LONDON, UK – As temporary rinks were erected ahead of the festive period and the British public began loving the ice again, the Britton Conference showed you don’t need fairy lights and mulled wine to create an atmosphere around frozen water.
Beret’s are BACK in Berkshire
After travelling light to their previous road game in Romford, Chelmsford Chieftains made a big move during the week to boost their squad.
The Essex club proved their title ambitions by bringing former GB junior international Liam Chong into the side ahead of the Saturday game against Streatham.
“I am thrilled to have Liam on board” said coach Joe Wilson on the signing.
“He is a great two-way player who can be dangerous upfront but also is aware of his defensive responsibilities. Liam is someone we tried to secure during the off season but due to his job was unable to commit.
“However with a few players missing in the lead up to Christmas, Liam agreed to help us out on a short term contract to fill a place this weekend.”
Wilson was not the only coach in the league making changes, as Invicta Dynamos supremo Anthony Leone decided to release import Filip Sedivy following a difficult start to the season in Kent.
Former Raiders IHC sniper Sedivy arrived with high hopes as one half of a potentially potent combo with Juraj Huska for the Mo’s, but unfortunately it just hasn’t worked out.
“I would like to thank Filip for his professionalism and effort whilst at the club, both of which were beyond question” said Leone.
“Unfortunately I feel we need a greater goals return to be more competitive in our division and therefore have made the decision to look for a replacement. I wish Filip all the best for the future”
In other news, the Petr Cech show continued down in Guildford as the BBC’s Football Focus sent the cameras down to the Spectrum for a feature on the former Arsenal and Chelsea stopper.
It’s safe to say that the NIHL at any level will never get this level of exposure unless a player stabs another with a skate like Happy Gilmore, or something else completely ridiculous happens. Of course some of us are old enough to remember when hockey used to feature on BBC Grandstand back in the day – and yes the TVs were in colour.
Team Hogey
Up in the big show, former NIHL and now Elite League official Stefan Hogarth was the subject of one of the most random Change UK petitions yet.
At the time of writing, 33 people had signed a petition set up by a Cardiff Devils fan demanding poor Hogey be banned from reffing Elite League games.
For the record we here at PHN towers believe Hogarth is a good ref and suspect that the petition will join the 19,948 other rejections in the bin.
For anyone interested, some of those petitions in the trash include: “Make it a criminal offence to knowingly kill a cat on the road”, “Make Deliveroo come to Ascot and Sunningdale” and our personal favourite “Bring McDonald’s plastic straws back”.
Some petitions that could be useful to UK ice sports could be; “Bring the vending machines back that served nuclear hot chips to UK ice rinks”, “All death wellies/hire skates in British ice rinks must be sharpened at least once every six months” and “Ban all tinted visors from hockey unless your surname begins with O”.
Finally, Leeds Chiefs announced that they’d had their kit stolen including a full set of blue helmets. Naturally the message was shared far and wide so the culprits have the same odds of flogging it unnoticed as the thieves who lifted the solid gold toilet from Blenheim Palace do.
Saturday review
In the most highly anticipated game of the season so far, Streatham hosted Chelmsford in South London and bagged their first win in ten attempts against the Chieftains.
The 3-2 RedHawks win came courtesy of goals from Vanya Antonov, Danny Ingoldsby and Brandon Miles, while Ross Brears and Darren Brown replied for the Chieftains.
Streatham edge Chelmo (Fusional)
The visitors were missing both Bartlett brothers for the game and relied on netminder Sonny Phillips turning away 50 shots over the sixty minutes to keep everyone on the edge of their seat.
The game ended with both benches coming together at the end after Liam Chong marked his return to the NIHL with a late slapshot after the buzzer that predictably sparked a negative reaction from the hosts. The next game between these two teams will no doubt be feistier than a broken down lift full of hungry chihuahuas.
Solent Devils continued their unbeaten start to the season with an impressive road win at Slough Jets. Alex Murray’s team had to come from behind to tie things up at 3-3 in regulation time before Richard Facey got his second goal of the night and the match winner.
A Sam Talbot brace and lone goal for captain Dan Rose had put the Jets in pole position, however goals from Alex Trendall and Ralfs Circenis, added to Facey’s first to even things up for the Devils.
The South Coast club come head to head with the only other unbeaten team in the league, namely Streatham next weekend. Only one team can keep their record so it will likely be a nervy encounter for both teams.
Basement team MK Thunder took another heavy defeat as they went down 11-2 to Bracknell Hornets at the Hive.
Tough weekend for Thunder (Lucy McGill)
Ben Ealey-Newman racked up the points with a hat trick added to a brace each from Dom Hopkins and Harvey Hind-Pitcher, plus lone efforts for Chris Cooke, Tamas Elias, Bailey Hind-Pitcher and Ryan Apsley.
Alex Whyte and Luke Curtis were on target for the Thunder.
Fists flew over the sixty as Connor Hutchison and Niall Simpson went toe to toe, as did Ealey-Newman and Anthony Pountney.
The Hornets continued their collection for the Bracknell foodbank at the game and donations will be accepted at their game next weekend. However the club have yet to confirm their official stance on Deliveroo issue in Ascot despite it being the birthplace of their blueliner Harvey Hind-Pitcher.
Sunday review
Home fans at the Thunderdome had a brief moment of joy as the MK Thunder took the lead in their crunch clash with Cardiff Fire at the foot of the table.
Ryan Gadeke put the hosts ahead after just three minutes. Unfortunately for Antti Kohvakka’s team, they couldn’t hold on and the Fire scored six unanswered goals to condemn the win-less hosts to an eventual 7-2 defeat.
Scorers for the Welsh side were Reed Sayers and Jason Warren with two each, adding to goals from Lewis Stevens, Carter Jaice-Lloyd and Josh Haslam. The Thunder’s second goal was again scored by Gadeke.
The night got worse for the Thunder as netminder Graham Laverick was ejected after the second buzzer, after reacting to a shot after the whistle from Jason Warren.
Edwards and the Stars run out of gas in Essex
Oxford City Stars led Chelmsford 1-0 with 39 minutes on the clock before a James Ayling equaliser sparked the Chieftains onto an eventual 4-1 win.
Dax Hedges had scored for the Stars early on and Ross Miller in net appeared to be invincible before Ayling broke the cling film and Darren Brown bagged a further two goals to add to a lone effort from Elliot Dervish.
The result leaves Chelmsford top of the league and setting the pace, with Streatham and Solent not far behind with games in hand. At the bottom the Thunder continue to search for their first win, with a home game against Bracknell Hornets next weekend scheduled.
Results
Saturday 23 November
Slough Jets 3-3 Solent Devils (Devils win in OT)
Streatham IHC 3-2 Chelmsford Chieftains
Bracknell Hornets 11-2 MK Thunder
Sunday 24 November
Chelmsford Chieftains 4-1 Oxford City Stars
MK Thunder 2-7 Cardiff Fire
Contact the author: davidcarr_2@hotmail.com
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