ENL week 29 Round-up

LONDON, UK – Last week saw panic spread both sides of the River Thames with differing consequences for Streatham Redskins and Haringey Greyhounds. In South London the Redskins got an unpleasant scare when it was rumoured that their rink was to close in the summer with no replacement ready. This was quickly quashed by the local council who insisted that Tesco had not reneged on its pledge of continuous ice provision in Lambeth Borough. This was backed up by an email sent to me from local councillor Lib Peck who categorically assured me that the temporary rink planned for Streatham Common (or another location) was going to be in operation before the High Road rink shuts. As a natural sceptic I will believe it when I see it, however if they can construct something similar to Cardiff’s big blue tent, it will be a massive boost not only for Streatham but for hockey in the capital and could even restore my faith in local politics.

With muted jubilation in the South, the news in the North of London was in stark contrast as Haringey’s woes took a depressing turn. On Friday I received messages from a number of Greyhounds players upset as their season has been ended prematurely, due to a dispute between the ENL team and the ice rink. With a must win final league game scheduled against Cardiff on Sunday, the Greyhounds needed at least a point to ensure safety from the relegation play offs.   In an astonishing turn of events, Alexandra Palace rink effectively pulled the plug on the Greyhounds season in a dispute over owed ice time expenses. The Greyhounds quickly released a statement stating:
 
“Unresolved issues with the management of Alexandra Palace Trading Ltd mean that Sunday’s final game of the season against Cardiff has had to be cancelled. The Greyhounds Management Team extend their apologies to the players and fans of both teams who will no doubt be disappointed by this news”
 
I managed to speak to a disheartened Greyhounds owner Nick Rothwell over the weekend and he sounded like a man frustrated. Haringey’s relationship with the rink has deteriorated a few times over the last decade, and it seems that Rothwell is literally paying the price for past history and the lack of trust that brings. For their part, Alexandra Palace clearly feel they have had their fingers burnt in the past and with the end of the financial year approaching they have unresolved business with the Greyhounds that they brought to a head. Rothwell states that he had offered to personally take a cheque up to the rink from his central London office last Friday to pay February’s invoice, so that the team could fulfil their final league fixture but the rink’s demands went further.

It seems a lifetime ago when I first joined Haringey, it was actually ten years ago when bizarrely they were actually owned and operated by the rink. At the time I had just left university around four stone heavier than I entered it and had barely played for three years since leaving Billingham. The team had just romped to an ENL South Play offs championship courtesy of a merry band of British players and a goal machine named Zoran Kozic (currently owner of Slough Jets). So with the club on a high, we trained during the summer and the standard generally (with the exception of the excellent Kozic and Russian Alexei Eskine) was a lot lower than what I had been used too at Billingham. With this in mind, imagine my surprise when I got the fixture list in August to see that some bright spark had entered us into the English Premier League. I remember saying to one of the players shortly after I saw the fixtures “Do you realise the standard of teams we will be playing?” I knew that I for one wasn’t in any shape to play against the likes of Ian Cooper, Darcy Cahill and Merv Priest.
 
We turned up to the first game in Chelmsford in a bright yellow Haringey Council Disabled bus complete with wheelchair lift, and after a ‘plucky’ 7-0 defeat, the season went downhill from there. The rink pulled its funding halfway through the season as Kozic decided to go it alone as team financier/best player/coach. The whole affair was so depressing I quit hockey for a year after that. The team had some good guys on it including tough Canadian Steve Fullan and goalie Adam White. Brits like Gary Dodds, Jamie Hirst and Jan Bestic became friends for years later but that couldn’t gloss over what was essentially a bad team spirit. Players arguing with fans, ridiculous dressing room arguments and even a row over socks were notable lowlights. On the ice we regularly got thrashed and Kozic soon realised that whilst he was able to cut it at this level, most of the team couldn’t, and his frustration boiled over. He was targeted by opposition teams in every game for ridiculous treatment and he snapped now and again (often unfairly) at us for not delivering to his own high standards. Looking back I can understand why he was so angry but to be fair it was the wrong team in the wrong league. Kozic left Haringey the following season following a long ban from the EIHA after allegedly two handing Romford’s Marc Long. He resurfaced at Slough and seems to be doing a good job with the Jets and the juniors.
 
The following decade has seen a couple of bright seasons but it is fair to say that in the main, any Haringey fan who is still hanging around the Palace after all the dismal seasons deserves a medal. There are some lovely people who I have met through the Greyhounds and they have some fantastic volunteers but in reality it just hasn’t worked up at the Palace for a combination of reasons. Rothwell could be the answer but I suspect we may never find out unless he can motivate himself to rebuild in ENL 2. I for one hope he does, not only for the hockey community in North London but also for the league.  
 
For those of you still awake after yet another one of my rambles down memory lane, I will get back to this weekend’s games. After a week of off- ice drama, it was a relief when the puck dropped on Saturday for the various scheduled games in the ENL.

The big result of the evening happened at Oxford where the Invicta Dynamos suffered a shock 6-2 defeat to the City Stars. Granted the champions were missing the prolific Andy Smith and fellow forward AJ Smith, but the Stars iced without Captain Darren Elliott, defence man Nick Eden and Nick ‘Face Off King’ Oliver. Two goals each from player coach Ken Forshee and Alan Green, added to goals from Andy Cox and Joe Edwards for Oxford. Stand in skipper Grant Bailey enjoyed a hand in four of the Stars goals and Invicta’s goals came from Jack Tarczycki and Peter Vaisanen.

