon-three period.
Michal Korenko had a good shot saved by Perre, but the rebound fell straight to Cam Bartlett, who made no mistake from the low slot to win the game.
Richie Hargreaves ran the bench on Saturday, and he was proud of what he saw from the team on Saturday night.
He said “We have used the words togetherness and character a lot this season and none more so than Saturday, Unfortunately in sports, there has to be a loser.
“Saturday doesn’t define our season and what we have achieved in such a short space of time. I’m very proud of the way the players left it all out there and battled to the end. They are a young group who will no doubt bounce back and have their day again. The taste for success is there and will give the boys motivation and something to work harder for. I don’t think we could have done anymore or anything different, sometimes it’s just not your day.”