LONDON, UK – With Oxford Street and Westfield buzzing with festive shoppers looking for a perfect gift, so to were coaching staff across the Britton Conference as the download file for EIHA registration forms proved a popular click.
Streatham celebrate in Essex
Cardiff Fire Head Coach Mark Cuddihy swerved the hordes at the Dewi Sant shopping mall and snapped up former Oxford defenseman and Lithuanian international Ruslan Cernych.
In Oxford, Stars Coach Simon Anderson said no to a trip to the Westgate Centre, and instead ordered defensive pair Adam Andrews Nidal Phillips to bolster his ranks.
Invicta Dynamos Player Coach Anthony Leone kept driving straight to the rink instead of turning into Hempstead Valley with the rest of the Christmas stampede. He unveiled 27 year old new import Tomas Banovsky as the replacement for Filip Sedivy.
Many hockey fans on the Isle of Wight would’ve been hoping for a new rink for Christmas, however their hopes and dreams were dealt a big blow as plans for a £3 million sports complex including rink, were recommended for refusal ahead of the council decision on Tuesday 19th December.
Planned rink on the island
A significant loss of a “playing field” was cited by Sports England as potential grounds for refusal in the BBC article, along with likely traffic and waste management issues outlined by local planners.
All of which make for grim reading when included with some classic local objections listed on page 40 of the report; such as ‘encouraging boy racer use’ during the evenings, considerations of lighting from the local astronomy society, the likely “ruining of” local speedway and football, disrupting nesting birds, killing native trees and the lamentable local bus services.
So not only will hockey fans on the island be annoyed this Christmas, but so too anyone on the island with a tinted windowed Citroen Saxo with lowered suspension and a No Fear sticker on the bumper.
The old rink, Ryde Arena, on a separate site, has remained mothballed since it was shut in 2016 by leasehold owner AEW UK over its tenant’s rent arrears.
One thing is for sure. Whenever PHN visited Ryde Arena when it was open, you simply couldn’t get a parking space thanks to all the kids doing donuts day in, day out in front of the rink. The A4 through Kensington and Malibu beach could only look on in envy at the island ‘car scene’ but do so no longer**. 
There was good news in Milton Keynes for Thunder fans as Planet Ice put together the finishing touches to the over ice scoreboard. Many rinks only include one resident team in the building design, however in MK the scoreboard now includes the logos of the Lightning, Thunder, Falcons and Storm.
It’s sometimes the smaller things that can make all the difference… and we’ll stop there before your mind drifts dear reader.
Saturday
Chelmsford Chieftains were the latest team to make an effort for their local foodbank, as they held a collection during their crunch encounter with Streatham IHC at the Riverside.
Chelmsford has rarely been a happy hunting ground for Streatham over the years, however the team gave the travelling fans reason to celebrate this time with a 6-3 win.
Foodbank collection in Chelmsford
Vanya Antonov starred for the RedHawks with a brace to add to goals from Adam Carr, Danny Ingoldsby and Adam Wood. For the Chieftains James Ayling scored twice with Ross Brears completing the tally.
Midway through the second period Brandon Miles and Julian Smith dropped the gloves in a fight that was remarkably caught in landscape and in decent quality. A rare combo in the social media fight clips world.
Solent Devils bounced back with an important win on home ice as they beat Slough Jets 6-2 despite being outshot.
Mark Pitts and Mitch Murray scored twice for the Devils, with Richard Facey and Ralfs Circenis also on target. Liam Underdown and Ryan Handisides scored for the Jets, who’s forward Lewis English also dropped the gloves with Circenis midway through the game.
Facey was ejected late on for the Devils on a roughing call and enjoyed Gosport’s famed showers on his own, while goalie Chico Cole celebrated a rare assist from between the pipes.
Slough fans were rocked after the game when it was announced that star forward Sean Norris – Britton Conference Player of the Month back in September – would be leaving the club with immediate effect. The press statement from the Jets did not indicate where Norris was headed but the rumour mill soon fired up.
Invicta Dynamos have had a rough few weeks, but their fans enjoyed a morale boosting 6-2 win over Cardiff Fire in Gillingham.
Ride on time
The Mo’s gave 16 year old netminder Owen Rider the start between the pipes and he backstopped his team to the win with a 94.4% save average.
New import Banovsky banked three assists as Player Coach Anthony Leone scored a hat trick to add to goals from Brandon Webster, Owen Dell and Jake Stedman. For the Fire it was Carter Jaice-Lloyd and Cameron Basnett with the goals.
Highlights of the game can be seen HERE.
Sunday
Solent made it a four point weekend and avoided a potential banana skin in Wales with a 4-2 win over Cardiff Fire. Richard Facey bagged a hat trick for the south coast club with Elliot Lewis also on target. Trance fan Josh Haslam and Morgan Evans got the goals for Cardiff.
A short benched MK Thunder went down 13-0 in Streatham despite the hosts icing without their top three goal scorers, Antonov, Ingoldsby and Carr.
Ben Paynter top scored with an impressive five goals for the RedHawks, Ryan Watt and Brandon Miles bagged two each and there were lone goals from Michael Farn, Scott Bailey, Conner Smith, Adam Wood and Andrew Cook.
Five for Paynter
Nate Gregory got his second shut out in as many weeks in the Streatham goal.
Oxford City Stars posted an impressive 5-2 win over Invicta Dynamos at Oxpens Road.
Mike Whillock scored a brace for the Stars to add to goals from new signing Nidal Phillips, Matt Lawday and Dax Hedges.
For the Mo’s Anthony Leone and Jake Stedman got the goals.
In other news Mr Oxford aka Darren Elliott took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty!
Happy Stars (Paul Foster)
The final game of the evening took place in Romford as Raiders Jnr posted an impressive 10-4 win over the Bracknell Hornets.
Ben Pitchley’s young side ran rampant with Alan Lack and Jan Marcilis both getting a hat trick adding to efforts from Matt Brown, Sam Roberts, Joe Allen and Vilius Krakauskas.
Hornets’ scorers were Bailey Hind-Pitcher with two, and Carl Graham and Matt Foord with one each.
The results leave Solent flying high in top spot with just one full weekend of fixtures remaining in 2019. Can they stay there? That remains the question.
Results
Saturday 14 December
Chelmsford Chieftains 3-6 Streatham IHC
Invicta Dynamos 6-2 Cardiff Fire
Solent Devils 6-2 Slough Jets
Sunday 15 December
Streatham IHC 13-0 MK Thunder
Oxford City Stars 5-2 Invicta Dynamos
Cardiff Fire 2-4 Solent Devils
Raiders Jnr 10-4 Bracknell Hornets
** This is obviously completely untrue and made up for comedic effect.
Contact the author: davidcarr_2@hotmail.com
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