ENL Cup Champions 2008

Last night the Spartans retained their title as ENL Cup Champions with a 7-4 win (12-9 aggregate win) over the Peterborough Islanders.

The first period was end to end hockey, until Matt Haywood broke the deadlock with an excellent individual goal. A Joe Millard slapshot found the top of the net shortly after to extend the lead to 2-0. Mark Holland found Tom Squires on a shorthanded play to finish the period 3-0.

The second period was more of the same, with the Spartans having most of the play. A powerplay effort from Richie Oliver was the only goal of the period and at 4-0 the Spartans were in control of the game.

Richie Oliver made it 5-0 with another shorthanded goal at the start of the third period. The Spartans seemed to sit back on their lead at this point, and the Islanders took full advantage of this with three goals in quick succession. The Spartans called a timeout, and the game settled down a little until the Islanders grabbed another goal with just under three minutes remaining 5-4.  Peterborough were back in the game and the Spartans had lost a 5-0 lead. However the Spartans were quick to replay as Nick Manning faked a shot with a pass to Shaun Ashton who put the puck home. With around a minute remaining the Islanders pulled their netminder and Matt Haywood grabbed his second to finish the game with an empty net goal.

This was a great way to finish the season and we would like to thank everyone that has been involved, with special mention to John Ross, Jon Rowbotham, Lynn Millard, Paul Haywood and everyone else from behind the scenes.