LONDON, UK – With only a few weeks left until Christmas, the NIHL Britton Conference still had some twists and turns to serve up before the Yorkshire puddings, sprouts and turkey get rolled out.
Thunder head to the clinic
The EIHA player of the month for November, sponsored by Oddballs, was awarded to Solent Devils netminder Chico Cole.
Cole took the gong ahead of Bracknell pair Ben Ealey-Newman and David Millner. Every winner receives a bobble hat courtesy of Oddballs but at the time of writing, Cole has yet to be pictured wearing it – either it hasn’t been delivered yet or he doesn’t want to hide his well-groomed hair.
It’s fair to say that the MK Thunder have had a tough start to the season under the tutorage of Antti Kohvakka, with 14 straight losses ahead of the weekend action.
The Thunder to their credit are trying to turn things around so the squad visited Mental Performance and Sports Psychology Coach Richard Caric during the week.
Caric has testimonials in the fields of equestrian and cheer-leading, but the Thunder appear to be his first hockey related assignment.
There was a time when watching Any Given Sunday and drinking a litre of Red Bull before the game was enough to get players pumped up and focused, but given most top sports teams head down the sports science route these days, the Thunder are in good company with the approach they’ve taken.
Foodbank donation by the Mo’s
Despite a tough start to the season, Invicta Dynamos at least brought some cheer to their local foodbank as over 360 items were collected at their game against Oxford City Stars. To make matters better for Medway foodbank, Dynamos sponsors OSP group also handed a cheque over for £1,000 on the ice.
Later in the week, the Mo’s received zero good karma for their deed, as their website was taken down by a bug – presumably not by Russian hackers. Mo’s media guru Paul Bennett was allegedly spotted by dog walkers near Rochester, sat in his car in a layby head-butting the steering wheel in a Cameron Fry style as a result.
Saturday review
The curse of the afore-mentioned EIHA monthly award struck again in dramatic style down on the South Coast.
September’s winner Sean Norris immediately picked up a serious head injury during his first game after winning the award. October’s winner Vanya Antonov was handed a match penalty on the weekend he won the award – bear in mind he has 0 penalty minutes with Streatham this season.
November’s winner Chico Cole thankfully avoided both injury and suspension in his game against Bracknell Hornets, but instead shipped in 5 goals from 15 shots and was pulled during the second period.
The Devils managed to salvage a point by coming back from 5-1 down in the third, but lost their 100% winning record eventually in overtime.
Veteran sniper Drew Campbell bagged a brace for the Devils to add to goals from Alex Murray, Richard Facey and Mitch Murray.
The Hornets had travelled without top scorer Ben Ealey Newman and veterans Adam Bicknell and Dom Hopkins among others which made the result even more impressive for Mark Saunders’ men.
Bailey Hind-Pitcher bagged a hat trick for the visitors adding to a brace from David Millner and an OT winner from Matt Foord.
Tom Annetts was the star of the show for the boys in black and gold, facing 45 shots compared with 36 on his opposite numbers.
Raiders Jnr posted their most impressive result of the season so far as they punished Oxford City Stars on the powerplay, racking up a 7-2 win.
Jan Marcilis and Vilius Krakauskas top scored for the Essex side with a brace each, to add to goals from Ross Cowan, Tommy Huggett and Ewan Hill.
The Stars had opened the scoring after just 39 seconds through Joe Edwards, but hit penalty trouble soon after with Edwards sent to the showers on a match penalty in the first period. Captain Jake Florey was then ejected in the third for abuse of official. Dax Hedges got Oxford’s other goal on a night to forget for the Stars.
Slough Jets and Chelmsford Chieftains played out a twelve goal thriller at the Hanger before the Jets took the win on penalty shots thanks to sharpshooter Ryan Handisides.
Chelmsford again travelled with a short bench and looked to have won the game before Jets skipper Dan Rose bagged his second goal of the game to equalise in the final two minutes of regulation. Matt Jordan, Luke Reynolds, Adam Rosbottom and Liam Underdown were the other scorers for the Jets.
For Chelmsford it was Darren Brown with a brace and lone goals for Gary Brown, Matt Turner, Courtney Grant and Elliot Dervish.
Streatham bounced back from their loss against Solent with a big 8-0 road win in Cardiff against the Fire.
Danny Ingoldsby, Ryan Watt and Vanya Antonov all scored two goals each, while there was a first league goal of the season for Conner Smith and a solo effort from Rhys McCormick.
In between the pipes, goalie Damien King posted a 19 shot shut out. His first since the RedHawks win in Slough back in September.
Elsewhere, the Invicta Dynamos enjoyed their weekend off with a team trip to London’s Maple Leaf for their Xmas social. PHN has yet to establish if the legendary Roadhouse was part of the itinerary.
The results leave Solent, Chelmsford and Streatham pulling away from the rest of the league at the top, unless there are some quick reversals of form in the next couple of weeks.
Sunday review
Haringey Huskies had their hopes of reaching the NIHL South Cup final ended by a ruthless Streatham side in South London.
Despite an opening period with just a two goal margin, the higher ranked RedHawks eased up through the gears in the final 40 minutes to post an 8-0 win.
A brace each for Michael Farn and Scott Bailey added to lone goals from Conner Smith, Danny Ingoldsby, Ziggy Beesley and Brandon Miles to take the points for the RedHawks.
Nate Gregory earned his first shutout of the season between the pipes.
Huskies forward Stuart Appleby and Streatham’s Miles dropped the gloves to add to the drama.
Streatham will now face Invicta in back to back games in February to see who will win the first silverware of the 2019/20 season.
Oxford City Stars edged a high scoring battle at Oxpens road as they bounced back to beat Cardiff Fire 9-6.
The Stars handed first senior debuts to teenage pair Ed Crotty and Dan O’Brien (pictured), and the goals came via a brace each for Jake Williams and Olly Shone plus lone goals for Matt Lawday, Mike Whillock, Joe Edwards, Dax Hedges and Josh Oliver.
Fire scorers were Lewis Stevens with two, and one each for Carter-Jaice Lloyd, Iwan Davies, Kris Kasjanovs and Cam Basnett.
Slough made it a four point weekend as they dispatched MK Thunder 8-1 at the Thunderdome.
Ryan Handisides and Timo Lindgren both scored twice for the visitors with Sam Talbot, Matt Jordan, Juha Lindgren and Dan Rose also on target. Thunder’s Connor Mellett denied Slough stopper Brett Sheppard a shut out with a heart-breaking late consolation for the hosts.
There was another worrying moment for Jets forward Sean Norris as he was treated after an incident in the first period, that at the time of writing we have no further detail on.
Next weekend is all set for a barn burner in Chelmsford as Streatham head to the Riverside, and Solent look to get back on track against Slough.
Results
Saturday 7 December 2019
Cardiff Fire 0 Streatham IHC 8
Slough Jets 6 Chelmsford Chieftains 6 (Slough win on penalty shots)
Solent Devils 5 Bracknell Hornets 5 (Bracknell win in OT)
Raiders Jnr 7 Oxford City Stars 2
Sunday 8 December
Oxford City Stars 9 Cardiff Fire 6
Streatham IHC 8 Haringey Huskies 0 (Cup)
MK Thunder 1 Slough Jets 8
Contact the author: davidcarr_2@hotmail.com
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