ENL South Round-up Week 14

 
LONDON, UK – With the well supported Movember coming to an end, it was a fresh faced ENL that defied the weather this weekend.
 
Few charitable causes are grasped so enthusiastically by hockey players, than the month long prostate cancer awareness campaign that requires individuals to grow a moustache. It is perhaps an extension of the play-off beard craze that delights players but usually annoys the hell out of their wives/girlfriends each season.

 
One person clearly not delighted last week was Invicta coach Kevin Parrish, who launched a stinging attack on his own players for their loss in Milton Keynes. Labelling the 3-2 defeat as ‘the worst performance in my eight years coaching at the club’, Parrish then went on to reveal that ‘some of them didn’t even need a shower’ during an interview with local paper the Medway Messenger.
 
Whilst Parrish was fuming, Cardiff Head Coach Mark Cuddihy was literally beaming as he added a second import to his side in the form of Slovakian Dusan Krehlik. Billed as a former Slovakian Junior international, Krehlik joins team mate Robert Sedlak, former team mate Maros Stefanco (Milton Keynes), Juraj Huska (Romford) and Streatham pair Tomas Valko and Peter Molnar as part of a growing Slovakian contingent in the English National League.
 
Perhaps word has reached Bratislava of the ENL’s undoubted attractions? Where else can you get grief from the DJ (Romford), get a hovercraft to the rink (Wightlink), play inside a mock ship (Oxford) and more importantly, get your ugly mug featured regularly on Prohockeynews.com.
 
The most amusing part of Cardiff’s Press Release via the South Wales Echo was the preview of their game with Wightlink this weekend. The local reporter stated that former London Racers enforcer Dave Cornish would be bringing his side to the Welsh Capital for the clash between the ENL Devils and the Raiders.
 
Unless Jeremy has opted for a stance similar to our current Prime Minister, we can only assume that this was an error rather than an unlikely official name change by the big Canadian. Having said that, hockey players can be a strange breed and lost poker games on the team bus can lead to funny forfeits.
 
The poor weather conditions disrupted many team training sessions across the league, but the snow and ice wasn’t all bad news. On Saturday a selection of Milton Keynes, Swindon and Oxford players combined to stage ‘Winter Classic 2’ on Port Meadow in Oxford. Skating on the frozen meadows of Oxford dates back to the 1800’s so it is good to see that traditions are being upheld by the locals. More about the history of hockey and meadow skating in Oxford can be found on the following informative web page:
 
http://www.oxfordstars.com/stars/history
 
Saturday
 
So with the harsh words of their coach ringing in their ears, a full strength Invicta side travelled to Swindon to take on the bottom of the table ENL Wildcats, knowing that only a convincing win would suffice. The last time these two sides met, the Dynamos rattled in 17 goals on home ice so it would have been interesting to be a fly on the wall of the Mo’s locker room after a first period that saw them trail 2-1. Whatever was said or done clearly worked as the visitors came out and thumped the hosts 13-2.
 
Five goals from Canadian Daniel Borges stole the show for the Dynamos, however his fellow countryman Daniel Calitri missed out on this goal fest as he took an early shower for fighting an unwilling Swindon player (Calitri had taken exception to a fairly dangerous hit from the Swindon youngster).
 
A goal each for Andy Smith, Callum Fowler, Karl Lennon and a double from Corey Watkins sealed a comfortable win for Invicta.
 
Alan Armour-less Bristol Pitbulls hosted a travelling Romford side desperate to avoid a slip up at Frogmore Street. The Pitbulls were beaten on their home ice the previous week by Chelmsford, so the subsequent 11-0 thrashing Romford dished out was not the reply Richie Hargreaves would have been hoping for from his side.
 
Juraj Huska was the chief beneficiary of the Pitbulls AWOL defense as he notched a hat trick for the Raiders. Anthony Leone and Joe Allen scored two goals each, with Frankie Harvey, Danny Marshall and Jason Buckman getting the others.
 
Things went from bad to worse for Bristol when it was revealed afterwards that defenseman Alastair Band’s wrist injury sustained during the game against his former club, could rule him out for up to six weeks.
 
The final game of Saturday was arguably the most attractive. The resurgent Cardiff ENL Devils taking on table toppers Wightlink Raiders in Wales. Cardiff holds happy memories for the Raiders after their famous win in the play-offs there last year, but they found this most recent encounter just as tough.
 
Wightlink player-coach Jeremy “call me Dave” Cornish and Cardiff coach Mark Cuddihy were both delighted with the effort their sides put into this game, which saw the visiting Raiders edge out a 4-3 win.
 
It could easily have been a 4-4 tie, had a desperately unlucky Steven Fisher not fired his penalty shot off the cross bar with six seconds remaining in the game.
 
Richard Bentham hit two goals for the Raiders with Jason Gorrie and Nathan Taylor scoring one each. Cardiff’s goals came from Fisher, Gareth Dixon and Luke Piggott.
 
Sunday
 
Invicta faced off their second game of the weekend with a home tie against the Streatham Redskins. The Dynamos won 10-1.
 
