ENL South Round-up Week 26

LONDON, UK – Oxford City Stars duo Dale White and Andy Cox appeared in Edinburgh Capitals colours for the second time this season, helping out the struggling Elite League side in a Friday night fixture against the Nottingham Panthers.
 
Playing in front of 3946 fans, Cox and White were joined by a number of ENL players including Solihull Barons defenseman Adam Andrews in the Edinburgh line up, but could do little to stop the import laden Panthers storm to a 16-0 win.

 
Nottingham owner Neil Black had pledged to donate £100 for every goal scored to the Nottingham Teenage Cancer Trust, so at least there was something positive to come out of the one sided affair, namely a £1.6k cheque.
 
Back in the University City, Stars manager Gary Dent admitted to the Oxford Mail that his side had under achieved this season.
 
“We started well but we’ve fallen behind” said the Stars’ supremo. “We ran into a problem area at the end of last year where our rink was shut and several guys were out with injuries and we’ve struggled to come back from that”
 
“That’s not an excuse because we’ve had plenty of time to get back on form but we really should have been playing better and been tougher against stronger teams.”
 
Indeed Oxfords record against the top four sides in the league isn’t great. Aside from an early victory over Wightlink on the 12th September, Oxford have failed to win any of the subsequent twelve fixtures involving the top four.
 
They still have time to turn this around though, as they face Chelmsford and Invicta again before the end of the season.
 
Invicta Coach Kevin Parrish didn’t mince his words speaking to Kent News about the 9-3 win at Oxford the previous weekend.
 
“To go 3-0 down was absolutely diabolical” said the Invicta boss. “But we pulled it back and got a good response”
 
Oh to be a fly on the wall of that locker room in Oxpens Road after the first period. Diabolical was probably not the terminology used at the time, however whatever was said clearly worked.
 
Speaking of locker rooms, any ENL fans or players keeping a close eye on Facebook or YouTube may have chanced across the Milton Keynes Thunder posting a random video of their players dancing in their kit.
 
Apparently this is the Thunders victory dance, and they have been performing it after every victory in their locker room. Normally it would be better to do the victory dancing outside so that the fans can see it and join in the fun, however on review those moves should be kept behind closed doors.
 
Not content with just dancing, some of the Thunder players appear to have formed a rock band named ‘Blood Fire and Death’. We all wait with baited breath for their first gig details.
 
Whilst on a social discussion, the long awaited birthday party of Streatham Redskins forward Michael Ranby took place at the Maple Leaf in Covent Garden last Monday. Anyone who knows Mr Ranby will testify that the guy is as mad as a box of snakes, so it was no surprise that a few of his old and current team mates turned out to wish him well, in full knowledge that it would be an entertaining evening.
 
Enjoying ‘Wings Night’ were a host of Redskins plus Bristol Pitbulls defenseman Alastair Band and Romford Raiders utility man Liam Doyle. It must be pointed out at this stage that ‘Wings Night’ refers to discounted chicken wings in an assortment of sauces and not a regular gig featuring Paul McCartney and his Wings rock group (minus Linda of course).
 
Details of the event as ever are best left undisclosed however it is nothing short of a miracle that Ranby’s false teeth stayed in place for the duration and that the assortment of hockey players were not kicked out before closing time. That laid back Canadian attitude is great isn’t it!
 
Saturday
 
Wightlink Player Coach Jeremy Cornish held out an olive branch to former players Danny Hughes and Luke Reynolds, ahead of their return to the Cube with Bracknell Hornets.
 
“Danny and Luke are very well liked players and well respected off the ice as well” said Cornish whilst speaking to Isle of Wight Radio. “It will be good to see them back but this weekend holds two very difficult games. We’ve got to make sure we’re at our best”
 
With that silverware tantalisingly close, Cornish and his men don’t need former players coming back to haunt them, and in the end they beat the Hornets convincingly with a 7-1 win.
 
Andrew Robinson hit a brace for Wightlink to add to goals from Jason Gorrie, Stewart Tait, Alex Murray, Richard Bentham and the happy Coach Cornish. Bracknell’s lone goal came from Tony Barclay.
 
More good news for Wightlink fans came from the Streatham Ice Arena as title chasers Romford Raiders were held to a 3-3 tie by the Streatham Redskins.
 
