Ice hockey: Flintshire Freeze come from behind to beat Kingston Jets

Mar 17 2011 by Alec Doyle, Flintshire Chronicle

Flintshire Freeze 5Kingston Jets 4

HAVING beaten Kingston Jets 6-4 away from home the previous week, the Freeze were relishing the prospect of locking horns once more with an EIHL North Two side they were evenly matched with.

Fans at the Deeside Ice Rink were not left disappointed as Sunday’s game thrilled at every turn.

The Jets, with 11 players making the trip to Flintshire, were first on the scoresheet in less than four minutes with a goal from Michael Rose.

It wasn’t until around 13 minutes in that fan favourite Gav Austin got his first of the night with a lovely chip to the roof of the net for the Freeze.

But the Jets hit back with a second goal, Keiran Beach scoring before captain Matt Jeffcock extended their lead with 30 seconds left on the clock in the first period to make it 3-1.

The Freeze needed to get back into it and came out firing in the second. Kenny Williams got their second goal within a minute of the restart.

Phil Crosby guarded his net well for the Freeze and but with Chris Jones sitting out a penalty the Jets slotted home a rebound off Crosby to make it 4-2.

Undeterred, the Freeze pushed on and eventually that man Austin again found himself on the scoresheet after being played in by Sam Kennedy, to close the deficit to one.

The third period opened with Freeze keen to get their noses in front and get the job done.

After several close calls, Chris Jones finally got on the scoresheet with a wonderful shot straight into the back of the net to level things up at 4-4.

Joint head coach Marc Lovell then stepped up to demonstrate his own skills.

He took a sly pass from Peter Gazda and slithered down the ice in style to hit goal number five for the Freeze, and give them their first lead of the match with five minutes remaining.

The defence dug in and some incredible stops kept the Jets at bay, including a match saving clearance off the line by Matt Wainwright.

Next up at Deeside Ice Rink are Sutton Sting on Sunday, April 10.

This Sunday the Freeze head to Solihull Barons.