Fights, love hotels and Phoenix nights

LONDON, UK – After a couple of season defining weekends in the title race, it was left to the rest of the league to strut its stuff as the league leaders took a rare weekend off.

NIHL strikes back … Whillock scores for Phoenix (Kev Slyfield)

After using NIHL talent to ice a team in Swindon the other week, the Phoenix Club of Manchester put out a call again ahead of their clash in Bracknell and were boosted by players from Solent Devils and Oxford City Stars.

Rumours that Phoenix Coach Tony Hand and Captain Luke Boothroyd sit with a panel studying YouTube footage from Mo’s TV before agreeing to allow players to pull on their jersey are unconfirmed. To boost income at their future home games however, they could do worse than follow the example of the original Phoenix club by hiring psychic Clinton Baptiste for period break entertainment and getting the Sammy Snake bouncy castle up and running pre game outside the rink for young fans.

Solent Devils Mason Wild, Alex Trendall, Alex Cole and Matt Lawday were joined by Oxford pair Mike Whillock and Ben Paynter on the team list for the Phoenix ahead of the weekend.

Streatham fan and some students in Almaty.

Another team drafting in NIHL talent were the GB University Men’s team for the 2017 Universiade. The Central Asian hub of Almaty in Kazakhstan is hosting the games and the team are in a group tougher than a bowl of the National dish besbarmak (boiled horse or mutton meat).

Slovakia, Canada and the USA are the opponents for GB who ended up on the end of a 9-0 reverse against the Slovaks in their first game and were outshot 61-13.

Despite the likelihood of defeat in their next two games it will be an amazing experience for the GB team who have NIHL South reps from Streatham, Bracknell, Solent, Invicta and Lee Valley. The boys have already randomly bumped into a Russian Streatham fan who posed with them with his scarf!

Back in the UK, Invicta Coach Kev Parrish addressed the departure of Ashley Jackson to field hockey duties in India by snapping up exciting young prospect Scott Bailey who was previously icing with Manchester Phoenix (and may again in future should the Phoenix club need bodies).

This tempered the news that star forward Callum Fowler had his suspension extended by the EIHA as revealed on their website, along with an update on Solent’s Mitchell Murray.

The statement read that both Fowler and Murray breached the terms of their suspension by ‘approaching the players or scorers bench or the penalty box during a game from which suspended’. The sanction for this breach was an additional two game suspension.

Temple tells her the one about him scoring at Brixton against Romford…

This is certainly an unprecedented clampdown from the governing body as in the past you could have probably had a golden retriever strolling up and down the players bench and no one would have batted an eyelid, never mind reported it. Whilst some may call these suspensions pedantic, it’s quite good that referees are starting to apply rules properly and document them in reports.

Long-time readers may remember former Slough and Streatham forward Eddie Temple plying his trade in the NIHL and earning the affectionate nickname of Eddie Cheeseburger at one point. Now a little older, Eddie has brought his affectionate (and may we say lovely) personality to mainstream TV and is scheduled to appear for the second time on popular show First Dates Hotel on Monday.

The show is set in a boutique hotel in Provence in the South of France, an area synonymous with lavender, fine wine and hill cycling. Will Eddie get his dream woman and if not, will he at least get a decent cheeseburger? A tough ask for either in that part of France in our experience.

Our fingers are crossed though for the big man. Give him some support on Twitter @eddie_temple48

Oxford City Stars announced a departure in the boardroom as Paul Lynch left the club. In a statement he said:

‘I have enjoyed my short time with the Stars and have had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside some fantastic people. The club has made some massive progress this season, and I am positive with the people involved the club it will continue to grow.’

Blue wrist Cole

The NIHL Midweek sports special went out over the airwaves with the usual contributions from Stars Head Coach Simon Anderson, MK’s Paul Gore, British Ice Hockey’s Michael Black and your very own Pro Hockey News correspondent.

It is worth a listen so click here for the replay.

