The two SHL games on Sunday February 21st couldn’t have been more different. The first game saw KCG come back from a 4-1 deficit to score four unanswered goals in the final five minutes and defeat Siam Mandalay 5-4. The second game was over quickly as the Novotel Spitfires jumped out to a 5-0 first-period lead over Aware and went on to a 9-4 romp.
Game one’s roller-coaster match saw KCG ultimately prevail in the final 27 seconds of the game to beat Siam Mandalay who was leading 4-1 with 5:23 left on the clock.
Ernesto Bauer started things off for Siam Mandalay giving them a 1-0 lead but KCG’s Jan Isaksson tied it up to send the teams tied at one into the first intermission. Turner Johnson scored two goals in the second period, the second on a spectacular move on a breakaway that caught KCG goalie Leo Liao totally off guard. Siam Mandalay took a 3-1 lead in to the second intermission.
An incredible comeback saw KCG score four goals within five minutes for a miraculous one come-from-behind win. Isaksson scored twice to record the hat-trick and Peam Jaratwuttipreeda and newly-acquired Patrick Forstner potted a goal each. Forstner’s goal came on an unbelievable deke that earned him the Jerky Monster play-of-the week.
But it was really Jan Isaksson who stole the show as he led the comeback and earned the Rolling Stone Pizza player-of-the-game award for his four-point performance (3G, 1A). Siam Mandalay was missing four players on the night including captain Jordan Ashton and Mike Wilson and was subbing in Michael White and Phu Suwacharit.
In game two, Major Ingharratohithakon started things off for Novotel scoring two goals, and almost a third, on his first shift. He was followed in quick succession by Captain Mike Freeson, Tomas Stastny and Ken Kindborn giving Novotel a 5-0 lead. Aware then countered with two goals late in the period by Masato Kitayama on a nice tip-in goal Roger Promthong but then with just 14 seconds left in the period some nice digging behind the Aware net saw Stastny steal the puck and score his second of the night for Novotel to close out stanza one 6-2 in Novotel’s favour.
Roger scored again in the second period to make it 6-3 but Seb Verdy with his first goal of the season put Novotel up by four again 7-3. Roger completed his hat-trick midway through the third period but that was all the scoring Aware could muster as Verdy added his second goal of the night and Stastny completed his hat-trick making it a 9-4 final. In recognition of his six-point night (3G, 3A) Stastny was awarded the Rolling Stone Pizza player-of-the-game award.
After eleven weeks of action, the Novotel Spitfires sit atop the SHL standings with a 10-1-0 record for 20 points. KCG sits in second spot with a 6-3-2 record for 14 points. Siam Mandalay, the only team to beat Novotel, is in third position with a 5-5-1 record for 11 points and Aware is in the cellar with a 1-10 record.
The Novotel Spitfires remain atop the SHL race as Mike Freeson is in first spot with 22 points, Tomas Stastny is in second place with 21 points, and Ken Kindborn is in third spot with 17 points. KCG’s Jan Isaksson is in fourth with 16 points Aware’s rookie’s sensation Roger Promthong is in fifth place with 14 points.
SHL action at the Imperial Samrong continues on February 28th with Siam Mandalay facing off against Novotel at 9pm and KCG playing Aware at 10pm.