CHELMSFORD, UK – Hollywood is criticised for many sporting clichés within its movies but there is one piece of cinematic writing that strikes a chord with hockey players.
Dog in Chieftains colours (Emily Snoding)
Al Pacino’s ‘inches speech’ is almost as famous as the ‘Any Given Sunday’ movie it derives from, but not all hockey players can deliver the bare bravery and commitment it espouses in the mind.
Dwayne Newman was a player who would fight for that inch, sacrifice himself for that inch and throw his visor-less face in front of a slapshot from the point for that inch.
He has the facial scars to prove it, but now he finds himself wearing a suit, having to comb his hair on game day and stand on the bench as a coach with a notepad and board instead of a stick and skates.
It is a transition not all players can make or enjoy but the 43 year old is smiling and justly so after his team bounced back from a 4-0 loss on the Isle of Wight to beat Streatham 6-2 in front of a delighted Riverside crowd on Sunday.
“I am still twitching. It’s one of those things you know” says the Winnipeg native, pausing briefly when asked how it feels to no longer lace them up.
“Listen it’s not an easy transition and parts of it well… hockey is hockey and you know that there have only been four years of my life where I haven’t been a hockey player and I am grateful to be still involved”
“It’s tough to watch and you just have to let the guys play, that’s what they do and you are there to give them ideas and direction”
Newman had a tough act to follow after his predecessor Gary Clarke departed last summer having won the quadruple last season and delivering every available trophy back to the Riverside.
The two could not have been more different as players with Clarke the smooth skating sniper and Newman the stay at home, yet skillful blue liner. What the pair of them did have in common was a winning ethos and careers that spanned across the leagues in the UK, and they were team mates in Milton Keynes for a number of years.
The guy that will give that inch
“When I first came to Chelmsford I sat in the locker room a couple of times listening to Clarkey in the locker room espousing the virtues of a third man high, and I did have to bite my tongue a little bit” Newman laughed, poking fun at his former team mates lack of defensive play as a player.
“A lot of the stuff tactically is the same as before although I tweaked the forecheck a little”
“I approach the game a little differently to Clarkey but the systems are by and large the same. If it aint broke you don’t fix it”
Like Clarke, Newman had previously played at higher levels but he does not believe the lower tiers of British hockey and the semi-professional nature of it represents an issue to his coaching and standards.
“I think whenever the puck drops a guy’s honesty and integrity just comes through, it doesn’t matter what league you are playing in” he explains.
“Like when guys are playing pool, one game down the street is for £100 and the next game could be for £5. The two guys involved are gonna play just as hard”
“It’s the same in the NIHL as it is in the EPL, the BNL or the Superleague. Guys go just as hard on the ice… it’s a hockey game, and we love to play”
“We have guys in this league that don’t have time and commitment to play an EPL schedule and there are better players that are so called ‘dropping down’ and its raising the standard”
“There is good parity in this league now, everyone is capable of winning and there is good entertainment down at the rinks”
“I just wish everyone wouldn’t keep it such a secret. We need to let everyone know how good the hockey is and the entertainment is and get more people in to watch the games and this league will grow even more”
Regardless of the overall improvement, the Chieftains have once again been a dominant force in the league despite Invicta Dynamos and Streatham Redskins spending a few weeks on top of the table in the earlier stages of the season.
The Essex boys have been solid if at times unspectacular and have kept their focus whilst the others have dropped points they perhaps shouldn’t have against other teams.
Winning habits
“Streatham beat us twice recently and it could have been another banana skin for us last weekend” added Newman.
“They came out hard again and I just told the guys to focus on the 60 minutes and not worry about the bigger picture”
“We were really strong against Streatham in areas we had been particularly weak in against Wightlink the night before so I was pleased with how the guys reacted”
“The league race is not done yet and we can’t lose focus”
Focus is something Pacino never mentioned in his speech, and Newman probably won’t try to replicate anything like that in the Chieftains locker room, but he knows what it takes to win and the other NIHL sides are going to have to step it up if they want to dent the Essex side’s march for yet more silverware.
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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