A near 400 mile round trip on an Sunday evening with a very short bench to take on an in form Cardiff Comets side would hardly have qualified as a “Dream Sunday” for the Penguins girls but, once again and despite the scoreline, they showed that they are not a side to be taken lightly.
Penguins dressed the bare minimum ten skaters for this one and that included a debut for Isabel Gibbs, a second only game for Emma Strowger and a return to the fold for Jo Knell who hasn’t played this season. Add to that, Penguins lost Lucy Mae Smith to a back injury during the game and then Georgia Whittemore in the final period with concussion so that left just eight skaters at the end, three of which were in-effect debutants !
So those are the more than reasonable excuses but it wasn’t all bad news. Once again, Penguins were out of the blocks fast and while they have the energy then they once again proved a match for any team. Comets took the lead on a shorthanded play at 8:12 but that was it for a first period in which there was little to choose between the two teams.
The second period saw Penguins continue to go toe-to-toe with the in-form Comets and, at 26:05, they deservedly tied the game through a Sharon Khan unassisted goal. At the game’s midpoint, it was all level at 1-1 but then the fuel indicator started to bump into the red and the tiring Penguins started to succumb to the eighteen strong Comets bench. There was a brief respite as Clare Ledbury stepped up to take her first ever penalty shot in twelve years of playing …… which was saved …… but with the momentum swinging firmly in the home side’s favour, goals rained in and the period ended 6-1.
With numerous players now having to double-shift, period three was never going to get any easier for Penguins who shipped a further five goals from a 19-6 shots on goal deficit to finish the game at 11-1 Comets.
Next weekend sees the girls travelling to Basingstoke on Sunday for a 4:30pm face-off. The game will be for double points after the home fixture was cancelled when Phantoms took the home ice for a play-off game.
Game stats HERE