Close encounters, pedal power and overtime joy

LONDON, UK – With Storm Brian set to strike the UK, the build up to the weekend saw more signs of movement in the NIHL Britton Conference, not of rink infrastructure but playing staff.

Streatham joy at Invicta (Fusional)

Swindon Wildcats announced the departure of Kyle Smith from their roster due to increased work commitments. Wildcats Head Coach Aaron Nell said: “We’re disappointed to see Kyle leave us, we wish him all the best for the future and would like him to know the door will always be open for him in Swindon if he decides to make a return to hockey”.

In Basingstoke, Coach Doug Sheppard continued to ring the changes as he released forward Ashley Jackson, who was quickly announced at local team Invicta Dynamos, where he played last season. Streatham snapped up Canadian forward Andreas Siagris, who had been training with the team in recent weeks and impressed enough to be signed by Coach Jeremy Cornish.

New Bracknell jerseys

In Lee Valley there were almost riots as London Raiders announced a 50p increase on the price of their matchday programmes to £3. Fans were spotted in tears and GM John Scott was moved to publishing multiple pictures of the new shiny Romford rink to bury the bad news. On a serious note the Raiders programme is a top quality read and has a high quality print so 50p extra isn’t too much to ask.

Aside from the London Raiders charity warm up jerseys, NIHL sides have traditionally failed to tap into the market for hockey fans who love jerseys. The ex-EPL teams in contrast, like to churn out a variety of themed efforts ranging from quirky to an assault on the eyeballs.

Bracknell Bees announced that as part of their support of The Army Benevolent Fund, at their home game on Saturday November 11th versus the Telford Tigers in the National Cup, they will be wearing a very special one-off commemorative match night jersey.

The jersey, designed by Cassio Designs, commemorates the 100th anniversary of the First World War Battle of Passchendaele.

Regular readers who actually read this column rather than just looking at the pictures, may be interested in listening to the latest Banners on the Wall podcast with your columnist. Subjects ranged from the past, present and future of the NIHL plus a debate on chiselling. You can listen to it here.

Saturday action review

Peterborough Phantoms secured an overtime 3-2 win over Swindon Wildcats thanks to a goal from Leigh Jamieson. Many fans commented on it being the game of the season so far as the Wildcats twice came from behind thanks to goals from Aaron Nell and Luc Johnson, after Owen Griffiths and Robert Ferrara had given the Phantoms an edge.

Phantoms Coach Slava Koulikov lauded the line of Glenn Billing, Nathan Salem and Jamieson in his post-match interview, whilst also mentioning how it was good to test his coaching skills. You can listen to the audio here.

Frankie four goals (Kev Slyfield)

482 days were at the game and failed to predict the man of the match correctly for either side. It capped off a woeful evening for the media outlet who had earlier caused a scene in Peterborough Services after accusing a war veteran of queue jumping at KFC.

At Lee Valley, the London Raiders gave the Bracknell Bees a scare before going down 6-5. Frankie Bakrlik scored twice for the Bees as did Josh Martin to add to efforts from Scott Spearing and Tom Avery. For the Raiders Juraj Huska scored two, with Marek Nahlik, John Connolly and JJ Pitchley getting a goal each.

The match was officiated by Stephen Matthews who bemoaned London traffic following the game on social media after being overtaken by a Deliveroo rider on a bike. Matthews would do well to remember that the road outside Lee Valley rink won an award as a Healthy Street recently (no we are not joking – click HERE)

Gregory gets his first start (Fusional)

In Invicta the Dynamos faced a Streatham side who had lost their last five games in a row. The RedHawks ripped up the form book with a 5-2 win without starting goalie Matt Colclough whose 3 game suspension was announced during the week.

Nate Gregory stepped up to the plate to help his team to victory as goals from Ryan Watt, Adam Carr, Ryan Webb, Joe Allen and Michael Farn handed the Londoners the points. An Adam Rehak brace completed the tally for Invicta.

It had escaped Pro Hockey News attention that Papa Johns have now opened an outlet at the Gillingham rink, which begs the question whether the much vaunted Invicta Burger meal deal will soon disappear forever – if it hasn’t already.

Sunday action review

It was a case of what might have been for both Streatham and Invicta as they came within inches of beating Basingstoke and Bracknell respectively but both fell by a lone late goal.

In Streatham the RedHawks steamed into a 3-0 lead over the Bison in front of their biggest crowd of the season, but four unanswered goals from the visitors pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. Michael Farn had scored two for Streatham with Ryan Webb getting the other. Josh Smith scored a brace for the Bison including the winning goal with Tomas Karpov and Ryan Sutton scoring the other goals.

In Bracknell the Bees trailed the Dynamos 6-5 with 11 minutes remaining before Frankie Bakrlik equalised and then scored the winner in overtime to take his tally for the evening to four. George Norcliffe scored a brace for the Bees with James Galazzi getting a lone goal also.

Swindon loving Autumn (Kat Medcroft)

For Invicta Tom Ralph scored two to add to goals from Adam Rehak, Justin Robinson and Louis Colvin.

Mason Webster and Galazzi dropped the gloves early on and then later Scott Spearing and Adam Rehak traded blows to add to an entertaining game at the Hive.

The final game of the evening took place at the Link Centre where Swindon snatched a 3-2 overtime win over Hull Pirates thanks to a winner from Max Birbraer. Swindon’s other scorers were Stephen Whitfield and Luc Johnson, while Hull’s goals came from Jason Hewitt and Lee Haywood.

Both sides go through to the next round of the Autumn Cup regardless we believe, however Aaron Nell believes his side should be playing better at home and you can view his interview here.

Results

Saturday 21 October 2017
London Raiders 5 Bracknell Bees 6
Invicta Dynamos 2 Streatham IHC 5
Peterborough Phantoms 3 Swindon Wildcats 2 (OT win)

Sunday 22 October 2017
Streatham 3-4 Basingstoke Bison
Bracknell Bees 7-6 Invicta Dynamos (OT win)
Swindon Wildcats 3-2 Hull Pirates (Autumn Cup)