Left Panther: November

Nottingham Panthers are currently joint second with Cardiff in the Elite League table. Belfast are top, but Nottingham are hot on their heels, only one point behind and with two games in hand, having won six out of their ten games in October. In any case, three of the losses were Challenge Cup games, for which we have already progressed to the next stage (two were to Sheffield, one to Cardiff away, and no-one has yet beaten Cardiff at home), with one Elite League game loss at Coventry by a single goal. You have to say that’s a good month.

 

Unfortunately, however, it’s not all bread and roses. This month’s theme, once again, is injuries. During Panthers recent game against Edinburgh, Stephen Schultz, one of the rising stars of the team, suffered a leg injury after an accidental collision with another player that was truly horrendous to witness. He was left rolling around the ice in agony and was eventually taken off on a stretcher, helped by the referee and players from both teams. Despite not breaking any bones, he’s likely to remain on the bench for several weeks. It is awful timing as he was just clicking with his team- and room-mate Andy Bohmbach – having scored nine goals and nine assists in 16 games, one of only three Panthers in the league’s top 20 scorers – and will be sorely missed.

 

It doesn’t end there, however. Geoff Waugh, the imposing defenseman, has also been absent for the most of October after breaking several ribs when blocking a shot. Robert Farmer has required surgery for a yet-to-be-named injury that has sidelined him for four to six weeks. Short term injury victims include Robert Lachowicz, who missed a couple of games with a badly bruised foot, and captain David Clarke, who was out for three weeks with a dislocated jaw.

 

To cheer up some on the injured list, Clarkey this week achieved a milestone in his career, notching 1,000 points, and even has a tram named after him. Robert Farmer won the "Ice Hockey Player of the Year" award at the Nottingham Sports Awards based on his performance last season.

Panthers are clearly short of players, and have been playing one import player down on the normal quota from the beginning of the season, so they did not waste time in bringing in a big name from the grand-slam season team, David Ling. He has already made his presence felt, and despite being 40, has no shortage of ice time in games. He actively gets under the skin of other teams and inspires through a dogged determination to win. He scored in his first game back, and creates regular opportunities for others, with several assists to his name.

 

Panthers have played arch-enemies Sheffield Steelers three times in the last month. The aforementioned Challenge Cup losses were both close affairs with one goal margins (2-3 and 1-2). The Halloween clash in the league brought some fabulous costumes to the NIC, as well as the pumpkin coloured travelling support from Sheffield for the season’s first league derby down here. The stakes were high for Nottingham and Sheffield have a strong team, having retained their top goalscorer Mathieu Roy, who racked up 42 goals and 95 points last season.

 

Steelers came out full of confidence, closing the Panthers down all over the ice, rendering Nottingham seemingly unable to pass. It felt like they had the Panthers number, as they went 2-0 up and totally dominated in the first period. Juraj Kolnik then got Panthers on the board, against the run of play, at which point his team suddenly started to find the back of the Sheffield net, scoring a rapid three goals in two minutes at the end of the second period, firing up the crowd and turning up the volume levels in the building.

 

Sheffield seemed stunned and whilst they managed to stay within one goal of the Panthers for a while, it was the black cats that pulled away and came out on top with a 7-4 win, tasting all the more sweet as Sheffield actually looked the stronger side for large parts of the game. Logan Macmillan, who puts in 110% effort every game and hasn’t yet seen goals to show for it, got the satisfying seventh goal as Sheffield pulled their net-minder for the extra player to try to score. Unfortunately for the Steelers, Macmillan got the puck and skated the length of the ice to fire it home into the empty net. Although he conceded four, Miika Wiikman is the leading goalie in the league, with a save percentage of 93 and a goal per game average of two.

 

The intense, feisty affairs that are typical of Nottingham-Sheffield games seem to have moved in the last month to our games with Cardiff, particularly the away game on 25 October. There were four fights and four different fighters, including Cam Janssen’s much-anticipated first stoush for Panthers. He duked it out with Trevor Hendrikx in the first period, although the latter didn’t seem to want to let Janssen go, so he could not actually release many punches! Brit Sam Oakford tangled briefly with Zach Hervato in the second period: Oakford is not known as a fighter and neither is Andy Bohmbach, but he also scrapped with Joey Haddad and eventually landed a huge right hook to knock him down to the ice. Finally, if that weren’t enough fisticuffs, Logan MacMillan fought Andrew Hotham, who was ejected from the game for throwing a punch after the referee had separated the players. The game ended up needing penalty shots to find a winner, and Cardiff nettie Ben Bowns saved all three penalty shots against him to hand his team a 2-1 win. 

 

Other games in the month have seen relatively straightforward wins over Fife (5-2), and Dundee (7-1) with a surprisingly tougher 4-3 victory against Edinburgh, who finished bottom of the league last season. This Panthers team is so far beating teams that they should beat on paper, but are finding the top teams harder, as might be expected, although that wasn’t always the case in the forgettable last season just gone.

 

Away from the events of the League and Cup campaigns, Corey Neilson’s testimonial game brought some light relief to the club. It was an evening of temperate hockey, lots of fun, pranks and reminiscing with past players. Craig Kowalski, Panthers former renowned net-minder for the last five years, returned to take part which also provided an opportunity for him to get the send-off from the fans that he rightly deserved and clearly appreciated, as he was seen leaving the ice with tears streaming down his face.

 

There was a return for Chris Lawrence, Panthers top goal scorer last season (only 63 points compared to David Ling’s 101 points in his previous season at Nottingham) who has recently been playing at Sheffield having parted with Coventry already. He was booed around the ice, but proved himself to be a good sport as he took a penalty for “signing with the Sheffield Steelers” and skated around the ice twice to eventual cheers. He was also up for a staged “fight” with tough-guy Cam Janssen.

 

Fun and japes aside, Corey Neilson certainly has his work cut out as we go through November and Panthers have a long, six-game run of games away from home to negotiate before what has traditionally been a Panthers Christmas dip in form. Fingers crossed we don’t add to the injury list – it would be nice to get some players back – and head towards the festive season with some good news. Despite the injuries, the results and league position are promising, while the team are a pleasure to watch when they click. Which isn’t every game, but grinding out a win when not playing your best is a sign of a true champion. Watch this space.

 

Follow Sally on Twitter: @sautton22

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