Ayling shines for GB and talks about his future

CHELMSFORD, UK – The last month has been a rollercoaster month for Chelmsford Chieftains star James Ayling as he had to miss out on the final weekend of his club season due to commitments in Poland for Great Britain’s under-18s ice hockey team. Ayling was selected for the GB side back in January and over Easter and other times since has been training with the other junior ice hockey stars before heading to the World Championships recently. Ayling and the team travelled to Poland in early April on an 18hour coach trip from the UK, but not due to the Icelandic volcano, this was a planned trip, although it wasn’t the best of preparations for the young team.
Ayling said “18hours on a coach from the UK to Poland isn’t great preparation for a big tournament like this one. I’d hope next time around alternative arrangements are made, as I think the tired legs from the long coach trip were perhaps a factor in how we started the tournament off. To then have to go up against a team like Germany was very hard on us and it isn’t really a surprise that we lost 9-0 to them. I was pleased with my own performance in this game, but when you think that the Germans had about 8 players who are likely to be drafted or at least considered for the NHL this summer it makes things look a bit better for us. We aren’t likely to have any players drafted or considered this year”. Great Britain hasn’t had anyone drafted since Colin Shields was drafted by Philadelphia in 2000. He was only the second British player to be drafted by an NHL team, after the great Tony Hand MBE was in the early 1980s when he was picked by Edmonton Oilers. Neither of which ever actually played in the NHL.

Currently British defenseman David Phillips is playing for Chicago Blackhawks’s second team the Rockford Icehogs in the American Hockey League and may well get the call from the Blackhawks sometime soon.
The 17yr old went on “I’d like this to be the start of many GB trips for me. I had a great time with the boys over there and it was a lot more professionally set up than club hockey is. That is no disrespect to the Chieftains or Chelmsford organisation either. It was a strange feeling being there just after their president was killed in the plane crash, but we had to put out of our minds that the fans in the building weren’t allowed to cheer for anyone nor was there any music during the games. We got on with the job in hand and all the boys from the netminder to the top forwards put in some great performances, despite the difficult circumstances “.
“I did all right for myself points-wise and showed I was one of the better players on the team and I think I did that. I was happy to get my first goal in the Poland game, but to lose the game kind of meant that that goal was for nothing. Although we lost the game, I still had a bit of a smile on my face because of that goal. We had the Poles on the ropes, but we just didn’t kick on and finish the game off and a short spell at the beginning of the third killed us off and we went down 8-5”.
The British side went into this tournament knowing that the minimum outcome was to avoid relegation and to consolidate their position in division 1 group b, just 1 group away from the likes of Sweden, Canada, USA and Russia. Ayling feels that the side did well
“We knew what the aims were from the start and prior to the final game against Lithuania we were all in the dressing room and we were all informed that we would stay in that group if we at least took the game to overtime with a draw. I’m sure the coach and the boys won’t mind me mentioning it, but was very much like the scene in the film ‘Miracle’ just prior to the USA-Russia game in the 1980 Olympic semi-final where coach Herb Brooks gave one of the most inspiring and motivational speeches ever given in sport to help the Americans go onto overcome the best hockey team in the world at the time and eventually win the Olympic gold medal. This was our ‘gold medal game’ and to score the second goal which was enough to keep us in the group (GB won the game 3-2) was a fantastic feeling. To then be awarded ‘Player of the game’ afterwards just boosted my confidence and made my smile even bigger”.
This season Ayling has really come into his own at the Riverside in Chelmsford and has become an integral part of the team. However, he feels that after a successful tournament he may well be moving on as soon as next season. Ayling picked up 37 points (14goals and 23assists) in his 36 league games for the Chieftains this season and only took 12 minutes in penalties, one of the lowest on the team.
“From the GB tournament, your name does get put around various teams and leagues, both good and bad comments. Having a good tournament for GB will hopefully escalate me onto bigger and better things, but if it doesn’t then I’d be more than happy to return to Chelmsford. For me personally, this summer I will have to sit down and weigh up whatever offers are made to me and see what is best for me. It has to be the right move if I move away anywhere. To me, it’s not all about money, it’s about where I can develop my career most and who I will be playing alongside and who the coach will be. This past couple of years in Chelmsford at senior level I’ve played alongside some excellent players and there is another batch of great kids ready to step into my skates if I go elsewhere. To have played for someone like Dean Birrell is excellent as he really believes in developing players to be the best they can be. He gave me opportunities that perhaps other coaches wouldn’t have done, but I’d like to think I’ve done all he, and Jon Rowbotham the GB coach, have asked of me”.
Birrell said “James is a joy to coach. He listens to what you tell him and when you put him in certain situations he tries his best and rarely lets me or the team down. I wouldn’t stand in his way if he wanted to leave as he has the talent to go a long way in this sport, but equally I’d like to think the club can put together an offer that appeals to him and we can keep him at least for another season. Ultimately though it’s down to the player and what he wants to do with his career”. 
So it looks like in the short term anyway that James Ayling may well be getting offers from other clubs around the UK and beyond, so Chieftains fans will be waiting to see what Ayling decides to do for next season. With the undoubted talent he has, it is not likely many will be sad to see one of the brightest stars in Chelmsford ice hockey move on to greater things. It has certainly been a pleasure to watch Ayling become the player he is and hopefully Chelmsford fans will get to see more of him next season, but if they don’t they will at least have many happy memories of him and look on him with pride as his career begins to take off, along with that of the other ‘young guns’ in Chelmsford in the form of Blaho Novak, Aaron Connolly and Ross Brears amongst others.
Comment on this story, contact Pete.Lewis@Prohockeynews.com