Packed rinks, teddy tossing and more stitches

LONDON, UK – After a festive break, Pro Hockey News returns to review the action in the NIHL Britton conference.

Overtime winner gets the crowd on their feet in South London

It was a tale of two halves in the conference with half the teams (the original NIHL clubs) enjoying a three week break from fixtures, whilst the other half (the former EPL clubs) slogged themselves back and forth across Southern England to keep the revenue streams going and give their fans the festive entertainment they are accustomed to.

Prior to the weekend the glut of fixtures had left two frontrunners at the top of the table with Basingstoke Bison rising to top spot for the first time with the Peterborough Phantoms right beside them in second place.

Swindon Wildcats in third place (with games in hand) and fourth place Bracknell Bees also played their part in a busy festive schedule, with the Bees even throwing in a Charity Challenge Match against the Bracknell Hornets for good measure.

While it’s great that these clubs are providing entertainment for the supporters, without whom there would be no game, we at Pro Hockey News would like to salute all the players, officials and volunteers for giving up the holiday season to keep NIHL puck whacking alive. For the rest of you, we hope you enjoyed lazing around and enjoyed the contents of Santa’s sack.

Any Bracknell Bees players who felt short changed by the Christmas schedule did get a late gift. There is something joyous about an unexpected cancellation of something unappealing, whether it’s a sick dentist, a bird flu outbreak shutting down an examination hall or simply the cancellation of a flight home from the Mediterranean when you know you have a watertight and generous insurance policy to allow a 5 star extra night in the sun.

Smiling zebras Belfitt, Lack and Olczak

The problem in all circumstances is that eventually you have to answer the bell, and for the Bees, that bell summons them to Telford this coming Thursday night for the rescheduled Cup game recently cancelled due to snow.

There was good news in East London/Essex as the London Raiders announced that they would be returning to Romford earlier than planned and would skate out in their shiny new rink on February 3^rd against Cardiff Fire. The excitement online was palpable and the pictures of the new facility look fantastic. The next questions are of course will/can the team change the name back to Romford Raiders next season and will the fans take steps to make the rink look mean and bring back that Rom Valley Way spirit?

As a result of the lack of fixtures spread across the league, the NIHL Britton Conference Player of the Month had to go to a player from one of the top 4 teams, and it was Bison Captain Aaron Connolly who deservedly picked up the gong joining previous winners Ryan Watt, Jordan Lawday and Frantisek Bakrlik.

Connolly is one of the highest rated Brits in the league and has played a big part in the Bison’s recent climb to the top of the league. Well done from all at Pro Hockey News.

Hands up if you cant wait to travel to Telford on a Thursday night

In a bid to make up for taking time off ourselves over Christmas and New Year, we published an interview with Bracknell Bees forward Shaun Thompson. We have slowed a little on the NIHL player features in recent months but will be looking to do more before the end of the season. You can read the interview with Shaun by clicking HERE

Elsewhere there was an interesting incident in the World Junior u18 Championships in Buffalo as Swedish Captain Lias Andersson threw his silver medal into the crowd following the awards ceremony.

The online outcry that followed was not because he hit a disabled fan in the eye with the flying disc, nor did it hit a cup of scolding coffee down the front of a pensioner, but simply that he had ‘shown disrespect’ to the game. At this point we feel the words of Ricky Bobby are certainly appropriate… ‘If you’re not first, you’re last”. Unless you have been part of a giant killing act to get to a final, most players are more likely to bin a silver medal, so to give it to an appreciative supporter is no bad thing in our opinion.

Well done Lias and good luck with the future NHL career, or NIHL career if things don’t quite work out.

There was one fixture during the week that took place before the weekend as the Peterborough Phantoms hammered the Sheffield Steeldogs in the Cup 10-0 on Thursday evening. The result means that the runners up spot in the Cup group is still up for grabs, with the Steeldogs scheduled to play the already qualified Pirates this Friday night in Sheffield.

The only slight (ahem) issue is that the Pirates already played their Quarter Final against the Blackburn Hawks this weekend so the game is as meaningless to them as the shutdown of a nightclub in Addis Ababa would be. Phantoms fans will be hoping the Pirates have a burning hatred of the Steeldogs and go all guns blazing on Friday night to stop them qualifying regardless.

Saturday action review

Swindon Wildcats edged out Bracknell Bees in the game of the day at the Link Centre with new signing Edgars Bebris going top ched three minutes into overtime to seal an important win. The game had been a real beauty for the big home crowd with the visitors putting up a big fight and actually leading until the final two minutes before Jordan Kelsall popped up for the Cats with his second of the night to tie the game at 4-4.

