LONDON, UK – In the eighties I saw my first game of ice hockey as a child in the wonderful old dump that was Durham ice rink. The all conquering Durham Wasps with goal machine Mario Belanger running riot in front of a packed rink of shiny booster club jackets and mullet haired locals, roaring on the big blue machine in the fondly remembered Heineken Premier league. The opposition that day were the Streatham Redskins. Back in 2009 and the childish excitement at seeing Tower Bridge open up was missing as I sat in my car en route to the game, stuck at the red light whilst watching the road rise up in front of me. I gave a two finger salute to each tall ship that passed whilst all others around me flashed their cameras and smiled. My late excuse was thankfully accepted by Spoursy, our coach, who really couldn’t argue as I had taken a picture on my phone as evidence – three cheers for modern technology. I will unashamedly admit a wave of excitement even passed through this old cynic’s body as I sat in the locker room before the game. No quotations from the movie Slapshot and none of the tired clichés I have heard over the years as these were replaced by talk about the jersey, the club and the supporters. Quite inspirational with no one under any illusions of the magnitude of the task but equally no one scared to take it on. The reception we got from our fans when we entered the ice was unbelievable. I could hear the wall of sound as we stood waiting to go on and when we finally did hit the ice, the crescendo made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. This is probably the closest any of us will ever get to experience those halcyon Heineken days of crumbling rinks and up close crowds. Up until I was carried off the ice in the second (what an anti climax I hear you say), I have to say I was really enjoying the game. Invicta looking dangerous throughout but I felt we defended well and had a few chances down the other end to score. Louis Lockwood in particular looked excellent up front and in fact the whole team showed so much fight I am sure we will prove the critics wrong and attain a respectable finish in the league. Spoursy took a lot of stick for our tactics of man marking Andy Smith, but considering pre game predictions on the Invicta web forum ranged mostly around the double figures to nil mark, even the most cynical fan would concede the coach called it right. For those of you expecting a more comprehensive report on the game I can only apologise. My only excuse being that sitting in hospital till 3am amongst London’s finest ‘characters’ does cloud ones memories on the evening. Elsewhere in the league it was good to see Haringey regain some respectability even if it did come in the shape of a narrow loss to Cardiff. More worrying was the fact that a shortage of officials led to Haringey’s suspended Dave Richards operating as a makeshift linesman. Now I know Mr Ashraff has a tough job and I certainly don’t envy him, but the shortage of officials negates the raised standard of play currently giving the league more credibility. Who can solve the problem? It can only be the EIHA and I know they have made great strides in recruiting young officials. Maybe more should be done to persuade ex players to put something back into the game?. Talking of shortages, you have to wonder what happened to MK Thunder who took a very short bench to Cardiff and were thrashed 13-1 yet managed to put out a full team and beat Peterborough at home 8-1 the following day. Sadly I believe this could become a common theme when some teams at the lower end of the league have double header weekends. Clearly hockey does not pay the bills for most guys and work commitments can take their toll. Perhaps shocking to some, but not to me was Bracknell Hornet’s three point weekend. A close fought win at the Isle of Wight Raiders followed up with a creditable draw in Essex against Chelmsford Chieftains. Whilst I am sure the Raiders fans will be disappointed at the loss, I can’t help but think the Chieftains fans may be secretly pleased at having watched a competitive game of ice hockey. Last season was clearly a cakewalk for Chelmsford and after last weeks 18-1 hiding of Haringey I would wager the fans left happy despite the 2-2 draw with Bracknell. Filling the large void left by the departing Chris Wiggins seems to be the equally large Brad Watchorn who yet again dropped the gloves for the Hornets, this time against Chelmsford’s Reece Covington. Could this be a new challenger to existing ENL scrappers Phil Manny, BT Williams and Tim Smith?. It was also good to hear David Wride is finding his feet in the Hornets goal. It is great to see the Oxford City Stars have signed Juraj Rusic who will be a massive player in our league. The Stars and their supporters deserve a signing like this and I am looking forward to seeing how he performs. That’s it from me this week. I am going to dust down some old Castle Eden Cup videos, put my feet up and hope that this time next week I am writing about a Redskins victory over the Isle of Wight. Thanks for reading and stay safe Carrsy Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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