LONDON, UK – It was a weekend of Cup drama, shock results and more as the NIHL South delivered exciting hockey for its fan base.
Beware flying goalies (Rick Webb)
The Pro Hockey News London office was left reeling during the week as it was announced that the premiere of the eagerly anticipated Goon 2 movie would take place in Glasgow rather than the traditional setting of Leicester Square in the UK capital.
Hollywood star Jay Baruchel announced the decision citing the support of Braehead Clan as a primary reason.
‘This team has a legitimate fan culture and this is why I said when we bring Goon 2 to UK, we have to bring it to Glasgow for our premiere because that’s where the fans are.’ explained Baruchel in an interview with the Scottish Sun.
At risk of having our inbox spammed by angry Scots and a Twitter campaign by Jamie Mcilroy, we have to say that this is a missed opportunity for the movie.
Think of Doug Glatt, Xavier LaFlamme and Ross ‘The Boss’ Rhea posing outside Alexandra Palace in London with the logo of the Halifax Highlanders beamed over the capital from the top of the hill. Crowds thronging the surrounding park as if it were the 5th November and an after party at the Roadhouse in Covent Garden via Bodeans in Soho.
It’s a no brainer.
Tom Davis crazy or just a team guy? (David Trevallion)
One man who may or may not have visited the Roadhouse is London Raiders Captain Tom Davis, who could have done with one of their famous fishbowls after the previous weekend where he had to pad up as a goalie after Ryan Bainborough got injured.
Arguably you have to have a screw loose if you enjoy getting pucks fired at you, but if you are normally a player then it’s even harder. Davis did really well and luckily for him, Mo’s TV caught the footage of some of his saves which you can see HERE
‘This weekend we face two games which I see no reason why we can’t take all four points and really push for play-offs now.’ said Davis in an interview with the Romford Recorder.
‘We knew we faced a tough weekend last week and going into two tough games was never going to be an easy one. With our recent form it made it no easier.’
‘I’m not sure if I was nervous or excited, but I felt it was my job to step up and do it for the team.’
‘I managed to pull off a few saves which I was happy about and even had the whole crowd cheering.’
Ryan and Charlotte running for Parkinsons UK
Few NIHL South players get their very own branded bucket but Streatham’s Ryan Giles unveiled his in preparation for a collection on behalf of Parkinsons UK at the cup semi-final against Invicta.
The former Dynamo was looking forward to facing his old club and gave a long interview to the South West Londoner during the week.
‘They were my home team, I grew up playing juniors there and must have played for them for about five or six years.’ admitted Giles.
‘I’m now living in London and playing for Streatham and loving it, but playing against your former team is always good.’
‘There has been a really good rivalry between the two clubs over the last 10 years or so, so it always builds and adds to the excitement of a good game.’
You can sponsor Ryan in the London Marathon by clicking HERE
Saturday’s Hockey
The weekend saw the top four in action in the NIHL Cup semi-finals with a few league fixtures thrown in.
Wightlink Raiders hosted a Chelmsford side looking to bounce back from the previous weekends defeat in Streatham in the first semi of the day on the island.
The stars of the show turned out to be the goalies as Euan King and Matt Colclough put on a show to keep the score at 1-1 facing 33 and 39 shots respectively.
Leone and team get away with a tie on the Island
Craig Tribe opened the scoring for Wightlink with Ross Brears replying for Chelmsford.
Chelmsford youngster Charlie Phillips made it 67 penalty minutes in just 7 games after he was ejected for spearing Jaroslav Cesky at the start of the second period.
The hero of the night was wearing stripes though, as veteran Blaine Evans took two slapshots to his legs and was allegedly walking like a constipated bulldog by the end of the game. Did he manage to hobble over to the Codfather after the game? Given the steps on that overpass to get there we guess not.
The second semi final took place in South London as Streatham and Invicta locked horns for the fourth time this season.
In another low scoring game, the Londoners squeezed out a 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Steven Fisher and a shut out from Will Sanderson. In the Invicta net Damien King was in sparkling form despite giving Invicta fans a scare by pretending to tweet from the England v Ireland rugby match at Twickenham pre-game.
A lovely poke check from Sanderson plus a casual tap of the posts afterwards can be viewed by clicking HERE
Fisher and Best celebrate (Rick Webb)
In the league, London Raiders finally ended their 14 game streak without a win by beating Milton Keynes Thunder 8-2 at Lee Valley Ice Centre.
Tom Davis and Marek Nahlik scored twice for the Raiders with Terry Fillery, Matt France, Michal Oravec and Mason Webster also on target.
