LONDON, UK – In the busiest week of mid-season transfers the NIHL South had ever seen, clubs scrambled to pick up the talent available after the sad demise of the Wightlink Raiders.
RedHawks arrive
It still isn’t over but the player and coach merry go round raised plenty of debate, emotions and questions. First and foremost was the sadness around the demise of the Raiders who certainly captured the heart of opposition fans over the years, given the reaction from around the UK to the news.
To watch their final game including guard of honour and farewell click HERE
In amongst the fan excitement of new faces at their clubs there was the reality that a number of players subsequently lost their roster spots and were understandably aggrieved.
In many ways it just highlighted the competitive nature of the league and how it has progressed financially that clubs and coaches were prepared to make bold moves. Safe to say the club secretary’s and EIHA registration department deserved a two week Maldives break such was the paperwork overload.
Streatham were by far the biggest movers in the market as they filled a trolley full of Raiders with Coach Jeremy Cornish appointed in place of Nick Chinn and then brought in six new faces to South London.
Matt Colclough, Nick Compton, Chris Cooke, Dan Rose, Ryan Webb and George Norcliffe all became RedHawks, with Chinn, Chris Wiggins, Conor Sheehan, Conor Redmond and Euan King all departing – King had already quit before the changes, with a move to London Raiders.
Cesky is a City Star (Paul Foster)
There was controversy in Oxford too as top scorer Ondrej Pekarik was released and replaced by Jaroslav Cesky, while Brendan Baird and Ben Paynter were brought in to boost their blue line.
Solent Devils brought in exciting young talent Aidan Doughty, whilst Bracknell also rang the changes with the Gregory brothers Nate and Jordan arriving along with Conor Redmond after his very brief stint at Streatham.
The Hornets also released Jaroslav Kucej, Michael Krogh and Kevin McGrurk.
Thankfully our friends at 482 days keep a log of these transfers so visit their page for more information HERE
A number of players are sporting a sick flow this season with Bracknell’s Jordan Gregory, Streatham’s Callum Best and Chelmsford’s Liam Chong all skating with hair fluttering in the wind under their helmets.
Only one of them has an excuse for sporting a greasy mop and that is Chong who put to bed rumours he was prepping for a winter surf break to Biarritz by revealing the true story behind his flow.
Chong’s charity flow (Emily Jane Snoding)
Chong is raising money for The Little Princess Trust who are a charitable organisation that make wigs from real hair for children who have lost all of theirs through illness. It is an especially personal story that you can read at the link HERE and also donate money.
The NIHL midweek podcast went out again amidst all of the transfer action and featured a number of voices from around the league. Its well worth a listen (even without translators) so click HERE
London Raiders announced that as a result of the tremendous efforts of players and supporters at the “pink the rink” game v Invicta last weekend that a total of £1176.96 was raised for Breast Cancer Now.
Hats off to everyone at the Raiders for making that happen and getting Coach Alan Blyth to wear a pink suit.
Streatham made a little history as they unveiled their RedHawks warm up jerseys ahead of the weekend. The jerseys point to the clubs new nickname that was chosen after a fan vote.
In fairness the jerseys are good enough to be used as an away kit in our opinion such is the quality of the design, of which you can read more about HERE
For those readers who love a scrap, footage emerged of the bout between Mason Webster and Danny Ingolsby at last weekend’s game between Invicta and Wightlink. You can watch it HERE
It is of course the time of year when the Ice Hockey Annual is released and this year is its 41st in production. It has an NIHL South review written by the author of this round-up and is a fantastic read on the Tube, on the beach, on the can or even during the period breaks.
Buy it now by clicking HERE
So after an emotional week, and one we have never seen the like of before in the NIHL, it was time to hit the ice and get down to business.
Saturday action review
Solent enjoyed their second successive Saturday road victory as they stunned the struggling Bracknell Hornets 5-2 at the Hive.
The Devils iced without the suspended Mitch Murray, but still fired thanks to a hat trick from Richard Facey and lone goals for Mark Baroni and Alex Trendall.
