Guildford Lightning

June 2009 – Guildford Champions at Swindon Tournament
23rd & 24th May 2009 – Highs and Lows of Playoff Weekend
10th May 2009 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 6 v 1 Cardiff Comets
9th May 2009 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 7 v 1 Kingston Diamonds
3rd May 2009 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 0 v 5 Sheffield Shadows
2nd May 2009 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 3 v 2 Newcastle Lady Vipers
26th Apr 2009 – Match Report: Sheffield Shadows 6 v 3 Guildford Lightning
28th Mar 2009 – Match Report: Bracknell Queen Bees 2 v 2 Guildford Lightning
8th Mar 2009 – Match Report: Slough Phantoms 4 v 1 Guildford Lightning
14th & 15th Mar 2009 – 4 Point Weekend
Feb 2009 – Well Done Alanna: GB University Team
Dec 2009 – Good Luck Girls: Lauren & Sid off to Canada
30th Nov 2008 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 18 v 0 Solihull Vixens
26th Oct 2008 – Match Report: Streatham Storm 1 v 3 Guildford Lightning
12th Oct 2008 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 3 v 0 Bracknell Queen Bees

Guildford Champions at Swindon Tournament
The lightning have an amazing weekend at swindon with only 7 players on the bench! With such a short bench even Chelsea played outfield from the net to make up some numbers but still unfortunatley had to leave before the semis. By the time the final arrived with bearly a break from the semis the G-Unit were tiring badly. But the girls dug deep pulled together to see off a much larger Bracknell bench. With chances going both ways the nerves were all over the place but with the fantastic support from the crowd Guildford stayed strong and held the game to nil-nil. Then up steps the amazing Lucy Jonson with a blinding penalty shot, the lighting new what she was capable of but the Bees certaintly didnt. Then with robyn holding her nerve and shuting out Bracknells shot the crown was ours! Well done ladies fantastic weekend one to be proud of!!

Highs and Lows of Playoff Weekend
On a beautiful sunny weekend the first day of the Playoffs produced a real upset when Sheffield Shadows, who hadn’t lost a game throughout the entire season, crashed out in the first round when they were defeated by Bracknell Queen Bees.

Guildford Lightning then went up against Slough Phantoms and played the match of their lives. With Guildfords defence firing up Susan scored the opening goal, then Kirsty got the second with one of her fearsome slapshots. Fiona rounded off the proceedings with a third. While all this was going on Robyn played a blinder in the Guildford net, shutting out Slough to make the final score 3-0.

It’s a long time since we beat the Phantoms, and it felt GOOD.

The stage was now set for an epic battle between the third and fourth placed teams in the League. However on Sunday evening we came face to face with the Bracknell Playoff Superteam (dont no who those guys were but for sure they weren’t the team we played and beat during the League season!). With four lines against our two they wore Lightning down and outplayed us to win 6-0.

Inevitably there was disappointment at such a crushing defeat. But Guildford must take heart from their fantastic achievement throughout the season. Back in September 2008 we didn’t have a coach or a manager. Chelsea and John stepped up to the mark and they’ve proved a winning combination.

Lightning have had their best season for years. In her first season as a full time coach Chelsea has taken us to third place in the League and into the Finals at the Playoffs. And she’s done all this while maintaining her position as the most successful netminder in the Premier League!

Guildford Lightning are in very good shape and looking forward to next season.

Guildford Take Silver!

Lightning battled hard but to no prevail as The Queen Bees clinched the cup with a 6 nil whitewash over Guildford.  Well done to the girls a fantastic weekend of hockey best result in a good few years and a long time coming since you guys conquered Slough. Keep it going into next season and go one better.

Guildford Make FINAL!

Guildford reach the final of the play-offs after beating the Slough Phantoms 3-Zip in the semi’s.

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 6 v 1 Cardiff Comets
Dahlia Neradova scored all six goals in our final League match against the feisty Comets to seal her record as Guildford’s top goalscorer this season.

But it was Cardiff who opened the scoring with a shock strike at 1.44 into the game, and it was not until 13.48 that Dahlia equalised with an unassisted goal.

In the second period Lightning settled into a rhythm with Susan and Kirsty particularly awesome in defence, frustrating some well-planned moves by Cardiff. The period ended 3-1.

The Comets seemed to be tiring in the final period while Guildford were still firing on all cylinders. SJ, Fiona and Lucy all won assists during the game, which ended 6-1. Emma Hayman in the Cardiff goal had faced 53 shots and Guildford had secured third place in the League.

Player of the Match was Lydia who played throughout with a badly hurt shoulder. What a trooper!

