It’s all Wight for the future

ISLE OF WIGHT, UK – Wightlink Raiders are on course for the English National League 1 South title at the second time of asking under the stewardship of head coach Jeremy Cornish. Many view Cornish as somewhat of a ‘pantomime villain’ in so much as he is hated by many opposition fans on the ice, but off it he is one of the most approachable players and names within UK ice hockey. Almost no one in the ENL is willing to drop the gloves with the Canadian hard man, but he also prides himself on making time to talk to fans after the game and be approachable to fans and people from all clubs. What many people forget or don’t realise is that Cornish heads up the Youth Development of the Raiders and Isle of Wight ice hockey and fits in coaching, developing youngsters, playing and travelling from his home on the mainland with a university course in Sports Studies thrown in as part of his weekly schedule. How does he fit it all in?

“It’s tough at times but if I didn’t believe in what we as a club are building, I wouldn’t be doing it every week. I believe we’re building something really good for the future of ice hockey on the Island and we’ve started that by renaming the junior teams the Isle of Wight Junior Raiders and we feel that this is the first step to much closer working relationships between the senior sides and the juniors. I genuinely believe kids starting out in hockey should have a clear line of development from u-10s and younger, right up to Elite League and beyond. Some clubs have it right and are moving forwards with development and producing better young players and those players are moving up the chain. If you look at teams like Swindon, they have put out teams at every level except at Elite level, but they have got a development programme in place so that some of their youngsters get the chance to play up with the Coventry Blaze. You only have to look at the likes of Aaron Nell for proof that it can and does work. We’ve also seen other kids from the ENL getting a chance higher up with Liam Chong from Invicta playing up with the Bison and Aaron Connolly from Chelmsford turning out for the Slough Jets, so the good intent and right idea is there. . I just hope this leads on to the EPL sides working more with two-way deals with Elite sides”. Nell came through the Swindon development programme and featured on a two-way with the Blaze last year and made such an impression, he was snapped up by Paul Thompson to be a full time Blaze player this season and is likely to break into the Great Britain team for the World Championships. “It saddens me to see the number of players who drift away when they get to 15-18 because they don’t think they’ll make it to the top or don’t see a way to get to the top levels. This sport needs all the players it can to survive and we should be ensuring that we aren’t losing players in the numbers we are, purely because the system isn’t in place to keep them playing or at least playing at a competitive level. If they don’t want to or can’t keep playing, we need to make it more appealing to keep those people involved. Whether it be coaching, managing, officiating or whatever, everyone has different experiences and skills to bring to a team and every club has ex-players living nearby who are still interested in the sport, but won’t get involved for whatever reason”. Cornish went on “No sport should be reliant on bringing in players from overseas or outside your catchment area. Not only does it end up costing a fortune financially, it also means there is little connection to your local community which is where the lifeblood of the club as a whole must come from. There is nothing wrong with bringing in the right players, but just to bring in players for a season or two for short term fixes does nothing long term in my mind, especially at this level where we’re meant to be the first step in getting kids out of junior hockey into senior hockey. It’s ok having some around, but the bread and butter players in a club should be from within your own rink. “We’ve got some great supporters down here and a fantastic supporters club, all working with the management to make sure all the players are looked after and treated right on and off the ice. The Raiders have been known as a bit of a ‘retirement home’ in the past, but we’ve brought in younger players with a real passion to win things and mixed them in with the more experienced players that are still burning with desire to win titles and trophies, I believe we’ve done the mixing well and with any luck I think we should be able to pick up a trophy or two come the end of the season. We’re certainly not taking anything for granted yet and there is a lot of hockey to still be played before we can start relaxing and celebrating whatever achievements we may end up with”. The 31year old from Lucan, Ontario has been on these shores since 2004 and has played at all levels in the UK. Starting out with the now defunct London Racers in the Elite League, Cornish then moved on to spells with Newcastle Vipers, Sheffield Steelers and Basingstoke Bison and now on the south coast with Wightlink Raiders. He also had a short spell back in Bloomington in 2007 with the Prairie Thunder, but it was at the Racers where he came across a legend of British ice hockey in Steve Moria. Moria is now head coach/player with the Bison in the English Premier League and Cornish used his connections to help build a stronger working relationship between the two sides.“This season we were able to send Robbie Brown to the Bison for some games and he’s benefited just from being about players and the team in the higher levels. I’m sure in seasons to come these relationships will grow and we’ll see more of the kids here moving onwards and upwards maybe through the Bison. The Bison are the only EPL club we’ve worked with this season, but if others want to get in touch about utilising the talent we’ve got here then they are more than welcome to get in touch”. Does Cornish believe that the EIHA and the Elite League should be working closer together for the development of British players? “I think you can tell that I believe in using the best available talent and helping push them to the top, so yes I do think there should be much closer integration between the two. With the politics within the ice hockey community in Britain, I appreciate that may be some way off, but I’d like to do what I can to try and get the two groups working together for the benefit of everyone in the sport. My personal belief is that if you go into sport at any level, it’s because you have a passion for it and you should work with like-minded people to help grow what you love and spread the word to others. It’s going to take a lot of work and goodwill on all sides, but I believe if we can all work together and come together for the good of the sport, British ice hockey could become a powerhouse in European ice hockey”. Pro Hockey News and the writer would like to thank Jeremy Cornish for his time. Contact the author Pete.Lewis@Prohockeynews.com