ENL week 20 Round-up

LONDON, UK – There are some weekends in hockey to be savoured, and others are best forgotten. The latter was certainly true for two teams in the league and one of those, I am afraid to say, was the Streatham Redskins.
 

Only an abandoned Siberian mining town can rival the depressing image of Slough in the January rain, and it was an appropriate scene for the weekend to begin. Picked up by the Redskins bus at Slough ice rink for the road trip to Cardiff, I boarded the bus and saw to my astonishment, not two, not four, but six tables on board. Not since my Durham junior days have I travelled on such a nice bus to an away game and it set the tone for a confident arrival into Wales. To add to my excitement I was made Captain for the day by Spoursy (Coach Barry Spours) in the absence of Ed Koral, which was a real honour given the history of our club.
 
Sadly we couldn’t do our executive travelling arrangements justice as we struggled against a well drilled and quick skating Cardiff team. The face off was delayed due to the Elite league Devils engaging in a twenty odd minute training session, which I can only assume was a punishment by their coach Gerad Adams. Sadly it was also punishment for both ENL teams as it meant the late face off was even later. Despite this, the ENL Devils do a great job with their match night package. Good programmes, nice merchandise (from what I saw) and also a heart pumping introduction to flashing lights and loud music, that certainly enhance the game experience for fans and players alike.
 
I thought for the first two periods we played our defensive game quite well, allowing Cardiff the puck in wide areas and looking to hit them on the break. At 2-1 down after the second, we went into the third with a different mindset and to be fair to Cardiff they were ruthless. They scored three goals in just over a minute at one point with the impressive Ben Davies sealing the win. Davies had been skating with the Elite team earlier, and it was so nice of him to hang around to torment us with his quick skating and good hands. Steve Fisher proved he can do more than score goals as he dropped the gloves with Russell Stevens in an entertaining fight. Moments earlier Alex Madge had taken exception to one of my admittedly clumsy hits, and swung a few at me, but as I was on my knees at the time I was pretty annoyed not to get a power play out of it (Madge got 2 Minutes roughing and I got 2 minutes for Boarding). Never mind.
 
Another slight moan was the colour clash between the two team’s jerseys, it was really difficult to pick out who was who, other than the adverts on some of the Cardiff players shorts.
 
The game finished 6-1 with Cardiff’s other goals coming from Chris Jones, Dan Madge, Chris Hart, Jamie Dancey and Dan Bowers. Louis Lockwood got our goal.
The star of the night was Redskins goalie Will Sanderson who produced two absolutely stunning saves that brought an ovation from all sides of the rink. Let’s hope somebody was taping the game and they appear on YouTube shortly.
 
I have to say Cardiff were very good, although bizarrely they looked less dangerous on power plays than when even strength or shorthanded. It is also a disgrace that their temporary ice rink is the best facility in the league by far. The government have a lot to answer for when it comes to ice rink provision in this country.
 
If I thought Slough could not get more depressing it certainly did at around 2am, as I got off the team bus to discover that I couldn’t find my car key. As I trudged straight back on the bus headed towards Streatham, leaving my car behind in a car park full of smashed glass, I did wonder who I had upset to deserve all of this. Maybe it was the spirit of Alex Madge getting me back for the stumbling hit earlier in the evening?
 
Thankfully a couple of kind supporters gave me a lift home from the rink, and as I was putting out my wet kit to dry (at 4am thanks to those nasty Elite league Devils), the bloody car key drops out of my skate! As ‘The Sun’ often remarks; “You couldn’t make it up”.
 
A less surprising occurrence took place on the Isle of Wight, as the struggling Peterborough Islanders were destroyed 12-1 by the Wightlink Raiders. Two goals each from John Sarno, Jeremy Cornish, Dan Hughes and Alex Murray, along with a goal each for James Udell, Stewart Tait, Daniel Scott and Luke Reynolds did the damage for the home side. Callum Worthington-Evans scored his first ever Islanders goal to provide a bright spot for the visitors. Wightlink now have a double header weekend against Oxford which could really go either way, depending on how much each team wants it.
 
If you haven’t guessed it already, it was the Islanders I was referring to at the start of the piece, as being one of the teams (along with ourselves) that would prefer to forget this weekend.
 
If the Islanders thought their Saturday was bad they found Sunday to be no improvement. The last thing any team wants after a long slog down to the island on Saturday, is a rampant Invicta side showing up at your rink the following day. To see the Invicta bus rolling into your rink car park after a previous night’s hammering, can stir emotions not unlike running out of toilet roll after a strenuous number two in a public convenience.
 
