LONDON, UK – It was a reduced fixture list in the NIHL South fixture list as the EIHA fixture calculator eased everyone back in to action.
Miles v Wiggins (Kev Slyfield)
With most players and fans kicking back and enjoying a Terry’s Chocolate Orange and a few beers over the festive period, the London Raiders and Bracknell Hornets played the only fixture over the holiday period.
It is fair to say that Lee Valley Ice rink is without doubt the most festive of facilities at the best of times, but with the recent erection of a Christmas tree magical forest on the grass outside it has cemented its reputation for 2015.
Inside the rink, the Christmas spirit was missing however as the Hornets secured a much needed road win 5-3. Greg Chambers scored two for the visitors, with Danny Hughes, Will Stead and Brandon Miles also scoring. Miles was also involved in a scrap with Raiders forward Mason Webster that went viral on social media after the game.
Kev Parrish and the team head to the hospice.
Seb Downing, Tom Davis and Michal Oravec got the goals for the Raiders.
After Oxford City Stars brightened up the childrens ward of the John Radcliffe hospital distributing teddy bears from their teddy toss, it was Invicta Dynamos who followed suit last weekend.
The Mo’s players, led by coach Kev Parrish, headed to the Demelza Hospice to give out teddy bears collected during their recent game against London Raiders.
‘We couldn’t have imagined that we would end up with over four hundred, but that just goes to show the generosity of our fans and what a great cause that Demelza is’ said Parrish.
‘Our visit is just one day of the year and we appreciate all the hard work that goes in from the fantastic staff at Demelza, day in, day out.’
The excellent 482 days website continued to tirelessly cover the NIHL South with a mid-season 10 by 10 review series that features each individual club. First out the blocks was Jon Nash of Cardiff NIHL Devils who gave an interesting overview of his sides season so far.
Nash and the gang (Duncan Brown)
‘The team are working hard each week looking for ways to grind out the win and to turn the season around’ said Nash, who also revealed that the influential Jamie Hayes would be returning to the side soon.
‘We look forward to the second half of the season and hopefully moving up the table.’
You can read the full article plus features on Solent Devils and Bracknell Hornets by clicking HERE.
Chelmsford Chieftains received a boost as netminder Euan King returned to training after a number of weeks out of action. The stopper tweeted his fans with the news last week and this was favourited by his replacement Ben Clements thus proving that tendys stick together.
In other news the plexi glass at Chelmsford broke recently and there was only one man capable of saving the day. Was it former defenseman Danny Cox, back in the UK on vacation this festive period? Was it former Peterborough player and US Celebrity chef Danny Boome? Was it Romford Raiders legend and one time Chieftain Danny Marshall? Was it the muscles not from Brussels Danny Hammond? Was it 1980’s Chelmo star Danny O’Hanlon?
Hammer time with the Mayor
Nope it was none of these… it was of course the Mayor himself, Danny Wright armed with a hammer and sporting a leather jacket from Zara.
In a bid to boost sales, the Streatham match day programme drafted in the opinionated and often controversial Scot Jamie McIlroy for an interview in which he discussed his favourite hockey memories and also revealed that his favourite channel island was Jersey.
McIlroy is due to have trials with a number of top flight Belgian sides this summer as he re-locates to the land of mussels, Stella Artois and alleged jihadi hotspots.
‘Two people who stick out for the right reasons are Ross Wilkinson and Grant Baxter’ explained McIlroy when asked who his two most respected opponents were whilst playing in NIHL 1.
Belgian bound McIlroy?
‘Ross is a player who a lot of people were talking about as being tough. When it came to us dropping them I started quickly and thought I had it in the bag.’
‘As soon as I took my foot of the gas he came back at me and got the takedown. Anyone who battles like that and fights right to the end deserves respect and he’s gone on to prove his worth in this league.’
‘Grant Baxter has been around the leagues for years and has been a great servant for Invicta. I fought him three times in one season, he never backed down and always stuck up for his team mates.’
‘He’s done it year after year and has proved willing regardless of the opponent. Both of these players would be guys I would want on my roster if I was putting a team together, regardless of their advancing years.’
