Solar eclipses, hat tricks and shocks

LONDON, UK – Solar eclipses are meant to signal the end of the world, but instead they just signalled some strange goings on in the world of NIHL South hockey.

Best celebrates making it to the top (Rick Webb)

Chelmsford Chieftains spent the early part of the week reflecting on their retainment of the league title last weekend.

“I think credit where it is due, the boys have played very well” said Coach Dwayne Newman in an interview with the Essex Chronicle.

“We have been trying to keep them away from just thinking about the bigger picture, letting everyone else worry about the treble and everything else”

“The focus this year has been about taking it 60 minutes at a time and breaking it down. The boys have shown over the last seven months that they are the most consistent team”

“They are worthy champions and have played superbly all year long”

Chelmo celebration selfie

There was good news on the Isle of Wight too, relatively speaking, as Planet Ice agreed to keep the rink open until 11^th April thus meaning Wightlink should be able to play up to the semi-finals of the play-offs on home turf should they make it past the first round.

Basingstoke Ice Arena is mooted as the back-up should the Raiders need to play a prospective play-off final elsewhere.

You can find out more about the Ryde Arena Trust HERE

The majority of news during the week came out of Oxford, as the City Stars hyped up their visit to Cardiff with a video montage that had Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wondering whether their legacy of producing visual masterpieces would even register anymore in the vaults of cinematic history.

Forget Jurassic Park and Star Wars, and just sit back and lap up the stunning promo of ‘Invade the Bay’. Watch it by clicking HERE

Only Streatham Redskins TV and possibly MK Thunders’ ‘For the Fans TV’ can rival this latest NIHL low budget online thriller.

The other piece of big news out of the city of dreaming spires was the release of Romanian defenseman Zsolt Masteleriu from the squad.

Out of the kitchen for Zsolt

“Zsolt has played his part in our season so far, and it’s a shame for supporters that he won’t be finishing the season as an Oxford player” said Player Coach Darren Elliott.

“We’re sure he’ll have no problem finding a place in a good team, whether that be here in the UK or elsewhere, and we’d always welcome him back onto the ice at Oxford if he comes back as an opposition player”

Streatham Redskins and London Raiders announced details of their end of season parties, with the Antoinette Hotel in Wimbledon and the Pontlands Park Hotel in Chelmsford the respective chosen venues.

Whilst Streatham’s choice of venue is hardly controversial, the Raiders decision to hold their party out in the manor of their deadly rivals is akin to Manchester Utd holding a team event on Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

Will Chieftains fans blockade the A130 outside Great Baddow to stop the blue and gold army drinking and dancing on their turf or has the rivalry now lost its famed edge, we will see.

On the ice the Raiders were refusing to look over their shoulders at the relegation battle and instead focused on their push for the play-offs.

“With three games left and Oxford just a point behind we need two big wins this weekend to secure a play-off place” said Captain Tom Davis in an interview with the Docklands and East London Advertiser.

Davis looking ahead

“Solent are a team who don’t stop working hard and have had some big results this year, just like MK, but in my eyes both are winnable games”

“I know the team feels the same and wants that final play-off spot”

GB under 18’s flew off to Estonia for the World Championships Division 2A including a number of NIHL South players.

Ed Knaggs of MK Thunder and Owen Bradshaw of Cardiff Devils NL were on the plane to Tallinn along with former NIHL South starlets Denis Bell, Ivan Antonov and Danny Ingoldsby.

Just when you thought the massive anti climax of the solar eclipse 1999 could not be topped, along came the cloud obscured 2015 version to ram home the message that nature doesn’t really give two sh*ts if you buy a £20 pair of special glasses and sit on a hill freezing your keister off for four hours.

UCLA celebrate

Thankfully for those in the capital disappointed by the whole thing, they had some Varsity hockey to enjoy on Friday night as Imperial College took on the University College London in front of over 1000 people at Streatham Arena.

Familiar faces to NIHL fans were UCLA’s former Streatham forward and current Lee Valley Lion Chris Fox, and on the Imperial side former MK defender Sam Cheema starred as bench coach.

UCLA won the game 4-2 however Cheema stole the show with a naughty ‘unisex’ scarf from the womans section at GAP. Few men can pull that look off but fair play to Cheema for sprucing up for the big occasion. Blaine Evans continued his mission to be the most travelled referee outside of the Elite league by donning the stripes for this one.

Saturday

The biggest game of the night was undoubtedly in Cardiff as Oxford aimed for safety with a much needed win. Sadly for the travelling Stars support their team fell at the final hurdle as the Devils came back from 4-3 down to eventually win 7-5.

Hat trick Hayes

The excellent Jamie Hayes fired home a hat trick for the Welsh side, Kieran Latchford hit a brace and there were lone goals for Steve Newton and Jonathan Nash.

