With all the games complete in gameweek 9, the scores for the fifth round of the FHL UK Cup are now complete, unless there are minor gamesheet changes by the Elite League before we move to gameweek 10 at midnight on Tuesday.
In a high scoring week, you needed to score well over 400 points to have a good chance of making it through in most of the ties. Unlucky loser of the week though has to be “Come Daine With Me” who scored a massive 489.5 points but lost to “You set my heart on fire!” who had 532.5 points. Other close ties which could change if there are any late changes to the gamesheets are “Odd Numbers HC” just ahead of “Sharks on Tour”, and “Last Minute Picks” less than ten points ahead of “HC HaventAclue”.
We are now onto the quarter final stage so are going to review one of the fixtures to see who could be the difference makers for each team.
In our third quarter final it is a battle of two out of the top three scorers last week, “You set my heart on fire!” against “Royals”. Both are in the top 10 of the league standings as well so this promises to be close. We currently don’t know what changes each GM will make prior to this gameweek but as it stands both teams have the same goalie duo of Matt Greenfield and Paavo Holsa and with both performing well it is unlikely there will be major changes here.
In defence it is a similar story with both teams having form players Gabe Bast, Nathanael Halbert, Sam Jardine and Marcus Crawford. “Royals” round out their blueline with Erik Naslund and Bradley Lalonde while “You set my heart on fire!” go with Joe Hazeldine and Brady Norrish. With Lalonde towards the top of the scoring for defenceman it is a slight advantage to “Royals” although Norrish has an extra game this week with Coventry playing three times. We think there won’t be much between the teams here as well.
Up front we have Scott Conway, Daniel Tedesco, Peter Crinella, Jesper Ohrvall and Brandon Whistle as common players amongst both teams. Therefore, let’s see who else could make a difference from the rest of the forward lines. “You set my heart on fire!” have Brett Ferguson who has had at least 24 points across the last four weeks although the form of Philippe Sanche and Cam Critchlow has dropped since the start of the season. Josh Waller rounds out the last forward spot. “Royals” counter with Shawn Cameron who has had three no scores in the last four gameweeks and Ciaran Long who can pick up some points although never more than 20 in a week this season. However, the last two spots are taken up by Elijiah Barriga and the red-hot Trevor Cox who is averaging 28.8 points over the last six gameweeks. With Cardiff playing two of the weaker teams in the league in Manchester and Dundee, a captains pick of Trevor Cox could make all the difference.
Good luck to both teams and everyone else who has made it through to the last eight.
