ENL South Round-up Week 21

LONDON, UK – The final weekend of hockey before deadline day in the English National League South was the usual mix of goals, action and incident.
 
Any Invicta fans wearing a replica shirt with ‘Borges’ printed on the back were surely in dreamland last week as the Dynamos added 21 year old defenseman Chris Borges to their line-up. The Canadian joins his older brother Daniel at the Gillingham Ice Bowl, and surely wraps up Head Coach Kevin Parrish’s import slots for the remainder of the season.

 
Parrish described the decision to bring in an import defenseman as a ‘no brainer’ and announced that the new guy would be wearing shirt number 4. It is fair to say that a number of characters wear the number 4 in the ENL, and the shirt does seem to attract an eclectic mix of hockey player.
 
Take Nick Eden at Oxford, who infamously won ‘City Stars Sexiest Player Award’ 2004/05 or You Tube star Josh Allam at Streatham who once starred in a brawl in Cardiff despite having eyesight akin to a mole. At Chelmsford there is the larger than life Danny Cox and until recently the number 4 shirt at Milton Keynes was occupied by the talented Geordie screamer Michael Knights.
 
How good is Borges mark II? Time will tell, however the addition of an import defenseman on top of the recent signing of Jack Tarczycki, gives the Dynamos rearguard the strengthening it required.
 
Oxford City Stars announced via the EIHA website that Coach Ken Forshee would also be taking up the role of Head of Junior development. This is a new role to the organisation and it is a sensible move to have the senior side linked to the juniors. If Oxford can start to rival the local Swindon Academy under Forshee’s guidance then perhaps they will be able to hang on to their better junior players from now on.
 
There was further good news at Oxpens Road when it was revealed that City Stars players Andy Cox, Dale White and Joe Edwards had all been given the opportunity to ice for the Edinburgh Capitals in Saturday’s Elite League fixture in Cardiff.
 
Cox managed to get himself an assist in the game, so no doubt the Stars will have to listen to that story for the rest of the season. When I played at Oxford we got so sick of Coxy saying that he was getting a call up from Elite League side Belfast Giants (complete with ridiculous Northern Irish accent), he ended up with a Belfast Giants jacket as his secret santa gift.
 
Fair play to him and the other Oxford boys for stepping up to the plate and giving it a go in the Elite League because no matter what may be said of our top league, those Devils players are much bigger stronger and fitter than what the guys will have been used to facing in the ENL.    
 
Expect to see more ENL players representing the Caps in the final months of the season as the cash hit Scottish club attempt to fulfil fixtures.
 
Streatham began a partnership with the ‘Sound of South West London’ 107.8 FM Radio Jackie during the week, which meant both the match reports and also an interview with Head Coach Barry Spours were broadcast regularly in the sports news.
 
At the same time Invicta also announced a link up with 95.6FM BR FM. Despite its name the station has nothing to do with British Rail, and mainly covers the Isle of Sheppey, Swale and Sittingbourne.
 
With ENL coverage now online, on radio and in print more than ever before it is great to see this level of hockey gaining the exposure it deserves rather than a bare minimum, as was the case prior.
 
Saturday
 
Rock bottom Swindon ENL Wildcats made the trip to Chelmsford fully aware that they would face an uphill struggle against a Chieftains side getting warm for a visit to Invicta the following day.
 
No one could accuse the Chieftains of taking their eye off the ball as the blitzed their visitors 19-1. In a game that saw Swindon goalies Kevin McGurk and Shannon Long face 43 and 50 shots respectively, the visitors endured a long sixty minutes.
 
Remarkably Shannon Taylor had put the ENL Wildcats into an early lead however it was downhill from that point on for the visitors. Hat tricks each for Kyle Jones, Blaho Novak and Aarron Connolly, along with a brace each for Ross Brears, Danny Hammond, Matt Turner and Tom Long did the bulk of the damage for the Chieftains. One goal each from James Ayling and BT Williams completed the scoring for the home side.
 
