ENL South Round-up Week 19

LONDON, UK – The top four went head to head in an important weekend of fixtures that could have made the league more predictable or blow it wide open. Add in some local rivalry and controversy and there is no doubt that ENL South 1 was the place to be this weekend.
 
Chelmsford Chieftains forward Aaron Connolly and Oxford City Stars prospect Mike Whillock were celebrating during the week, after they were both named in the Great Britain under 18’s squad for the World Championships in Riga, Latvia. The tournament will take place in April so both the Chieftains and the City Stars will be without their players during part of the play-offs. On the dreaded reserve list are Josh Oliver (Oxford), Loris Taylor (Swindon) and Ruairidh Garret (Chelmsford).

 
GB will compete in Division 1 against the likes of Italy, Hungary and Japan over seven days in Baltic capital. Whilst Riga does have its plus points, it has to be said that the sides in Division 3 almost certainly get the better deal, as their games are hosted in Taipei City, Taiwan in the Far East.
 
Rumours that Vanilla Ice had been skating at Streatham recently turned out to be 100% true as he featured in the local press with the owner of Bar 61 in Streatham Hill. The American rapper is one of a host of celebrities using the historic Streatham rink as a training venue for yet another Celebrity Dancing on Ice show, and was described as ‘a very nice guy’ by one local quoted in the Streatham Guardian.
 
After a brief glance at Vanilla’s online blog and Twitter account it seems he has yet to show any interest in attending a Streatham Redskins game, however a celebrity puck drop could be on the cards once he realises there is hockey at the rink I am sure. For what it’s worth, I am sure I speak for all the guys in saying Mr Ice is welcome to stop, collaborate and listen at any of our training sessions during his time here.
 
Problems with the Zamboni at Milton Keynes meant that the resident Thunder had their training session cancelled on Thursday, following on from the cancelled fixture against Romford. Whilst not the most exciting news by any stretch of the imagination (especially following on from a Vanilla Ice anecdote), it was rather unfortunate for the coaching team of Lewis Clifford and Darryl Morvan that the momentum they have built up recently has been disrupted by circumstances outside of their control.
 
In an unusual move, Romford Raiders supremo Ollie Oliver made an online plea to any West Ham fans within the Raiders support not to abandon their hockey team in favour of a trip to the football on Saturday afternoon or a trip to the pub to watch the Hammers. West Ham’s game against Arsenal had a later kick off than usual due to coverage from ESPN, putting the fixture in direct conflict with Romford’s clash with Invicta Dynamos.
 
Citing cheaper tickets and free parking as prime motivational factors to choose gold and blue over claret and blue, the excitable Oliver could have gone much further with reasons why not to watch the struggling Hammers, namely the facts that the team are woeful and that no one wants bubbles blown in their face on a regular basis, unless of course the timeless Karren Brady is involved.
 
Saturday
 
So on Ollie’s advice, your columnist paid his £8 (plus £2 for a programme) and settled down to watch two local rivals go head to head in a game that neither side wanted to lose. Whilst those at Upton Park paid thirty pounds and upwards to watch their team get destroyed 3-0 by Arsenal, those inside Rom Valley Way could smile smugly as the Raiders and Dynamos played out one of the most entertaining games of the season so far.
 
It was the swashbuckling home side that won the game 9-6 despite starting slowly. Frankie Harvey grabbed a hat trick for the Raiders and their other goals came from Adam Smith, JJ McGrath, Danny Marshall, Billy Phillips and Tyrone Miller. Invicta scorers were Andy Smith with a brace and one goal each for Dan Fudger, Tim Smith, Liam Chong and Callum Fowler. Anthony Leone had a penalty shot saved by Dynamos goalie Andy Moffat in the third period.
 
Invicta’s second goal was seen by no one apart from referee Jurijs Solovjovs who to be fair was excellently positioned to judge. This stoked up the home fans and indeed the Raiders who at one point looked like blowing the game by letting their emotions get the better of them. JJ McGrath who had been excellent all game on the third line, appeared to sum up the lack of discipline mid game by taking off his helmet and offering the Invicta bench some toe to toe action, following a check that caused Slovak Juraj Huska to hurtle into the boards feet first.
 