Chelmsford faced an Oxford side that was missing star Swedish goalie Robin Lindva. Lindva was reportedly ill, and was replaced by back up Tom Devey in between the pipes. With Lindva out, this gave coach Ken Forshee the chance to lace up the skates for the first time this season. By the end of the game, poor Ken must have wished he hadn’t.
 
A heavy 14-4 defeat for the City Stars was made all the worse by the fact Chelmsford iced neither of their imports. To be fair though, the British talent that the Essex side has, more than makes up for this, not least Danny Hammond who got four goals.
 
Aaron Connolly, fresh from his game icing for Slough Jets against Manchester Phoenix the previous evening scored two, as did James Ayling and Darren Brown. The Chieftains other goals came from Ross Brears, BT Williams, Blaho Novak and Matt Turner.
 
Oxford scorers were Alan Green with two goals and Ken Forshee and Mike Whillock with one each. Devey lasted four goals before being replaced by Ricky Young in the Oxford net, but it was an all round off night for the City Stars.
 
Milton Keynes Thunder made it four wins from their last five home games as they gained a precious 6-2 win over the Bristol Pitbulls. Four goals from the lively Ross Bowers added to efforts from Connor Goode and Maros Stefanco, to increase the gap between the two sides to six points in the league standings.
 
Bristol goals came from Steve Osman and Mike Smith, however the Pitbulls will probably want to forget this weekend as soon as possible. After this game, Bristol have now lost their last five consecutive fixtures, whilst conceding 39 goals in the process. With their main scoring threat Armour out injured and Band now joining him on the sidelines, things are not looking great for the Pitbulls, and with Wightlink the next opponents, Richie Hargreaves has a tough test on his hands.
 
Romford continued their goal frenzy with a 15-2 demolition of Swindon at Rom Valley Way. Sadly this will do little to appease the section of Romford supporters displeased with the standard of entertainment on occasions in the ENL, however at least some Raiders got to pad their stats a little.
 
None more so than Juraj Huska with his second hat trick of the weekend, supported by Julian Smith, AJ Smith and Jason Buckman with two goals each. Danny Marshall marked his 500^th goal for the club to add another milestone to his Raiders career, with Grant Baxter, Joe Allen, Frankie Harvey, Anthony Leone and JJ McGrath getting one goal each. Swindon scorers were Ryan Burgess and Jamie Newton.
 
So is anyone of a Dynamos persuasion still reading? Did you think that was all that would be reported? It was a little joke on my part, on a day when there was very little to smile about from a Redskins perspective
 
Some fans and players may disagree with me, but when Invicta click like they did in this game, they can sometimes feel unplayable. Don’t get me wrong, we were awful and were not helped by injuries during the game (Ed Koral and Tomas Valko both      departed early), however some of the play by the Dynamos offense was simply excellent.
 
Callum Fowler, Liam Chong and Andy Smith are rapid with hands to match, and when you have the supporting cast of two imports in Borges and Calitri plus a third line that can score as well, then you really need to be on top form and bring you’re ‘A’ game, otherwise a heavy defeat can easily arrive.
 
Sadly we didn’t bring our ‘A’ game and suffered predictable consequences. Mike Timms bagged a hat trick for the home side, Corey Watkins got a brace and further goals came from Andy Smith, Daniel Borges, Scott Beeson, Daniel Calitri and Callum Fowler, whose goal reminded me of a move from NHL 96 on the Sega Mega Drive as he performed a spin-o-rama in front of Shane Kemp before finishing well.
 
Muscle man Dan Marashi spared us the further embarrassment of an Andy Moffat shut out as he scored Streatham’s consolation. The other main talking point was a good old fashioned slug fest between Valko and Watkins, supplemented by Casimir Britton and Anthony Lennon dropping the gloves at the same time.
 
As if getting humped 10-1 in front of a delighted Dynamos crowd isn’t bad enough, we then got a lengthy bollocking from a suitably livid Barry Spours (Redskins Coach) and then discovered that the showers were freezing cold. Driving home reeking of body odour in freezing fog is not my ideal Sunday I must admit.
 
So the very public bashing of his players in the press by Invicta coach Parrish, seemingly did the trick for the Dynamos this weekend. All three lines looked hungry, sharp and organised in the game against the Redskins, and with 23 goals scored and only 3 conceded this weekend, the Gillingham Ice Bowl will be a very happy place over the next few days.
 
Another happy place will be the Ryde Arena, as Jeremy/Dave Cornish’s Wightlink side stay top of the league after that win in Cardiff. Other smiling faces will be in Chelmsford and Milton Keynes this week, but spare a thought for the punished Redskins, City Stars, Pitbulls and ENL Wildcats, it happens to the best of us, and all you can do is dust yourself down and try and put it right next weekend.
 
I’m off for a warm shower…..
 
Results
 
Saturday 4 December 2010
 
Cardiff 3 Wightlink 4
Bristol 0 Romford 11
Swindon 2 Invicta 13
 
Sunday 5 December 2010
 
Invicta 10 Streatham 1
Chelmsford 14 Oxford 4
Romford 15 Swindon 2
Milton Keynes 6 Bristol 2
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com