ENL South Round-up Week 13

LONDON, UK – With most of the UK battling against heavy snow (read six inches), a number of fixtures were at risk over the weekend. However, thanks to the slightly warmer/polluted climate in this part of the country, all of the games in ENL South went ahead. One team in particular would be grateful that they did. 
 
Feisty forward Richard Bentham became the latest new arrival to move into the team house on the Isle of Wight as he moved down from his native Blackburn to join the Wightlink Raiders last week. Bentham had only recently joined the Sheffield Steeldogs of the EPL before his move south, so the switch to join Jeremy Cornish’s merry band of men was somewhat of a surprise.

 
Bracknell Ice Hockey Club Head Coach Lukas Smital announced that he would be taking over as Bracknell Hornets coach in the absence of the departed Ben Pitchley. Given his commitments as a forward with the Guildford Flames, the 32 year old Czech may have trouble running the Hornets bench on game days, but will no doubt take charge of the Hornets training sessions from now on.
 
Two personalities with ENL connections made national television last Friday as Cardiff ENL Devils defenseman Brent Pope and North London Hounds owner Nick Rothwell, appeared as part of the off-ice presentation team during the match between Cardiff Devils and Hull Stingrays of the Elite League.
 
Both did an excellent job with Rothwell doing his best Gary Lineker impression as anchorman whilst Pope took the role of Alan Hansen, offering some well informed punditry. The team even managed to sneak in an ENL reference, even if it was a barbed comment about the size of the ice rinks in Gosport and the Isle of Wight.
 
Talking of Rothwell and his currently moth-balled North London Hounds, the impending opening of Alexandra Palace ice rink brings with it a number of questions. The management of the newly refurbished facility are already in talks with some of the hockey clubs that use it, so we can only assume that Rothwell is in the loop so to speak.
Last mention before the weekend review, goes to Romford Raiders player coach Danny Marshall, who this weekend, finally overtook Gord Jeffrey as the all time highest points scorer for the club. What makes this all the more impressive is that Marshall has accumulated the majority of his points at a level above the one he is currently plying his trade.
 
Congratulations Danny, from all here at Pro Hockey News.
 
Saturday
 
After taking some absolute hidings on the road over the past few weeks, the Swindon ENL Wildcats hosted rivals Oxford City Stars at the Link Centre, hoping to bounce back with a much needed win.
 
All credit to the young Swindon side that they nearly managed to pull off a shock in this derby match, but ultimately lost 3-2.
 
A brace from speedy Oxford forward Alan Green, and one goal each from Swindon’s Brian Clark and Daniel Smith meant that this match was heading for a 2-2 draw, until young Stars sniper Dax Hedges popped up to score the winner with only a minute and a half remaining in the game. To lose after exerting so much effort was pure heartache for Swindon, but definite relief for an Oxford side who perhaps had one eye on a trip to South London the following day.
 
It wasn’t too long ago that Bracknell shocked Romford at the Hive with a 4-4 tie, so the Raiders were well aware that they faced a battle against the Hornets. After last week’s shock reverse at home to Streatham, Danny Marshall and his side were frustrated yet again as Smital’s men once again took a point off them.
 
A 2-2 tie is certainly not the kind of result Romford fans would have hoped for, but Bracknell were pleased with the point. Marshall and Harvey got the goals for the visiting Raiders; however a goal from Tony Barclay, and a penalty shot from defenseman Tom Avery did the business for the Hornets, who were leading at one point in the third.
 
Milton Keynes Thunder were missing speedy forward Ross Bowers and defenseman Lee Featherstone for the tough trip to Wightlink. They did however include youngster Harrison Goode, who caused a near riot by reportedly riding his stick past the Wightlink Raiders bench following his equalising goal in the first period. Was it a bet or was young Goode auditioning for Balls of Steel? Either way, hats off to him for a great display of showmanship on the cube.
 
Raider Steve Gossett promptly jumped Goode, as would be expected on such occasions, and both players were promptly kicked out. If provocation is now worthy of such punishment by the officials, then this seems to be a remarkable about turn in consistency.
I recall a certain incident last season, where Mr Cornish tried to high five the whole visitor’s bench in front of a laughing referee Rene Ross following a goal he scored. I also thought it was quite amusing in hindsight but referees are treading a fine line if they are to clamp down on this kind of thing, and on a personal level I hope this kill joy tactic does not become the norm.
 
Back to the game, and indeed it turned out to be a comfortable 7-2 win for the home side with Cornish getting two goals and Niall Bound, Dom Hopkins, Damon Larter, Robbie Brown and debutant Richard Bentham all getting one each. The composite cowboy Harrison Goode and Matt Roberts were on the score sheet for the Thunder. The only other talking point was Thunder forward Mike Lucas continuing his one man campaign against the Raiders by dropping the gloves with Cornish, adding to his scrap with Brad Watchorn when the sides met in Milton Keynes a few weeks ago.
 
