The Nottingham Lions got their 2024/25 NIHL1 campaign underway with a battle against main league rivals, the Sheffield Scimitars, at the National Ice Centre on Sunday night. The Lions entered the game with winning the past 3 match ups against Sheffield, however in last season’s opener between these two it went the way of the South Yorkshire side.
The game started out strong for the Lions with them making their intent seen early with captain Lee Kemp, who said “it was nice to be back in the Nottingham fold” laying on some heavy checks to the Scimitars players, this followed up by some fast and agile skating from youngster on the home side allowed the Lions to create chances early but were denied by the Scimitars young female prospect, Scarlett Richardson, who after time in the Great Britain Women’s Under-18s team made it clear to the home side pucks were not going in the back of the net easily making 13 saves from all 13 of Nottingham’s shots in the first period. First period chances for the visitors didn’t come at a premium but the best of those came in the games first power play with a back door shot from Ben Crowther however he was to be denied by the Lion’s own Isaac Ballinger.
The second period was to be much more eventful than the leagues opening 20 minutes, with Nottingham striking first just 32 seconds into the period as experienced Czech Ales Padelek was on the receiving end of a loose pass and his shots rebound was collected by Toby Fisher before he found the back of the net for the team’s first goal of the season. Sheffield didn’t wait long however to draw back equal as not even 2 minutes later 17 year old 2-way prospect with the Sheffield Steeldogs of the national league, Aiden Dancer, showed off his talents with the best goal of the night pulling off a flashy “michigan goal” giving the away fans something to cheer about. Sheffield couldn’t maintain contact with the Lions for long as a barrage of 3 goals would come for the home side, first with 17 year old Regan Kidd making his debut for Nottingham against his former side brushed off any nerves he may have had before the game, next came the first of potential many for Ales Padelek with a silky spin from a face off to beat Richardson. Toby Fisher ended the period grabbing his second of the game after taking some space in the middle of the Sheffield zone to shoot one to the low side on Scarlett Richardson, to give to Lion’s a 4-1 lead heading into the final period. The former professional player in the top 2 divisions in Czechia, Ales Padelek, showcased his use with contributions in all 4 goals.
In the final 20 minutes Nottingham would add to their dominance in the second period with more control of the puck and pace of the game. The first goal of the game came from an unfortunate mistake from Sheffield netminder Scarlett Richardson, as she attempted to play a loose puck into the corner she miss timed the play and the puck glided into the back of the net, the goal credited to another debutant, Ethan Smith. With the game in the bag the Lion’s were able to give more ice time to their younger players and this wasn’t to go a miss either, to conclude what was a fabulous start to the season, 16 year old Alex Rushby who earlier in the year represent Great Britain at the Youth Olympic Games got his first senior goal with assistants from Jack Crowston.
Head coach Matt Bradbury described this new Lion’s team as having “a variety of players, and a lot of young players, and also a lot of experience” and it definitely showed tonight with both sides of the team making a large impact with a 16 and 17 year old on the score sheet as well as 4 points for the 44 year old Ales Padelek. He also said that he was “really pleased that the game’s gone and like I said to the players, it’s just the start. It was a good start to the season, but we’ve got a long journey”.
*Article provided by Dylan Pick (Ice Hockey Correspondent).
*Main image @ABPhotography action from the Lions first win of the season against Sheffield.