Jamie Line and Tom Mboya scored for the Thunder, who handed a first senior start to junior prospect Jake Southwood.
The news got even better for Raiders fans when it was announced that they will be holding a ‘Race Night’ on the 11th March. For younger readers, a Race Night is nothing to do with social diversity or inclusion (well it could be), but all to do with televised horse racing, booze and allegations of cheating.
Its slightly less weird than watching cartoon greyhound racing in the bookies during the day, and actually surprisingly good fun so get along if you are in the area.
Sunday Hockey
Streatham became the first team to secure a place in the Cup final as they held their nerve in Kent to beat holders Invicta 5-3 on the night and 6-3 on aggregate.
Invicta welcomed back Callum Fowler for the game and when he scored in the first five minutes the home crowd were expectant. Big games need big players and veteran Nick Chinn rolled back the years with a hat trick for Streatham to add to goals from Joe Allen and Kamil Kinkor.
Steven Osman got the other goal for Invicta.
Is that a hose or are you just pleased to see us?
After the game, our fellow journalists from the 482 days website were caught trying to interview Streatham’s Chris Wiggins as he was trying to fill a container of water to wash himself with (the showers were broken). Its not all glamour in the NIHL.
Joining Streatham in the final were Chelmsford who eased past Wightlink Raiders with a 6-0 win in Essex.
The Chieftains won thanks to a brace from Danny Hammond and lone goals for Olegs Lascenko, Ross Brears, James Ayling and Julian Smith.
Ben Clements secured an impressive 48 shot shut out in the process for Chelmsford. The only other incident of note involved Julian Smith and Craig Tribe dropping the gloves.
The Cup final will take place at the end of this month and no doubt crush the girlfriends/boyfriends of those players who now have no spare weekend between the end of the regular season and the play-offs.
Suck it up guys and read the rules HERE
Billing scores for Thunder (Claire Stanton)
Back in the league and the performance of the weekend came from basement side Cardiff NIHL Devils who stunned the Oxford City Stars 5-2 in the Big Blue Tent.
With both sides icing just two lines the win saw Cardiff secure their first victory since the start of November last year when they beat Bracknell 1-0. Cardiff are not a team that plays like a basement side, especially at home so it has been surprising that they have taken so long to seal a win at the Tent but they did so in style.
A hat trick from star player Jamie Hayes did the business for the Welsh side with Jon Nash and Joe Morris getting a goal each.
Alan Green scored a brace for Oxford who have traditionally found Wales a tough place to go.
The result put Cardiff on 10 points in the league, but sadly for them, Bracknell extended the gap to five points again as they beat London Raiders at the Hive.
An eventful game saw the Berkshire side give young goalie Matt Smital another start and he helped his team to an 8-5 win.
JJ Pitchley and Danny Hughes scored a brace each for the Hornets with Stewart Tait, Elliot Farrell, Ryan Handisides and Brad Watchorn also on target.
Marek Nahlik scored two for London with Rio Grinell-Parke, Matt France and Michal Oravec getting lone goals.
Smital helps Hornets to win (Kev Slyfield)
If those games werent exciting enough, the fans at Milton Keynes witnessed a real barnstormer as the game between MK thunder and Solent Devils twisted and turned to an eventual 6-6 tie.
Solent had been leading before a MK fightback put them two goals to the good, but then Solent scored twice more to continue their good form and take a point.
Ross Bowers struck twice for MK, with James Clarke, Glen Billing, Jamie Line and Nathan Long scoring one each.
Mitchell Murray and Andrew Magee both scored two for Solent with George Norcliffe and Richard Facey on target. The result leaves MK in 6th position ahead of Solent by four points.
So after a busy weekend of hockey and some of the closest scorelines we have seen on a weekend, its fair to say that most NIHL hockey fans got their monies worth this time round.
Results
Saturday 27 February 2016
Streatham Redskins 1-0 Invicta Dynamos (NIHL Cup Semi leg 1)
Wightlink Raiders 1-1 Chelmsford Chieftains (NIHL Cup Semi leg 1)
London Raiders 8-2 MK Thunder
Sunday 28 February 2016
Bracknell Hornets 8-5 London Raiders
MK Thunder 6-6 Solent Devils
Cardiff NIHL Devils 5-2 Oxford City Stars
Invicta Dynamos 3-5 Streatham Redskins (Streatham win 6-3 on aggregate)
Chelmsford Chieftains 6-0 Wightlink Raiders (Chelmsford win 7-1 on aggregate)
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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