Another heavy road loss for the ENL Wildcats despite showing recent signs of improvement must be worrying for player-coach Jamie Newton. To be fair his cause was not helped by losing forward Loris Taylor to a controversial kneeing penalty, which saw the Wildcat take an early shower. Chelmsford fans probably didn’t enjoy this game too much given the one sided scoring, however it is interesting to note that ten goals came in the third period alone.
 
It was seventh versus eight at the Hive, where Bracknell Hornets and Cardiff ENL Devils both played a part in a riveting encounter. The two evenly matched sides traded goals all the way through the game before Tim Burrows snatched a last gasp equaliser for the visitors with only a minute and a half remaining.
 
Cardiff’s other scorers were Ricky Deacon with a brace and David Sadler, David James and Gareth Dixon with one goal each. Bracknell’s goals came from Ben Duggan with two and one each for Tony Barclay, Ryan Webb, Tom Carroll and Danny Hughes.
 
Bracknell’s Adam Hyman and Cardiff’s Phil Manny had a spat midway through the third which earned both parties roughing penalties. Former Basingstoke and Haringey star Hyman has a rather mean look about him at the minute due to the bushiest beard this side of Brian Blessed. Apparently Hyman is determined not to shave until he has scored a goal, so the ladies of Bracknell are no doubt counting down the minutes until he shaves it off because it looks pretty crazy already.
 
Whilst both sides would have preferred two points, at least the draw gave them breathing space from the rapidly encroaching Milton Keynes Thunder who have a decent chance of snatching that final spot in the play-offs.
 
Streatham travelled to the Isle of Wight hoping to do a little better than the 9-1 reverse that occurred on the last visit to play Wightlink Raiders.
 
Streatham had bad news prior to the game when it was revealed that Rupe Quiney had not recovered from his knee injury suffered at Swindon the week previously, and in addition to this the squad was also missing Russ Stevens, Warren Rost, Fred Carnegy amongst the usual absentees.
 
Head Coach Barry Spours drafted in a couple of players from the Bruins (the ENL2 team) and they put in a hardworking display in what is a tough venue to step up too.
 
Wightlink looked comfortable at 4-1 up after the second before losing their heads slightly when the Redskins pulled back a goal five minutes into the third. With a minute remaining Streatham grabbed another goal and the home side began to panic. Despite laying siege to the Raiders goal and pulling the goalie, the puck would just not go in for Streatham, and the home fans were relieved when the final buzzer went to give the Raiders a 4-3 win.
 
It would have been an unlikely point however Wightlink had plenty of chances to kill the game off and a combined lack of finishing and also a quality performance by Will Sanderson in the Redskins goal, meant that they were never truly out of sight.
 
Alex Murray scored two for Wightlink to add to efforts from Brad Watchorn and Robbie Brown. Streatham goal scorers were Peter Molnar with two and Joe Johnston with one.
 
Obviously for us in the Redskins locker room, we felt we had put up a decent fight against a quality team in their own rink. It was a mixed emotion that can perhaps only be described by using our bus journey home as a parallel.
 
It was great to see that the bus driver had put on the Karate Kid for us to watch on the way home, but sad that it was the new version rather than the original. Pleasing but disappointing at the same time, just like the game itself.
 
Sunday
 
The most important fixture of the evening took place at the Gillingham Ice Bowl as Invicta Dynamos hosted a Chelmsford side, knowing that a win would be a massive boost to their title charge. Describing the game in the Medway Messenger as a ‘must win’ for the Dynamos, Coach Kevin Parrish brought back goalie Joe White into the line-up in the absence of Andy Moffat.
 
In the end it took a late Mike Timms effort to rescue a point for the Dynamos as the two rivals played out a 3-3 tie. Timms had already scored the opener for Invicta with Andy Smith the other scorer. Chelmsford’s goals came from Ross Brears, Blaho Novak and Kyle Jones. Goalie White showed he can still pull off cameo performances when needed as he picked up man of the match.
 
The Chieftains can count themselves unlucky after having at least a couple of goals washed off by the referee, whose busy night was even busier when BT Williams and Dynamos new boy Chris Borges went toe to toe.
 
