British Women's Ice Hockey League - Division One (South)
Chelmsford started their opening away game of the season brightly, despite only having nine skaters and a goalie, and came close in the opening minutes of the game. However, Oxford soon retaliated, and shortly after Charline Forrester had stopped a good chance from Diana Milner on a breakaway, the Zodiacs opened their account, with Sarah Poulter putting the puck away after a scramble in front of the Cobras net. The rest of the period saw this pattern repeated, with the Cobras netminder stopping a number of scoring attempts at point blank range, and despite being outshot 14-4 and facing a minute of 3 on 5, the Cobras stayed within a goal of their hosts.
The second period continued in much the same vein, with much Oxford pressure, interspersed with occasional Cobra breaks. Oxford had a second goal disallowed for a player being in the crease, and almost immediately Jen Stedman was stopped by the Zodiacs' netminder.
The game was still 1-0 to Oxford, when the Cobras Marianne Wright received a double minor penalty for slashing, and shortly after Jo Abbs received a controversial tripping minor, and for arguing the call, she was dismissed from the game. This was a major turning point, as the Zodiacs converted on three of the four powerplay opportunities, while the Cobras struggled to recover from the loss of one third of their defence corps, which were then further reduced when Becky Preen was temporarily side-lined at the end of the period.
Going into the final session 4-0 down, the Cobras managed to regain their composure and restrict the Zodiacs to only one more goal, as the Zodiacs repeated their 5-0 victory in Chelmsford three weeks earlier. The final shots on goal saw the Cobras outshot 39-10, with Rachael Mockler winning the spirit of the game award for the Cobras, and the Zodiacs winner was Nonie Dodwell.
The Cobras are next in action, at Riverside, on December 6th, against the Basingstoke Lady Bison, with the match starting at 17:15.
Scoring:
Zodiacs: Becky Hughes 1+1(2), Sarah Poulter, Karen Featonby, Caroline Coates, Nicky Bush 1+0(0), Anthea Smiles 0+1(0), Diana Milner 0+0(2)
Cobras: Emma Stott, Rachael Mockler, Kimberly Hales 0+0(2), Marianne Wright 0+0(4), Jo Abbs 0+0(24)