Published: Wednesday, 16th January, 2008 09:28
Jets take one step towards final
By Observer Sport
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EPL Cup Semi-Final First Leg
Slough Jets 3, Sheffield Scimitars 1
THE Slough Jets took one step closer to a place in the final of the English Premier Ice Hockey League Cup with a 3-1 victory over Sheffield Scimitars last night (Tuesday).
The Jets will now travel to Sheffield on Tuesday next week for the second leg of the semi-final, hoping to complete the job and book themselves a place in the final against either Bracknell Bees or Milton Keynes Lightning.
An ugly first period, that was perhaps a result of the midweek face-off, saw Sheffield take a 1-0 lead into the break.
Slough were playing with all their lines re-arranged and looked the most vunerable early on.
After a couple of near misses, the Scimitars' livewire forward Robert Dowd opened the scoring after line-mate Stephen Wallace had seen an effort ping off the pipes.
Slough hit back just 33 seconds into the second period when Jan Krajicek combined with Nicky Chinn before a lose puck fell to Michael Bowman, who buried from five metres out.
Slough took a lead they would never lose on 35.32 during their first powerplay of the match, after Blaz Emersic had enticed Jamie Archer into a hooking penalty with some slick stick work.
Chinn was allowed to pick his spot from a tight angle and, much to Sheffield's amazement, managed to squeeze the puck between the post and Davey Lawrence’s glove.
The final period was about seeing out the game and - playing their third match in four days - both teams visibly tired.
Jets goalie Dean Skinns made important saves from Patrik Moberg and Dowd while Slough were short-handed and this allowed the home team to take advantage of back-to-back Sheffield penalties to seal the win with a Krajicek strike from distance.
Jets head coach Steve Moria was pleased to have taken the initiative going into the second leg of the cup-tie.
"It was extremely important," he said. "At 3-1 I am happy. You can't expect to beat a team like Sheffield by more than a couple of goals. It was important that we took control of the tie."
Further Details
Rebels and Rams share points