No snitchin but still stitches for Colclough

Swindon’s other scorers were Aaron Nell and Luc Johnson. For Bracknell it was James Galazzi, Callum Best, Danny Ingoldsby and Frantisek Bakrlik with a goal each.

The two points were vital for the Wildcats who need to keep close to the Bison and Phantoms and have games in hand over both that they need to win.

In South London it was a case of who had eaten the least mince pies as Streatham and Milton Keynes locked horns following a three week break. In an entertaining game played out in front of an almost full house at Streatham Arena, the RedHawks sent the majority home happy with a 4-3 overtime win.

MK had the lead three times in regulation time with Rio Grinell-Parke scoring two and Jamie Line on target but goals from Jacob Ranson, Aidan Doughty and Joe Allen kept the Londoners in the game and Doughty finished it off in overtime with his second.

Streatham’s Brandon Miles and MK’s Grant McPherson were both ejected from the game after only five minutes after an altercation by the Thunder bench. The other talking point was a bloodied Streatham goalie Matt Colclough who took a clapper to the mask and ended up having to leave the game for stitches by needle lover Tanya Romans. Who needs to spend 4 hours in a London A&E with the Streatham Sports Therapist eager to get stuck in with her sharp objects?

482 Days had allegedly got wind of the big crowd in SW16 and turned up 3 hours early to secure their preferred centre ice seats. To pass the time they chomped through two Morley’s Medleys (with additional sides of beans), a 2 litre bottle of original recipe Irn Bru and two selection boxes whilst watching the public session to the bemusement of rink staff, who also had to dole out a warning for obscene gestures towards kids learning to skate, and a passing guide dog.

100 goals for Pitchley with the Raiders

Cardiff Fire had a tough start to 2018 as they lost 7-1 to the London Raiders in Wales. The Raiders were keen to avoid any slip ups and recovered from an early Elis Sheppard goal to win comfortably.

Juraj Huska, Olegs Lascenko and Tom Davis all got goal each but the headlines went to JJ Pitchley whose goal made it 100 points in Gold and Blue for the local boy.

JJ now needs 65 points to pass his Dad Ben’s total in Raiders colours and with JJ just 23, the now junior coaching supremo/video analyst won’t fancy his odds of staying ahead of his son in the standings for much longer.

Sunday action review

MK Thunder were shut out in their own barn as Swindon posted a four point weekend with a 5-0 win at the Thunderdome. Aaron Nell, Edgars Bebris, Floyd Taylor, Jan Kostal and Joe Hazeldine were on target for the Cats, whose goalie Remy Marr enjoyed a 26 shot shut out. To add to the talking points Grant McPherson and Sam Bullas dropped the gloves in the second period.

Swindon shutout the Thunder (Lucy McGill)

Basingstoke Bison negotiated a tricky trip to the Hive edging out the Bracknell Bees 3-2 thanks to a brace from Roman Malinik and a lone effort from Grant Rounding. Bees’ goals came from Callum Best and Carl Thompson on a night neither goalie faced more than 30 shots.

Streatham made it a four point weekend with a surprisingly comfortable 5-2 win in Gillingham against Invicta Dynamos. The Mo’s took the lead in the first period through Steve Osman, however a brace from Ryan Webb and lone goals for Jacob Ranson, Adam Carr and James Warman sealed the points for the RedHawks. Scott Bailey got a late consolation for the Mo’s who have won just one of their last eight games.

The London Raiders lost 5-2 on ‘home’ ice to the Peterborough Phantoms but the real winner was the National Autistic Society at the Lee Valley Ice Centre. The long awaited teddy toss took place and lots of money was raised for charity, including a donation of match fees from the officials. Take a bow Blaine ‘Gums’ Evans, Donald Campbell and Pawel Olczak!

During the game the Phantoms goals came from Nathan Salem with two, and one each for Ales Padelek, Will Wheldon and Glenn Billing. For London it was Ziggy Beesley and Jake Sylvester with the goals. Congratulations must also go to Matt Turner and Tom Davis who each reached the 250 game landmark. Well done both.

Results

Thursday 4 January 2018

Peterborough Phantoms 10 Sheffield Steeldogs 0

Saturday 6 January 2018

Streatham IHC 3 MK Thunder 3 (Streatham win in OT)
Cardiff Fire 1 London Raiders 7
Swindon Wildcats 4 Bracknell Bees 4 (Swindon win in OT)

Sunday 7 January 2018

Invicta Dynamos 2 Streatham IHC 5
London Raiders 2 Peterborough Phantoms 5
Bracknell Bees 2 Basingstoke Bison 3
MK Thunder 0 Swindon Wildcats 5