ENL South Round-up Week 3

LONDON, UK – The ENL South Division 1 looks altogether more promising after action on and off the ice provided excitement for fans and players alike.
 
The Romford Raiders appeared in a photo shoot for London based ‘Random’ magazine with ‘X Factor’ singer Diana Vickers, prompting jealous thoughts from most players in the ENL. Vickers and her agent were clearly not aware of the best looking team in London situated less than twenty miles away in Streatham. Never mind, maybe Kate Moss will be in touch with the High Road hierarchy before the season is out?

More good news further up the A12 from Rom Valley Way arrived as Chelmsford announced that the contractors repairing the ice at the Riverside confirmed that it would re-open on the first weekend of October. The bad news though is that the Chieftains are going to have their work cut out after this inactivity. It will be interesting to see how their reduced training schedule and also the momentum gained by their opponents affects them this season.
 
Invicta Dynamos announced their second import during the week as Canadian Daniel Borges joined the Kent club just in time to travel to Bracknell on Saturday. It was the Dynamos first visit to the Hive since they dramatically lost there in the play-offs last year. It is fair to say that they faced a very different Bracknell side this time round, with the Berkshire side still licking their wounds following a shock 4-3 loss in Streatham last week.
 
The Dynamos’ dealt Ben Pitchley’s Hornets side another blow as they ran out convincing 7-3 winners. It was back to the old routine for Andy Smith as he stole the show with a hat trick for the visitors. Borges bagged two goals on his debut and the impressive Liam Chong also notched a brace.   Bracknell’s goals came courtesy of Radek Scimecek, Grant Rounding and Alan Lack, who was also involved in a fight with Mo’s fiery Welshman Corey Watkins during the second period. Lack is not known for dropping the gloves so it was perhaps no surprise that Watkins got the take down.
 
Old friends were re-united at Frogmore Street as the Oxford City Stars rolled into town to take on the resident Bristol Pitbulls. The City Stars had spent the last week taking screenshots of the league table from the EIHA website to revel in their 1^st place standing, but will have been wary of slipping up against the Pitbulls.
 
Pitbulls Coach Richie Hargreaves was quoted in the local press as saying it was only a matter of time before his side clicked into gear, but unfortunately for the Bristol players and fans alike, it just didn’t happen against the City Stars. A hat trick from in form Oxford skipper Darren Elliott did most of the damage for the City Stars with youngster Mike Whillock and Josh Oliver also scoring to give Oxford a comfortable 5-1 win. Pitbulls forward Alan Armour grabbed the consolation for the home side that also started goalie Matt Van Der Velden for the first time this season. To compound Hargreaves misery, he was kicked out in the third following an altercation with City Stars player Dale White.
 
Wightlink Raiders entertained the Milton Keynes Thunder, with both sides aiming to bounce back from disappointing defeats last week against Oxford and Invicta respectively.
 
Despite taking a two nil lead early on courtesy of Dom Hopkins and Dan Scott, the Raiders surprisingly let the Thunder back into the game. Goals from Harrison Goode, Martyn Snape and Jamie Line put the visitors 3-2 up with fourteen minutes to go, before Wightlink’s Canadian hot shot Jason Gorrie spared the home sides blushes with the equaliser. The 3-3 final score was an impressive point for Milton Keynes, but not a result that would have pleased Raiders Head Coach Jeremy Cornish.
 
The final game on Saturday took place in Wales as the Streatham Redskins took their unbeaten record this season, to a rink where the home side are rarely beaten. The Cardiff ENL Devils went the whole of the last regular season unbeaten on home ice, so it was somewhat of a surprise that the Londoners ended up victorious with a thrilling 5-4 victory. As much as I would have liked to take credit for the victory I must confess that I was unable to make the game, but the lads did themselves proud. Stefan Nubert started his first game of the year in between the pipes for us (Redskins) and I know he was nervous about facing his old club. He definitely enjoyed the game as did hat trick hero Joe Johnston who is finding his form with every game. Lukas Zilak and Tomas Valko got the Redskins other goals, and Valko endeared himself even further to the Redskins fans as he dropped the gloves with Chris Hart in the third period and reportedly won the fight convincingly.
 
