ENL week 14 round-up

LONDON, UK – My enthusiasm for a road trip has never faltered despite my otherwise hatred of long distance bus travel. Put me on a National Express coach to Inverness and I will hate every mile, however put me on a hockey bus for the same journey and I will be counting down the days in anticipation.

In my first year of senior hockey I had the pleasure of travelling up and down the UK with Billingham, who because of their location in the North East of England, had to travel big distances for away games. It was these road trips that introduced me to the mad zany world of the hockey bus. I don’t know whether it was the trip to Trafford when the team were setting their body hair alight for fun, or maybe the trip to Solihull where the senior players sat on the roof of the bus, smoking, whilst dangling their legs through the open sun roof, as we travelled down the motorway, that really made these trips special. The trip to Swindon was amusing if only for the fact some players filled a slot machine with fireworks then when the service station manager showed up, one player pretended to be blind whilst the other acted as his guide dog. They kept it up for at least twenty minutes but the police were called and we nearly missed face off.By the end of the season we had to travel down to Chelmsford on possibly the worst bus I have seen outside of Eastern Europe, some of the seats had no covers and were basically metal mesh. They were the only bus company that would transport us, and this after poor John Rogers (the owner) had to beg for help after all other bus companies in the North East refused. We lost the game down in Essex but we didn’t return empty handed, as the team ransacked a garage of pornographic magazines and buckets of flowers on the way home, much to the delight of waiting wives and girlfriends who all received a fresh bouquet as the bus finally parked up in Billingham. Funnily enough that Billingham team made the play offs that season and did quite well with all things considered. Proof that you don’t have to be mad to play hockey, but it does help. Twelve years later I boarded the bus to Peterborough with the Streatham Redskins armed with a copy of the Independent newspaper and some Maltesers. More evidence that my days as a hockey player are numbered or indeed that I am very boring. The bus was the usual mix of card schools, hockey chat and of course the obligatory American comedy movie playing on the TV. The anti climax hit me as the bus rolled into Peterborough ice rink and the players all rushed off to get their kit. It was another game spectating from the bench for me and I have to say that as soon as I stepped into the rink, I just didn’t want to be there. It was too depressing not being able to play. As for the game, the Redskins played rather well. We had three decent lines and bossed the game from start to finish, winning 7-1. I have to say Peterborough were very poor, and they are certainties for last place this year in my opinion. They started to lose the plot towards the end of the game and with all due respect they have a look of a recreational team about them this year. What has happened to the promising juniors and the successful team they had a couple of years ago? We on the other hand, had seven different scorers which was good to see. New signing Kent Johnson impressed and was awarded man of the match. The journey home was a muted affair despite the win. The supporters club amazingly provide a buffet for the journey home and we all sat back munching mini pizza whilst watching ‘Borat the Movie‘. Clearly that’s the way these Londoners roll and that’s probably why they get nice comfortable buses with facilities rather than a shed on wheels with no toilet.Sunday was branded as ‘Judgement Day’ by the Chelmsford Chieftains who rekindled their rivalry with the Invicta Dynamos at the Riverside. It was the chance for gritty Scot Dean Birrell to lead his hard working Chieftains side to victory over pin striped Kevin Parrish and his ‘galacticos’ Dynamos’ side. As I predicted last week, it was Invicta who narrowly won and took the spoils with a last gasp winner from Andy Smith making it 3-4 to the Kent side. Dzurko and Giles dropped the gloves to add to the excitement for the 700 plus crowd. It would have been better for the league if the Chieftains had won, but it now looks like the Dynamos juggernaut is on course for another league title. In Cardiff there was more drama as the recently bolstered Oxford City Stars came to town. In a game that could have gone either way, it was theWelsh side that sneaked a 5-4 victory with Gareth Dixon getting the man of the match award. Oxfords goalie Glen Jackson was taken to hospital injured, so hopefully he will be ok. Returning from his loan at Swindon, Juraj Rusic was awarded man of the match for Oxford. The Stars will be bitterly disappointed with this defeat as they look to catch up to Cardiff and Chelmsford in the pack behind Invicta. New Greyhounds owner Nick Rothwell celebrated Haringey’s first win in a long time as they beat Peterborough 8-2 at Alexandra Palace, to round off a miserable weekend for the Islanders. Scott Beeson scored a hat trick for the Greyhounds who now have a few tough fixtures ahead. It will be interesting to see if their players fancy road trips to Cardiff, Invicta and Oxford over the coming weeks. One other point of note was Haringey’s Dave Richards pre match ‘Heads up’ warning to Peterborough’s Steve Maile via social networking site Facebook. Nothing came of it in the end, but Richards did find himself sitting a ten minute misconduct at one point. After the previous night’s win, we capitulated at home to Bracknell Hornets. The Hornets are a very good team but no team should be losing 12-1 in their own barn. A bad day at the office with more questions being raised about officiating. It is a tough job wearing the stripes but I think the teams are unanimous in the opinion that the standard of refereeing has dropped this season. Whether this is due to an influx of new officials I am not sure. There are some good referees around and hopefully things will improve over the next few weeks. We will be looking to bounce back next week as we visit my old team Oxford. It is another one of those fixtures that I would love to play in but hopefully my patience will be rewarded soon. Thanks for reading and stay safe. Carrsy Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com