ENL South Round-up Week 25

LONDON, UK – Invicta Coach Kevin Parrish took time out during the week to praise his young goalie Andrew Dickson for his shut-out against Swindon the previous weekend.
 
“We’ve let in five or six against struggling teams before this season” said Parrish, whilst speaking to Kent News. “It’s not good enough, so it was good to get a shut-out against the Wildcats”

 
Wightlink Raiders players spent their Tuesday afternoon skating with locals and fans in a ‘Skate with the Raiders’ event. The likes of Damon Larter and Nathan Taylor turned up to help kids and adults master the frozen surface of the Ryde Arena with skating aids and some old fashioned improvisation.
 
Canadian Jason Gorrie took the event to a whole new level as he showed everyone how to drink a cup of coffee whilst gliding across the ice, and Dan Scott got up close and personal with a plastic penguin.
 
Ahead of the clash of the Raiders on Saturday, Romford’s Julian Smith spoke out in the Romford Recorder about the clash against their Wightlink opponents.
 
“I think they’ll try and ruffle us up so we take penalties” said the big defenseman. “We know what we need to do to shut them down. It will be a very exciting game and I can’t wait”
 
Readers of the Oxford Mail were subjected to a picture of Ken Forshee’s new chin beard, as the City Stars coach had his ejection during the game against Chelmsford publicised by the local paper.
 
Forshee’s ginger twinged tuft is not too dissimilar to the hairy chops sported by fellow Canadian and Wightlink Raiders coach Jeremy Cornish recently. All the league needs now is for Cardiff Coach Mark Cuddihy to repeat last season’s edgy Mohican haircut, Streatham Coach Barry Spours to grow his hair long again, and the ENL coaching set could really unite and fly in the face of hair fashion.
 
Streatham Ice Rink celebrated its 80th birthday on Saturday, but unfortunately the Redskins had an away game in Bristol at the same time. The facility may be derided at times for its shabbiness and fallen glory, however as anyone from Durham will tell you, a dilapidated rink is better than no rink and when it is gone, regular users will remember it fondly despite its faults.
 
Frustratingly it was reported that two of Swindon’s home games would not be rearranged and instead would be awarded to the visiting sides of Romford and Invicta with a 5-0 score line. This is obviously not ideal and it is a shame that the ENL could not make a whole season without this type of scenario occurring. The saving grace is that the points won’t affect the league standings, although Swindon owner Steve Nell may be bemoaning the lack of revenue that the away support of those two clubs could have brought to the Link Centre.
 
Saturday
 
Over 900 fans packed the Ryde Arena for yet another ‘must win’ game for the Wightlink Raiders. This time they faced a Romford Raiders side that were full of confidence following an incredible streak of 13 consecutive wins. The visitors had even more good news as young starlet Frankie Harvey returned from injury to slot in on the first line.
 
In a predictably tight affair it was the Wightlink version of the Raiders that triumphed 2-1 thanks to goals from Steve Gosset and Jason Gorrie.
 
The main talking point was the high sticking game penalty on Romford defenseman Billy Phillips, as it was the resulting five minute power play in the third that gave Gorrie the space to fire home the winner.   Romford player coach Danny Marshall got on the score sheet himself however his mood was darkened by the final buzzer.
 
The result gave Wightlink some much needed breathing space at the top and left Romford plotting revenge for when the two teams meet at Rom Valley Way this Sunday coming.
 
Time is precious, or so the saying goes, and nowhere did that statement ring true more than at Frogmore Street on Saturday night. On the face of it, a 4-4 tie between the resident Bristol Pitbulls and the Streatham Redskins may read as an entertaining affair.
 
With a big crowd in attendance thanks to some ticketing initiatives by the Pitbulls, it was a crying shame that fans were streaming out of the exits after the second period, probably never to return.
 
Unfortunately, the allocated referee reportedly dropped out late on, leaving two young inexperienced officials who along with the off-ice team conspired to string out a sixty minute hockey game for three hours. It was not really their fault; however it is worth pointing out that the game was hardly full of incident and indeed some of the players looked as bored as the fans midway through the game.
 
Bristol Coach Richie Hargreaves must have been crying inside watching the families enticed by his marketing, slipping out despite his side getting a much needed point from the evening. Bristol scorers were Alan Armour, Henrik Sahlin, Steve Osman and Alastair Band. Streatham’s goals came from Rupe Quiney, Ed Koral, Peter Molnar and Lukas Zilak.
 
