By Tom Pink
Oh they had me going there. I was all in. This was it.
Our first league win over Guildford Phoenix was nailed on. One period left, twenty minutes to play, 2-0 up. They were bringing it back to the Palace. Pyro on order, we’d be lining the streets, roaring them on, one game away from immortality.
If only.
As someone mentioned online, Haringey have done us proud this season. Proud and then some. We’ve had some epic tilts and been on the winning side for most of them. We’ve seen a lot of new faces too with junior players from the Haringey Hounds stepping up, which has to be classed as the success story of the season. Let’s also not forget that there’s still much to play for in the playoffs.
This Guildford side just will not go away though. Played 10, lost 8, won 1, tied 1.
We’d had our moments without being brilliant. We’d suffered and rode our luck but ultimately come through unscathed. But we’d had our moments, and we’d taken them. Two second-period goals the difference going into the final frame.
But it takes Guildford just four third-period minutes to wrest any hopes we had of the league (however small they might have been, however faint) away from us.
That first period. It’s so attritional at times. Wave after wave of Guildford forecheck and attack. Haringey struggle to find passes across centre ice. When they gain the zone, it’s often an early shot from near the blue line that’s easily dealt with.
We can’t get out of our zone for the first five minutes. Phoenix get a tip in front of net that Luke Clark manages to get something on and divert wide. There’s a scare at the crease with a puck Haringey can’t clear, but Guildford can’t get on the end of it either.
Our best chances fall to Sam Roberts, who rings a wrister off the post from the left, and Pete Toth who sends one over the bar moments later. But we get out at 0-0 and on the balance of it that was well done.
The first Haringey goal comes after 30 seconds of the restart. Jaden Boolkah has a look from the point and Stuart Appleby gets the tip on the doorstep to send it into the net. It’s very much against what we saw in the first period but we’ll absolutely take it.
Five minutes later, Conner Smith gets down the right and puts it into the slot for the diving Matt Hepburn to connect with, before puck and man go careering into the net in that order. 2-0 to Haringey, and the travelling fans are bouncing.
One of my favourite ever Haringey moments is Matt’s goal against Cardiff last season where he ends up sitting on the boards and the rest of the team mobs him. This was poised to beat that, as long as they could hold on…
I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the Haringey Huskies Ice Hockey Club.
Hours whiled away plotting different permutations and routes to success. Evenings writing these reports. Days and days in anxious anticipation for the next match. It can’t be healthy and it’s certainly not normal. But we all have our moments.
If you’re reading this, it’s possible that you do too. Welcome. Like-minded people like us are only really starting out at the moment, but I promise you that allowing this team to dominate and dictate your life is a growth market!
We manage the rest of the second period fairly well. Stu and Joe Willingham are utterly imperious (Joe picks up player of the match for his performance). Constantly working, constantly trying to drive Haringey forwards, and we end the second on a very, very high note. Stephen Woodford and Conner have attempts gloved, and Pete has another shot from the point saved straight off the draw, but with a two-goal cushion things are looking good.
On the cusp, on the precipice. Twenty minutes away. Just reach out and grab it.
We get to 15 minutes left in the game and I’m convinced. Joe Willingham dangles his way through the o-zone but gets crowded out. Bryn Griffiths makes a brilliant diving block to breakup a 1-on-1 situation.
It’s totally innocuous when it happens, initially. It’s a strange, scuffed shot from the right which Luke saves. The puck drops down by the near post, and right by Guildford forward Fraser Stoodley to poke home and give the Phoenix a foothold.
To be honest, the momentum is always with Guildford after that. Once they got the first, you always felt they had potential to turn it on its head and that’s exactly what they do.
Two minutes later there’s parity; Guildford turn the puck over in our defensive zone and Theo Sire scores far side, high above and beyond Luke in net. I thought Luke had another brilliant game by the way, despite the score line. He kept us in it for large parts, especially in the first period.
One-minute-and-thirty-seconds after that, the comeback is complete. Solomon Stoodley is coolness personified as bodies and limbs flail in front of him to get something in the way of his shot. He waits, and fires a wrister high into the net from the slot. Absolutely gutting.
There’s still nine minutes on the clock, but we struggle to find that next goal. Pete sends a one-timer on net but it’s held. Stu, Sam, and Pete have other chances, but none that get past the Guildford netminder.
With twenty seconds left we call time out. Luke gets pulled for the extra skater. But no dice. Not this year.
It’s a painful loss and it’s hard to take. It’s almost certainly the league gone and it’s another L for our woeful record against the Phoenix, and another league season where we’re unable to catch them.
Over the last three seasons our final league position has been 2nd, 3rd, and 2nd, each time finishing one place behind Guildford. A look at the “goals against” column puts us consistently 2nd for fewest goals conceded across each of those league seasons, which is a testament to our defensive capabilities and systems, and our netminders.
“Goals for” is interesting though: 4th, 4th, and 5th across those same three seasons. We are outscored by our closest rivals season on season. Guildford score 70 more goals than us in the 2021/22 season, and 32 more in 2022/23. As it stands, Guildford have scored 30 more goals than Haringey this year in the league.
What does this mean? It means we rely a lot on our D and netminders, which in itself is no bad thing. That’s sensible, that’s pragmatic. That’s a solid foundation from which to build from. But when we need to find those one or two more goals to get us out of trouble, to turn the game in our favour, we sometimes struggle where our rivals may not.
Our last league game of the season now becomes a bit of a dead rubber, which is a shame. Second place is secured and even a win against Guildford at the Palace won’t change much. It will be interesting to see what kind of response the Huskies give on the 23rd.
I’ll be shocked though if it’s nothing less than a full-throated rebuttal to Saturday’s result. So the league’s gone? So what. These lads will be desperate to get back out there and right some wrongs against Guildford, and I genuinely can’t wait.
The last league game this season, the last home game this season, nothing to lose, everything to gain. Let’s make this our moment.
Let’s go Huskies.
See you on Saturday.