With no takers, McGrath was given a ten minute misconduct penalty but from that point on it was the Raiders that stepped up a gear. Huska, who had been dancing around the Dynamos defence most of the night, continued to cause chaos and Harvey began to show what he is capable of towards the end of the game. Billy Phillips looked like he could be the missing link on the blue line alongside Miller; however he will need to watch those minor penalties.
 
Invicta looked strangely subdued and possibly slightly intimidated, but could have no complaints at the result. Chong yet again gave 100% up front but this marked another defeat on the road for the reigning champions. No need to panic though as defeats were bound to come at some point and the Dynamos don’t look like dropping points at home.
 
Despite pleas from the Romford management the crowd didn’t respond in numbers and it was a shame to see the home support depleted. Thankfully the Dynamos brought an excellent travelling support to boost the attendance, however if the Raiders can continue to provide that kind of entertainment surely the stay aways will return.
 
With the Dynamos dropping points, Wightlink Raiders really needed to get a win on home ice against the Chelmsford Chieftains. Coach Jeremy Cornish had described this fixture as a must win game for his side in the local press and boy did they react to the big Canadian’s words.
 
Quite what happened to the Chieftains is unclear, however what is a fact is that the Raiders simply blew them away and were 8-0 up at one point before the Chieftains got three late goals. Things got so bad for one Chieftains fan that he decided to storm the dressing room during the period break and let his team know exactly what he thought of them.
 
The fact that the away dressing room at the Ryde Arena is possibly the smallest in the league and most teams struggle to fit in to it makes the whole scenario even more fascinating. I can just imagine the fan kicking the door open expecting to see a big space he could stride into to make his point, then the shock at seeing eighteen grown men virtually sitting on each other’s knees with a red faced Birrell stood in the middle and no space to swing a cat, or dare I say a hockey stick.
 
Anyway, back to the action on the ice and Jason Gorrie hit a hat trick for the Raiders, whose other goals came from Damon Larter, Robbie Brown, Richard Facey, Richard Bentham and Steve Gossett. Chelmsford scorers were James Ayling, BT Williams and Kyle Jones.
 
A fantastic result for the Raiders who really needed to win, and did so in convincing fashion. Chelmsford import Jones fell for the passport trick and apparently showed his paperwork to bemused ferry officials, but sadly that was the only thing to raise any smiles in the Chelmsford camp.
 
The final game on Saturday took place at Frogmore street ice rink where the resident Bristol Pitbulls hosted a rejuvenated Milton Keynes Thunder.
 
The Thunder put their ice problems well and truly behind them as they ended up beating the home side 6-2 with a solid display. Ross Bowers got two goals for Milton Keynes with Paul Jamieson, Martyn Snape, Maros Stefanco and Matt Roberts also getting on the score sheet. Bristol’s goals came from Steve Osman and Alan Armour.
 
Sunday
 
After getting the win in Bristol the night previous, Milton Keynes faced the unenviable task of hosting high flying Wightlink Raiders on Sunday. With both teams in good form something had to give, and in an entertaining encounter it was the Raiders that won 5-4 albeit with a controversial winner that left the Thunder incensed.
 
Robbie Brown got a brace for Wightlink and their other goals came from Jason Gorrie, Richard Facey and Jeremy Cornish. Milton Keynes scorers were Ross Bowers with a double and both Maros Stefanco and Paul Gore with a goal each. The controversy came with the Thunder camp claiming the net was off its moorings and crushing Mark Woolf as the decisive goal was given. In any case, the goal stood and the points headed south to the Isle of Wight.
 
Jeremy Cornish’s team will be pleased that they do not have to face Milton Keynes again in the regular season as the Thunder have caused the Raiders no end of trouble this year. There is a chance they could meet in the play-offs though.
 
The Gillingham Ice Bowl has provided some bad nightmares for the Oxford City Stars in recent years, however whilst they lost again against the resident Invicta Dynamos, it was a lot closer than usual and the City Stars put in a good display.
 
The Dynamos eventually won the game 6-2 with both Andy Smith and Liam Chong getting two goals each and Dan Fudger and Mike Timms getting one each. Oxfords goals came from Ken Forshee and Gareth Endicott.
 
