LONDON, UK – The third week of NIHL South hockey kept everyone entertained with presentations, penalties and punch-ups as the Bison nailed a four point weekend and Streatham stunned the Bees.
John Nike honoured by the Bees (Kev Slyfield)
Pro Hockey News HQ breathed a sigh of relief after receiving zero angry responses to our new ‘Stars of the week’ feature published in last week’s column. The conclusions were that one of three things had happened.
1) That the choices of Michael Gray, Aaron Nell and the NHS were watertight and that the selections had been nailed.
2) Readers were stunned into silence by the official EIHA mugshots of Gray and Nell published in the graphic.
3) No one read as far as the bottom of the piece and/or nobody gives a …. you know what.
Hopefully the correct answer is number 1!
Bracknell Bees opened their new Hall of Fame and immediately inducted former owner and local hero, the late John Nike OBE as their first member. Nike was an impressive figure who built Bracknell Ice Rink and also at one point owned the old rink in Bristol. You can read more about him on his wiki entry.
The Bees presented John’s wife Sue with the honour on Saturday prior to the Bees game against Invicta Dynamos.
It was a busy week at the Bees as they finally revealed their new import in the form of former Finnish junior international defenceman Niko Suoraniemi. The blueliner had previously iced in the Elite League with Fife so comes highly rated.
Race for the oven in Swindon
Swindon Wildcats players and fans celebrated the club’s latest sponsorship deal as the Cats teamed up with Dominos pizza. Player Coach Aaron Nell, Sam Jones and Tyler Plews all headed to the Swindon branch of the pizza chain to shoot a video during the week.
All three took part in a race to make a pizza with Plews the winner, despite his final effort resembling something a delivery driver had bounced around on his scooter at high speeds over speed humps for half an hour.
Swindon already have enough tools in their recruitment offering to prospective new players, but free Dominos may see them unstoppable in the transfer market for months to come!
Peterborough Phantoms Coach Slava Koulikov gave a video interview with Phan TV where he discussed the previous weekend’s action and the performances of the emerging junior talent at the club. You can watch it here.
The Phantoms also sent out young 19 year old signing Harry Ferguson to visit sponsors Crowland Carpets in the team car. Details on the visit were limited which was a disappointment for any true carpet enthusiasts expecting an in depth review on the latest Axminster.
Carpet time in Peterborough
Highlights of a number of games went up online including the last gasp win for Bracknell over Streatham and the 4-2 win for Swindon at home to Sheffield.
London Raiders forward Blaho Novak celebrated his hat trick against Invicta Dynamos with an interview for the Romford Recorder.
“Slowly, it takes time but you can see that we’re coming together, the lines are gelling as we get to know each other” said the 25 year old Slovakian.
“Filip Sedivy and I have good chemistry on and off the ice so I’m sure we’ll be a good side.”
In South London, Streatham forward Jacob Ranson told the South London Press that it the late loss to Bracknell had been frustrating.
“It was very frustrating not to take it to overtime as we were only a minute away from doing so” said the flame haired winger.
“At the same time we’ve got a lot of new faces and haven’t been together very long, so we just have to keep knuckling down to get it right out on the ice.”
The EIHA AGM took place before the weekend action with regular tweeter Richard Carpenter promising the usual updates. Unfortunately Carpo failed to tweet anything during or following the meeting which suggests that either he lost his phone, was laid low by the catering or something top secret was discussed. We wait to find out…
Saturday review
Basingstoke Bison got their league campaign off to the perfect start as they put a halt to the Raiders recent good run of form with a morale boosting 5-2 win.
A brace for Alex Sampford and lone goals from Tait, Dr Russ Cowley and Liam Morris sealed the points for the hosts with Jake Sylvester and former Bison Captain Aaron Connolly on target for the Raiders.
Adam Jones and Callum Wells dropped the gloves to add to the storyline with George Norcliffe also sent for an early shower in the second period for high sticks. Controversy came as the Raiders claimed the third Bison goal went through a hole in the net, which was later laced up by the officials.
Bees fans meet the players (Kev Slyfield)
In Bracknell, the Bees made it four wins in a row with a 5-1 home win over Invicta Dynamos.
Roman Malinik and Josh Smith both scored twice for the Bees to add to a solo effort from Shaun Thompson. For the Mo’s it was a night to forget as Ondrej Zosiak picked up an injury, with only a consolation goal from Martin Susters to smile at.