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 7 v 1 Kingston Diamonds

ROUGH DIAMONDS!!!

On the last weekend of the season Guildford overpowered a young and very aggressive Kingston squad in a game that was anything but friendly. From the outset Lightning were subjected to a torrent of abuse, both verbal and physical, directed particularly at our overseas players. But not exclusively – even the officials weren’t spared! For the most part Guildford responded by playing better and continuing to score goals.

Susan Gregersen put Lightning in the lead after only 1.25 with an assist from Dahlia Neradova and Lucy Johnson scored the second unassisted at 16.53.

Kingston came back in the second with a powerplay goal timed at 25.14, then just before the halfway mark Fiona King made it 3-1 with an assist by Lydia Zaprihacova. Before the second period ended Dahlia also hit the mark, assisted by Alanna Byrne.

In the third period the relentless provocation took its toll and as tempers frayed penalties came thick and fast. Lydia scored number five early on, assisted by Fiona and Sarah Jane Nichols. Then with less than 7 minutes to go Dahlia fired in her second with Josie Griffiths assisting, and shortly afterwards Lydia scored a second unassisted goal in the powerplay to wrap it up 7-1.

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 0 v 5 Sheffield Shadows 
With Alexis out again and Grace Drake AWOL, Lightning put up a spirited fight in this return match against the League leaders, but were denied even a consolation goal.

Sheffield have dominated the League this season with their disciplined, well-drilled play and they notched up three times as many shots on goal as Guildford.

It was good to see Guildford going in after the puck and refusing to concede defeat, battling right to the end of the game. They had some good shots denied by Laura Saunders in the Sheffield net. Meanwhile the Shadows’ sustained onslaught at the other end wore down Robyn and pushed the scoreline steadily up to 0-5.

With this win Sheffield clinched the League championship and put the seal on a great season for them.

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 3 v 2 Newcastle Lady Vipers

VIPERS GIVE GUILDFORD A SCARE!

For this game Lightning welcomed back Alexis Hamilton after a bout of illness, and she turned out to be crucial to their success.

Faced with a determined Newcastle side who have been fighting for a place in the Playoffs after a slow start to their season, it’s fair to say Guildford wobbled, and although they racked up twice as many shots on goal as their opponents, it was Newcastle who scored first early in the second period. Bev Hutchinson in the Newcastle goal had kept out 38 shots by the time the period ended, and a new netminder took her place.

When Ashley Holland scored her second for Newcastle at the start of the third period, Guildford were in real trouble. Finally, with a little over 12 minutes left on the clock, Alexis netted her first with assists from Fiona and Sarah Jane, and a few minutes later Fiona fired in the equaliser on a delayed penalty call. Lightning kept up the pressure and with less than two minutes to the end of the game, Alexis sealed the victory with assists from Susan and SJ.

Match Report: Sheffield Shadows 6 v 3 Guildford Lightning
Sheffield came to this game with an unbeaten record, but they didn’t have everything their own way in their first encounter with Guildford.

The Shadows were the first to score, almost halfway through the first period, but Lightning too created some good chances. Shortly after the start of the second, Sheffield were visibly shocked when Alanna flipped in the equaliser. Unfortunately, just after midway through the game, a number of defensive errors on Guildford’s part allowed the Shadows to score three goals in quick succession and to end the second period 4-1 up.

When they made it 5-1 early in the last, it looked like the game was over. But shortly after on 44.20 Lydia found the net with assistance from Fiona, and Lightning were born again. Four minutes later Sheffield made it 6-2, but again some fine play by Guildford ended with Dahlia firing in a third goal, assisted by Alanna and Lydia, to finish the game 6-3.

Match Report: Bracknell Queen Bees 2 v 2 Guildford Lightning
This was a crucial game for both teams and that fact was reflected in the standard of play. However, Lightning were slow to warm up in the first period and Bracknell were able to take the lead after 15 minutes.

In the second, the cavalry arrived in the guise of Dahlia (and after a word or two from coach Chelsea?), Guildford upped their game considerably. Lightning were disappointed when what looked to be a perfectly good goal from Lucy Johnson was not called and play continued. Even after a second goal from Bracknell’s Leanne Ganney at 26.13 Lightning carried on the battle, matching the Queen Bees shot for shot. This paid off two minutes later when Sarah Jane scored Guildford’s first, assisted by Dahlia. Then just before the break, Alanna Byrne fired in the equaliser with an assist by Grace Drake (MOM).

Both teams pulled out all the stops in the third, but although Guildford just had the edge, the scoreline stayed the same until the final whistle.

