LONDON, UK – With the fireworks season over and Christmas still a few weeks away, NIHL fans needed some excitement so the players stepped up to the plate to give them it.
Bees pay the price (David Trevallion)
Peterborough Phantoms Coach Slava Koulikov announced the GB u20 squad during the week with a number of NIHL South players getting a call up.
Cardiff Fire’s in-form netminder Jordan Lawday, Swindon pair Oliver Stone and Jordan Kelsall, plus Bracknell’s Josh Tetlow and Peterborough’s Ed Knaggs will all play in the u20 World Championships next month. GB are in a group with Estonia, Japan, Korea, Netherlands and Romania.
Lawday heads to Dumfries (James Assinder)
Unfortunately for those selected, dreams of pre-game naps in the Park Hyatt Tokyo under the shadow of Mount Fuji, supping post-game drinks under a red glow in Amsterdam or celebrating with BBQ wings at the Bucharest Hard Rock Café will not be on the agenda.
Instead the boys get to leave their passports at home and will compete in Dumfries between the 10th and 16th December. Tickets are available online now so if you fancy a few days of junior international hockey and even maybe catch Queen of the South v Dundee Utd, you can buy tickets online HERE
One of the longest running rumours of the season became partly true midweek as Peterborough Phantoms added a King between the pipes. London Raiders said goodbye to Euan as a result with the locally based stopper keen to be closer to home with a new baby on the horizon.
It wasn’t the only news out of Peterborough however as the Phantoms helped switch on the Christmas lights at the Serpentine Green Shopping Centre. Allegedly the original plan was for local hero Barry Fry to light a fart and ignite a Festive Flame, but the organisers felt the Phantoms and no naked flame were a safer bet.
No naked flames, only Phantoms
Invicta finally bit the bullet and released last season’s top scorer Adam Rehak who had been mysteriously missing from the team sheet in recent weeks. The news was not met with as much surprise as it might have been by the Mo’s faithful with the Czech cutting a frustrated and unhappy figure on the ice lately, in stark contrast to his performances last year.
Swindon Wildcats star Sam Bullas was in the media once again during the week, this time with a brief cameo for a ‘Switch on to Swindon’ campaign video. We challenge anyone to watch the video and not be immediately tempted to up sticks and head to Wiltshire.
Bracknell Bees were reported to be considering an appeal of Frantisek Bakrliks ban and were also upset with Social Media activity relating to the incident according to the Bracknell News website, albeit with no direct quotes from the Bees to confirm either point. You can read the article HERE
Nothing But Thieves mix with the NIHL
Finally, Streatham forward Ryan Webb attributed his return to goal scoring form to a strong team spirit and the advice from his new team mates in an interview with the South London Press. A number of Streatham players also took in a Nothing But Thieves gig during the week with Coach Jeremy Cornish, goalie Matt Colclough, forward Ryan Watt and former player Nick Compton pictured with the band alongside US music maestro Stefanie Reines.
Saturday action review
After being taken to overtime twice by the Invicta Dynamos, the Bracknell Bees travelled to Kent knowing their task would not be easy, especially without prolific pair Shaun Thompson and Frankie Bakrlik. The Dynamos took an early lead and never looked back in a game they eventually won 5-1.
It ended a rare run of seven consecutive defeats for the Dynamos who had scorers Ashley Jackson, Scott Bailey, Louis Colvin, George Hoang and Callum Fowler to thank for their win. Ex Mo Callum Best scored the consolation for the Bees.
The crowd were on their feet again as young Brandon Webster dropped the gloves with Jan Bendik to add to the Kickboxer-esque storyline.
Griffiths the hero (Kate Medcroft)
1400… yes 1400 fans squeezed into the Link Centre to watch Swindon Wildcats take on London Raiders in what we believe is an NIHL record attendance (we await the stattos to confirm).