Liam Rasmussen earned himself an early shower after a high hit on Osman, which saw the Redskins shorthanded for five minutes afterwards. In the second, Armour took exception to a check by Fred Carnegy on the boards and dropped his gloves, and he was sent to the showers to soak his old bones.
 
Oxford shocked Invicta as they raced into a 3-0 first period lead at Oxpens Road. The City Stars have a decent record against the Dynamos on home ice however they capitulated spectacularly in the final two periods, eventually losing the game 9-3. Five goals in seven minutes towards the end of the second did the majority of the damage for the visitors.
 
Oxford scorers were Gareth Endicott, Ken Forshee and Josh Oliver. Invicta goals came from hat trick hero Andy Smith, two each for Daniel Borges and Liam Chong, and a lone goal for Corey Watkins and Dan Fudger.
 
Fans hoping to watch Bracknell Hornets take on Milton Keynes Thunder had to find alternative entertainment as the zamboni at the Hive managed to spill boiling hot water onto the pad and melted it down to the concrete.
 
The rink staff did attempt to freeze the area again but they would have had more chance of success making a snowman in the Nevada desert than fixing that kind of issue in the UK’s hottest facility.
 
Sunday
 
Bristol travelled to Romford hoping to build on the point gained the evening before. It was always going to be a tough ask for the Pitbulls and so it proved, as the Raiders finished comfortable winners with a 5-2 win.
 
Romford goals came from Juraj Huska with two and JJ McGrath, Jason Buckman, AJ Smith and Danny Marshall. Bristol scorers were Mike Hargreaves and Steve Osman.
 
Michael Crisp had a great game in between the pipes for Bristol as he faced 48 shots and was given the man of the match award for his efforts.
 
Two teams on terrible form met at the High Road as Streatham Redskins faced the Oxford City Stars. Streatham came out hard in the first and took a 2-0 lead only to fade badly in the second and third, eventually losing the game 6-3.
 
Tomas Valko got two for the Redskins with Joe Johnston bagging the other. Ken Forshee got a brace for the Stars, with Yousif Abu-Saada, Grant Bailey, Gareth Endicott and Alan Green also on target.
 
Birthday boy Michael Ranby got man of the match for the Redskins.
 
The result puts both sides level on 28 points and we face each other again next weekend up in Oxford.
 
Milton Keynes Thunder moved into the play-off spots courtesy of a 6-4 win over Cardiff ENL Devils.
 
Thunder scorers were Tommy Mboya and Jamie Randall with two goals each and lone goals for Maros Stefanco and Martyn Snape. Steven Fisher hit a hat trick for Cardiff with Luke Piggott scoring the other.
 
The Thunder sneak into the last play-off spot at the expense of Bracknell Hornets, who suffered a heavy loss at Invicta Dynamos.
 
This time last season the Hornets began to hit some form that eventually led to play-off glory, at the expense of Invicta. This year however, the two teams are a fair distance apart and it was not too surprising that the Mo’s triumphed 11-3.
 
A hat trick from Daniel Borges had the home fans smiling, as did a brace each for Andy Smith, Callum Fowler and Liam Chong. Corey Watkins and Dan Fudger completed the scoring with a goal each, with Bracknell goals coming from Ryan Webb, Grant Rounding and Tom Fisher.
 
The result leaves Invicta ten points behind the league leaders with four games in hand.
 
Wightlink continued their winning ways with a solid win in Swindon against the ENL Wildcats. Despite taking a 5-0 lead, the Raiders slipped slightly in the third but still won 6-3.
 
Robbie Brown, Richard Facey, Josh Florey, Andy Robinson, Nathan Taylor and Stewart Tait got the goals for the visitors who have now won their last nine games straight.
 
With only four games remaining for the Raiders, the opportunities to slip up are diminishing by the week and they have a double header up next at home to Bracknell followed by a big clash in Romford the following day.
 
On paper, Wightlink are within touching distance of silverware but it is not over yet. The race for the play-offs offers more excitement as Cardiff, Oxford and Streatham are all level on points with MK and Bracknell well within range. One of them has to lose out and it would take a brave betting man to predict which one.
    
Results
 
Saturday 26th February
 
Bristol 4 Streatham 4
Bracknell P-P Milton Keynes
Oxford 3 Invicta 9
Wightlink 2 Romford 1
 
Sunday 27th February
 
Streatham 3 Oxford 6
Romford 6 Bristol 2
Invicta 11 Bracknell 3
Swindon 3 Wightlink 6
Milton Keynes 6 Cardiff 4  
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com