Bristol had the chance to make it three home wins in a row as they entertained a Chelmsford Chieftains side, who had endured the misery of the M25 and M4 motorways en route to Frogmore Street. It is fair to say that those two roads plus forecasted bad weather, heavy traffic and the seemingly endless road works are as an appealing a prospect, as four hours drinking two litres of Special Brew lager in the away locker room at the aforementioned Gosport , so hats off to the Chieftains supporters who made the effort.
 
They were duly awarded with a solid performance from their team, as the Chieftains secured an 8-3 victory thanks to a brace each from James Ayling and Aaron Connolly, along with lone goals from Danny Hammond, Blaho Novak, BT Williams and Ross Brears. Richie Hargreaves got two goals for the Pitbulls with Phil Dibble getting the other.
 
Sunday
 
After missing the last two weeks of hockey with food poisoning, a cynical mind may have thought Streatham’s star forward Joe Johnston had a suspect case of the Romford flu given that his illness coincided with two road trips to Rom Valley Way.
 
Such thoughts would have been quickly banished after seeing the mercurial #17 turn up for training on Thursday looking like he had spent a couple of months with Somali pirates. The offending dish was undisclosed, however the local Chinese restaurant was the chief suspect.

Our game against the City Stars was a strange one. Oxford had plenty of possession and should have converted a lot of their chances, but our penalty kill units did well to be fair, and when on even strength we took advantage.
 
Tomas Valko, Joe Johnston, Liam Rasmussen and Jack Tarczycki were all on the score sheet for the Redskins, with Alan Green and Andy Cox replying for the Stars. Michael Ranby and Alan Green both dropped the gloves but neither managed to break free and land a punch. The game was end to end with lots of drama, played out in front of two noisy sets of supporters.
 
Romford got the chance of immediate revenge over Bracknell as the two sides met again following their clash 24 hour previous. Yet again the Hornets made a good fight of it and had the Raiders tied at 2-2 in the second period only to lose 4-2.
 
Danny Hughes and Tom Avery (another penalty shot bizarrely) scored for the Hornets but goals from Frankie Harvey, AJ Smith, Anthony Leone and of course the record breaking Mr Marshall sealed the two points for Romford.
 
Chelmsford made it a four point weekend as they managed to get the better of Cardiff ENL Devils at the Riverside with a solid 6-2 win. Two goals each from Blaho Novak and Jerry Pavlus, along with lone goals from Danny Hammond and Darren Brown sent the Chieftains to third spot in the league, whilst Steve Fisher got two goals for the visitors.
 
This result represented another solid win for the Essex side who tied 2-2 with the Devils earlier in the season.
 
“Sometimes the snow comes down in June, sometimes the sun goes ’round the moon
, just when I thought our chance had passed, you go and save the best for last”
 
MK Thunder v Invicta Dynamos, did you think this game had been passed over? It may be the last part of this weekends round-up but boy is it the most interesting. Invicta fans please forgive the emphasis on this game, but the question is how? How can a Thunder side that have been so poor in many games this season, manage to beat (yes beat) a Dynamos side packed with speed, skill and talent on a large ice surface.
 
If you are waiting for an answer then there is not one coming as this result simply defies belief. The 3-2 victory is an absolutely magnificent result for Milton Keynes Thunder and just reward for the management and volunteers who do such a sterling job for the club.
 
The Dynamos travelled without either Andy or Tim Smith, but the Thunder were also missing Jamie Line, the previously mentioned Composite Cowboy and Simon Howard for this clash.
 
Maros Stefanco impressed with two goals for the Thunder and Invicta scorers were Daniel Borges and Mike Timms. The hero for the Thunder however was winning goal scorer Matt Roberts who slotted home in the third, to condemn the Dynamos to their first defeat since September 25^th.
 
Invicta will no doubt recover and indeed we (Streatham) face them next weekend at the Ice Bowl, so we will have to be wary of a backlash. For Milton Keynes however, this result was so much more than simply two points. The Thunder are a good bunch of lads and a number of them will have suffered heavy defeats at the hands of the Dynamos over the last few years, so this is a great reward and the beers must have tasted particularly sweet after the game for those guys in particular.
 
So with the weekend’s action over, Wightlink stay top and Milton Keynes move 4 points ahead of relegation rivals Bristol at the bottom of the table. Chelmsford move up to third and the Dynamos remain in second place.
 
Results
 
 
Saturday 27 November 2010
 
Swindon 2 Oxford 3
Bristol 3 Chelmsford 8
Bracknell 2 Romford 2
Wightlink 7 Milton Keynes 2
 
Sunday 28 November 2010
 
Romford 4 Bracknell 2
Chelmsford 6 Cardiff 2
Milton Keynes 3 Invicta 2
Streatham 4 Oxford 2
 
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com