LONDON, UK – Snow wiped out half the weekend fixtures but there was still time for Swedish fantasy, all night bus trips and a return of an old Pro Hockey News favourite as the English National League battled against the elements.
Whether it was the forecast of snow or simply the calm after the storm of deadline dealings the previous week, news was pretty slow across the ENL.
Skins slump (Rick Webb)
The move to a new shiny ice rink near central London paid dividends for Streatham as a Swedish film crew made their way to Brixton to film an advert for the Swedish section of Ladbrokes. Obviously I won’t spoil the surprise with the full details but it’s safe to say that we (or more specifically myself, Will Sanderson and Adam Mahoney) will come out of it either looking like legends or complete berks.
My early prognosis is probably the latter but I guess it will all depend on how the advert is edited and presented. The main theme was of an underdog and looking across at Sweden with envious eyes from England, a land where hockey isn’t appreciated or loved to the same degree.
We played up to it as best we could so will probably upset a few people but with a leggy six foot blonde asking the questions, what could we do?
One bit that will probably be edited out is the voice of Slovak sniper Jerry Pavlus who asked ‘Anyone want to see a sausage’ from the steam of the showers whilst a scene was filmed in the locker room. No comment from the aforementioned blonde nor the rest of the Swedish crew so maybe better luck next time eh Jerry?
Whilst on the subject of TV, many long time ENL hockey fans will remember Oxford City Stars forward Marlon Williams various forays on the goggle box. For those of you who aren’t aware, Marlon has thus far appeared as a bodyguard in a 50 cent video, made it past the early stages in ‘Dance yourself fit’ and been a regular on Big Brothers Big Mouth as a studio guest desperate for Russell Brands rod to be steered towards his mouth.
Marlons latest project is on ‘Come Dine With Me’ so I would recommend anyone tuning in to that tonight (Monday 6th February). I am sure that Marlon will mention me beating him round the Oxford ring road in a 1 litre Fiesta whilst he drove a BMW, as an anecdote over the dinner table tonight.
Fresh from winning the worst Christmas jumper of the ENL award in December, Invicta forward Grant Baxter is the proud recipient of another gong this week as the popular (ahem – Ed) Bruise of the Week returns to the ENL weekly round-up.
Not so hip Baxter
This little beauty pictured was actually an internal bruise following a hip flexer pull last week. For those of you that don’t know what a hip flexer is, then don’t worry too much.
Wightlink coach Jeremy Cornish received good news this week as it was revealed he will return against Romford Raiders on the 11th two games earlier than expected from his suspension.
Former Bracknell Hornets coach Ben Pitchley flies out to Quebec this week with the England Under 13 team along with Streatham Redskins Sports Therapist Kirsty Hopgood.
This is an excellent international tournament with a good pedigree so hopefully they can get some wins on the board.
Pitchley is doing a blog on the EIHA website so for those of you who want to hear from within the camp and possibly some interesting stories from the former Romford defenseman check it out at the link below.
http://www.eiha.co.uk/Leagues/England/EnglandUnder13Team.aspx
Saturday
Where better to start than Brixton, where Streatham faced Chelmsford hoping to cause an upset. At 1-0 down with twelve minutes gone, new signing Luke Reynolds was kicked out with a match penalty for an off the puck check to the head call on Alan Green. This was later downgraded to a five plus game, but regardless it left us with a five minute penalty kill and Chelmsford scored two more before the period buzzer.
Another two powerplay goals at the start of the second meant the game was over as a contest and Chelmsford pretty much cruised through the whole game. The only brief joy for the home crowd was Norm Pinnington dropping the gloves with Danny Cox after the Chelmsford defender hopped off the bench to challenge him.
Ladies hearts break in East London
Coxy is no slouch in the fighting department and a tough guy but ‘Stormin’ waited and waited and as Coxy moved in, he got caught with two full force fists that left him with a cut head, black eye and broken tooth.
The irony is, that Norm didn’t drop them initially until he was given a penalty anyway and thought he may as well do something to save face.
Chelmsford came and did a professional job and some of their passing and play was excellent, but I think everyone in the Redskins room was annoyed we didn’t give them a bigger test.
