OXFORD, UK – Oxford City Stars captain Darren Elliott believes that Head Coach Ken Forshee is the right man to take the team forward, as league new boys Bristol Pitbulls and Swindon ENL Wildcats bring a new local dimension to ENL hockey in the west of England.
Mr Oxford (Artwork by Alan Armour)
Forshee recently accepted the position as full time coach of the Stars and the Canadian has a tough job on his hands. Recruitment wise he has unprecedented rivalry as he now shares the local catchment area with the Pitbulls and ENL Wildcats. Stars fans had their pre season fears confirmed when Bristol recently announced that young sniper Shannon Taylor had been tempted to join Richie Hargreaves burgeoning Pitbulls empire from the club. Stars captain Darren Elliott was quick to allay any fears that the Stars could struggle to compete this season, and says that the Forshee effect will ensure that the club will move forward rather than backwards:
“Forsh is a guy who can command a lot of respect out of players and knows how to get guys to play to the best of their abilities. We all know he has played at a high level himself and he knows when to change things and when to persist. He plays a simple game and never complicates things, but most importantly he is grounded and doesn’t come with an ego,
“I was pleased when the club held onto him after last year and he has a lot to offer both for the Stars, and also for the whole club including the juniors. People often write off Oxford, but we have shown over the past few years that we can compete in this league and I know Kenny is recruiting hard at the moment to ensure this continues”
“Losing Shannon to Bristol is a blow, and Richie (Hargreaves) is doing a great job with the Pitbulls. They will be a tough team to beat this year and Swindon will have a young talented team that will skate all night, so the competition is going to be tough. We have already retained some of last year’s squad and I think Kenny has a good idea of who to bring in and what tactics the Stars will adopt. We are feeling positive for the season ahead”
The returnees from last year’s squad so far include defence man Yousif Abu Saada, youngster Mike Whillock and goal scoring winger Dean Francis to add to the signature of Elliott.
New signing Abu Saada (Photo by Tim Bowers)
There are not many players in the English National League who have been as consistent as Elliott. Affectionately known by players across the league as ‘Mr Oxford’, the 29 year old forward has led the team for years both as a Captain and also as a goal scorer, despite being courted by numerous clubs in both the ENL and higher leagues. Aside from brief spells at Swindon, Basingstoke and Milton Keynes, Elliott has been an Oxford stalwart for most of his career and now enters his eight consecutive season as Stars captain:
“Oxford is just one of those clubs that is very welcoming and friendly. I started here as a junior player and I am the only one from my age group still wearing the shirt so playing here is special to me. We are one of those clubs that doesn’t have a great deal of players as we lose them to bigger clubs like Bracknell and Basingstoke,
“I know everyone here and feel I have a duty to help the club grow and succeed. A lot of the sentiment Joe Johnston has expressed in his interviews recently, rings true with me at Oxford. I have had offers in the past from the likes of Invicta, Coventry and Milton Keynes but have opted to stay at home. Even this summer there was an offer to join Richie down at Bristol but so far no one has managed to break the chain from Oxpens Road (Stars home rink)”
Last season the Stars finished comfortably inside the Play-offs in a much improved league. Many of their fans felt that if the team had shown more consistency, they could have challenged higher in the league. It is a belief that Elliott agrees with:
Leading by example (Photo from petemagnusonphotography.com)
“Last year was funny for us as we had a change of coach yet again, and we had payers coming and going so there were times when we struggled and times when we did well. We are quite a young team to so players have a lot of other commitments and we sometimes struggle to go full strength,
“To be fair most teams in this league suffer the same but for some reason we are a club that plays better under strength against the top teams and struggle against the lower teams when we are at full strength. Crazy I know but that’s the way it seems to go for us,
“Hopefully this will all change for us now as we have a full time committed coach, who is changing the whole structure to the club. Kenny knows what he is doing and I am sure he will bring a consistency to our play that will avoid the peaks and troughs sequences of last season”
With the big three zero approaching, Elliott can look back on an enjoyable hockey career that has seen him pick up an English National League and Play-Off winners medal with Basingstoke and a number of Runners-up medals with the Stars. As one of the older members of the team, Elliott has had to adapt his game and feels that the captaincy role bears a responsibility:
“Personally I am not looking forward to hitting 30. My game has changed slightly but not too much. I would say I don’t play as physical as I used to but otherwise I think my game has stayed relatively the same. I am still not sure how, but I am still finding points from somewhere but I guess I can thank the players I play with for that,
“I take the role of being Captain seriously and I think you can take one of two approaches to the role depending on the Alternates. You can either be vocal or lead by example, so I prefer the latter as it works well with my alternates at the Stars. Richard Wojciak and Grant Bailey have a wealth of experience at a relatively higher level and certainly make themselves heard in the locker room between periods and before games. We work well as a trio and complement each other”
Green Army provide support (Photo by petemagnusonphotography.com)
It has been a long road for Elliott since making his first senior debut for the Stars under Richard Boprey. He picks out scoring his first senior goal and assist whilst playing on a line with Stars legend Derek Flint as a particular highlight in his career along with the time he got knocked out in a game against Invicta Dynamos after being hit from behind, before coming back to score a natural hat trick in six minutes to win the game for Oxford. He was the first signing to be announced this summer for the Stars but he has some bad news for Oxford fans:
“Unfortunately our infamous green jerseys have been retired and we will be wearing a new uniform this season. I thought they were great and they galvanised the fans into creating the Green Army, and followed us everywhere, complete with a massive flag. The new designs will be revealed soon, but I cannot confirm or deny that they will be green”
Oxfords fans will be hoping the club continue with their unique colour scheme otherwise the oversized flag will be clogging up someone’s garage for 12 months at least.
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.