ENL South Round-up week 27

LONDON, UK – An unexpected twist hit the ENL South title race and goals flowed across the league. Bristol laid their hands on some silverware and Chelmsford proved that hockey teams can be kind at times.  

 
There was a warm glow surrounding Brixton Ice Rink this week following the previous weekends win for Streatham over Invicta Dynamos. There is a saying that the world looks a better place when you wake after a win the night before and that is certainly true.
 
Training was unrecognisable from recent weeks as laughter filled the air, confidence flowed during break outs and Coach Barry Spours cracked a smile. A new delivery of team jackets also boosted spirits however one man missing his kit was Norm Pinnington, more on that later.
 
One reason the American detective series Colombo lasted so long was because everyone loved the little twist at the end of each episode. On TV this is a bonus, but in hockey nobody likes an ‘off-ice’ unexpected twist, especially in the final weeks of a title race but that is exactly what happened on Thursday.
 
Rumours circulated that the crunch clash between scheduled for the coming Sunday between Romford and Wightlink was postponed and this was confirmed shortly afterwards on the Romford website.
 
‘Licensing issues’ were the reasons given for the postponement and the match was immediately rescheduled to the 1^st April. The implications on the title race were soon apparent.
 
The postponement meant that Romford import Andrius Kaminskas will now miss the tricky away fixture in Cardiff rather than the Wightlink game as a result of his suspension, however the another issue appeared to rile title rivals Chelmsford more.
 
“We are shocked and lost for words with regard to the cancelled Isle of Wight (Wightlink) South East Cup fixture. The first that we were made aware of the EIHA decision is a press release on the Romford Raiders website” read an official statement on the Chieftains website.
 
“We understand that there has been a licensing issue at Romford that meant ice time was lost and their league fixture versus the Isle of Wight was cancelled and rearranged for the same day that we were supposed to have a home cup fixture against the Isle of Wight”
 
“The rules of competition state that league fixtures take precedence over cup ties, even though the cup is EIHA sanctioned. As such it has been decided that Romford would play the Isle of Wight and our game is simply abandoned”
 
“We had no choice or say in the matter and we are very angry and upset as an organisation that this has been allowed to happen. No compensation will be paid to us and with the forthcoming weeks after the original date being the start of the playoffs, the ability to rearrange is almost non-existent”
 
“Therefore it seems that we will lose the revenue. We did consider not travelling to the Isle of Wight for the away cup fixture (on 17^th March) but in the recognition that the Isle of Wight would also lose a home gate we agreed to travel, at our expense, as a gesture of goodwill. To say that we are angry at the EIHA is an understatement. The position is simply unbelievable”
 
Following the previous encounter ending in the game being abandoned between Invicta and Cardiff, Dynamos Coach Kevin Parrish was in no doubt that the clash between the pair at the weekend would attract some attention.
 
“There’s going to be a lot of hype after what happened in the last game” admitted the Mo’s Coach in an interview with the Medway Messenger.
 
“Saturday could be a blood-and-thunder affair but it could also be a cat-and-mouse affair with both sides not wanting to give anything away before the play-off game”
 
Wightlink fans were disappointed to see their star import Joe Rand linked with a summer move to English Premier League side Basingstoke Bison in the media. British Ice Hockey.co.uk reported that the 25 year old Canadian was on Bison Coach Steve Moria’s radar and that a move could happen if the veteran Mo stays on for 2012/13.
 
The article featured no quotes from any party to back up the rumour, but with Rand’s points tally and the close links between the two clubs it would not be inconceivable that Basingstoke would be interested.
 
Raiders Coach Jeremy Cornish has really struck gold with Rand this season and even if the Island club lost his services to the higher leagues it would be a great advertisement for any young import wishing to come over to the UK and progress up the ladder.
 
It is worth remembering that Wightlink have had some cracking imports over the years and many have gone on to higher levels and bigger clubs as a result of successful seasons on the island with David Kozier (moved to Manchester in 2004) a standout example.
 
