Oxford Rising Stars 6 – 5 Haringey Huskies

Match Report by Ian Dibley

The home team started the better of two fairly evenly matched outfits. Theo Bundock had the Stars opening chance as he went coast to coast, without delivering the final product. Jacob Smith went close on two occasions. The visitors best chance in the early minutes falling to the hard-working Marton Szarz. It was no surprise when the hosts went in front, with Joe Edwards netting after good work by Chris Beckett and Smith. Oxford then started picking up penalties. Firstly, Ashlee Cave was called for cross checking and on the resulting advantage, Haringey equalised through Conner Smith, his shot flying past Oxford netminder Charlie Hanley form the blue line. Josh Oliver picked up a 2-minute penalty for roughing as did Robert Rejna for the Huskies. Benet Beldecos also picking up 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for Haringey. No sooner had the players returned then Stars Ciaran Wilson and Luke Martin for the Huskies were both called for roughing. This was quickly followed by Stars` Oliver returning to the sin bin, this time for tripping. With 3 minutes left in the period, Stars took the lead when Ed Crotty broke down the right wing, centered to Edwards who fired home from the hash marks.

The 2^nd period started with more penalties and as Cave sat a holding penalty Haringey equalised with the goal credited to Jaden Boolkah. The game was becoming more and more physical. This suited Haringey and they took the lead in the 27^th minute when Rejna scored, from the point. The game spilled over just before the half way mark as the referee called a cross-checking penalty on Haringeys Bryn Griffiths. After much deliberation, and the goalies playing their own game in the background, Stars Crotty received 2 minutes for fighting and defenceman Matt Hayward was ejected for the game for fighting. Penalties on Haringey saw Scott Anda take the roughing call, with Matt France ejected from the game for spearing and Martin called as instigator for 2 minutes and a 5+ game for fighting. From the resulting powerplay Bundock netted to tie the game up 3-3 at the end of the second stanza.

The 3^rd period started with an Oxford powerplay and it took 57 seconds for Josh Oliver to score, following good work by Bundock. 9 seconds later, and this time it was Bundock who received the pass from Wilson to open up a two-goal home advantage. Haringey did not lie down and following the pass of the game from Smith, Beldecos fired past Hanley. Just over a minute later Edwards restored the two-goal cushion with 9 minutes to go in the game. Haringey clawed a goal back on the 55-minute mark as Szarz got the goal he deserved for his efforts. Stars held on to the final buzzer to preserve their unbeaten home record for this season.