Scimitars are all Wight on the nights

Sheffield Scimitars emerged bloodied but victorious in a feisty and physical double header weekend on the Isle of Wight.

It was the first meeting between these two teams since ex-Sheffielder Les Millie left to take up coaching duties on the island and it was a battle of wits between the coaches in which Scimitars came off the winners.

Both games were fast paced in the small rink and the Raiders' physical game plan raised the temperature between the players, though Scimitars had a 50 strong band of noisy travelling support.

On Saturday, Sheffield gained the upper-hand in the first six minutes with a goal from Morgan at 5.43.

Peter Slamiar's shot from the blue line flew in over the goalie's shoulder causing Raiders to become more frustrated with Scimitars' domination of the play.

The game became more physical, Morgan was felled by Coles followed by Millie on Goodman.

Scimitars' answer was to add a further goal from Moburg.

Raiders scored their firstthrough Franc but Sheffield replied with three more from Slamiar, Dowd and a great goal by Barron to end the game 6-1, with Raiders being out-shot 49-19.

The win came at a price though with two players having to go to hospital with injuries.

Ben Morgan collected the MOM award.

Sunday's game saw Duncombe return to action, alongside Wallace with repaired skates, though Dowd was missing from the line-up.

Wightlink's passing and possession of the puck improved though the scoreline indicated a much tighter game despite the 73-22 SOG differential. The first period was littered with penalties, 26 minutes for Raiders to 10 minutes for Sheffield with Sojack (N/M) keeping Scimitars off the scoreboard until they scored two quick powerplay goals by Morgan and Duncombe to end the period 2-0.

The teams traded goals in the second period as Wightlink pulled a goal back from Endicott with Morgan restoring the two goal cushion and Raitanen making some quality saves to maintain it.

Sojak in the Wightlink net continued his man-of-the-match performance to deny Scimitars any more goals despite the high shot count, and Hargreaves' goal ensured a tense but noisy final ten minutes of the game.

However, Scimitars fought on to take another two points, with all three lines playing very well as a team and Slamiar earning his M-O-M award.

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