ROMFORD, UK – The Romford Raiders have suffered another disappointing weekend, as they succumbed to yet another away defeat in Sheffield, before having their home game against Slough cancelled.
Romford have been abysmal away from Rom Valley Way this season, and on Saturday lost 6-2 against the Sheffield Scimitars. This result brought the Raiders up to 13 away losses in 13 games. The Scimitars were missing several key players, most notably netminder Ben Bowns, Tom Squires, Matt Haywood and Robert Farmer. These four were still in Hungary with the Great Britain Under-20s team, where they helped their country win gold in the World Championships.
Despite this, the Scimitars still overpowered an equally short-benched Raiders side in a match that was close until the final period.
On Sunday, Romford returned home, where their form has been much improved in recent weeks. Last week they toppled the league leaders Manchester Phoenix 5-4, and they were looking for a similar result against high-flying Slough Jets.
However the game did not go ahead after the Romford Zamboni broke down and was unable to clean the ice. The ancient backup was called into action but failed to get the ice into a suitable condition for the Slough team.
A Romford spokesman said: “We wanted to play but Slough didn’t. We are sure you all realise we were caught in the middle of this situation and feel that our actions were the correct ones under the circumstances.
“Working closely with the rink management, the Slough team and referee Dave Cloutman, we attempted to improve the condition of the ice to an extent that the game could take place. We think that we actually achieved that aim but ultimately those efforts were rendered fruitless and several hundred fans waited patiently for a game that did not take place.”
The Raiders management will now attempt to get the game re-scheduled for a later date, in the hope of minimising any loss of revenue from this failed fixture.
Meanwhile off the ice, Romford’s revolving door has been turning at full speed. Mike Timms and Grant Taylor have both left the Raiders after having trouble balancing hockey with work. Top British forward Darren Cotton has also had to leave the club. He had been forced to sit most of the season out with a recurrence of a troublesome knee injury. Also leaving the club is relatively new import forward Mikko Silvennoinen. The skilled Finn had begun to put up points after a shaky start, but reportedly was unable to get to grips with the late training times.
These departures came hot on the heels of the drama of Romford’s search for a new import defenseman. The management had all but agreed a deal to bring Canadian Doug MacIver over. However the Essex side were beaten to the Cardiff Devils player’s signature by EPL rivals, Peterborough Phantoms, much to the disappointment of those who worked so hard to bring him in.
It’s not all doom and gloom in Romford though, as they have finally managed to bring in a new import defenseman, Slovakian Jozef Sladok.
A Raiders spokesman said: “We’re really thrilled to have secured Jozef’s signature. Although he’s only 21, he already has really good experience at a high level.”
The 6 ft 5” d-man won the prestigious Memorial Cup with the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL, and has also played in the Extraliga with HK Zvolen and the Corpus Christi IceRays of the CHL.
On top of the addition of Sladok, several of the ENL Cardiff Devils’ players have been loaned to the Raiders over the past few weeks. One of the players, Chris Jones, scored his first goal for the Raiders this weekend in the loss to Sheffield.
The Raiders will continue to try and strengthen their squad, while next week they face Basingstoke Bison and Swindon Wildcats.
Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com
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