It is no secret that the Redskins have been struggling lately and we hadn’t won in the nine fixtures prior to this, however things have been slowly turning and we fully deserved to get something out of the game. Not for the first time this season, Romford struggled against us and their frustration and anger at the final buzzer was plain to see.
Joe Johnston, Ed Koral and Chris Rasmussen scored the goals for Streatham whilst Frankie Harvey, Adam Smith and Anthony Leone were on target for Romford.
 
It was good to see Romford bring such a healthy band of travelling support and along with the usual noises from the Redskins fans, it made for a great atmosphere inside the old barn. Delays to the start of the game due to faulty plexi glass, plus an injury to linesman Matt Middleton meant that the game was a quite rushed affair and indeed there was no ice cut between the first and second period, and no time for man of the match presentations. On the plus side everyone got home or into the pub earlier than usual on a Saturday night.
 
The main question most ENL fans were asking at around 9pm on Saturday night was ‘What happened at Cardiff v Chelmsford’? The answer was highly anticipated due to the bench clearance between the two sides a fortnight ago, and many expected similar fireworks, especially with tough guy and former Invicta and Romford defenseman Mark Williams making his debut in Chieftains colours.
 
One can draw a parallel between hockey and the aurora borealis in this respect. Much like the aurora, the potential for a flare up on the ice is always there, but it will only reveal itself randomly and without timing. An expectation of violence is the same as the expectation to see the flashing green lights dance across the dark arctic sky, it is not a certainty.
 
And so it came to pass that those attending the blue tent by the bay, felt the same sensation as the hundreds of holiday makers who book a long weekend in Iceland and see only black sky.
 
Well not quite, in fact the players let their sticks do the talking this time as they played out a hard fought close game that the  visitors edged 3-2 thanks to a late winner from Canadian Kyle Jones (who as far as we are aware didn’t take his passport to Wales).
Ross Brears and Aaron Connolly got the goals for Chelmsford with Gareth Dixon and Chris Jones getting on the score sheet for the Devils.
 
A home defeat for Cardiff that means they have lost their last four games straight. No need to press the panic button though as they sit comfortably in the play-offs, and will be looking to pick up two points against bottom placed Swindon next weekend.
 
There was more dancing at Planet Ice Milton Keynes as the Thunder showed yet again that they are a team on the up with a 6-1 win over Oxford City Stars.
 
In a scrappy affair the Thunder ended the Stars mini revival with a hat trick from Ross Bowers doing the majority of damage combined with a goal each for Harrison Goode, Connor Goode and Maros Stefanco. It could have been seven one had Paul Jamieson not missed a sitter for the Thunder late on but the big man will have been delighted with the two points for his side regardless.
 
Yousif Abu Saada continued his mini streak in front of goal with Oxford’s lone effort.
 
Sunday
 
Probably for the first time in a number of weeks, every single result on Sunday could not be predicted easily, as ten teams of similar ability faced off against each other.
 
Romford aimed to bounce back from the disappointment at Streatham the night before, as they hosted Wightlink at Rom Valley Way. After a close opening the Romford version of the Raiders pulled away to pull off a surprising 7-2 win.
 
JJ McGrath and Jeremy Cornish dropped the gloves with McGrath surprising everyone by getting the take down. Cornish went back for revenge later in the game however McGrath didn’t take the bait and pocketed a good memory for the evening.
 
Juraj Huska bagged a brace for Romford with Tom Davis, Adam Smith, Billy Phillips, Anthony Leone and McGrath getting a goal each. Dom Hopkins and Alex Murray got Wightlink’s goals.
 
Wightlink’s Brad Watchorn got an early shower for third man in after he dropped them with David Oliver, and Romford defender Billy Phillips earned himself a one match ban for spearing with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
 
There was certainly something in the air on Sunday, as Oxford and Streatham played their part in an unusually feisty affair between the two teams.
 
The flashpoint came as Streatham scored their third to take a 3-1 lead in the game. Tomas Valko had scored the goal however he clashed with Andy Cox after the goal and appeared to motion his leg towards the Oxford player. This caused a scuffle that saw Andrew Shurmer drop the gloves with Michael Ranby, who then appeared to celebrate afterwards by pulling a strange face and rubbing his belly at the crowd.
 
This infuriated the Oxford bench and a few players charged on to the ice, most notably Richard Wojciack who ripped his helmet off and charged towards Ranby in the penalty box, he tried to jump into the box but was stopped by Rupe Quiney and they both dropped the gloves.
 
