LONDON, UK – Line brawls, landmarks, beach breaks and transfers all added up to another news-packed week of NIHL South hockey.
Solent Devils moved to address recent departures as they snapped up teenager Alex Sampford from Basingstoke Buffalo.
“I feel excited to be playing for Solent, and am looking forward to doing my best to make the season a success” said Sampford, who also ice for the Bison in the EPL at times this season.
“I wanted to step up from NIHL 2 for a while now, and receiving the offer to play for Solent after playing against Invicta on a loan made it a comfortable move into the club”
“I felt good playing in the Solent line up and to score on my debut made it even better. My goals for the remainder of the season are to give my best performance every week for Solent as well as gaining experience within NIHL1”
Sadly Pro Hockey News failed to mention Sampford’s effort at the time as the official gamesheet mistakenly credited goalie Chico Cole with his goal. So if Sampford is reading this whilst eating his lucky charms over breakfast, he can at least console himself that we have at least announced his signing for the team now.
Ovechkin meets the Barbour sponsored Mayor
Just when you thought Chelmsford’s defenseman Danny Wright had it all, he proved this week that he was luckier than Alex Sampford enjoying a bowl of lucky charms.
Not content with all of those trophies won with the Chieftains, a winning smile, a nickname of epic proportions and also a past defensive partnership with this columnist over ten years ago in Haringey, Wright made everyone drool with jealously as he shared pictures of himself with various NHL stars.
The highlight being the post-game shot with Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin who was certainly amused yet not aroused by the presence of the Mayor of Chelmsford.
Another player taking a mid-season break was London Raiders forward Jacob Ranson who continued his entertaining blog in the Romford Recorder.
“I went home after the Invicta match and pretty much headed straight on to the Cape Verde islands in the early hours of Monday morning to meet the rest of my family who began their trip on Thursday” said Ranson, in a column you can read HERE
“I had made a change to my own flight arrangements, as I didn’t want to miss the games on the weekend just gone, but Cape Verde for a few days was still a nice break to relax and make it back just in time for the next two games against Bracknell and Oxford”
“So I’ll be heading from the sun to Bracknell which means I can leave my flip flops on in their warm rink”
Where’s da beach
Ranson would certainly need those flip-flops in most NIHL rinks, given the less than hygienic flooring in the showers.
Oxford continue to court the headlines and not just for the yellow jerseys they had specially commissioned for the weekend under the ‘Oxfordshire United’ link up with Oxford Utd football team.
Star forward Alan ‘No longer Steamy’ Green was announced as joining the team on a loan deal from Slough, as Coach Darren Elliott called in a favour from arguably Oxford’s best locally based talent.
Elliott is playing his wildcard’s early, especially with Andy Cox also involved in the EIHA agreement that allow a player to make up to three appearances for another team that plays in a different division.
Green is a quality player and playing at a level below his abilities but the NIHL 2 schedule is far kinder and his original reasons for leaving Oxford were around the amount of games played in NIHL 1.
Another surprising move was the transfer of Jack Lee from London Raiders to Invicta Dynamos.
Wood browses the news
Lee had already switched from Haringey Racers to London this season, so to make a third move to a club where he is likely to see less ice time is a curious one.
“Jack is a player who spent much of his early career with the club and has matured considerably since his earlier outings at the Silver Blades” said Dynamos Head Coach Kev Parrish.
“He will work hard, bring an edge to the team and he’s looking forward to wearing the crest on his jersey come the weekend”
“As we enter the second half of the campaign it’s important we maintain the depth in the team and Jack is settling in quickly and looking forward to make an impression with the Dynamos”
“I’m sure he will play his part as we begin the charge for home and hopefully his displays will help brings success to the Mo’s in a few months time”
Friendly fire from Hopkins
Streatham Redskins utility player Adam Wood has impressed Streatham fans since he arrived in South London from Cardiff last summer and he was given a full page spread in the South London Press during the week.
“I think it’s apparent to the team and Warren that I’ll play anywhere other than in goal” said the 22 year old.
“I just like to be on the ice. Saying that, sometimes something clicks and feels right and that’s definitely true for being on a line with Sean Scarbrough and Joey Allen”
“I think we were pretty productive and enjoyed ourselves out there against Bracknell and that’s having never played with those two before so it can only get better”
Bruise of the week goes to Steven Fisher who took some not so friendly fire to the leg courtesy of the ‘NHL standard’ slapshot of team mate Dom Hopkins.
Saturday
Invicta Dynamos travelled to Streatham Redskins knowing that a win would take them five points clear of the Londoners at the top of the table.
The Mo’s won the game 6-2 but the headlines were all about Andy Smith reaching 1000 points after he assisted Callum Fowler’s opener.
The Mo’s fans who had travelled up to London immediately unfurled a vinyl banner and what looked like a bed sheet to pay homage to their hero.