Jakub Klima and Gary Clarke both hit a brace each with Tom Avery, Danny Hammond and Darren Brown getting the others for Chelmsford with Warren Rost getting Streatham’s goal.
Wightlink enjoyed a win in a goal fest on the island against the Bracknell Hornets. It was only two seasons ago that these two were fighting it out in the play-off final and how things have changed since then.
Wightlink took an 11-7 win with a hat trick from Dom Hopkins and Joe Rand added to lone goals from Grant Rounding, Steve Gosset, Alex Murray, Richard Facey and a first ever from Aidan Doughty doing the damage.
Ricky Rutherford and Tom Fisher hit two each for Bracknell with Danny Hughes, Alan Lack and Ryan Webb also scoring.
Lack and Gosset dropped the gloves to interrupt the goals and Raiders gave Dan Weller Evans a full sixty minutes between the pipes.
Bristol failed to provide a shock in their home tie with Romford as the visitors thumped them 9-1 thanks to a brace each from Adam Smith, Danny Marshall and Matt Turner, along with lone goals from Juraj Huska, Shaun Yardley and Tom Davis. Steve Osman scored for Bristol.
Any smiles from the win were soon wiped out as Romford endured the journey home from hell, as it took them nine hours to get back to Rom Valley Way, arriving back at an incredible 6am the following day thanks to the snow chaos on the M25.
“Our passengers made the most of the situation and formed card schools and it was agreed they would play strip poker” admitted team owner Ollie Oliver on the team’s website.
“I entertained the children at the front of the bus with colouring, board games and singing camp fire songs” he added.
Sing after me.. Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit
One can only feel for the passengers stuck on the M25 who not only had to sit waiting on Britain’s most hated motorway all night but also had to endure the sight of the Raiders players hairy backsides rubbing up and down the condensed windows of a bus whilst having their ears tortured by various Chas and Dave numbers belted out by a bunch of kids and a guy in a pink sweatshirt (unconfirmed).
Elsewhere, Cardiff despatched Slough with a 6-1 win in Wales, however the best news of the evening was that Cardiff coach Mark Cuddihy’s wife gave birth to a bouncing baby daughter. Well done to Mark from all at Pro Hockey News.
Sunday
Thanks to the snow, only one game took place on Sunday with Streatham opting to travel down to Kent despite a few guys missing on the far side of the M25.
How do you explain a 13-5 loss? Well to be perfectly honest, Invicta’s forwards clicked and we were atrocious.
Ryan Ellis scored six goals and Justin Noble got a hat trick as the two Canadians enjoyed a points fest, with Callum Best getting a brace and Callum Fowler and Andy Smith getting a goal each. Stevie Balmer hit two for Streatham with Jerry Pavlus, Chris Rasmussen and Russ Stevens getting a goal each.
The only amusing part of the game for me was when two Welshmen collided. The constantly battling Mo’s forward Corey Watkins tangling with Redskins gym junkie, academic and goalie Stefan Nubert with the latter opting to combat the former’s crease raid with a swift blocker to the nose.
The pair squared off to the delight of the Mo’s crowd (who needed something to interest them) and the rest of the players on the ice. Nubert is certainly not one of those keepers that need protection as he can more than hold his own and has turned from a quiet shy type to a bit of a beast in the last couple of seasons.
Invicta will take some stopping if their offense rolls like that for the rest of the season and we will struggle to do anything other than drop down unless we can get over this weekend’s displays and bounce back next weekend.
I felt desperately sorry for our brilliant fans in the corner of the rink who were out in force making plenty of noise as usual. It was awful having to skate past them at the end and I am sure the rest of the guys felt the same. They deserved better from us but regardless of what is written or said, we need to turn it round and perform on the ice from this point forward.
Results
Saturday 4th February 2012
Streatham Redskins 1 – 7 Chelmsford Chieftains
Bristol Pitbulls 1 – 9 Romford Raiders
Wightlink Raiders 11 – 7 Bracknell Hornets
Cardiff Devils 6 – 1 Slough Jets
Sunday 5 February 2012
Invicta Dynamos 13 – 5 Streatham Redskins
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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