Renault Solihull Barons pleased with upturn in fortune

SOLIHULL, UK – Whisper it quietly, but one of British hockey’s old guard are enjoying a renaissance in ENL North Division 2. Fans of the Renault Solihull Barons are enjoying life again, as their team aims for promotion with a crunch game this weekend against Sutton Sting.

The Barons currently sit in third place knowing only a win in Sutton will see them take the play-off spot ahead of rivals Flintshire Freeze. Should they manage to qualify they will face the Trafford Metros in head to head fixtures. One player who will be unfazed by the pressure of the next few fixtures is veteran defence man and assistant coach Phil Lee. The North East native believes that the experience and talent within the Barons team will be enough to clinch a play-off place:

“I think Sutton have a good side with a lot of good young players, but lack a bit of experience. This may be due to them being a relatively new team. The games between us already have been pretty close, so they are a team to watch,

“It is always hard to go into another teams ‘barn’ and perform, as you do not know what you are up against until the day, as players come and players go. The Barons will just play our own game, and let Sutton worry about us, as we have done throughout the season with all the teams”

Still performing

Most teams in the division have had good reason to worry about a Solihull team coached by the experienced Darren Bellerby. The Barons have won all of their home league games this season aside from a disappointing 5-0 loss to eventual champions Newcastle. Their success is even more remarkable given the fact they had to play on the road for nearly two months at the beginning of the season. Lee believes all of the team deserve credit for their displays over the past eight months:

“There have been a number of players this year who have been good for Solihull. I should mention the whole team, as that’s what it takes to win games. In all everyone has played and performed very well when required,

“The two young goalies’ – Sam Hewitt and Hayden Laverick have been outstanding all year between the pipes, keeping us in games and have given the team a chance to win every game we play,

“On the defence side of things, we have some very young guys that have had to adjust quickly as the standard compared to Under 18 level is vast. Lee Winwood and Jamie McKinnon have really held their own. As for the forwards, the stats speak for themselves, as you can see from the top scores in the league you can take your choice from two lines Erik Bakalar, Neil Adams, Rob Eley, Andy Ayers, Rich Slater and Alex Jones,

“Also the guy’s who I haven’t mentioned, have themselves made a massive impact into the team’s performance this year. We probably would not be in the position we are in if it had not been for the outstanding effort against a very good Flintshire team last month. That really was a must win game, with a much under strength Solihull team, due to suspension and injury. The lads put in an exceptional display that day, to post a 6-3 victory and put us in reach of the playoffs”

Friendly Hobs Moat Road

With the quality of the Barons roster, their wins on the ice in this league may not be that surprising for regular followers of British hockey. More importantly and indeed more surprising is the numbers of fans the Barons have managed to pull through the door this year. Gone are the days of a packed Hobs Moat Road rink of the 1980’s, however to post crowds of over 750 people on four separate occasions is nothing short of amazing at this level of hockey. The highest crowd so far this season was an impressive 865 people against Sutton Sting, a figure that eclipsed many attendances in the English Premier League (two divisions higher) that weekend. Lee admits that it has been a combined effort to increase crowds at the rink:

“It has been good this year thanks to all of the guys, the management team and Renault Solihull who sponsor the team. All have worked hard to get people through the door to watch the games. The guys have seen the benefits of having larger crowds in the building, it reminds me of the days at Hobs Moat Road when the building was full to capacity,

“As everybody knows, it is not cheap to fund a hockey team for a full season, and so having a large crowd helps towards the running costs and the atmosphere in which the guys play in. It would be good to see hockey crowds return to Hobs Moat Road, like it was back in the days when I first joined the Solihull Barons”

Lee in first spell at Solihull

It is fair to say that Lee has been lucky in his career in that he played in arguably the sport’s (and the Barons) finest years in the UK. The halcyon Heineken British league drew massive crowds and ice rinks across the land were full to the rafters in some towns and cities. Lee joined the Barons in the mid eighties from the Cleveland Bombers, and after being part of Solihull’s finest era in their history, then went on to play for the famous Sheffield Steelers for two seasons. Having seen Hobs Moat Road full of fans watching top flight hockey in its heyday, Lee is realistic about what the current Barons organisation can achieve:

“It is a shame that Solihull have to play in the bottom tier of ice hockey, but again it’s down to the finance to fund the team and the players to compete at the higher level. It’s also difficult to retain player’s long term, when you have two teams that have moved away from Solihull (Sheffield and Coventry) and relocated to other better facilities dedicated to ice hockey, with large sponsors that provide the backing to produce a team that has the potential to play at the highest level,

“There is also support required from the local authorities who own the rink at the time (Solihull Council). Historically the authority had no interest in the sport (ice hockey) or the facility. This is partly the reason why the other organisations moved to Sheffield for the first instance and Coventry for the second instance. These two teams started their life at Solihull and both are now still playing at this higher level of ice hockey, so it speaks for itself and they are both very good teams,
“To be very honest, Hobs Moat Road would need to spend a fair amount of money to bring the facility up to the standard required to sustain an Elite league team, even though the rink has had a new ice pad, plant and boards this year. Realistically it’s getting harder and harder to fund teams at the higher level of ice hockey. My personal opinion is that maybe the league we are already in or the league above is what Solihull can realistically achieve unless something drastic changes with the facility and the finances. There are a few teams that have already dropped out of the top flight due to this very fact and moved down a league or two so they can continue to play ice hockey”

Coach Darren Bellerby

Some depressing truths, however it can’t be all bad if a player, who represented Great Britain at both junior and senior level in various World Championships, still finds the desire to lace up the skates each weekend. Having played senior hockey on and off for nearly 25 years, there are few in the game who have had the staying power of Lee, but he insists that he is still motivated and the coaching side of the game is satisfying:

“I have been playing ages and I think it’s become a habit that I can’t give up easily. I still enjoy the challenge that the game provides and benefit from the fitness required to play the game,

“The coaching is also a part of the game I like to be involved with. We have a number of younger players who are keen to learn and improve their game. I try and give the guys the benefit of my experience that I have picked up over the years,

“I have had the good fortune to play with some very good players and been coached by some very good coaches. I have picked up some good advice and knowledge on how the game is played over the years, but the game is ever evolving and improving. There is always something new to learn if you are prepared to do so. If I can pass some of this knowledge on to a few of the guys and it helps them achieve their goal I am happy”

Neil Adams on form

Looking ahead to the future and Lee is yet again a realist. The Barons will need to overcome a strong Trafford Metros team if they want to move up a division and even if they do go up; question marks will remain over their ability to compete at a higher level. Lee believes that although it is a big ask, the team need to aspire to bigger things if they want to progress on and off the ice:

“The team is ready to move up a league if we play to our full potential. We have gelled really well this season and the guys have really stepped up to the plate in the bigger games. I think if we’d had our rink at the beginning of the season some of the results may have been different against the likes of Flintshire and Newcastle. We only had dry land training as the rink was under refurbishment and we played the first nine games away from home with no on ice training,

“We have played teams in the league above, and held our own, but the two leagues have very different standards. The league we play in, there are probably only four possible teams to worry about, but the league above, all the teams are a threat as they have very good skill levels and strength in depth of players, and the scores are a lot closer. I think this is the challenge Solihull requires to get more interest in the sport here at Hobs Moat”
Regardless of whether the Barons gain promotion or spend another season in ENL North 2, the key to success will be finance. The current crop of players seem to have bought into the fact that it is a collective responsibility to promote the club and have been busy writing online blogs (Dale Buckland, Alex Jones and Luke Thomas to name three), helping with ticket promotions and generally publicising the team. It is a refreshing scenario that some other teams in the UK could do well to follow.

The Barons of 2009/10 may be far removed from the past greats of Fera, Sapergia and Chartrand, however if they continue to build on the current foundations at the club, maybe one day those halcyon days may return.