Saturday’s Hockey
If Streatham Coach Warren Rost thought that the festive break would help his squad back to full strength he was mistaken as another shortbenched Redskins side made the trip to Bracknell Hornets, a side also light on numbers.
The two teams battled out a 5-5 tie with Streatham’s Chris Wiggins getting the equaliser just thirty seconds from the end.
Good start to 2016 for Bracknell (Kev Slyfield)
Kamil Kinkor had scored twice for Streatham prior to that, with Ryan Giles and Jack Tarczycki also on target. Josh Martin scored a brace for Bracknell with Greg Chambers, Ryan Handisides and youngster Elliot Farrell also netting.
Wiggins and Brandon Miles dropped the gloves in the second period and it was all caught on camera by the excellent Deke Sports TV. You can view it HERE.
The game was also notable for an injury to Hornets defenseman Matt Jordan who went off injured after a hit by Nicky Chinn behind the net. Lets hope for a swift recovery for Matt who has been a dedicated performer for Bracknell over the years.
A word also for u18’s goalie Emily Cole who backed up Danny Milton for Bracknell in the absence of Mark Duffy who was last seen running away from a burning building in Dubai over the New Year’s celebrations.
Leaving the league and paying the price.. one of the good guys George Alley
The only other game of the day saw goalie George Alley make his first start of the season as his London Raiders team took on Wightlink Raiders at Lee Valley.
Wightlink have been playing only road games in recent weeks and not training, yet they have a good depth of quality in their side and it showed again as they won 4-2 on the night.
Jaroslav Cesky, Jeremy Cornish, Ryan Webb and Alex Sampford scored for Wightlink, with Rob Jenner and Marek Nahlik replying for London.
To his credit Alley faced 34 shots over the game and did well, only to announce his decision to leave the club later that evening.
‘The team and management in turn extend our thanks to George who has on many occasions been essential to the teams existence and has made himself available for virtually all training sessions and game nights’ read the club statement.
The news got worse for London when it was announced that Liam Chong had possibly broken his thumb, however this was counterbalanced by hints at new signings to come. The smart money is on a couple of defensemen coming out of retirement, but lets wait and see what happens.
Sunday Hockey
Oxford City Stars raced into a 3-1 lead in Chelmsford before being pegged back to 3-3 and then holding on for a point.
The Stars and their fans will be delighted with the result and scored through a brace from former Chieftain Alan Green and a one goal from Ben Ealey-Newman.
Chelmsford welcomed back Lukas Zatopek from injury and he scored on his return to add to a brace from captain Anthony Leone.
Steamy windows for Chelmsford as Green haunts them (Paul Foster)
Goalie Euan King dressed for the game however Ben Clements started and had a good game as did opposite number Tom Annetts with both goalies facing 43 shots in a busy evening.
The result keeps Oxford in 5th spot in the league,whilst Chelmsford stay top with a comfortable 8 point lead.
Streatham Redskins qualified for the NIHL Cup Semi Final with a hard fought 6-5 win over Solent Devils in South London.
The Redskins were once again without a number of key players and had to overcome a Solent side full of energy and endeavor.
Kinkor v Murray (Rick Webb)
Kamil Kinkor bagged a hat trick for the Redskins with Jack Tarczycki, Steven Fisher and Adam Wood also on target. For Solent it was George Norcliffe with an impressive four goals to his name and Alex Murray with the other.
Kinkor endeared himself to the home support even more in the third period as he dropped the gloves with Mitchell Murray after the latter appeared to catch and fell Chris Wiggins with a knee in the neutral zone.
The result means that both Streatham and Wightlink qualify from the group, whilst in the other section we believe Chelmsford and Invicta have qualified (by our calculations).
Next week we have a full set of fixtures to look forward to. So thanks for reading and welcome to 2016.
Results
Saturday 2nd January 2016
Bracknell Hornets 5-5 Streatham Redskins
London Raiders 2-4 Wightlink Raiders
Sunday 3rd January 2015
Chelmsford Chieftains 3-3 Oxford City Stars
Streatham Redskins 6-5 Solent Devils (NIHL South Cup)
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.