Whilst Chelmsford may have been upset that they will lose cash from the postponed South East Cup game against Wightlink they celebrated with the rest of the town when it was revealed that their town is to be upgraded to City status.
The home town (and now city) of delightful St Etienne front woman Sarah Cracknell, Chelmsford beat off competition from Milton Keynes amongst other towns for the right to be known as a city courtesy of the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations. Not that Milton Keynes took it badly of course.
 
“It’s disappointing,” said Councillor Andrew Geary, leader of the MK council.
 
“But the title is purely honorific and it doesn’t give us any more powers or funding.
 
“Everyone will still be going to the city centre to do their shopping and I don’t think people will be changing that. I think that if it looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, chances are it is a duck”
 
Anyone who has been to Milton Keynes knows full well that the ducks are happy at Willen Lake and that Milton Keynes City Centre could be described by over a thousand words from the English dictionary before ‘duck’ would even come into contention.
 
Rumours that the MK Thunder were to wear black armbands were unconfirmed on the Official Thunder website, as were rumours that Chelmsford were considering renaming themselves as Chelmsford City Chieftains.
 
There was awful news from London in the early hours of Saturday morning when it was revealed that former Harringey Racer and then long-time hockey coach Dave Richards Senior passed away.
 
Dave was well known to many in the hockey community of North London in particular and our thoughts and prayers are with his family, including his son Dave Junior who is currently icing for Romford Fury in English National League 2.
 
Pro Hockey News interviewed Dave Senior in 2010, minutes before he had a heart attack. True to form he recovered but sadly lost his life in his home city this weekend.
For anyone wishing to read more about the man who touched so many people in this part of the world, the story is still online at the link below.
 
http://www.prohockeynews.com/hockey/publish/david_carr/A_London_life_of_ice.shtml
 
Bristol Pitbulls looked ahead to their league game with Bracknell Hornets, which also doubled up as the John Nike Cup. The ENL appears to be keeping the trophy business afloat this season with ‘The Essex Cup’, ‘The South East Cup’, ‘The Raiders Cup’ and now the ‘John Nike Cup’ all taking place amidst the hectic league schedule.
 
“The John Nike Cup is something that was introduced to give our league matches with Bracknell a little extra spice,” said Pitbulls Head Coach Richie Hargreaves in an interview with This is Bristol.
 
“We have close links with them both because John Nike operates both of our rinks. It’s not a major competition, but to win any cup is a good reward for all of the hard work the players have put in over the last few months”
 
Bristol won the first leg 7-1 so started as red hot favourites ahead of the second leg.
Streatham are considering a London Cup next season featuring Haringey Greyhounds, Sobell All-Stars, Wembley Lions, Earls Court Rangers, London Racers and London Knights. I think we would probably start as favourites in that competition so let’s hope it gets the go ahead.
 
 
Saturday
 
Chelmsford’s aforementioned ‘Gesture of Goodwill’ in travelling to the Isle of Wight for the dead rubber South East Cup game against Wightlink, took an unexpected twist mid journey.
 
Obviously feeling extremely generous or perhaps influenced by two pretty young ladies with signs at the roadside, the kind hearted Chieftains stopped to pick up three hitchhikers at the side of the road who wanted a lift to Portsmouth en route to Europe.
 
The fundraising trio enjoyed some real Essex hospitality as Star forward Danny Hammond shared his chicken and rice with them and then Tom Long allowed them to feel his six pack to give them a few memories to take home with them.
 
Sadly the hitchhikers were unable to cross to the Island to see the game and if they were hoping to see their new found friends get a win, they would have been disappointed.
 
Wightlink started back-up goalie Dan Weller Evans and he enjoyed a win as the Raiders beat the high flying Chieftains 5-4 in a tight contest. Jakub Klima hit two goals for Chelmsford with Danny Hammond and Gary Clarke also on the score sheet. For the Raiders Dom Hopkins, Damon Larter and Joe Rand were on target.
 
For those of you not skimming the top section of this article you will know why Norm Pinnington stepped onto the Streatham Redskins coach to Bristol decked out in a two piece Romford Raiders tracksuit, for the rest of you, scroll up and read it again.
 
