RYDE, UK – Reigning league champions Wightlink Raiders have had a mixed start to the 2011/12 campaign but coach Jeremy Cornish believes the best is yet to come from his team.
Fresh from a weekend that featured arguably Wightlink’s best result of the season combined with a disappointing loss on the road, Raiders player coach Jeremy Cornish can rightly have mixed feelings as the dust settles on the first quarter of the season.
Rand a hit (Nicky Craft)
A hard fought 3-2 home win over an improving Invicta Dynamos side was the kind of result the Raiders faithful had been hoping for on bonfire night to light up their side’s season, but elation was short lived as a difficult road fixture in Romford ended in a disappointing 6-3 reverse for the island team.
“At times I’m happy with the team and on other occasions I know we need to upgrade in certain areas” admitted Cornish, who described the loss in Rom Valley Way as the lowlight of the season so far.
“The win over Invicta was a real confidence boost and it was a really good two points for us, and it looks like we are developing quite a rivalry with Romford and I think things are going to heat up even more the next time we play them”
Indeed Romford appear to have added a more physical edge to their game this season with the addition of players like Andrius Kaminskas, Shaun Wallis and Grant Taylor to their squad, whilst Wightlink lost the gritty Richard Bentham and Brad Watchorn from a side unafraid to mix it when needed last campaign.
Cornish on target (Nicky Craft)
The Raiders lost a whole host of players in the summer after a league title win that alerted clubs to the quality of their roster. Aside from the afore mentioned Bentham and Watchorn, Wightlink also saw prolific scorer Robbie Brown depart for rivals Invicta and he was joined on the ferry to the mainland by starting goalie Matt Colclough who joined Basingstoke.
Other departures included defenseman Dan Scott, import Jason Gorrie and long serving forward Andrew Robinson leaving Cornish the unenviable job of recruiting half a team including some key guys.
“I like building the team; it’s my favourite part of the job” admitted Cornish when asked if it was frustrating starting from scratch after such a successful season.
“We have built the club back up to where it deserves to be and I hope that the quality of players we can attract to the island grows every year. We have a solid organisation and young players looking to move up the hockey ladder should be considering playing on the island”
Seven new faces in the form of Grant Rounding, Arran Strawson, Dan Pye, Joe Rand, Liam McAllister, Colin Mcgill and Connor Pollard arrived at the start of the season although goalie McGill has already been released in a campaign where the new guys have had to adapt quickly to the league and more importantly the Raiders reduced size ice pad.
Arguably the most impressive player so far in a Raiders shirt has been Canadian forward Joe Rand, who replaced Jason Gorrie as Wightlink’s ‘other’ import alongside fellow Canadian Cornish. The form of Rand was much needed, especially as the other player expected to provide a cutting edge up front, Grant Rounding, failed to recover from a long term injury and has yet to feature this season.
Twenty four goals in his first thirteen games for Wightlink shows just how important 25 year old Rand has been, accounting for over a quarter of the team’s goals already at this stage of the season. The left winger spent last season in Germany where he hit 20 goals and 15 assists in 43 games for Deggendorfer SC before switching from the natural beauty of Bavaria to the Victorian coastal splendour of the Isle of Wight.
“I feel we have the best import in the league this season” smiled Cornish, who has hit nine goals already this season himself.
“Joe plays at both ends of the rink and is really good in the locker room. I have found that imports at this level are very one dimensional, but that’s not the case with Joe. Joe is used in all of our important situations defensively and offensively”
“He has also been fantastic with young players such as Connor Pollard and has settled in very well on the island”
Aside from addressing the scoring issue with his summer signings, just as pivotal were the goalies brought in to replace star stopper Matt Colclough. The aforementioned release of McGill was a sign that Cornish places great importance on the attributes of his goalies and with a smaller than normal ice surface, any goalie that turns out for the Raiders needs to adapt quickly.
Raiders supporters celebrate
Thankfully, former Whitley and Newcastle stopper McAllister appears to have grown into the starting role and has put in some decent performances since his move south.
“We took a chance on Liam this year, and it seems to be working out so far” admitted Cornish, who is using youngster Dan Weller-Evans as a back-up.
“He’s had some tough starts, but as the season goes on he is starting to find his feet and take responsibility as our starting goalie”
As well as celebrating a league title earlier this year, Cornish had more to celebrate in the summer as he completed his degree and looked towards his long term prospects and the realities of life post hockey. At 31 years old, the Raiders player coach has wisely looked towards his future and has hockey to thank for putting him on the right path.
“I finished my degree last June and have settled into a teaching job in Southampton” explained Cornish.
“I’m very grateful that Basingstoke honoured the University package and now have a degree because of it. I played for a long time and I always wondered what i was going to do when I stopped playing at a high standard and now that I have the degree, I have something to fall back on”
Despite his new outlook away from ice hockey, Cornish is still focused on the job in hand and has not ruled out changes to his squad before the transfer deadline in January.
“I’m always looking to improve the squad” admitted the big Canadian.
“We’re not in first place so as far as I’m concerned were not good enough, we are always looking to make the squad stronger and we want the best team possible”
Wightlink Raiders host Oxford City Stars this coming Saturday night before travelling to Chelmsford on Sunday for a tough test at the Riverside in Essex. For ticket information please visit the Raiders website at: www.wightlinkraiders.com
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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