ENL South Round-up Week 11

LONDON, UK – An abandoned fixture, some familiar faces returning and some high score lines ensured another entertaining week in the ENL South.
Invicta Dynamos lost another of their players last week as Loyde Fuller dropped down to the second tier Mustangs in search of ice time. Fuller follows Grant Bignell out of the Dynamos door with no permanent replacements announced so far.

It wasn’t all bad for the Mo’s though as forward Liam Chong was named in the Great Britain Under 20’s squad to play in the World Championships in Belarus. Although his participation in the event means that he will miss a couple of games for Invicta, it is still good for the club to have a player participating on the international stage.
Anyone dissapointed at the lack of punches thrown by Audley Harrison in the World Heavy Weight championship boxing match against David Haye, would be advised to head down to their local ENL South game on a weekend.
Maybe it is just a perception but there seems to be an increase in fighting this season in the league and this weekend was no different.
Saturday
Invicta Dynamos clash against Chelmsford Chieftains was a fixture many league observers were looking forward to, however ice problems at the newly refurbished Riverside meant that the game was abandoned.
This was frustrating for both sets of players and supporters but maybe more so for two old faces that were set to ice for the Dynamos to plug the hole in the roster. Experienced Mustangs duo Dan Fudger and Kevin Lake were called up for this encounter by Dynamos Coach Kevin Parrish, but sadly neither got the return they had anticipated.

Lake and Fudger are quality players who could get a roster spot on most ENL sides but it is doubtful whether either would want to get less ice time and commit to more fixtures on a permanent basis for the Mo’s. It would be good to see them back in this league however.
Bristol Pitbulls sent their fans home happy for the second home game in a row after pulling off a close fought 4-3 win over the visiting Bracknell Hornets. The Pitbulls made life difficult for themselves and were 3-1 down after the first period before pulling back to take the two points.
Player Coach Richie Hargreaves made the difference for the Pitbulls with two goals and Alan Armour continued his good start to the season with yet another goal. Steve Osman got Bristol’s other goal and Bracknell’s goals came courtesy of a brace for Danny Hughes and a lone effort from Tony Barclay.

Wightlink Raiders and Romford Raiders faced each other in the appropriately named ‘Raiders Cup’ for the first game of a two legged affair that will determine who the best Raiders are. Both teams were pretty much at full strength so obviously bragging rights are keenly sought.
It was the Wightlink version of the Raiders that came out on top though with a 5-2 win. Jeremy Cornish, Jason Gorrie, Brad Watchorn and Andrew Robinson got the goals for Wightlink with Juraj Huska getting both goals for Romford.
The big questions are what does the Raiders Cup look like? will an EIHA official present it to the winners after the second leg? And lastly will it feature a plastic hockey player wearing a grid iron helmet in true British hockey style.  
Sunday
Romford had a slightly easier game the following day as they entertained a Streatham Redskins side who were also licking their wounds following a trouncing on the island seven days previous.

The Redskins were without Tomas Valko and Joe Johnston amongst others but gave a debut to Nick Templeman and a first start of the season for Remy Boprey. Needless to say it was a bad night for Streatham and Romford took full advantage with a convincing display and a 10-1 win.
Juraj Huska bagged a hat trick for the Raiders and was ably supported by Frankie Harvey who got two goals. Tom Davis, Danny Marshall, Anthony Leone, AJ Smith and Tyrone Miller got a goal each and Streatham’s consolation came from Michael Ranby. The only other notable incident was when JJ McGrath and Jack Tarczycki dropped the gloves in the third period.
Wightlink travelled to Milton Keynes to take on a Thunder side that had frustrated them with a 3-3 tie on the island earlier in the season. The Raiders seem to have clicked lately however and came home from Buckinghamshire with a convincing 8-1 win.
Jason Gorrie continued his scoring form of late with a four goal show and Richard Facey also notched two for the Raiders. Alex Murray and Jeremy Cornish got the Raiders other goals, and Brad Watchorn dropped the gloves with Thunder hard man Mike Lucas to provide a further talking point.
 
The win keeps Wightlink at the top of the league and shows the improvement from earlier in the season. Richard Facey has been an excellent pick up for the Raiders providing a goal threat as well as a physical presence, although the Raiders were not short of the latter attribute prior to Facey’s arrival.
Invicta fans also bore (no pun intended) witness to a high scoring game as the Dynamos demolished Swindon 17-6. The main story here though was the record breaking Andy Smith, who became the Dynamos all time top point scorer with an astonishing six goals in this game.
Dynamos goals came courtesy of … take a deep breath… a hat trick each for Corey Watkins and Daniel Calitri, a brace for Daniel Borges and solo goals from Anthony Lennon, Tim Smith and Scott Beeson.
Ryan Burgess hit an impressive hat trick for Swindon, with Shannon Taylor scoring two and James Burnett getting the other.
Oxford City Stars hosted a Bristol Pitbulls side in high spirits and a confident mood. Sadly for Bristol fans their team failed to appear in the first period and were down four nil after only seventeen minutes. The Pitbulls rallied in the second but Oxford finished the job in the third.
Oxfords goals came courtesy of two goals each for Alan Green and Joe Edwards, with Darren Elliot getting the other in a 5-2 win. Debutant Jonatan (Not a typo) Sherman and Adam Klasa got the goals for Bristol but the visitors may be more concerned with a penalty count that could see Player Coach Richie Hargreaves receiving an unpleasant call from the EIHA this week.
 
A staggering 60 minutes in misconduct penalties was handed out by referee Anthony Decaux to a Pitbulls side clearly incensed at decisions that went against them during the game. The City Stars were much the happier side however and this result takes them back up to third place in the league ahead of Streatham.
Bracknell put the disappointing display in Bristol the previous night behind them with a shock 4-2 home victory over the Chelmsford Chieftains. Ben Pitchley’s side launched an impressive comeback from 2-1 down to rip up the form book.
Grant Rounding was the hero for the Hornets with two goals, one an empty netter, and the other of particular high quality. A Tom Avery goal and a Danny Hughes effort did the rest for the Hornets, and Chelmsford’s goals came via Ross Brears and Blaho Novak.
This game descended into a bad tempered affair with Bracknell’s Luke Reynolds taking his chance to exact revenge on young Novak following an altercation in the last fixture between these two sides. Sean Easton, Alan Lack, Alex Green and Tony Barclay all had parts to play in the ensuing rough and tumble to give experienced official Matt Thompson a sorry mess to sort out on the game sheet.
The loss robbed Chelmsford of the chance of going ten games unbeaten and means that their good start to the season has hit an unexpected bump. Let’s hope that the ice issues are only temporary and that next weekends game at home to Swindon goes ahead as scheduled.
So after this weekend Bristol move off the foot of the table, Wightlink stay top and a certain team in South London will have lots to work on in training this week.
Results
 
Saturday 13 November 2010
 
Wightlink 5 Romford 2 (CUP)
Chelmsford v Invicta (Abandoned)
Bristol 4 Bracknell 3
 
Sunday 14 November 2010
 
Milton Keynes 1 Wightlink 8 
Oxford 5 Bristol 2 
Bracknell 4 Chelmsford 2 
Invicta 17 Swindon 6 
Romford 10 Streatham 1
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com