The one man protest was quite amusing, but sadly our game against Bristol was not, as we lost 4-1 to a competent Bristol side.
 
Martin Lee scored two for Bristol with Eggy Bauba and Alan Armour also getting on the score sheet, the latter with a sweet one timer from the top of the circle. Jerry Pavlus scored an impressive goal himself for the Redskins but it was a brief moment of joy in an otherwise dismal evening for our side.
 
One thing that was apparent in the game was the quality that Bristol now has compared with last season. Their forward lines are strong and they look dangerous every time they break. Their games against Wightlink in the play-offs will be very interesting indeed.
The much hyped game between Invicta and Cardiff ended as one sided 7-2 win for the Dynamos.
 
With both sides counting down the weeks to the play-offs it was no real surprise that Cardiff sent a short bench and Invicta rolled to a straightforward win.
 
Invicta goals came from Andy Smith, Ryan Ellis, Justin Noble, Dan Fudger, Callum Best, Mike Timms and Callum Fowler, with Ricky Deacon and Jamie Hayes on target for the Devils.
 
Mo’s fans will be pleased to see long term injury victim Timms amongst the goals and the play-off encounter between the two teams should be a couple of cracking games.
 
 
Sunday
 
If Invicta fans believed that the defeat against Streatham last Saturday had been forgotten about following the wins over Wightlink and then Cardiff, they were in for another unpleasant surprise in Milton Keynes.
 
The Thunder famously derailed the Mo’s last season at round the same stage of the season, and they did it again with a 4-2 win that would have infuriated Mo’s coach Kevin Parrish.
 
Joe Edwards, Maros Stefanco, Connor Goode and Tommy Mboya were the heroes this time round for the Thunder as they all got a goal each. Callum Best and Ryan Ellis got the goals for Invicta but it was Thunder goalie David Cassidy who stole the headlines with a great game between the pipes.
 
This result, coupled with Streatham’s loss on Saturday ensures the Thunder of a play-off place.
 
Streatham travelled to Chelmsford without the industrious Pinnington, and iced Peter Molnar as our import with Valko and Pavlus given the evening off. Before the game an impeccably observed minutes silence took place for Dave Richards Senior.
 
It is fair to say that we were taught a lesson and a half as the Chieftains ran amok and thumped us 16-3. Some of their goals were of the highest calibre and some were simply down to bad play from us.
 
Darren Brown, Danny Hammond and Tom Long all hit hat tricks for the home side with Jakub Klima and Gary Clarke getting a brace each. The other Chelmsford goals came from Darren Elliott, Alex Staples and Alan Green.
 
Streatham scorers were Gennadi Yufit, Russ Stevens and Dave Carr (no it isn’t a misprint). In fact that was my first goal in four years (the last one was a dubious effort for Haringey against Peterborough) which is of course pleasing but not exactly something you can celebrate too much when you get beaten so heavily.
 
The John Nike Cup headed back to Bristol as they won 6-4 in Bracknell to make it a solid four point weekend for the Pitbulls.
 
A brace each for Eggy Bauba and Steven Fisher added to lone goals from Yousif Abu Saada and Martin Lee for Bristol. Danny Hughes got a brace for Bracknell with Ryan Webb and Paul Christie also scoring with the latter scoring his first senior goal for the Hornets.
 
So the week ends with Streatham facing a massive fixture in MK next weekend and Chelmsford sitting on top of the table for the next few days at least.
 
Results
 
Saturday 17th March 2012
 
Invicta Dynamos 7 – 2 Cardiff Devils  
Bristol Pitbulls 4 – 1 Streatham Redskins
Wightlink Raiders 5 – 4 Chelmsford Chieftains (South East Cup)
 
Sunday 18th March 2012
 
Bracknell Hornets 4 – 6    Bristol Pitbulls  
Chelmsford Chieftains 16 – 3    Streatham Redskins  
Milton Keynes Thunder 4 – 2    Invicta Dynamos
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com