Lee on top form (Rick Webb)
Invicta’s other scorers were Juraj Huska with a hat trick, Arran Strawson and Anthony Leone.
Callum Best and Jakub Klima scored for the subdued Redskins, who were frustrated time and again by Mo’s goalie Mark Lee.
Chelmsford Chieftains edged out Solent Devils on the South Coast with a 3-2 win in a game that was a potential banana skin for the title contenders.
Martin Piecha, Matt Turner and Michael Ranby scored for Chelmsford with George Norcliffe and Mitch Murray on target for Solent.
Bracknell Hornets came back from behind to tie 3-3 with London Raiders, who finally iced star signing Alan Lack at the Hive.
Bracknell fightback team pic (Kev Slyfield)
Liam Chong, Grant Taylor and Jacob Ranson put the Raiders into a 3-0 lead but they were pegged back by a brace from Daniel Rose and a solo goal from Danny Hughes.
Vaclav Drabek earned himself an early shower in the comfy power showers of the Hive with a game misconduct penalty.
It was a welcome point for the Raiders but also no doubt disappointing for their camp that they couldn’t seal their first road win since September.
Sunday
Invicta fans gave Andy Smith a deserved ovation before their game against Bracknell Hornets but they were not smiling at the end of the game as the visitors skated off with a shock 5-4 win. It was also the last appearance of GB field hockey star Ashley Jackson who returns to his full time job in India.
Peter Jasik scored a hat trick for the Hornets with Tom Fisher and the excellent Carl Thompson bagging the winner.
Andy Smith, Juraj Huska, Callum Fowler and Billy Phillips were on target for the Mo’s.
Chelmsford earn 4 point weekend
Even the Zamboni had a bad night for the home side as it broke down at the end of the second and the third period was left unsurfaced.
The result was made all the more painful for the Mo’s as Chelmsford completed a four point weekend with a 3-0 win over Solent Devils.
Euan King grabbed another shut-out to add to his tally, whilst two goals from Danny Hammond and one from Bailey Chittock did the business for Chelmsford.
Oxford City Stars and the London Raiders had a big relegation battle at Oxpens Road in a dramatic game littered with penalties – in fact over two hundred minutes worth.
It was the City Stars who edged a dramatic encounter 8-6 roared on by a large crowd and with an empty netter to seal the points right at the end… well not quite the end.
The game sadly ended in controversy as an injury to Liam Chong caused by an Oxford player with nine seconds to play, prompted the Raiders to seek retribution and things escalated quicker than Andy Cox driving on the Oxford ring road in his Citroen Saxo.
Chong goes down (Paul Foster)
Disgracefully the game was abandoned with 9 seconds to go which begs the question if the EIHA will take any further action on either side. At the very least London’s Tom Davis and Ross Wilkinson will get suspensions after both getting a match penalty, as will Oxford’s Darren Elliott who was also ejected.
Oxford scorers were Alan Green with a timely hat trick and Josh Oliver, Joe Oliver, Evan Mackintosh, Josh Florey and Zsolt Mastaleriu with one each. London scorers were Grant Taylor with a brace and one each for Vaclav Drabek, Jacob Ranson, Liam Chong and Alan Lack.
If you don’t mind industrial language and don’t mind watching footage taken from what appears to be an early 1990’s Nokia phone you can see some of the incident HERE
Streatham’s weekend went from bad to worse as they lost 8-4 to MK Thunder.
The Redskins were already playing catch up on the Dynamos, but this result makes the cup and play-offs a more likely route to glory as two goals from Jakub Klima and one each for Callum Best and Adam Wood were not enough for the Londoners.
MK took the points thanks to a hat trick from Jamie Line and goals from Piotr Poziomkowski, Tom Castle, Mathias Rugholm and Connor Goode.
Wightlink Raiders condemned Cardiff NIHL Devils to their eighth consecutive league defeat with a 5-2 victory in the Big Blue Tent.
Alex Barker scored two for the Raiders with Jeremy Cornish, Ben Paynter and Corey Watkins getting the others.
After starting the weekend so well beating Streatham, Invicta now only have a two point lead at the top of the league ahead of Chelmsford, who also have three games in hand.
Cardiff now go bottom but with a busy January ahead, nothing is decided yet.
Saturday 10th January 2015
Streatham Redskins 2-6 Invicta Dynamos
Bracknell Hornets 3-3 London Raiders
Solent Devils 2-3 Chelmsford Chieftains
Sunday 11th January 2015
Invicta Dynamos 4-5 Bracknell Hornets
Oxford City Stars 8-6 London Raiders
MK Thunder 8-4 Streatham Redskins
Cardiff NIHL Devils 2-5 Wightlink Raiders
Chelmsford Chieftains 3-0 Solent Devils
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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