Wightlink made it a four point weekend as they overcame a tricky hurdle in Oxford to give themselves a big boost with a 5-1 win. In an admittedly scrappy affair the Raiders pounced on the City Stars errors to take the two points.
 
Jason Gorrie and Robbie Brown both scored brace each with Stewart Tait getting a lone goal for the Raiders. Oxford’s goal scorer was youngster Josh Oliver.
 
Streatham played host to Bracknell Hornets with both sides recovering from tough games the night before. Rather surprisingly this game turned out to be an entertaining 2-2 draw, with the Hornets snatching a dramatic equaliser on the power play with one minute left. The low score line was largely due to excellent performances from Redskins goalie Shane Kemp and Hornets stopper David Wride.
 
Streatham scorers were Chris and Liam Rasmussen, and Bracknell’s goals came from Danny Hughes and Alan Lack. The goal was the only highlight of the game for poor Chris Rasmussen whose shoulder popped out of its socket after heavy hit by Luke Reynolds. This didn’t stop Chris trying to get back on the ice, and even after the game he was still debating whether to bother going to hospital.
 
Hockey players are a strange bunch at times, so Chris if you are reading this, take it from me. The shoulder cannot stay like that and whilst the four hour wait in casualty may be dull, there is no avoiding it.
 
Both sides can be pleased with their efforts in what was a hard fought draw, refereed very smoothly by the silver haired Dave Cloutman. It is not often you see Mr Cloutman in our league, and in fact the last game he refereed I tore my ligaments in my foot after a dodgy hit and he didn’t call anything on it!
 
That was well over a year ago and I am not one to hold a grudge as regular readers of this column will testify. Cloutman really is one of the best refs around and his awareness, communication and assessment are normally spot on. Let’s hope he becomes a regular in the ENL for the rest of the season.
 
Bristol and Cardiff renewed acquaintances at Frogmore Street and served up yet another high scoring affair full of incident. The Welsh side won an entertaining game 8-5 in a game that the home side were probably hoping to get some points from.
 
Richie Hargreaves hit a hat trick for Bristol with Steve Osman and Mike Smith getting a goal each for Bristol. Referee Ian Hayden was immediately struck off Alan Armour’s 2011 Christmas card list after handing the livid veteran 34 minutes in penalties for various offences.
 
On a personal level Hargreaves had a decent weekend, scoring his hat trick and featuring in a full colour interview with Powerplay Magazine. The weekly UK hockey magazine even featured the infamous Pitbulls smart car (pictured on PHN in September 2010), comparing it to promotions in the Elite League. Good to see that the Pitbulls efforts are getting some publicity despite their on-ice troubles, and good to see ENL news featuring more prominently in Powerplay thanks to Dave Lambert.
 
Swindon completed a miserable weekend as they were demolished on their home ice by Romford Raiders. The 10-2 score line will not make happy reading for fans and players of the Swindon team.
 
One happy man was Romford’s Juraj Huska who helped himself to five goals, and the Slovak was assisted by Anthony Leone and JJ McGrath who got a brace each, and Frankie Harvey who got a lone goal. Swindon scorers were Alasdair Barrow and Shannon Taylor.
 
Better news for Swindon came with the news that they have swooped for Bristol Pitbulls’ pair Luke Merrick and Rob Jones, so they will be looking a little stronger in the coming weeks.
 
So Wightlink regain a slight advantage at the top and Swindon stay rooted at the bottom. Noises from Chelmsford suggest they may have a new face in the line up next weekend, but all teams will have to rush their paperwork through to beat the deadline.
 
One thing is for sure, this league is turning out to be one hell of a competition and has many twists and turns ahead.
 
Results
 
Saturday 29 January
 
Wightlink 4 Streatham 3
Bracknell 6 Cardiff 6
Chelmsford 19 Swindon 1
 

Sunday 30 January
 
Streatham 2 Bracknell 2
Invicta 3 Chelmsford 3
Oxford 1 Wightlink 5
Bristol 5 Cardiff 8
Swindon 2 Romford 10
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com