Having lost 3-17 at Bretton on Saturday to third placed Swindon Topcats, the short benched Penguins who travelled south for the return and final league fixture tonight could have been excused for letting the season peter out ….. but to their credit, the girls had other plans !
Adopting the old adage of the best form of defence is attack, the ten skating Penguins refused to back down against the full bench twenty Swindon skaters that included former Elite players and GB internationals. The opening period was scoreless, indeed the opening 37 minutes were scoreless but then the impressive Jess Sprules took a hooking minor for the Topcats and Sharon Khan grabbed the opportunity to put Penguins 0-1 up on the powerplay and the game rolled into the final period with Penguins still leading.
On 45:50, Sprules made amends for her costly misdemeanor by tieing the game at 1-1 and then, with the game poised for an exciting finale, it dramatically ended with 12:02 still left on the clock when the referee called an end to proceedings with a Swindon player down on the ice after a collision with Penguins Georgia Whittemore followed by a collision with the boards.
With fears of a potential spinal injury, an ambulance was called but with the player regaining movement in her legs by the time she left the rink, there was plenty of optimism that she will be okay.
Steph Owen received the Spirit of the Game award with a 97.67% save percentage for one goal on 43 shots but skipper Clare Ledbury felt the entire team had been superb, “we absolutely smashed it tonight !”
Great way to end the season ….. way to go girls !
Game stats HERE