LONDON, UK – The fourth week of NIHL South action brought a mix of brawling, scoring and skin drawing as the EIHA ended up with another referee report to dissect.
Someone phone the ferry and tell them we will be late (John Scott)
On the face of it, ice hockey on the radio sounds as appealing as a city break in Aleppo or kayaking on the Pentland Firth, but in our opinion it actually works.
The strangely addictive Oxfordshire Sports Online have been running live commentary at Oxford City Stars games for the last few seasons and have now added some midweek action for NIHL South fans to digest.
This week the Midweek NIHL Radio round-up hosted by Andrew Self featured MK Thunder Coach Paul Gore, Oxford City Stars pair Simon Anderson and Joe Edwards plus your very own Pro Hockey News correspondent.
Obviously the content is unmissable so click HERE to listen to it.
Cut Cooke
Keeping the puck in the zone is a key part of any defenseman’s game and you can use any part of the body to do it. Most use their stick, some use their feet, others jam their butt against the boards and the really crazy ones use their face.
Step forward Wightlink Raiders blue liner Chris Cooke who decided to take the hard option… and also a puck to the cheek bone.
Pain was the name of the game on the island as Raiders Coach Jeremy Cornish touched up his new sleeve with a homage to the Montreal Canadians. A truly impressive piece of needlework, the big Canadian’s sleeve launches our hunt for the NIHL Souths best tattoo. Fans and players are welcome to enter… just email us at the address below.
Not content with his forays into print journalism, London Raiders forward Jacob Ranson launched a video diary this week. Looking dapper in his official London Raiders hoodie and POLO cap, the speedster chatted about the games against Oxford and Streatham and if we were picky, could do with a tripod!
Watch it HERE
Allez les Habs!
New Streatham goalie Euan King gave an interview to the South London Press after securing his first shut-out of the season in the game against London.
The Peterborough based stopper has been in good form for the Londoners since his arrival and talked ahead of his first head to head with his brother Damien, who is the goalie for Invicta Dynamos.
‘Winning breeds confidence and we still have plenty to work on in training but everyone was pleased with how things went in Bracknell and against London Raiders.’
‘Its only week two but there have been more positives than negatives and we have two very tough games next weekend starting at home against Invicta Dynamos on Saturday.
‘They have started the season strongly and we need to be ready and prepared for what they will throw at us.’
Bracknell Hornets have had a tough start to the season but they were boosted midweek by the signing of local brothers Ben and Josh Ealey-Newman from Oxford City Stars.
The signings are a blow to Oxford but a massive boost for Bracknell and they couldn’t hide their delight with the news in their press release…
‘Well, after Saturdays close game Versus Streatham it’s only fair that we brighten your Monday blues with some AMAZING NEWS!’
‘You may have heard rumours, you may have seen speculation & you may have pondered over the press releases, but this is the real deal.’
‘In the words of Thin Lizzy “THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN”.’
As far as player announcements go we can’t remember one with such enthusiasm so well done Bracknell!.
Saturday action review
After the unsavoury scenes earlier in the season at Chelmsford that gave them sleepless nights, the EIHA disciplinary committee were faced with more workload, late night Dominos and Scotch on the rocks as they were handed more video evidence to pick through.
Streatham’s new mascot Ollie Wittenberg gets a skate !
This time it was Wightlink Raiders v London Raiders in the Cup that was uploaded onto YouTube quicker than the average hockey fan could devour a portion of small chips from the local Codfather.
Of course it wasn’t the goals in the game that were uploaded, but the line brawl in the second period that saw Wightlink’s Corey Watkins and Ben Paynter ejected along with London’s goalie Michael Gray and Matt France.
The video of the incident can be viewed HERE.
Not that anyone seemed to care, but the game finished 9-3 in Wightlink’s favour with poor Ryan Webb’s four goal salvo instantly forgotten alongside a brace for Alex Sampford and lone goals for George Norcliffe, Jordan Gregory and Daniel Rose.
