ROMFORD,U.K-After a disastrous start to the season with coaching changes before the season began, the Romford Raiders this past weekend qualified for the playoffs in the English Premier League. Raiders began the season in turmoil with the loss of Coach Rob Stewart right before the season started forcing the club to find a replacement and fast. The club moved to sign former Slough Jets player coach Warren Rost to take over the helm, the Raiders struggled at the start of the season to get any sort of win under their belts until they came up against Rost’s former side the Slough Jets. Raiders won a closely fought battle in a shoot out win, however it would not be until October 5, that they picked up their first regulation time win. It would be another month until the Raiders got their next win in 60 minutes and in between only picked up one win and that was an overtime win in Shropshire against the Telford Tigers. By the time Christmas came around the Raiders were bottom of the EPL by a distance and looking into the abyss with the crowds disappearing in their droves and “Fortress RVW” as the Romford ice arena on Romford Valley Way is affectionately known, was fast becoming a dilapidated old relic with only the ghosts of former glories still hanging around and even they were pondering their future.
Enter Jesse Hammill, the Canadian was brought in as a replacement for Rost who left by mutual consent shortly after the Christmas break. Hammill’s only previous coaching experience was with the Peterborough Islanders in the ENL and that was fairly successful with them coming runners up in the national finals and winning the south division in the 2007-08 season. As well as that the fiery and exciting Hammill was also not overly endeared to the Raiders crowd because of some of his antics in his playing days were still in the minds of the Raiders faithful. Many of the fans raised eyebrows, but in true Romford style they gave the guy a chance and just look where it has led them. Hammill’s first game in charge was against the Bracknell Bees on January 10 2009 and the club got a 6-3 away win. This boosted confidence immediately and the crowd got behind their team. Little did they know what was to follow, the following night they got a home win over playoff rivals Swindon Wildcats followed up by wins over title contenders Guildford Flames and also Sheffield Scimitars. The weekend after saw a loss to the Milton Keynes Lightning and many thought that the honeymoon period was over. The following night they had the Jets number again and battled for another shootout win. An away loss and a home win the following week against the likely title winners Peterborough Phantoms saw two sides to the Raiders, but also the best of the Phantoms. The Essex side then won their next four games, including a double point’s game against the Tigers and only an overtime loss to MK Lightning prevented them from going on an eight game winning streak. So far Hammill’s record reads: P18 W14 L4 (including shootouts and overtime results) which is amazing seeing as the only players he has brought in since being there has been import Michal Palik and local hero Mark Williams who returned from an unremarkable spell in Guildford. He also brought in Glenn Jackson to back up Carl Ambler who has played out of skin since being given the starting goalie role as opposed to rotating. Hammill said in UK ice hockey magazine Power play “All I’ve done is give them some direction, a simple system and a lot of confidence.” This is probably true as the turnaround in form of players like Darren Cotton and Ambler has been nothing short of remarkable. He has also used young players from Romford’s second side, Spitfires, such as Matt Turner and Billy Phillips to great effect with Turner even getting man of the match a few weeks back with an outstanding performance which everyone in the rink agreed deserved man of the match. Raiders now have six matches to go and will be looking to solidify their position in the playoffs and give themselves the best possible chance to get to Coventry for the play off finals in mid April. Raiders now have six matches to go and will be looking to solidify their position in the playoffs and give themselves the best possible chance to get to Coventry for the play off finals in mid April. Contact the author at Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com
Raiders Head coach Jesse Hammill (Photo by Paul Young)
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