LONDON, UK – Week three of the NIHL South featured everything we like at Pro Hockey News; exciting hockey, drama and dogs.
Mo’s hug it out with Solent (David Trevallion)
Goalies like to personalise their helmets and we have seen flags, crests, names and even Slimer from Ghostbusters in recent NIHL seasons.
Best lid of all time?
London Raiders goalie Michael Gray raised the bar further this week by unveiling a beauty featuring his pug Barnaby.
After ratings went through the roof thanks to a soft toned North East accent featuring on the show last weekend, the excellent Oxfordshire Sports online radio station have introduced a midweek NIHL show.
This week their excellent host Andrew Self interviewed returning Oxford goalie Shannon Long who is stepping in for the injured Tom Annetts.
Long has a reputation for loud hairstyles and a louder mouth on the ice, but the well-spoken goalie revealed that he will be in a Stars jersey for a short period of time before heading off to Thailand in October.
You can listen to the interview HERE
He may be one of the elder statesmen of the league but Wightlink Raiders defenseman Vaclav Drabek may have done an Obafemi Martins on us.
Drabek hurt Derek Sutton and headed to England?
According to Elite Prospects, Drabek is 39 however he starred as ‘Racki’ in hit 1986 hockey movie Youngblood as these photos sent to us anonymously confirm. This would have made him 10 at the time of filming which just doesn’t stack up.
London Raiders new signing James Pentecost took time out from his busy schedule of whacking pucks and flying Ryanair planes (no seriously) to give an interview with the Romford Recorder.
‘I’d say on paper, this is one of the strongest teams I’ve played with, we know we have the capability of doing some damage, we just need to prove it now, starting this weekend.’ Said the former Oxford and Peterborough sniper.
‘I expect maximum points going into any game. Getting a win in your home opener can be a real boost and will help us going into Streatham on Sunday.’
The smooth thigh of Wiggins
Bruise of the week returned with vengeance as Streatham’s Chris Wiggins unveiled a beauty on his thigh after friendly fire from team mate Jack Tarczycki. Please send any hockey related bruises to the email address below.
Interesting news came out of Cambridge during the week when it was revealed that a permanent ice rink could be on the cards after a £1.85 million loan was approved by the council.
The full report was featured on the Cambridge News website and immediately sparked a sweepstake on possible hockey team names.
Cambridge Punters, Cambridge Academics and a less savoury nickname beginning with C have been mooted so far.
The NIHL needs heroes and after trying to catch a slapshot from Ryan Giles last week with his teeth, in the same way Ace Ventura caught a bullet trying to save Dan Marino and Snowflake, veteran stripey Blaine Evans was back in action this weekend after 10 stitches and losing 4 teeth. Now that is commitment… or is he just a nutter.
Saturday action review
Maybe Blaine wanted to feel the air of the Solent on his gums, or just can’t stay away from the game, but he officiated the NIHL Cup clash between Wightlink Raiders and Chelmsford Chieftains on the Island.
Tales of Blaine
Chelmsford were without the suspended Phillips brothers but welcomed back star forward Juraj Huska to their line-up.
Wightlink held their nerve on their home ice and skated off with an impressive 5-3 win. Drabek/Racki scored a brace for the Raiders with Corey Watkins, Daniel Rose and Jaroslav Cesky getting one each.
Drabek’s second was actually a rare penalty goal which we don’t see very often at all. To find out more about this rare rule, have a read of this helpful Wikipedia link .
Huska scored on his return for Chelmsford to add to goals from Jake Sylvester and Grant Bartlett.
After the game Wightlink went out to celebrate as a team, the 482 Days media team went for a meal in Ryde’s swankiest restaurant, and Blaine regaled fellow officials Faye Andrews and Nathaniel Casey with an in-depth account of his South London escapades to make time fly on the ferry trip back to the mainland.
Wightlink hit the town, Cheema stands on a stool?
The game of the night took place in Lee Valley where London Raiders and a short benched Oxford City Stars played out a 12 goal thriller.
London were leading 6-5 with just seconds remaining before Oxford were awarded a penalty shot, that was converted by Ondrej Pekarik in style.
Stars were without star goalie Annetts and defenseman Joonas Limatainen for the game along with six other regulars so it was a credible result in the end.
JJ Pitchley and Marek Nahlik scored a brace each for London with Bailey Chittock and Kamil Kinkor also on target. For Oxford Pekarik scored two, with Alan Green, Boris Ruzicka and Jake Florey all getting lone goals.
Invicta continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 5-3 home league win over Solent Devils.
GB Olympic field hockey star Ashley Jackson fired in a hat trick for the Mo’s with Mason Webster and Callum Fowler also on target.
Olympian Jackson does local kid a favour at the newsagent ?
For Solent, who were missing starting goalie Chico Cole, their goals came from Mitch Murray, Matt Lawday and Richard Facey.
Streatham bounced back from a disappointing opening weekend to break their Bracknell jinx with a 2-1 win over the Hornets.
Streatham failed to win a game at the Hive last season but skated off with the points thanks to goals from Callum Best and David Savage. Bracknell’s consolation came from Tom Fisher.
The normally calm David Savage was ejected for abuse of official in the dying stages after referee Boardman gave him a disputed tripping penalty.
Sunday action review
The London derby between Streatham and London Raiders promised to be an intriguing Cup tie and so it proved. Euan King earned his second man of the match in as many days with a shutout against his old team, however Streatham had to ice without Chris Wiggins as his skate blade broke in warm up.
Sean Scarbrough and Joe Johnston got the goals for Streatham and Adam Wood dropped the gloves with Raiders blue liner John Connolly to add to the talking points.
Chelmsford Chieftains inflicted the first defeat of the season on a Callum Fowler-less Invicta Dynamos with a 2-0 win at the Riverside that was crucially for league points.
Four point weekend for Streatham (Kev Slyfield)
The talented Liam Chong made a surprise debut for the Chieftains, as they filled the roster spot available due to the banned Charlie and Billy Phillips with the former Invicta and London utility player.
Danny Hammond and Grant Bartlett scored the goals for Chelmsford with Ben Clements making a 40 shot shut out.
MK Thunder showed their potential in their BBO Cup clash in Oxford and skated off with a surprising 6-2 win.
Jakub Klima scored a brace for the Thunder with Jamie Line, Ross Green, Ross Bowers and Connor Goode getting one each.
For the depleted Oxford team it was Ben Nethersall and Josh Oliver with the goals.
The scheduled clash between Solent Devils and Bracknell Hornets was rescheduled until November so there was no action on the South Coast other than the usual jangling of cutlery and jostling of shoulders at the nearby carvery.
The end of the week leaves Chelmsford top of the league with 5 points and Bracknell at the bottom with 0. There is a long way to go and looking at the results so far it should be a great season of NIHL South hockey.
Results
Saturday 24 September 2016
Wightlink Raiders 5-3 Chelmsford Chieftains (NIHL Cup)
Bracknell Hornets 1-2 Streatham IHC
London Raiders 6-6 Oxford City Stars
Invicta Dynamos 5-3 Solent Devils
Sunday 25 September 2016
Streatham IHC 2-0 London Raiders (NIHL Cup)
Oxford City Stars 2-6 MK Thunder (BBO Cup)
Chelmsford Chieftains 2-0 Invicta Dynamos
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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