Sam Roberts, Marek Nahlik and Tom Davis scored for London.
Howls of outrage on social media and forums followed and if nothing else, at least we finally seem to have a consensus amongst players and fans (even those previously in denial/or who justified similar incidents in the past) that players should not overstep the line that keeps fighting acceptable in hockey.
Fighting has a place in the game, but when players have sharp blades on their feet and are armed with sticks its best to at least try and follow some kind of code if we want to appear to be a professional league and stop players being seriously hurt.
Facey gets a new line mate in Bracknell (Kev Syfield)
Anyway… Invicta stunned Streatham with a 5-1 road win in South London.
The Mo’s kept their unbeaten run in the Cup going thanks to a hat trick from Adam Rehak and lone goals from Nicky Lewis and the returning Adam McNicoll.
Misfiring Streatham took 37 shots to finally beat Damien King with Joe Johnston notching on the powerplay.
The only league game of the evening featured Bracknell Hornets hosting Solent Devils and it was the visitors who grabbed an impressive 3-1 road win.
The Hornets handed debuts to the Ealey-Newman brothers but struggled to find a way past Devils goalie Chico Cole who made 35 saves over the 60 minutes.
Richard Facey, Mason Wild and Alex Murray scored for Solent with Brandon Miles getting the lone goal for Bracknell.
The result was greeted with glee on the South Coast and gave the Devils their first win of the season.
Sunday action review
Invicta topped off a good weekend with a 3-1 home win over Milton Keynes Thunder in the league.
Returning Captain Callum Fowler scored for Invicta to add to goals from Ashley Jackson and Adam McNicoll.
Alex Whyte scored the lone goal for the Thunder with Ryan Coffey sent for an early, and no doubt cold shower by referee Jurijs Solovjovs.
A short benched Streatham side went down 5-3 in Chelmsford in the Cup, with Lukas Zatopek scoring two goals to add to efforts from Cameron Bartlett, Danny Hammond and Brandon Ayliffe on target.
Brace for Zatopek (Steve Sutherland)
For Streatham it was Callum Best with a brace and Michal Oravec with the other.
Wighlink Raiders travelled to Solent a little light after bans from the previous evening but still managed to grind out a 3-1 win over their rivals.
Jeremy Cornish’s men made it 2 wins out of 2 in the league thanks to goals from Jordan Gregory, George Norcliffe and Alex Sampford.
For Solent it was Alex Murray with the consolation, and Richard Facey missed a penalty shot.
The game was watched by media outlet 482 days who described the newly refurbished Gosport Arena as ‘Warm, bright and looking great’. High praise indeed!
Thankfully London Raiders iced JJ Pitchley against Bracknell Hornets despite reports he was suffering concussion after the events of the night before.
Dynamos shake hands with MK and move top of the table.
Pitchley even grabbed a goal to add to a brace from Marek Nahlik and an effort from Kamil Kinkor in a 4-2 win for the Raiders.
Brandon Miles and Martyn Gray scored for the Hornets with the former also dropping the gloves with Nahlik.
The Slovakian later departed to hospital after a separate incident where it appeared he had dislocated his shoulder.
The week ends with Invicta top of both the league and cup groups and the EIHA postponing a planned late night ITV Murder She Wrote marathon and replacing it with a YouTube dissection with explicit commentary from Ryde Arena.
Results
Saturday 1 October 2016
Bracknell Hornets 1-3 Solent Devils
Streatham IHC 1-5 Invicta Dynamos (NIHL Cup)
Wightlink Raiders 9-3 London Raiders (NIHL Cup)
Sunday 2 October 2016
Chelmsford Chieftains 5-3 Streatham IHC (NIHL Cup)
Invicta Dynamos 3-1 MK Thunder
Solent Devils 1-3 Wightlink Raiders
London Raiders 4-2 Bracknell Hornets
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
For anyone in the UK who wants a copy of this seasons The NHL Hockey Annual or copies of The Hockey News please contact: martin.danes@googlemail.com
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