The Final Countdown

LONDON, UK – London’s oldest hockey club has two games to save itself from relegation. Streatham Redskins defenseman Dave Carr looks ahead to the final days of the season for both himself and his team.
 
When I woke on Sunday morning to the news of Slough beating Bristol the previous evening, my first emotion was one of bemusement. How on earth could the ENL Jets pull off a win against a Pitbulls side that had beaten us so convincingly just a week earlier?

 
Bemusement turned to anger, were Bristol hung-over? Did Richie and the team eat too many free Subway’s before the game? Why don’t Slough just sod off?
 
The anger subsided and was replaced by a focus on the day’s game against Milton Keynes. This focus was momentarily lost as the Redskins bus driver showered in front of the team before the game wearing a pair of pink scrubbing gloves and singing to himself whilst lathering himself in soap.
 
I would like to think this kind of zany scenario of an 18 stone Rastafarian chuntering away to himself in the shower whilst a hockey team is trying to prepare for a game is exclusive to Streatham but after decades of playing hockey in the UK I can safely say that many weird tales can be told by every club.
 
The game started and on my first shift I stood on the puck and fell hard onto the ice before trudging off to a few sympathetic smiles, a few laughs from the stands and a ‘that must have hurt’ quote from our observant Sports Therapist Kirsty.
 
Five more uneventful shifts and I was done, a victim of a shortened bench and destined for a familiar 0+0 = 0, plus 0 PIMS, or as I also call it; a Malcolm Preen Finger Saver.
 
A few weeks ago I would have been fuming as I put my bone dry kit into the boot of my trusty Ford Focus and headed back down the M1 with my £1.40 a litre petrol only rationed thanks to the endless 50 miles per hour average speed checks that make every motorway journey in the south east as pleasurable as two hours public skating in a pair of death wellys (hire skates).
 
The fact we had won our first road game of the season no doubt made things more palatable and vindicated the decisions made but the truth is we need to do anything and everything to ensure the Redskins stay in ENL 1 South.
 
If it means cutting guys or shortening the bench then those are the decisions that need to be made and whilst it is tough for Barry Spours (Head Coach), he is ultimately the man in charge.
 
I looked around the locker room at the end of that MK game and I saw a different team to the one that started the season. We have grit and determination that we lacked, and whilst that also means a mixture of personalities, it gives us a platform on which to have hope that we can overcome the Jets in the two games we play them over the next fortnight.
 
Streatham lost a core of the club in the summer with a lot of familiar faces moving on for one reason or another. A few of us still remain but we are relying on players drafted in from outside to help us see out a turbulent season of stunning highs mixed with long and arduous lows.
 
They will have their own opinions I am sure, but for me the likes of Stewart Tait, Luke Reynolds, Andy Cox and Dax Hedges have the chance to be part of arguably the biggest achievement in their careers so far.
 
These guys each have points to prove since moving to Streatham mid-season and are racking up the minutes for the Skins, and they can play a massive part in ensuring one of the oldest ice hockey clubs in the UK does not sink down to the lowest tier of league hockey.
 
Obviously we all have that responsibility and Slough have proven that they can match us and beat us so far this season. It is perhaps fitting that the drama of the relegation battle should take place in the final two fixtures of the season with back to back games between the bottom two clubs. It was as predictable as Happy Gilmour coming face to face with Shooter McGavin or Dean Youngblood squaring off with Carl Racki.
 
The game this coming Saturday in Brixton is massive in many respects. If we lose we are done, condemned to relegation and humiliation. If we win there is still more work to do in Slough the following week.
 
Regardless of what happens I have learnt a lot this season. I have changed my opinion towards a lot of things both on and off the ice, which has surprised me given how long I have played the game.
 
I said last year in this column that this is the time when you begin to look around the bus on the way home, and in the locker room after training and know that this will be the last time you will play with some of these guys. Hear their stories and anecdotes, steal their shampoo, and stick up for them on the ice.
 
For me it could be the last season in a Streatham jersey, that’s the kind of thing that runs through my head.
 
Will it be the last season I get on the team bus with its eccentric driver, crazy raffle and temperamental DVD player? The last time I tuck into the chicken skewers the fans provide to us on the way back from road games? The last time I read Don’s rants on the internet and have half a clue what he is talking about? The last time I get to do iron man with the lads at the end of training?
 
Will it be the last time I hear one of Norm’s stories from days gone by? Get to shake ‘shakey hand’ man’s hand? Eat Dawns cake at the end of training or slot another puck past Sanderson, Nubert or Kemp on a showdown?
 
Will it be the last time I skate out to see fifty or so Redskins fans chanting and singing in some far away rink, whilst we are losing and yet never stopping supporting the team?
 
Will it be the last time I pull on the number 6 shirt for a club that is so iconic in British hockey?
 
There are so many questions but no time to answer them because the summer is so near yet so far away.
 
But… if it is to be the last time I get to pull on that Skins jersey then I don’t want it to end in sadness. I want to wake up on the 8^th April still wearing my jersey and nursing the mother of all hang-overs celebrating a great escape, an achievement that no one would choose at the start of the season but one that would be cherished come the end.
 
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to have played for Invicta during the seasons they were pretty much invincible at ENL level. Did they take winning for granted? Do you become blasé after beating lesser teams? I assume they don’t but I wouldn’t know because pretty much my whole career I have played for struggling teams, celebrating every win like a free ticket to the Playboy mansion and waking up on a Monday still buzzing from the night before.
 
A couple of years ago I climbed Kilimanjaro in Africa with a few friends from work, it was a bit of a slog and at times I felt like quitting. My experiences with hockey drove me on to the summit, through the pitch black dark, up the edge of the volcano to the snow topped crater rim and its exposed pathways.
 
I knew what the feeling would be like at the top and I also knew what it would feel like to give up and even though I stopped every five minutes near the end and collapsed in a heap thanks to the altitude sickness, I carried on and eventually made it to that famous summit sign.
 
Then a funny thing happened. I was so excited to have made it and we all embraced, along with a group of Americans we had befriended along the way, but for all the smiling faces, when I returned to the hotel in Tanzania a few days later I was struck by a thought.
 
It occurred to me that the feeling when we celebrated, as great as it was, didn’t compare to that rush of celebrating with your team mates when an important goal goes in or steaming on to the ice to mob the goalie at the end of a vital win. It made me both happy and sad all at once.
 
Happy because it showed me how much joy hockey can give when times are good but also sadness because I know that one day I won’t be able to share that feeling with my team mates.
 
So regardless of whether I play a big part or a small cameo in our next two games it is not important, I will just do whatever is asked and I just hope we can pull it off and escape the drop. Either the Slough players or the Streatham players are going to get that rush that comes with victory and I am sure we will give everything to ensure it is us.
 
If you are in the London area on Sunday, or even if you aren’t, why not come down to Brixton and watch the Streatham Redskins take on Slough ENL Jets for this crunch relegation battle.
 
Tickets are cheap, the rink is brand spanking new, the Tube station is a two minute walk away and all of the Redskins players would appreciate any extra support. For more information check out the official website:
 
www.streatham-redskins.co.uk
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com