Romford on the up

ROMFORD, UK – EPL side Romford Raiders grabbed their first point of the season against Swindon Wildcats this weekend. The Raiders have suffered a dismal start to the season, losing their first six games before this weekend, a run which forced the management to axe two of Romford’s imports in the past week. With the Raiders going into the weekend shortbenched, Coach Jesse Hammill suited up against Guildford Flames and Swindon Wildcats to take some of the pressure of the weakened line-up. Hammill, who last played in the 07/08 season with ENL outfit Peterborough Islanders skated on defense due to injuries to Adam Copland and Ryan Giles (and the release of Michal Palik), but was unable to prevent the Raiders from losing 6-0 away at Guildford. On Sunday Romford faced Swindon Wildcats, who have looked wildly inconsistent so far this season, capable of both brilliance and mediocrity. The Raiders went ahead through Dallas Costanzo in the first period, and captain Danny Marshall doubled the lead in the second. Swindon drew level in the third period, before taking the lead after a terrible turnover from Romford goalie Joe Myers, who was otherwise excellent. Costanzo scored a dramatic equaliser a minute and a half from time to secure a first point of the season for Romford, before Baird ripped an unstoppable overtime winner for the Wildcats. Hammill commented: “I feel that we did ok against Guildford, but as with the previous games this year we did not pick our men up well enough and we struggled to contain their speed and fire power.” “Against Swindon we should have got two points for sure, and we have to learn to take the points when they are available. I’ve read that we faced 60 shots which I am shocked about. The way I saw it we were camped out in their zone for the first two periods, and had a fair few shots from good places as far as I am concerned,” he added.

On his decision to lace up his skates again, Hammill said: “After letting the two players go and with the injuries that I had hoped would be overcome, we were left with only three of our regular defensemen able to play, and as I was the one who released the players I was not going to let the boys suffer like that, but Sitko was great and logged about 45 minutes on Sunday. It was nice to get the juices flowing again and be involved on the ice, but I do know that my place is behind the bench so as soon as we can find the right replacement I will be going back there.” The Raiders have also announced the arrival of their first replacement import, Finnish forward Mikko Silvennoinen. The 25 year-old developed his game with top Finnish team Jokerit, and has played almost 50 games in the Finnish Elite League. He has spent the last four years putting up solid numbers in the Finnish second tier. A Romford spokesman said: “Mikko is very positive about his place with the Raiders. He wants to help us reach our first target, a play-off place, so we’re all pointing in the same direction. There appears to be a degree of honesty and commitment that has really helped the negotiations. I’m sure most people will have looked up his stats by now, so suffice to say they’re good numbers at a good level of hockey. His development at Jokerit is a great foundation for anyone’s hockey career and when he played junior there he was only five goals behind Detroit Redwing, Valtteri Filppula.” Jesse Hammill added: “Mikko goes to the right places to score goals, he gets to the net and battles. He will give us a different dimension to our game and will give us a much needed boost to our offense that will take some pressure off some of the guys. I am looking forward to his input to the team.” Romford are still looking to add one more import, while they have also announced that young forward Tom Davis is leaving in order to join former club Peterborough. Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com