#guildfordflames

Ben Campbell’s winner was part of a trio of unanswered 2nd period goals that set up a 3 goal lead.  The Flames eventually widened the margin before a late reply closed the gap during a League and Cup opening 5-3 win over the visiting Milton Keynes Lightning.  

In the first action following a busy off season, the Flames penalty killers got a workout, including 2 men down on 2 separate occasions, but the side managed an Owen Fussey goal at 13:41 to take a lead that kept them no worse than tied all evening on the way to a 3-2 challenge win at Basingstoke Bison.   However, in the return visit to Spectrum 24 hours later, a 3 goal run against only a single reply in a little over 8 minutes during the 2nd period did most of the damage during a 6-2 defeat against the Hampshire outfit. 

  In the opener, Nicky Chinn pulled the Bison level near the midway mark of the evening, but Fussey’s 2nd in the 34th minute, shorthanded while Jez Lundin served a minor penalty, had Spectrum’s men back in front by a goal to start the 3rd.  Tom Duggan widened the margin little over a minute after the re-start, but the 2nd 5 on 3 Bison powerplay finally bore fruit with a Joe Rand goal to bring them within 1 at 48:07.  The Flames had their own 5 on 3 opportunity a few minutes later, but the Bison penalty killing unit were equal to the task before time wound down on the Flames opening win.  

  On Sunday, the Bison started the middle frame up a goal thanks to an early 1st period Andrew Melachrino marker.  His 2nd of the evening in the 24th minute doubled their advantage, which Ben Campbell cut back to a single shortly thereafter.  However, a shorthanded goal at 29:55 from Rand and a Kurt Reynolds powerplay success less than 2 minutes later had the Bison in command 4-1 with a period to play.  Tom Duggan pulled the home team to within a pair in the 47th minute, but any thoughts of a full reply were doused in the back half of the frame when a Rand strike on the powerplay was quickly followed by a Tomas Karpov goal that wrapped  up the evening’s scoring, and evened the weekend series at 1 apiece.

You can take the girl out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out o the girl. On Sunday January 20th Dave & I went with three friends to see the Guildford Flames vs. Sheffield Steeldogs (ice) hockey match.

Guildford is about an hour's train journey from Wimbledon. On the day we travelled, there was lightly falling snow for the duration of the journey, making it feel like we were inside a snow globe.

Upon arrival at Guildford we were joined by our two Canadian friends Jay & Olivia. The walk to the Guildford Spectrum is about 25 minutes so we broke up the journey with a trip to the pub. Inside it was warm & cosy, & after a hearty meal & a few drinks, we were off (still with the snow falling all around us).

The Guildford Spectrum is what we would describe as a "sports complex." It has snack bars, the ice rink, a pool, & an amazing looking indoor water park. The arena seats about 1500 people & on the day we went, it was packed full. We saw a few NHL jerseys but I was surprised by how many people had a Guildford Flames jersey. One of the souvenirs sellers commented that Guildford were better than any team in the NHL because they had played a whole season whereas the NHL had just started!

Being that the arena is so small we got to see the players really up close (check out the photo above!) & our seats were front row so it was easy to get into the game. They start by playing God Save The Queen & after that, it's just like a regular match. Although this is a professional league, the atmosphere was more like watching AA at home - no mascot, no beer drinking, & many passionate fans yelling at the players like they know them. I did feel a bit like I was back at George Bell, just surrounded by crazy hockey Moms.