They are a talented but strange pair of imports are Tomas (Slovakian) and Lukas (Czech). I don’t mind admitting that Tomas is probably the scariest looking import I have seen in a long time. Shaven headed, toothless and fond of swearing and cursing in his native language at regular intervals, it is rare to see him crack a smile. Lukas on the other hand has the swagger and hair of a catalogue model and seems to have a constant bronze tan despite never seemingly going on holiday. They are both good players though and when you add in the excellent Peter Molnar it’s fair to say that the Streatham Redskins are benefitting from the Eastern European connection so far this year!
 
Sunday saw London recovering from the frenzy of the Pope’s official visit the previous day, but as with every weekend in London, when one piece of action finishes, another starts. So with that in mind, the Redskins faced off against the Swindon ENL Wildcats for their second fixture in as many days. After a long journey home the previous evening, the faces in the locker room before the game did not beam with enthusiasm.
 
Following on from two quite exciting home games, this one didn’t have the air of a classic. I felt we were comfortable throughout with Swindon well organised and hard working, but lacking a real cutting edge up front. Russ Stevens put the trauma of witnessing a Jack Russell dog (no pun intended) killed by a car earlier in the day, behind him, as he scored a hat trick past Wildcats goalie Jamie Thompson. Tomas Valko scored two and Rupert Quiney, Liam Rasmussen, Joe Johnston and Gennadi Yufit all got one each for the Redskins. Jamie Newton got two for the Wildcats, with Dan Arbon and Alasdair Barrow getting one goal each. Poor Richard Hardy was ejected later in the game for a hit on one of the Swindon guys, which caused injury and saw the original 2 minutes Boarding penalty extended as per EIHA rules. A 9-4 win will do the job but we could and should have been more clinical up front and less sloppy at the back.
 
This result put us second in the league behind Oxford City Stars with only goal difference keeping us from the summit. The Stars themselves were kicking themselves after allowing the visiting Cardiff side back into the game; despite taking a 4-1 lead into the third period. The Devils mounted a remarkable comeback that saw Luke Piggott grab an equaliser with only a minute and a half remaining in the game, making the score 5-5. Oxford goals came courtesy of a brace each for Gareth Endicott and Joe Edwards with Dax Hedges getting the other. Devils scorers other than Piggott were Steve Maile, Tim Burrows, Ricky Deacon and new import Robert Sedlak.
 
Personally I think Oxford will find it difficult to stay at the top of the league once the Dynamos and Romford click into gear, but it would be fantastic if they could (behind us of course). The Stars have a strong defence, highly rated goalie and some decent firepower. Even their kids are on form early on this season with the trio of Josh Oliver (17), Mike Whillock (17) and Dax Hedges (20) accounting for twelve of the teams points in the first four games.
 
Romford Raiders finally got their season underway in front of a healthy crowd. The visiting Bristol Pitbulls side put up some resistance but in the end it was a convincing 6-0 win for Danny Marshall’s side. Two goals from debutant AJ Smith and Marshall himself did the majority of the damage for the Raiders with Joe Allen and former MK player Tom Davis getting a goal each. Bristol goalie John Dibble took home the man of the match award for the visitors and no doubt it was a long journey home for the winless Pitbulls.
 
Milton Keynes Thunder were on a high following the 3-3 draw on the island a day earlier, however they got a rude awakening on Sunday courtesy of the visiting Bracknell Hornets. The 4-0 victory in the visitors favour delighted Hornets coach Ben Pitchley and infuriated the Thunder’s coaching team of Darryl Morvan and Lewis Clifford in equal measure. Hornets scorers were Danny Hughes, Grant Rounding, Danny House and youngster JJ Pitchley (his first in senior league hockey).
 
This kind of result shows just how unpredictable the league will be this season and long may it continue.
 
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com