Hat tricks for Andy Smith, Nolan Boike and Peter Vaisenan put the Kent side well on the way to a 13-2 win. Unfortunately it was a predictable result for the Islanders and their fans.
 
Less predictable was the outcome of Bracknell versus Cardiff at the Hive. Both sides are very similar in my opinion with a solid defence and quick hard working forwards. This was always going to be a tempestuous affair with both sides uncompromising and chippy. Long time Hornet Craig Tribe showed that he has risen to the improved standard in the league, as he bagged a hat trick to help his side to a 5-2 win. The brooding James Galazzi and Devils skipper David James went toe to toe in the second period, and then at the end of the game all hell broke loose with various scuffles across the ice. As a result, Brad Watchorn and Ben Johnson were both ejected, as was Cardiff’s Steve Fisher who had clearly eaten his Weetabix this weekend (washed down with fighting juice).

Fighting was also on the agenda at the Riverside ice rink in Chelmsford, although it was not between the Chieftains and Milton Keynes Thunder. The home side continued their link up with LDN wrestling, as two wrestlers graced the ice to shout threats at each other over the microphone. Not something you see every day, but since Chelmsford have the apparatus to stage such events, perhaps Dean Birrell can set the tone before each match with a rousing Braveheart style speech to the fans – the problem is no one will be able to understand his Scottish tones.
 
Despite the unusual antics, familiarity resumed during the gmae as Danny Hammond hit two goals, to add to goals from Jerry Pavlus, Sean Easton and Blaho Novak to secure a 5-2 home win. The Thunder gave a good account of themselves and looked at one point to be staging a comeback with goals from Harrison Goode and Jamie Holland but it was not to be. Chieftains defenseman Danny Wright showed that his groin injury has fully cleared up as he was awarded Man of the Match.
 
Further good news for Chelmsford was the call up of youngster James Ayling for the GB Under 18 squad last week. Aaron Connolly was also given a spot on the reserve list and will be hoping to get the call up as well. I always love reading the online arguments regarding national team selections, as there is never any shortage of controversy. I think we all know that the core of most GB teams at any level picks itself, however there are always one or two selections that baffle most neutral observers. Club bias (usually based on the location of the Coach) or parental influence – be it financial or general brown nosing, tends to provide major debates, especially in junior select teams be it conference or national.
 
It was a tired Streatham side that showed up to face the Oxford City Stars at the High Road on Sunday evening. It doesn’t matter how many tables you have on your bus, an eight hour round trip finishing at 3am isn’t ideal preparation for facing an impressive Oxford outfit. Ken Forshee took charge of the Stars for the first time, and the diminutive centre man did a good job both on and off the ice. He slowed the game down when needed, got into the referee’s ear as much as possible and generally had his team organised well. We on the other hand were sloppy from back to front, but mainly at the back where Oxford capitalised on errors and indecision on frequent occasions.
 
Our insistence on taking dumb penalties didn’t help our cause either and Alan Green was the main beneficiary with four goals for the Stars. Also on the score sheet for the visitors were Darren Elliott, Joe Edwards (2), Dax Hedges, Dean Francis and the Player-Coach Forshee.
 
In the end, the 12-3 score line was a bit harsh I thought, but there was no doubt that the Stars were the better team and are looking good. I can’t even blame a colour clash for the result as Oxford’s bright green jerseys certainly stand out. Russell Stevens got kicked out of the game for us, as he swung a few at the unwilling Andy Cox yet got a match penalty. The incident was no different to mine the previous night really, yet one player gets a 5 plus Match and the other only gets 2 minutes. Something wrong there I think.
 
I do think that Forshee will struggle to combine roles against the better teams in the league unless he gets a competent bench coach in to assist him. He is still a very good player so the Stars need him on the ice, however it’s always difficult to be effective on both counts, especially when penalty trouble hits and somebody needs to organise the lines.
 
This weekend we face Bracknell away and then Chelmsford at home. Both games are likely to be tough physical encounters and we are going to have to step it up if we want to avoid a repeat of the weekend just gone. Haringey should be icing Norm Pinnington for their game against Peterborough so no doubt that will provide some talking points. Haringey probably have enough in their locker to win the game comfortably but I am sure the Islanders will be giving 100% for the victory.
 
Thanks for reading and stay safe.
 
Carrsy
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com