Bruise of the week comes from Solent as defenseman Alex Cole took a shot to the hand in warm up from the powerful Ben Lock and had a black and blue wrist for the rest of the week!

Saturday action

Streatham ended their poor run of form against Milton Keynes with a hard fought 5-2 win. The game saw the return of former Player Coach Nick Chinn to South London for the first time since he departed in October.

The RedHawks hero was Adam Wood who bagged a hat trick to add to a brace from Ryan Webb. Milton Keynes scorers were Boris Ruzicka and Jakub Klima.

Big crowd in Streatham (Fusional)

After the game Wood revealed his relief at getting amongst the goals again and you can read his interview here.

London Raiders must have fancied their chances of a home win when Invicta Dynamos turned up short benched, however after outshooting their opponents almost two to one, the East London side still ended up on the wrong side of a 4-3 reverse.

Bailey Wootton scored a brace for the Mo’s against his old club to add to efforts from Adam Rehak and Steven Osman. Raiders scorers were Thomas Beesley, JJ PItchley and Brandon Miles.

Tempers flared throughout the game as former Dynamo Alan Lack clashed with Ondrej Zosiak and Adam Rehak in separate incidents, and then Rehak dropped the gloves with Julian Smith. The game also saw Jack Lee make an unannounced return to the Raiders line-up after a few months away from the game.

Meanwhile in the EPL, Manchester’s NIHL guest players put in a great showing at Bracknell in the clash at the Hive, with Oxford’s Mike Whillock grabbing a goal for the Phoenix club. A crate of kamikaze lager and many congratulations go to Mr Whillock.

Sunday action

Oxford City Stars bagged a confidence boosting win with a 5-3 victory over the Invicta Dynamos at Oxpens Road. The game ebbed and flowed before exploding into violence in the final two minutes with the Mo’s trailing by two goals.

The Green Machine (Paul Foster)

The City Stars sealed the points thanks to goals from Dom Hopkins, Dax Hedges, Alan Green, Matt Jordan and Jesse Lye. For the Mo’s it was Bailey Wootton with a brace and a lone goal for Steven Osman.

Oxford’s Dax Hedges, Mike Whillock and Josh Oliver squared off with Invicta’s Mason Webster, Harrison Lillis and Adam Rehak in separate incidents to get the crowd on their feet.

The result gives leaders Chelmsford Chieftains another nudge towards that league title without whacking a puck.

London Raiders bounced back from their defeat the previous evening with an impressive 3-2 win over Milton Keynes Thunder at the Thunderdome.

Slavomir Buda, Sam Roberts and Alan Lack scored for the Raiders with Tom Mboya and Goode on target for the Thunder. The Thunder weren’t helped by a match penalty to new signing Luke Reynolds who was ejected for spearing.

King ensures no one can score (John Scott)

The result means the Raiders consolidate their fourth position in the league just ahead of Oxford.

The final game of the evening took place on the South Coast where Solent Devils proved once again what a force they are on home ice as they added Streatham to their list of victims with a 4-1 win.

Streatham had beaten Solent 9-1 in December but the Devils got the perfect revenge thanks to a brace from top scorer Richard Facey and lone efforts from Aidan Doughty and Ben Lock.

George Norcliffe got the consolation for Streatham who missed a golden opportunity to reduce the gap with second placed Invicta Dynamos. The game was attended by a group of Wightlink Raiders fans who showed that they are still a part of the league even if their team had to depart.

The result leaves Solent within a point of sixth placed Milton Keynes and strands Bracknell even further away at the bottom of the table.

Results

Saturday 28 January 2017
Streatham IHC 5-2 Milton Keynes Thunder
London Raiders 3-4 Invicta Dynamos

Sunday 29 January 2017
Solent Devils 4-1 Streatham IHC
Oxford City Stars 5-3 Invicta Dynamos
Milton Keynes Thunder 2-3 London Raiders