LONDON, UK – The NIHL South finally completed its regular season schedule after a shortened campaign brought about by the premature demise of the Wightlink Raiders.
Rasmussen and Johnston salute the fans (Rick Webb)
The early finish to proceedings has been greeted warmly by many neglected spouses eager to inflict Ikea, evenings watching ‘The Voice’ and other such tedious weekend past-times on their hockey loving partners. But sadly no matter how many times they ask ‘when will the Play-Offs start and finish’ the answer doesn’t change or gain any more clarity. It ends when it ends.
The seeding system pitches top versus bottom and so on, and if a team progresses they play the following weekend, if not, the hockey is replaced by a three hour search for un-needed furniture and a discount Hot Dog.
Chelmsford finished off their league campaign with a hard fought 6-4 win in Streatham. The Chieftains were 4-0 up and looked set to steam roll the RedHawks until a second period fightback roused the home support. Matt Turner scored twice for the Chieftains with Cameron Bartlett, Liam Chong, Juraj Huska and Jake Sylvester also on target.
Joe Johnston caused tears in the stands with a goal on his final league appearance, with George Norcliffe, Sean Scarbrough and Jack Tarczycki scoring lone goals.
The previous evening Streatham had shut out near rivals London Raiders in a disciplined performance at Lee Valley Ice Centre. The RedHawks won 3-0 thanks to goals from Ryan Webb, Joe Allen and Adam Wood, with goalie Matt Colclough earning a 19 shot shut out in a surprisingly quiet night between the pipes.
Solent Devils have been in stunning form of late with only Chelmsford ahead of them in the form guide. They continued that run in a bad tempered affair at Planet Ice Gosport thanks to a 4-3 win over Oxford City Stars.
Darren Elliott rocking a legends hat in the Oxford locker room
Drew Campbell, Aidan Doughty, Matt Lawday and Mark Pitts were the heroes for the Devils notching a goal each, whilst the Stars goals came from Alan Green, Brendan Baird and Matt Jordan.
In ugly scenes, Dax Hedges and Jaroslav Cesky were ejected on match penalties for the Stars, which could have dire implications for their Play-Off prospects.
The Stars faced their Play-Off opponents London Raiders in front of around 1000 fans at Oxpens Road in a dress rehearsal for the Quarter-Final in a fortnights time.
The home side raced into a 4-1 lead before a stunning last period comeback was capped off ten seconds from time by Alan Lack, to add to his earlier effort. The Raiders other scorer was Tom Davis with a brace.
Oxford were again without defenseman Joonas Liimatainen and regular starting goalie Tom Annetts and were also rocked in the lead up to the game by the announcement from star forward Alan Green that he would retiring at the end of the season. Green marked his final league game in Stars colours with a goal to add to efforts from Jesse Lye, Ben Paynter and Josh Oliver.
The final game of the evening saw Invicta seal second place in the league and a play-off date with MK Thunder as they put a halt to Solent’s unbeaten streak.
Nicky Lewis, Tom Ralph, Ashley Jackson and Callum Fowler scored for the Dynamos in a 4-1 win with Aidan Doughty on target for the Devils consolation.
The league placings mean that the Play-Off Quarter Finals are as follows:
Chelmsford Chieftains v Bracknell Hornets
Invicta Dynamos v MK Thunder
Streatham IHC v Solent Devils
Oxford City Stars v London Raiders
Games will take place on weekend of the 25/26 March. Next weekend sees Chelmsford Chieftains take on Invicta Dynamos in the NIHL Cup final.
Contact the author: david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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