Whilst they would never admit it, Oxford will be relatively happy not to have been thrashed as they have in recent times; however for Invicta this gave them a perfect bounce back after the night in Romford. Where do the Dynamos go next week? The Isle of Wight awaits and who wouldn’t want to see that encounter. It should be a classic and if Wightlink can win, Invicta’s games in hand become less relevant.
 
A shell shocked Chelmsford aimed to bounce back from their island nightmare with a home game against Bracknell Hornets. The Essex side edged out their rivals 4-3 in an unspectacular encounter in front of a lower than normal gate.
 
Aaron Connolly celebrated his call up to GB 18’s with two goals and the Chieftains other scorers were Alex Green and Kyle ‘UK Border Force sponsored’ Jones.   Bracknell’s goals came from Tom Avery, Tom Carroll and Tony Barclay, who also missed a penalty shot in the second period.
 
A good end to an ultimately disappointing weekend for Chelmsford who get the rare privilege of a Saturday at the Pleasure Dome next weekend against Streatham, followed by a tough home game against the in-form MK Thunder.
 
Talking of the Pleasure Dome (we will stick with it for the rest of the article); it was the venue for an encounter between the Streatham Redskins and Swindon ENL Wildcats. Both sides have had a rancid run of form recently, however whilst Swindon lost their goalie last week, Streatham have welcomed back some key players from injury.
 
Rupert Quiney made his first appearance since September and the Redskins iced three full lines and a spare for the first time in a number of weeks, without needing to supplement the team with players from the Bruins.
 
Despite a mysterious wrist injury (calm down at the back please), Joe Johnston shook off the pain to end his scoring drought with two goals in a convincing 8-1 win for the Redskins. Streatham’s other scorers were Michael Ranby, Gennadi Yufit, Warren Rost, Russ Stevens, Ed Koral and Perry Richardson. Swindon’s goal came courtesy of player coach Jamie Newton.
 
The room after the game was a happy one. Despite the one sided score line, we were desperate to get rid of that seven game losing streak and whilst Swindon are clearly going to have a tough remainder of the season, I thought we played some decent hockey and more importantly got some goals on the board.
 
We now have two double header weekends in a row so hopefully we can get some momentum together. From having a thread bare squad during our tough run of fixtures we now have competition for places within the team so the coaching staff now have a pleasant headache selection wise.
 
One bad piece of news however is the foot injury to forward Dan Marashi. The natural body builder, restaurant entrepreneur and all round nice guy is a popular figure amongst the team and we all hope that he recovers soon. Sadly it is likely he will need surgery and probably will not feature for the rest of the season.
 
Local rivals Cardiff ENL Devils and Bristol Pitbulls faced each other in Wales in a fixture that last time round saw both sides trying to punch seven bells out of each other.
 
Cardiff had a scare pre game as both regular goalies were ruled out, meaning that teenager James Hall from their ENL2 side made a rare start in between the pipes. Thankfully for the home side, the youngster did not let his team mates down with a man of the match performance in a game that saw the Devils win 7-3.
 
Captain David James led from the front with a brace, and Cardiff’s other scorers were Luke Piggott, Robert Sedlak, Steven Fisher, Steve Maile and Chris Jones. Bristol’s goals came from Alan Armour, Peter Korff and Richie Hargreaves.
 
The result keeps Cardiff in the play-off places but it is fair to say that it will be a battle between all of the teams outside the top four to avoid dropping into no man’s land, also known as ninth place.
 
So that is it for another week in the ENL and we all have our eyes peeled firmly on the Invicta Dynamos to see if they can add anything to their roster ahead of the game against Wightlink next week. Deadline day is looming and it will be fascinating to see who the big four decide to pick up, if anyone.
 
If any fan is thinking of a particularly spacious dressing room to invade during hard times can I humbly suggest Bracknell and Milton Keynes as particularly conducive for a well-rehearsed rant. In fact perhaps I should not have written that….
 
Results
 
Saturday 15 January
 
Romford 9 Invicta 6
Bristol 2 Milton Keynes 6
Wightlink 8 Chelmsford 3
 
Sunday 16 January
 
Milton Keynes 4 Wightlink 5
Streatham 8 Swindon 1
Invicta 6 Oxford 2
Chelmsford 4 Bracknell 3
Cardiff 7 Bristol 3
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com