ENL week 25 Round-up

LONDON, UK – There was a time in UK hockey when replacing a broken skate blade could seem as inconvenient and stressful as getting hold of a large block of ice in the middle of the Sahara desert.
 
Thankfully in 2010 things seem to be much improved and less than 20 minutes after posting my disgust at my misfortune on my Facebook status, I   had   a message asking what size I needed,   and 48 hours later a replacement set of blades turned up at my office,   courtesy of the eagle eyed (or stalker like) Ian Clark of All Star Hockey in Swindon.
 
It was good to hear from my former Haringey Racers team mate not only because I was relieved to buy the blade off him but also because it reminded me of some good times we shared.
 
One of the biggest laughs we had throughout that season in the EPL with the Racers, was guessing what the cover of each match day programme would have on it. The owner Roger Black used to try to feature a different player each week on the front of the programme with a montage of photos and also a nickname in italics   underneath the chosen player’s name. Rather than just use a normal nickname and not really one for involving himself in locker room banter, Roger would devise one based on either a cliché or an attribute he felt relevant and this was never revealed until game day.
 
  As the weeks went by, various players such as Nick Burton and Petteri Pitko were described as ‘The Flying Finn’, ‘The Iceman’ and other such positive descriptions. Despite us all hoping that Clarky would get ‘The Nose’ in italics, based on his substantial hooter, Roger gave him the ‘Mr Consistent’ moniker much to Clarky’s relief.
 
When it finally came to my turn, I remember sitting in the locker room as the programmes came round and noticing it was my pictures on the front. I admit I was not expecting ‘Mr 100%’ or even ‘The Northern Rock’ as a description, but the ‘Brother of Isle of Wight Raiders Star Adam Carr’ headline ensured the team and my mates all got a good giggle out if it. Talk about living in the shadow of your brother, it even had a picture of him on there just to emphasise the point, I felt like former Ayr Raider and brother of the great one himself,   Keith Gretzky!
 
So on Saturday, the still less talented brother of current Milton Keynes Lightning Captain Adam Carr headed to Bracknell with the Streatham Redskins to take on a Hornets side aiming to bounce back following a shock loss in Chelmsford last week. Rare parity of sorts was restored between siblings, when Spoursy (Coach Barry Spours) gave me the captaincy for the weekend, which was obviously a great honour given the history of the Redskins.
 
I’d guess most people were expecting a massacre but in the end we were close to pulling off a shock result. We were down 4-1 after the first but fought back and had them at 6-6 with only two minutes remaining in the game. Referee Ian Hayden called a dubious tripping penalty on Joe Weire and Ben Duggan scored a fantastic power play goal to win the game for the Hornets 7-6.
 
Highlights from our perspective were the man of the match performance from Perry Richardson, the assist for goalie Stefan Nubert, along with Remy Boprey scoring his first Redskins goal. Bracknell will be relieved to have avoided a shock result and I thought they missed the strong skating Blair Dubyk at the back, and goalie David Wride had a rare off night (but is carrying a groin injury). Our Czech import Roman Culik was kicked out for accidental high sticks on Brad Watchorn after only 53 seconds. I must say that with a massive bust lip and wearing a fluorescent pink shirt in the bar after the game, Watchorn looked remarkably like Mick Jagger, but without the long hair.
 
MK Thunder hosted the league leaders Invicta Dynamos at the Thunder dome, desperately hoping to pick up some much needed league points. The defeat was predictable however the margin surprised me as the Mo’s demolished the Thunder 16-3, and I am not sure the Thunder have ever been beaten by such a large deficit on their own ice. Having said that, when the Dynamo’s click they can be lethal and unsurprisingly Andy Smith was amongst the goals with just the four this game. More interestingly, the often underrated AJ Smith (no relation as far as I am aware) also bagged four goals to show that there is more than one Smith in Kent who can score (I wont count Tim as he is a defenseman). The biggest loser of the night was seemingly Nolan Boike whose agent must be gutted that his client was ruled out of this goal fest with injury.
 
Peterborough Islanders were also on the wrong end of a heavy defeat losing 8-1 on home ice against Cardiff. The Welsh side hit penalty trouble throughout the match but aside from the annoyance factor it did not stop them from winning comfortably. Islanders captain Jon Brammall dropped the gloves with Corey Watkins and man of the match awards went to goalie Luke Takel for Cardiff and the delightfully named Kieron De’Ath for Peterborough.
 