The bumper crowd got their money’s worth as the hosts bounced back from going a goal behind to win 3-2. Player Coach Aaron Nell scored the winner for the Wildcats to add to goals from Jordan Kelsall and Max Birbraer. Raiders’ goals were both scored by Juraj Huska. At this point we should also mention that last week we incorrectly reported that Raiders forward JJ McGrath had played his last game for the club. It was in fact his last home game for the Raiders and his final games were this weekend.
If Peterborough fans thought the Christmas light switch on was exciting, they were in for a further treat at Bretton Way as the Phantoms grabbed a last minute equaliser through Leigh Jamieson to take their game against Basingstoke into overtime and then won on penalty shots.
Darius Pliskauskas and Ales Padelek had scored the Phantoms other goals with Roman Malinik, Grant Rounding and Aaron Connolly on target for the Bison.
The money shot by Kev Slyfield
In the shootout it was who else but Euan King the hero in net after Owen Griffiths had scored the decisive penalty shot for the hosts. King gave an audio interview after the game that you can listen to HERE
The 482 Days media team decided to give the Britton Conference a swerve by taking in the game between Bracknell Hornets and Guildford Phoenix at the Hive. PHN photographer Kev Slyfield managed to get a snap of them in action, but sadly missed the earlier drama on the adjacent dry ski slope where they were allegedly spotted handing over a bundle of notes to the Ice Cold Photography team. The ‘no photos’ bribe was ultimately money down the drain for the Oxfordshire based media outlet thanks to Slyfield’s prowess with the lens.
Sunday action review
In a 1st v 2nd league clash the Bracknell Bees continued to suffer from the suspension of their star man Bakrlik and absent Shaun Thompson and promptly lost 7-2 on home ice to the league leaders Peterborough Phantoms.
Nathan Salem and Darius Pliskauskas hit a brace each for the Phantoms with Will Weldon, Ales Padelek and Ed Knaggs also on target. Knaggs capped off a great week for him personally with the man of the match award. For Bracknell it was Callum Best with a brace to take his weekend total to three goals.
As a result Bracknell slipped down to third place in the league with the Phantoms still on top.
Cardiff Fire looked to build on improved recent performances in their home game against Swindon. Another Jordan Lawday masterclass between the pipes gave the hosts a chance but the Wildcats pulled away at the end of the game to win 5-1. Jan Kostal hit a brace for the Cats with Jordan Kelsall, Max Birbraer and Sam Zajac also on target. For the Fire it was David Manning with the consolation.
Streatham make it 5 wins in 6 (Rick Webb)
Streatham continued their good form as they made it five wins in their last six games with a 6-2 win over the Invicta Dynamos in the Cup. Adam Carr scored a brace for the Londoners with Ryan Webb, Alex Sampford, Aidan Doughty and Brendan Baird also on target. Scott Bailey and Ondrej Zosiak got the consolation for the Dynamos who will likely add a new import to their roster shortly.
Long-time Streatham fans may be interested to know that 17 year old Alec Goldstone got a call up from the u18s and becomes the latest member of his family to pull on a Streatham jersey, following father Adam and fellow legend Tony in the history books.
Basingstoke Bison made it a perfect 10 wins in 10 games in the league with a 6-0 shut out of London Raiders in Hampshire. Bison Captain Aaron Connolly annoyed everyone by scoring the opening goal and denying anyone a free Papa John’s Pizza as a result, but the Bison fans soon got over it as Roman Malinik, Grant Rounding, Tomas Karpov and a Dan Davies brace took the two points. Raiders’ goalie Michael Gray earned their man of the match facing 49 shots on a busy evening between the pipes.
So that wraps up another riveting week of NIHL hockey. Thanks for reading!
Results
Saturday 18 November 2017
Swindon Wildcats 3 London Raiders 2
Invicta Dynamos 5 Bracknell Bees 1
Peterborough Phantoms 4 Basingstoke Bison 3 (Phantoms win on penalty shots) – Cup
Sunday 19 November 2017
Cardiff Fire 1 Swindon Wildcats 5
Streatham IHC 6 Invicta Dynamos 2
Bracknell Bees 2 Peterborough Phantoms 7
Basingstoke Bison 6 London Raiders 0
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.