2010/2011 News

March 2011 – Team GB
5th March 2011 – Match Report: Guildford Lightning 2 v 0 Slough Phantoms
22nd Jan 2011 – Match Report: Swindon Topcats 0 v 1 Guildford Lightning
8th Jan 2011 – Match Report: Kingston Diamonds 1 v 3 Guildford Lightning

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Team GB
Congratulations to Guildford’s Jenny Bolton for making Team GB and to Ali Emery for making reserve. Robyn Maby, who recently left the team after 4 seasons to go to University, also made the team. Good luck to Jenny and Robyn who are in Caen, France for the IIHF Div II World Championships. Both Jenny and Ali also represented the University Team GB in February at the Winter Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey.

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Match Report: Guildford Lightning 2 v 0 Slough Phantoms
Lightning’s first home game of the new year was a tough match-up against second placed Slough Phantoms. Guildford came out strong in the first period, however, putting pressure on Slough in their own zone and creating good scoring opportunities. Slough soaked up the pressure and came back with some good chances of their own, but the first period ended scoreless.
 
Lightning kept up the intensity right from the faceoff in the second and were soon rewarded as Lucy Johnson followed up a rebound from a shot by Jennifer Bolton to break the deadlock. Guildford took the 1-0 lead into the second period break with the game still close.
 
The third period saw Slough coming back stronger and creating more chances. An opportunity came in the form of a Guildford penalty late in the period. However, Amy Lack scored short-handed with just two minutes of the game remaining to put the game out of reach for Slough and give netminder Chelsea MacKenzie her second consecutive shutout.    

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Match Report: Swindon Topcats 0 v 1 Guildford Lightning
Lightning travelled to Swindon for what would be a tough game missing key players in captain Lucy Johnson and Grace Drake. Despite winning the home leg against the TopCats 4-1, Guildford found it harder to get on the board at the Link Centre, with the first two periods ending scoreless.
 
Both sides dug deep in the third to create chances and defend well, while both netminders kept it an evenly matched game. With around a minute of the game left, however, it was Guildford that finally broke through as Alanna Byrne tipped in a shot set up by Amy Lack and Ali Emery. The single goal gave Guildford the all important two points and the first shutout of the season for netminder Chelsea MacKenzie.

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Match Report: Kingston Diamonds 1 v 3 Guildford Lightning
Lightning made the long trip to Hull for their first game of 2011 to take on Kingston Diamonds. The long Christmas break seemed to have done little harm as sustained pressure in Kingston’s zone led to Lightning’s first goal of the game early in the first period, scored by Grace Drake. This was followed shortly after by a deflection from Alanna Byrne, which found the back of the net to give Lightning a 2-0 lead heading into the first break.
 
The second period became a much tighter affair as Kingston came back with chances of their own. However, some undisciplined play also allowed Lightning’s powerplay unit to get to work. Kingston stood up to the challenge and the score remained 2-0 at the end of the second period.
 
With the scoreline still so close, the tempo was stepped up in the third and resulted in frantic end-to-end hockey. Kingston got their reward with their first goal. Visibly lifted by the goal the Diamonds continued to pile on the pressure and after a timeout, pulled their goalie for the man advantage with less than 2 mins remaining on the clock. Lightning soaked up the pressure, however, with Man of the Match Chelsea MacKenzie saving Kingston’s last long-range attempt on the buzzer to secure the 2-1 win.