Curtain closes on the NIHL South 1 season

LONDON, UK – If one was asked to sum up the 2018/19 season in NIHL South 1 in one word, it would surely be ‘emotional’.

A first league title in decades for the Swindon Wildcats and three trophies for the Peterborough Phantoms only told part of the story.

The pre-season news had been dominated by an exodus from previous year’s treble winners Basingstoke Bison of Head Coach Doug Sheppard plus numerous players and staff volunteers to near rivals Bracknell Bees.

The Bees would begin the season as early favourites but a combination of poor discipline and import problems eventually pushed them out of contention for any silverware in the league. They redeemed themselves in the Play-Offs beating the Raiders and Wildcats to make the final four in Coventry, before succumbing to eventual winners Hull Pirates in the semi-final. Next season will see the Bees ice without long serving player Scott Spearing as he announced his retirement and was given a guard of honour.

Peterborough Phantoms lifted the first silverware of the season picking up the Autumn Cup at the expense of Sheffield Steeldogs thanks to a late winner from defenseman Tom Norton. Slava Koulikov’s side then took pole position in the league standings and at the turn of the New Year, few would have bet against the Phantoms making it at least a league and cup double.

Wildcats Coach Aaron Nell had other ideas and used Swindon’s financial muscle to good effect. In came Swedish sniper Jonas Hoog to give the Cats the luxury of three imports on rotation with top scorer Max Birbraer and Jan Kostal making up the trio.

The switch paid almost instant dividends with Nell’s side going on a 15 game winning streak to title glory, leapfrogging the Phantoms and keeping the resurgent Basingstoke Bison at bay.

Despite the heartache in the league, the Phantoms did end up winning the South 1 Play-Offs beating the Bees in the final and also picking up the NIHL Cup, this time thanks to a winner from James Ferrara in a hard fought two legged win over the Bison.

Despite these setbacks, Bison land was not as upset as it might have been. New Player Coach Ashley Tait and his former GB team mate Russ Cowley breathed new life into the club after the departure of Sheppard and crew had left things looking bleak in Hampshire before a puck was dropped. An eventual third place finish could have been higher, had Tait not had to rebuild the squad quite so much with little notice. The Bison would depart the Play-Offs at the hands of the Phantoms, however Tait was voted league Coach of the year by his peers.

The Everyone Active Raiders of Romford finished in 5th position after a dismal start left them too much to do to close the gap above, however Sean Easton’s men put together some impressive streaks, thanks again to a core of young talent headed by Jake Sylvester and Brandon Ayliffe. Their Play-Off journey ended at the first hurdle against the Bees.

Plucky underdogs Streatham were early frontrunners in the league while the big boys were distracted by the Autumn Cup, but Jeremy Cornish and his team ran out of steam around Christmas and ended up firmly in mid table. A first round Play-Off exit at the hands of Basingstoke called time on Cornish’s tenure in South London, with the long-time NIHL coach opting to take a well-earned break from the bench next season.

At the bottom, the Milton Keynes Thunder endured another backs to the wall campaign that hit a new low when crowdfunding was requested to keep the team afloat as early as November. The team survived and picked up some impressive results towards the back end of the season with netminder Jordan Lawday again winning the plaudits for some stunning performances between the pipes.

The Thunder’s woes, were matched by bottom club Invicta Dynamos who struggled throughout, thanks to some early player walk outs and then financial problems that again needed to be solved by crowdfunding goodwill of hockey fans. Crowds dipped to levels not seen in Kent for decades and despite a couple of plucky victories, there was little to cheer in the far South East corner of the league.

In the end however, only one story took precedence and it was one of shock, sadness and then spirit, showing the best side of hockey in the UK.

A meaningless dead rubber fixture at the end of the campaign saw long serving MK forward Ross Bowers take a stick to the face, pretty much bursting his eye and leaving him permanently without vision in it.

It was a horror injury that immediately sparked a campaign across all leagues in the UK raising over £30k to help him in the interim between any insurance claims. Bowers had been due to retire from the game at the end of the season in a cruel twist to the tale.

Towards the end of the season it was announced that the NIHL South 1 will return pretty much to its original make up, with the top 5 teams joining a new 2nd tier.

The likes of Streatham, Invicta, MK, Raiders and indeed Cardiff Fire from the previous year, stepped up to help the EIHA when faced with a crisis two years ago. It’s been a turbulent period but for now things return to their natural order. For how long is anyone’s guess.

Pro Hockey News would like to thank all of our readers who’ve followed our coverage of NIHL South 1 this season, and of course pay tribute to our excellent photographers who have captured the very best of the action all year long.