Sunday saw Oxford City Stars make the trip to South London to face the Redskins, and for the second night running we were punished by penalties. The Stars hit us with four goals on the power play in the first and second periods and to be honest we didn’t recover. It was 5-1 going into the third and we got an absolute rollicking off Spoursy, which in turn led to a feisty third period where I think both sides took part in some old fashioned crash and bang hockey. I have mentioned before in this column, but there is nothing worse for a visiting team coming to the High Road than a pumped up Redskins team giving 100%. Despite the game ending 5-1, I thought we restored a bit of pride in the final period although some people may not agree with me. The Stars goals came from Darren Elliott x2, Paul Gore, Andrew Shurmer and Andy Cox. Our goal came from Louis Lockwood. Stars Alan Green had a rare fight and did well considering Russell Stevens is no slouch when it comes to dropping the gloves.
 
I have to say that last week I fully intended commending Mr Belanger and his two linesmen Phil O’Neill and Stefan Hogarth on their performance in the Cardiff game but alas I forgot. He may give penalties in the campest style imaginable with flouncy hand signals, but I have to say Mr Belanger does a lot of our games at the High Road and his decision making is mainly spot on and swift. Added to which, his manner and dialogue with the teams and coaches leaves no doubt as to why he has made a decision. In the Oxford game I genuinely felt sorry for him, and his inexperienced assistant as they were forced to operate with a two man system. Now I have refereed before and also run the line and I can categorically state that it is hard, very hard in fact and with the league coming on leaps and bounds it is unfair on the officials, players and fans to be operating two man systems. I know the EIHA are doing their best with whatever refereeing resource is available but the ENL does seem to be getting a raw deal with officials and teams are going to start taking advantage of it if it carries on.
 
Anyway, enough of my moaning and back to the weekend’s action. Haringey headed to Invicta with forward Cal Mathison returning after a few months sabbatical working in some massive forest in Ontario, Canada. In the end, Mathison’s impressive return earned him the man of the match award but this did not stop the Mo’s smashing eight past the North London side who managed two goals in reply. Peter Vaisanen got his hat trick for the home side and Joe Johnston got a brace, with Nicky Lewis and AJ Smith also scoring. Greyhounds’ goals came from Scott Beeson and Stuart Appleby. Biggest shock of the night was Invicta’s Andy Smith not scoring and also missing a penalty shot.
 
The Greyhounds relegation rivals MK Thunder continued their tough weekend of fixtures with a disappointing 6-1 defeat in Chelmsford against the Chieftains. MK goalie Mark Woolf had an excellent game but could do little to stop goals from Darren Brown, Aaron Connolly, BT Williams, Ross Brears, Jerry Pavlus and of course Danny Hammond. Connor Goode got the consolation for the Thunder.
 
There are rumours that MK are to be awarded an extra point due to their game against us being postponed and an alternative date not being found. Whilst it would be karma for the Thunder to get some EIHA awarded points to draw level with prime beneficiaries of such points’ Haringey, it does beg the question of consistency with the Cardiff v Haringey saga of last year still fresh in mind. We await an official decision with baited breath.
 
Wightlink Raiders coach Jeremy Cornish proved once again that anyone who does a ProHockeyNews interview is guaranteed to score the following week. It hasn’t yet occurred to me to ask one of my fellow writers to interview me to perhaps help the Redskins out in the coming weeks in the goal-scoring department. Anyway back to the hockey and sadly Cornish’s goal in Cardiff was not enough to stop the rampant Devils chalking up a 9-4 victory over his Wightlink Raiders side. Cardiff’s goals came from Ben Davies x 2, Corey Watkins x 2, Steve Fisher, Steve Deacon, Chris Jones, Tim Burrows, and Alan Armour. Stewart Tait got a rare hat trick for Wightlink and he also dropped the gloves with Cardiff’s Captain David James. Devils’ Gareth Dixon and Raiders’ Andy Robinson then had a slug fest to delight the crowd.
 
So another week gone as we all edge ever closer to the play offs. Bracknell and Cardiff clearly have goalie injury issues as do Streatham and Oxford. Wightlink have lost their import after deadline day, and really the only people who seem to be not down on their luck or vulnerable at the minute are Chelmsford and Invicta.
 
I will finish by revealing the Redskins latest proposed extravagance. Not content with registering 5 imports, taking a bus to every away game and having three different kits. The Skins have decided that since we have two lovely ladies (Sam Bolwell and Laura Price) on the team plus frizzy hair supremo Jay Richards and the girly haired Stefan Nubert, there was one item the kit bag was missing…
 
The official Streatham Redskins “limited edition” hair straightener’s. Look out in the club shop at the next game.    
 
Thanks for reading and stay safe.
 
Carrsy
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com