In the Autumn Cup Swindon powered to a 5-0 lead in just 17 minutes at home to Telford before surviving a comeback attempt to win 6-4.
The Dominos powered Wildcats sealed the two points thanks to a brace from Adam Harding and one goal each from Floyd Taylor, Loris Taylor, Max Birbraer and Sam Jones. Tigers were Jason Silverthorn with two, and lone goals from Andy McKinney and Joe Aston.
Peterborough fell to a short-handed Duncan Speirs effort as they were edged out 2-1 in a low scoring game at home to Sheffield Steeldogs. Nathan Salem had given the Dogs an early lead against his old club before Petr Stepanek equalised for the Phantoms.
Steeldogs goalie Dmitri Zimozdra had a night to remember between the pipes as he ended up with a 97.2% save percentage as the Phantoms outshot the Dogs 36-19 and still lost!
The most frustrated person in Peterborough was in fact the GIF producer as the club could only unveil a couple of their new action GIFs during the game including a funky little dance routine from goalie Jordan Marr.
Sunday review
Got any KLF Steve?
NIHL media outlet 482 Days began the evening by slating the Basingstoke Bison away jerseys on Twitter as they took in Ashley Tait’s sides visit to Invicta Dynamos.
Head of Media Nancy Carpenter was reportedly spotted visibly gagging as the Bison emerged on to the ice to tunes from the Mo’s stand in DJ Steve Wolfe from Kent Sports News.
Despite their appearance, the Bison came from behind to win the game 5-3 thanks to goals from Alex Sampford, Ashley Tait, George Norcliffe, Michal Klejna and Richard Bardowski.
Grant Bartlett, Martin Susters and Callum Best got the goals for the Mo’s who started new signing Conor Morris in between the pipes.
Shut out for Clemmer
Streatham stunned the unbeaten Bees with a 4-2 win in South London. New defenceman Niko Suoraniemi made his debut but couldn’t stop Jeremy Cornish’s RedHawks pulling off the result of the weekend.
Captain Adam Carr scored for the third consecutive game, with Alex Roberts, Andreas Siagris and Ryan Webb all on target. The Bees replied through a Roman Malinik double but found RedHawks goalie Damien King in fine form as he turned away 39 shots.
The Raiders shut out the MK Thunder with a convincing 8-0 win as Jake Sylvester fired home a hat trick to add to goals from Filip Sedivy, Liam Chong, Aaron Connolly, Juraj Huska and Blaho Novak.
Ben Clements got the shut out in the Raiders goal turning away 32 shots.
In the Autumn Cup, Peterborough gained revenge over the Steeldogs thanks to an overtime winner from Glenn Billing. The Phantoms had led 2-0 thanks to goals from Ales Padelek and Glenn Billing, but Milan Kolena and Nathan Salem had pulled the Dogs level, before a fight three minutes from time saw Ashley Calvert tangle with Scott Robson and handed a match penalty.
Strong GIF game in Peterborough
The GIF producer managed to unleash more amusing efforts via the @GoPhantoms twitter handle and surely more clubs will follow a concept Bristol City FC made famous last year.
The other Autumn Cup clash saw an Andy McKinney hat trick condemn Swindon to their second loss of the season as Telford beat the Cats 5-3 in Shropshire. Dan Rose and Scott McKenzie were also on target for the Tigers with an Aaron Nell brace and a lone effort from Edgar Bebris the reply from the visitors.
The results mean that the Wildcats remain top of the group, with the Pirates and Steeldogs close behind.
Bracknell still lead in the league with the Mo’s bottom and yet to win. Table courtesy of 482 Days.
Results
Saturday 29 September 2018
Basingstoke Bison 5 Raiders 2
Bracknell Bees 5 Invicta Dynamos 1
Swindon Wildcats 6 Telford Tigers 4 – Autumn Cup
Peterborough Phantoms 1 Sheffield Steeldogs 2 – Autumn Cup
Sunday 30 September 2018
Invicta Dynamos 3 Basingstoke Bison 5
Streatham IHC 4 Bracknell Bees 2
London Raiders 8 MK Thunder 0
Telford Tigers 5 Swindon Wildcats 3 – Autumn Cup
Sheffield Steeldogs 2 Peterborough Phantoms 3 (after overtime) – Autumn Cup
Contact the author: carrsy2@gmail.com
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