Chelmsford made the trip to the Isle of Wight to face a Wightlink Raiders side that had lost only once in the last six games. The Chieftains were on a four game unbeaten run themselves and made it five with a 4-1 win. Eyebrows may be raised by Wightlink fans at the score line given that they despatched the Chieftains home and away only a few weeks ago. Credit to the Essex side though as they have turned the corner since that poor run of form, and a win on the island will have boosted play off confidence.   Blaho Novak scored two for Chelmsford with Aaron Connolly and Richard Whiting getting the others. Raiders’ goal came from Dan Hughes whilst on a 3 on 5 shorthanded play towards the end of the game!
Sunday saw the last league action of the season take place at rinks across the league with the exception of Alexandra Palace of course. For me it was the familiar drive to Oxford to take on a Stars side still buzzing from the previous night’s performance. The Redskins fans haven’t had much to shout about recently on visits to Oxpens Road, and given our appalling displays so far against the Stars this season, the fact we had a large travelling support turn up was credit to them. I don’t think any of them went home anything less than ecstatic as we took our first win over a top six side this season 6-5 over a jaded Oxford outfit.

In truth we should have killed the game at 4-0 up, but we don’t like to make things easy for ourselves and when the Stars pulled the score back to within one goal at 6-5 with three minutes remaining, I have to say I was a little nervous. Ken Forshee pulled the goalie and the old barn was absolutely bouncing for what was a meaningless game. We somehow held on, but that atmosphere and the ovation we got from our fans was a special moment, even for an old hand like me. Liam Rasmussen got two goals for the Redskins and the other scorers were Kent Johnson, Remy Boprey and Gennadi Yufit. I was pleased for Kent as he has played well since he moved to the Skins from Wightlink and to score against his old team must have been a good moment. Mr Yufit showed us what we have all been missing this season as he waited for the final game of the season to score his one and only goal of the year. Oxford’s goals came from Grant Bailey, Ken Forshee, Dean Francis, Shannon Taylor and Andrew Shurmer.
 
Like a theatre encore we emerged from the locker room again on to the ice at the end to salute our fans one last time as they stood drumming and singing. Now I am a bit older I always look around the locker room when the season ends and it always crosses my mind that the team will now change. The good times and the spirit from this season will never be repeated, it could get better or worse but it will never be repeated. Team mates come and go and each season produces another cast list. I don’t mind admitting I have had an enjoyable season with the Redskins and whatever the guys go on to do I hope they look back on this season with good memories.
 

Ah, where was I? Shock results? If you want to hear more then you are reading about the right league. Milton Keynes is our first stop, where the Thunder ensured that the EIHA supremo Ken Taggart can lay off the Nurofen for the next few days. The Thunder did their talking on the ice as they took matters into their own hands with a shock 7-6 win over Wightlink Raiders. The two points gained rendered any decision by the EIHA to award the postponed Haringey game as a tie irrelevant. In the end the EIHA awarded the game 5-0 to Cardiff but the Thunder were not to know this and goals from Lee Featherstone, Connor Goode, Kieron Goody and Tom Davis, along with a brace from Harrison Goode and a ‘Gordie Howe Hat Trick’ from Martyn Snape did the damage. Snape had dropped the gloves with Steve Gosset after only ten seconds to set the tone. Raiders goals came via a brace for Dan Hughes and also markers for Stewart Tait, Jeremy Cornish, James Udell and a first goal of the season for veteran Steve Gannaway.
 
The win is a fantastic end to the season for the Thunder and a special note goes to Michael Knights who announced his retirement. I have seen Knightsy play since he was 13 for Durham Juniors and he has been a quality competitor for every team he has played for. I hope he reconsiders because he will be a massive loss to not only the Thunder but also hockey in general. I wish him luck in whatever he chooses to do in the future.
 
Another shock of sorts happened at the Riverside where the Chelmsford Chieftains finally got one over on rivals Invicta Dynamos with a 5-4 win. Andy Smith was missing again for the Mo’s as they fell 4-1 behind before mounting a late comeback that just wasn’t enough. Two goals each from Aaron Connolly and birthday boy Blaho Novak (17) plus the usual goal from Danny Hammond sealed the deal for Chelmsford. Invicta’s goals came from Joe Johnston (2), Anthony Leone and Peter Vaisanen.
 
The big question many fans ask is are these games really meaningless? I am a big believer in momentum, and I think psychological advantages can be taken from games so close to the play offs. With that said, if I was an Invicta fan I would be worried if Andy Smith is unavailable, as he was last weekend, because two defeats in one weekend for the Mo’s cannot breed confidence. Chelmsford shocked me with their results this weekend and Dean Birrell will be very pleased with four points from two tough fixtures. Meaningless game or not, beating Invicta is a huge monkey off the Chieftains back. Wightlink cannot be comfortable after their displays this weekend, not least the defeat in Milton Keynes on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how they bounce back next week.
 
Next up is the play offs. The six teams are all capable of taking points off each other with big characters, noisy fans, players with beards and a clean slate. The league is done and dusted, everyone steps up a further gear and every minute matters. No predictions from me I am afraid, but with me now finished on the ice for another season I will be hoping Oxford’s Green Army can beat the odds and spring a surprise. It should be fascinating and I will do my best to ensure you find out everything that’s going on via Prohockeynews.com. The Prohockeynews play-off preview will be online this week, plus various interviews with the players and coaches looking to make an impact. Please feel free to email me for your thoughts on 2009/10 ENL All-Star line ups. Try and be as objective as possible, and remember us poor defence man who rarely get any headlines!
 
One last thought before I go. Invicta are the champions, but they lost to Oxford on Saturday, who in turn lost to us on Sunday. That makes us the best in the league and virtual champions right?
 
Thanks for reading and stay safe.
 
Carrsy Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com