Streatham kept their players on the bench however despite apparently noting everything down (including the five extra Stars players now on the ice), referee Blaine Evans transpired to get it all wrong, sending the innocent Mike Whillock to the showers, giving Wojciack only 2+2 for roughing and missing Shurmer off the penalty list altogether.
 
Valko was given a 5 plus match for kicking and both Quiney and Ranby sat coincidental penalties. So in fact after all of that restraint from the Streatham bench, we ended up with a five minute power play to kill and Oxford came back to get a 3-3 tie, which to be perfectly honest should suit both teams and was a fair result.
 
Alan Green hit a deserved hat trick for the Stars whilst the other Redskins goals came from Ranby and Casimir Madren-Britton. Stefan Nubert picked up a deserved man of the match award for a solid performance between the pipes.
 
Personally I thought the game was quite scrappy and both sides are obviously not on their best form at the minute. The Redskins and Stars have some good players and the point gives us both a better chance of the play-offs.
 
Perhaps less surprising than the fracas at Oxford, was the bad tempered clash between the Chelmsford Chieftains and Invicta Dynamos at the Riverside.
 
With Wightlink losing in Romford, the Dynamos had their best chance of gaining ground on the league leaders but couldn’t take advantage as they went down 6-3 to their local rivals.
 
Chelmsford goals came from Ross Brears, Blaho Novak, Tom Long, Matt Turner, James Ayling and Danny Hammond. Invicta’s goals came from Daniel Borges, Karl Lennon and Callum Fowler.
 
Fowler was kicked out of the game in the second period for high sticks, and then Chris Borges and Blaho Novak dropped the gloves with both then suffering bad injuries. Novak hit his head on the ice, and Borges conspired to knock himself out in the penalty box. Let’s hope both make a quick recovery along with Dynamos forward Dan Fudger who also left the game with a bad injury.
 
This result means that Wightlink need only three points from their last two home games against Cardiff and Swindon to seal their first silverware in over a decade.
 
On a lighter note, the charity car raffle that took place in aid of Autism Anglia saw nobody win the sporty SEAT car on the night, however if anyone spots it driving through the streets of Harlow in the coming days, we know that Pro Hockey News writer Pete Lewis has sloped off with it.
 
Bristol Pitbulls travelled to Bracknell to face a Hornets side in desperate need of a win to try and regain the final play-off place.
 
Goals from Tom Avery, Tony Barclay, Ben Duggan, Alan Lack and Danny Hughes gave the Hornets that much needed two points in a 5-3 victory.
 
Bristol’s goals came from man of the match Mike Smith who rolled back the years with a solid 1+2 and 8 minutes in minors. Steve Osman and Henrik Sahlin were also on the score sheet for the Pitbulls, but forward Phil Dibble had a less pleasing evening as he was given a game penalty for an ill judged punch aimed at Ben Duggan in the penalty box.
 
Milton Keynes faced a potential banana skin as they travelled to the Link Centre to face Swindon ENL Wildcats.
 
In a ridiculously high scoring affair, the two teams played out a 17 goal affair, that saw the Thunder clinch a four point weekend courtesy of a 10-7 win over the Wiltshire side.
 
Robin Davison hit a hat trick for Swindon, with their other goals coming from a brace each for Stephen Whitfield and Shannon Taylor along with a solo goal from Grant Richardson.
 
Maros Stefanco also scored three goals, with Ross Bowers getting two and Tommy Mboya, Jamie Randall, Connor Goode, Matt Roberts and David Coffey getting one each.
 
At one point Swindon came back to 7-8 but MK settled and took the two points.
 
So after an entertaining weekend of hockey, Romford will be kicking themselves at a missed opportunity to take 4 points, Invicta look to have lost their first title in a number of years and the play-off race is a long way from finished with MK, Bracknell, Cardiff, Oxford and Streatham still facing an early finish to their season if they slump in the final few weeks.
 
Results
 
Saturday 5th March
 
Streatham 3 Romford 3 
Wightlink 7 Bracknell 1 
Cardiff 2 Chelmsford 3 
Milton Keynes 6 Oxford 1
 
Sunday 6th March
 
Romford 7 Wightlink 2
Bracknell 5 Bristol 3 
Oxford 3 Streatham 3  
Chelmsford 6 Invicta 3 
Swindon 7 Milton Keynes 10
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com