ENL week 30 Round-up

LONDON, UK – With effigies of EIHA chairman Ken Taggart still smouldering on the streets of Gillingham, I guess the best place to start this week’s round-up is in the ‘Garden of England’ otherwise known as Kent.
 
It is fair to say that everything was not rosy in the Invicta Dynamos’ garden however, as their failure to agree ice time with their rink, led to a forfeit of the crunch play-off clash with Bracknell Hornets.

 
Quite why the Dynamos are unable to negotiate Saturday ice with the rink owners is frustratingly unclear, however with the fans anger towards the governing body for perceived inflexibility, the issue of rink/team relationship is seemingly a moot point to many Mo’s fans. I can certainly dispel any accusations that the EIHA have a vendetta against Invicta, as this is certainly not the first time there has been issues with fixtures come play-off time. I remember one year when Oxford were pretty much told to find the ice time or be kicked out of the play-offs, so it seems that Invicta have been pretty lucky down the years with regards to the EIHA accommodating fixtures. It doesn’t make it right, it just shows the hard line taken by the governing body at this time of year is not restricted to one club.
 
Regardless of whom is to blame (and for once it seemingly isn’t Haringey, unless the rink management are closet Greyhounds fans), it leaves the season’s showpiece missing what would have been a fantastic game, that I am sure is as gutting for the players as much as the fans. The league has awarded the game 0-0 but with two points to the Hornets, meaning that Invicta now have a tougher route to the final. Of course they have the ability to overcome this hurdle and I expect to see intense Dynamos forward Grant Baxter and gang skating like angry men possessed when they hit Oxford for their first play-off game this coming Saturday.
 
Early rumours of a protest pull-out from the competition by the Dynamos, had me dreaming of a Redskins entry into the play offs. The missus on the other hand, had an eye on a long weekend in Loch Lomond, so it wasn’t just the Dynamos fans who were relieved that Invicta did not withdraw from competition.
 
It was American sportswriter Steve Rushin that famously said: “By the age of 18, the average American has witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, most of them occurring during Game 1 of the NHL play-off series”. The ENL play-offs maybe far removed from the glamour of the NHL, however the opening weekend proved to be a feisty two days of hockey.
 
Oxford City Stars and Bracknell went head to head over the two days, knowing that consecutive defeats could realistically end their respective campaigns as soon as they had started. The first encounter was at Oxford, where Bracknell had comprehensively beaten the Stars 9-3 in their last league encounter. It is a tired but relevant cliché to say that in play-off hockey the form book goes out of the window, so no one should be surprised to read that the Stars clinched a dramatic 5-4 win over the Hornets.
 
The win came at a heavy price however, as the Stars best forward Alan Green was stretchered off injured after a clumsy challenge by Dom Hopkins caused him to hurtle knee first into the boards.
 
Green had scored earlier in the game to equalise an unassisted Ben Duggan powerplay effort, which came after only two minutes of the game starting. Further Oxford goals from Andrew Shurmer, Ken Forshee and Shannon Taylor were balanced by Bracknell goals from Grant Rounding, James Galazzi and Craig Tribe to put the side’s level at 4-4 with six minutes left. With the Green Army cheering them on, the script was set for Stars player coach Ken Forshee to bag his second of the night on the powerplay to nudge the Stars 5-4 ahead. Oxford saw off the last five minutes with some resolute defence helped by some good saves by James Skaife.
 
Twenty four hours later the two teams met again but this time in the world’s warmest ice rink otherwise known as Bracknell ice rink. Far from being a tropical scene the mood was rather frosty on and off the ice as Oxford struggled without the pace of the missing Green and Dean Francis. Meanwhile the Stars’ travelling band of supporters became involved in some heated exchanges with the home support or possibly local drunks depending on whose version of events you hear. The police manfully handled the off-ice issues, but unfortunately for the Stars, referee Adam Hames reportedly did little to help their case during the game. In the end it mattered little as the rampant Hornets gained sweet revenge for the previous evenings defeat by posting a convincing 6-0 win. All but one of the goals came on the powerplay, with Alex Barker scoring two and James Galazzi, Alan Lack, Mark Galazzi and Craig Tribe also getting a goal each.
 
In the other play-off group, Chelmsford had the weekend off so it was Wightlink and Cardiff facing each other back to back over 48 hours. First up was a trip to the Isle of Wight for a Cardiff team that sneaked a 5-4 win on their last trip across the Solent in the regular season.
 
The long suffering Wightlink fans who attended the game bore witness to the Raiders first play-off victory in a long time. Coupled with the unveiling of a newly operating scoreboard it really was dream time on the island. Amidst joyous scenes in the Cube, the sixth placed Raiders banished their regular season frustration by beating the league runners-up 7-5. After stating that Wightlink relied too heavily on Dan Hughes to get their goals in my play-off preview piece, it was all the more surprising that hot shot Hughes didn’t even register one goal in this victory.
 
A hat trick from Jeremy Cornish proved that the Raiders player-coach can back up his pre play-off words with performances, and his teams other goals came from Kevin Tanner and Alex Murray, with Andy Robinson scoring a brace. The under par Devils scored through Luke Piggott, Chris Jones, Dan Bowers and Steve Fisher. Kevin Tanner scooped man of the match for the Raiders.
 
On Sunday the two teams went head to head again, but this time in fortress Cardiff. The Devils went unbeaten all year in their own barn during the regular season, but after falling behind to an early Damon Larter goal they simply didn’t recover as the Raiders pulled off the victory of their season, by grinding out a 4-1 win. James Udell, Kev Tanner and Jeremy Cornish got the Raiders goals, with Cornish doing little to boost his popularity in Wales by riding his stick past the Devils bench in celebration of the fourth. He got a ten minute misconduct for his troubles but it begs the question of why did he not get similar when he tried to high five the whole of our bench after scoring past the Redskins at the Cube right in front of the referee last month? Having said that, despite being slightly irked at the time, it is good to have characters like that in the ENL and it brightens up games.
 
James Manson got Cardiff’s lone goal and Raider James Udell was named man of the match for the Raiders, but the whole team must take credit for shutting down a Devils side, normally so impressive at the Bay.
 
For those of you who are paying attention, you may have noticed Dan Hughes failed to score again on Sunday. At the risk of reducing my column yet again to local news for local people, I have to report that the Raiders skipper was late for the game in Cardiff due to a punctured car tyre. A new tyre allegedly cost £235 according to a poster on the Raiders online forum, which begs the question of whether the tyre was studded with diamonds (the Home Counties way). Last time I went to Kwik-Fit I got four tyres for that price but then who am I but a humble Northerner.
 
Mr Cornish must have been a happy man on Sunday night. His team now sit in a pretty position at the top of their play-off group and it leaves Chelmsford a tough task of winning in Wales and on the island if they want to progress. Also happy must be Kevin Parrish, as his Dynamos side will benefit from Oxford and Bracknell taking points off each other. Oxford will be hoping that Alan Green recovers for next weekend as he will be pivotal against the Dynamos, and Cardiff will be praying for a miracle to progress. Miracles can and do happen so watch this space.  
 
With the league season done and dusted I would like to finish by wishing the players of Streatham, Haringey, Peterborough and Milton Keynes a happy holidays. Let those other teams sweat and bleed through the next few weeks while we all happily lie back and relax in the sun with a cold beer and no late night training sessions.   Ok, so maybe there is not much sun around in the UK at present (or ever), but you get what I mean.
 
Thanks for reading and stay safe.
 
Carrsy
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com