Robyn Maby faced 30 shots in the Guildford goal and Sam Bonathan 26 in the Bracknell net.

Match Report: Slough Phantoms 4 v 1 Guildford Lightning 
After important back to back away wins the previous weekend against Solihull and Kingston, Lightning went into this return match against Slough full of confidence and gave one of their best performances this season – SO FAR!

The first period saw some good end to end play with Lightning taking the game to Slough and netminder Chelsea stopping 14 shots. But at 16.31 a distraction caused by the referee led some of our girls to believe he had stopped play, and Louise Wheeler was able to score a fairly easy opening goal.

Guildford refused to go on the defensive and continued to play good attacking hockey in the second while Robyn, now in goal, shut out Slough for the full 20 minutes.

The Phantoms are quick and aggressive whenever the opposition has the puck and in the final period this bore fruit with two further goals. However, Guildford would not give up and with just under ten minutes to go some great moves ended in Alanna scoring with assists from Dahlia and Grace. With time running out a late decision to pull the goalie unfortunately backfired and Slough made it 4-1.

Still, a tremendous performance from Guildford Lightning, deserving a better result.

Next – BRACKNELL!

4 Point Weekend 
Despite injuries and a short bench Lightning bring all 4 points away from a tough weekend. There was never any doubt in either game that Guildford wernt taking the points home but no question they had to work for it. Grace looks to return in the next few weeks after being out for 6 weeks with a fractured wrist and Alexis is still out for weeks yet as (shes falling apart).

Well Done Alanna
Well done to Alanna Byrne for being selected in the GB Uni team. The Uni team are off to China next month for the World University Championships.

Good Luck Girls
All the best to Lauren Hepp & Sinnan Spencer (Sid) who are off on their travels to Canada. Lauren has sadly gone back home after many years playing at the spectrum we wish you all the best look forward to seeing you hopefully in the summer. Sid is leaving the spectrum for a few months and will return at the beginning of May just in time for the end of season. We also wish you the best of luck. 

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 18 v 0 Solihull Vixens
Lightning dominated the game throughout in this encounter with a plucky Solihull side. After some good moves with Fiona King and Sinan Spencer, Alanna Byrne opened the scoring three minutes into the game and Fiona followed up with two in quick succession before the halfway point in the first period. Dahlia Neradova and Alexis Hamilton then each scored and Alanna netted her second to wrap up the first period 6-0.

The second period saw a sustained assault on the Solihull goal, with Sarah Jane Nichols getting on the scoresheet, followed by Grace Drake and Kirsty England, before Dahlia hammered in two more just before the break to close at 11-0.

With all lines working well together and every player getting a share of ice time the third period continued in the same relentless fashion, with seven more goals going in before the game finally ended 18-0.

There were some tremendous individual performances from the girls, but the game was characterised by a high standard of teamwork, with even more assists than goals, and by impressive support from the defence.

Goals scored: Dahlia 5, SJ 4, Alanna 3, Fiona and Kirsty 2 each, Grace and Alexis 1.

Among a total of 22 assists, special mention for Josie Griffiths with 4 and for Sinan who was Player of the Match with 2.

Match Report: Streatham Storm 1 v 3 Guildford Lightning
Lightning were disappointed to come away with a draw against Streatham Storm in their first game of the season, and were looking for a decisive win in the return match on Sunday.

After a nightmare journey for some on a dreary wet afternoon (was it deliberate tactics to have every approach road to the rink blocked by roadworks?) the game began with a slightly jittery first period against a quick, aggressive Streatham side. When Grace Drake put Guildford  ahead with a great shot on 9.28, things settled down a bit. But there was no further score until midway through the second period, when a determined powerplay by Streatham culminated in Marketa Weiglova pouncing on a rebound to slot in the equaliser at 29.43.

This obviously fired up Streatham and there followed several minutes of fierce end-to-end play before some good moves by Alanna Byrne and Dahlia Neradova ended with a goal from Alanna shortly before the end of the second period (38.32).

Storm weren’t about to give up however. With some tough refereeing decisions going against Guildford, they were quick to intercept some hesitant passes and had a couple of opportunities to equalise again denied by Chelsea Mackenzie in goal. Finally at 55.07, Dahlia Neradova fired in a great short-handed goal to make it 3-1.

A hard-fought game and a satisfying result for Lightning.

Match Report: Guildford Lightning 3 v 0 Bracknell Queen Bees  
Lightning Striked 3 times in a long overdue home ice win against the Queen Bees. Well done Dhalia for her Debut goal. Also well Done Robyn in net for a great well deserved shut out.