LONDON, UK – As Covid-19 panic began to sweep the world, the Britton Conference was offered one final chance to finish matters on the ice rather than off it.
With much (but not all) of professional football and hockey calling time on their respective seasons, all eyes were on the EIHA to see what action would be taken in light of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Following the lead of rugby league and much of lower league football, the governing body opted to stick to government guidelines and keep the minor league show on the road for another weekend at least.
On Friday came the final press release stating that games would definitely go ahead in all leagues. By the evening, Chelmsford Chieftains announced on their Facebook page that they wouldn’t be travelling to Streatham on Sunday and the dominos began to fall.
The Londoner’s, set to lift their first league title in 38 years and likely to claim it with four games to spare, were met with a double blow when hosts Solent Devils followed Chelmsford’s lead a few hours before face off on Saturday. Streatham offered to play the game behind closed doors but this was also refused and Solent released a statement shortly afterwards.
What followed was the usual British hockey online reaction of frustration, finger pointing, gloating, pot stirring, blatant lies, half-truths, thinly veiled agendas and the odd bit of humour thrown in for good measure. Sadly not much of the latter.
The truth was of course somewhere between all. Of course no one is going to deny that the health and wellbeing of players and their families is not a priority – hockey is always second to that and is only a game. This virus has the potential to be the most devastating event on the planet in most of our lifetimes so far. Equally every player and team has a motivation to play or not to play, and a cynical view might point to the fact the games that meant something in the other leagues went ahead as planned – Raiders even travelled to Telford in the National League to allow them the chance to lift the league title. Only really Streatham had anything to gain from playing on in the Britton and weren’t so lucky.
Once the league made the decision to crack on, this outcome was always a risk.
We all await the league’s decision on what happens next, but it’s likely that if all games are cancelled Streatham win the league by default as the gap between them and Solent was already six points and they were willing to play after the league announced games should be played. It was of course a shame for the fans and players not to see a trophy lift on the ice but after a dominating season with only one defeat all year, there will be time in the future (hopefully if we all survive) to celebrate.
The one game that did go ahead in the Britton Conference (apart from a game of battleships on Twitter between Invicta and Oxford) was the fixture between Bracknell Hornets and MK Thunder in what was Matt Foord’s 1000th game. An incredible achievement by any stretch.
Sadly for Foordy and his team mates, things didn’t go quite to plan with the Thunder winning the game on penalty shots after an incredible third period comeback from 5-2 down.
Ryan Gadeke got the winner in the showdown for the Thunder in a game that was in truth played in a rather end of days (season) manner.
Julian Baeumlin top scored for the Thunder with two goals, adding to regulation efforts from Gadeke, Connor Mellett and Harrison Goode. For the Hornets it was Connor Hutchison, Tamas Elias, David Millner, Bailey Hind-Pitcher and Harvey Hind-Pitcher.
And so we all now wait to here what comes next. Hockey in September is looking to be a stretch, never mind anything else.
To quote Dr Frasier Crane, take care of yourselves, and each other.
Contact the author: davidcarr_2@hotmail.com
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