Hornet’s scorers were Kamil Kinkor and Brandon Miles.
Facey on fire (Kev Syfield)
Conor Redmond and Solent’s Mark Pitts clashed midway through the second period to add to the talking points.
The London derby between London Raiders and Streatham IHC in the cup may have been a dead rubber, but all eyes were on visitors coach Jeremy Cornish in his first game in charge.
The Raiders led 4-2 going into the third but were pegged back to 4-4 thanks to goals from Callum Best and Sean Scarbrough, adding to earlier efforts from Michal Oravec and Dan Rose.
Raiders’ goals came from Marek Nahlik, JJ Pitchley, Tom Davis and Jacob Ranson.
The result left Streatham rooted to the bottom of the Cup group and London taking second spot ahead of the semi-final seedings.
Sunday action review
Another dead rubber cup game at Silverblades saw the Invicta Dynamos beat Chelmsford Chieftains to finish top of the group with a 4-2 win.
Invicta drafted in Bristol Pitbulls goalie John Dibble as emergency injury cover and he put in a man of the match performance ending with a 95% save average.
Mo’s go top of cup group (David Trevallion)
At the other end Adam Rehak scored two for the Mo’s with Ondrej Zosiak and Nicky Lewis getting the others.
For Chelmsford it was Lukas Zatopek and Juraj Huska with the goals.
Rehak was also busy dropping the gloves with Grant Bartlett, with the latter ejected on a match penalty.
The result means that Invicta will face Streatham in the semi finals whilst Chelmsford take on London Raiders. The semi-finals take place in February.
Oxford cemented their second place position in the league with a 3-1 win over Solent at Oxpens Road.
Jaroslav Cesky, Joonas Liimatainen and Alan Green gave the Stars two points with a goal each, whilst Richard Facey completed a real snipers weekend with a lone goal to make it four in two games for him.
Florey v Facey (Paul Foster)
Facey also dropped the gloves with Jake Florey in the final minute of the game to get the fans up on their feet one last time.
Streatham looked to be heading for defeat at home to Bracknell Hornets as former players Kamil Kinkor and Conor Redmond gave the visitors a two goal lead midway through the game.
The RedHawks hit back with five unanswered efforts in an exciting end to the game and won 5-2 with Callum Best and Steven Fisher hitting a brace each and Ryan Webb getting the other. It marked Coach Jeremy Cornish’s first Streatham win ahead of next weeks trip to Chelmsford.
Streatham also gave away a signed pumpkin to some lucky fans who will be praying it never shrivels up like old balls. Competition judge George Norcliffe did the honours.
Finally in Milton Keynes the visiting London Raiders skated off with a shock 4-0 win over the resident Thunder in a game watched by our media friends at 482 days.
New Raiders goalie Euan King does what he does best and secured a debut 22 shot shut out with Marek Nahlik scoring a brace at the other end and Slavomir Buda and James Pentecost getting a goal each.
Norcliffe delights Streatham fans with signed pumpkin
After being provided with a lazy boy chair and power socket at Lee Valley the night before, 482 days were allegedly spotted with a large Papa Johns pepperoni special, side of dough balls and a bottle of white lightning in the VIP lounge at MK.
If only we at Pro Hockey News could enjoy such privileged media access – maybe one day.
The results mean that Chelmsford stay top of the league but with Oxford in second, Streatham third and Invicta fourth.
Results
Saturday 29 October 2016
London Raiders 4-4 Streatham IHC (Cup)
Bracknell Hornets 2-5 Solent Devils
Sunday 30 October 2016
Invicta Dynamos 4-2 Chelmsford Chieftains (Cup)
Streatham IHC 5-2 Bracknell Hornets
Oxford City Stars 3-1 Solent Devils
MK Thunder 0-4 London Raiders
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
For anyone in the UK who wants a copy of this seasons The NHL Hockey Annual or copies of The Hockey News please contact: martin.danes@googlemail.com
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