Evan Mackintosh scored two for Oxford to add to efforts from Mike Whillock, Dax Hedges and Darren Elliott.

Cardiff’s Jordan Powell was handed an early shower by referee Stephen Matthews for high sticks at the end of the first period.

It marked a vital two points for Cardiff who have to be given credit for the fact they have not given up battling at the bottom this year.

Streatham edged out Bracknell Hornets 5-3 in an entertaining fixture at the Hive. Both of these teams have a chance to face each other in the Play-Offs so this was a dress rehearsal that promises much in the future.

Sean Scarbrough and Jakub Klima top scored with two goals each for the visitors to add to an effort from Callum Best. Bracknell scorers were JJ Pitchley, Tony Barclay and Danny Hughes.

Ryan Handisides had to leave the game through injury midway through, so Pro Hockey News wishes him all the best in his recovery.

London Raiders took a huge step towards qualifying for the play offs with a 5-4 win over Solent at Lee Valley Ice Centre.

The returning Jakub Kostalansky scored two after beating an illness and the other Raiders goals came from Vaclav Drabek and Grant Taylor with Tom Davis hitting the winner in the final ten minutes of the game.

One man who was perhaps still smiling despite the result was Solent’s George Norcliffe who celebrated his 21^st birthday with his 21^st goal of the season amongst a hat trick. As birthday presents go, that isn’t a bad one. Norcliffe also picked up the man of the match award whilst Michael Gorman notched the other goal for Solent.

Happy Birthday George ! (Dave Chapman)

London’s Alan Lack built his reputation as a bit of a scrapper but has been quiet so far on his return to the NIHL, but not so in this fixture as he dropped the gloves with Alex Cole.

The good news on the Isle of Wight was added too by the resident Raiders as they showed their play-off intentions by holding the league champions Chelmsford to a 2-2 tie in Ryde.

Owen Griffiths gave the Raiders the lead only 36 seconds into the game, but then allowed Cameron Bartlett to equalise shortly afterwards. Jaroslav Cesky put the home side back in the driving seat, but Martin Piecha rescued a point for Chelmsford in the third period.

On the way back from the fixture Chelmsford youngster Bailey Chittock challenged Michael Ranby to an arm wrestle on the Solent, however thanks to the limitations of our server we are unable to bring you the footage. This means that Oxford’s video still retains the worst NIHL South footage of the week accolade.

Sunday

Oxford City Stars could have let their slip up in Cardiff railroad their weekend, but they bounced back on Sunday with a stunning 2-2 tie against Chelmsford at the Riverside.

The Stars were winning 2-0 going into the third but could not hold on and came away with a credible point.

Vital point for Stars (Paul Foster)

Mike Whillock and Evan Mackintosh scored for Oxford with Cameron Bartlett and Michael Ranby on target for Chelmsford.

After the game the Chieftains were presented with the league trophy and medals, but Oxford were smiling just as widely as this result now means Cardiff need to win in London next weekend to avoid relegation.

It was a tremendous result for the Oxford players and coaching staff at a difficult arena to get anything from.

Chelmsford’s cup opponents Invicta faced Streatham in their final league game of the season with the main storyline being who would finish top of the league scorers charts.

Going into the game both Callum Best and Callum Fowler were tied on equal points after two brilliant personal campaigns, but as Highlander once famously remarked, there can be only one.

Invicta were leading 2-0 after the first two periods thanks to a double salvo from Jura Huska, both assisted by Fowler. However Streatham scored seven unanswered goals in the third thanks to a brace from Jakub Klima and lone goals from Best, Robbie Brown, Sean Scarbrough, Adam Wood and some guy who writes this column.

Best bagged three points and celebrated in front of the delighted visiting support.

Legend Bax attack (Rick Webb)

Grant Baxter was ejected for the Mo’s after leaving the bench to try and fight Adam Wood, who had been making gestures at Fowler.

Following the game, Mo’s Coach Kev Parrish revealed in an interview with Kent Sports News that he is actively trying to get former defenseman Billy Phillips to return to the line-up for the remainder of the season. This would suggest that the blueliner was not released from his Mo’s registration as reported, and the ball is in his court as to whether he wishes to return.

Back to the snipers and Best wins the league top scorer gong with Fowler just one point behind and whilst both probably care a lot about the stats, the real truth is that they are both excellent players and the crowds watching NIHL hockey appreciate their talent regardless.

Cardiff’ penultimate game of the season was on the Island and the Wightlink Raiders showed no mercy with a thumping 9-0 win as Player Coach Jeremy Cornish rolled back the years with a hat trick.

Raiders other goals came from Ben Paynter with a brace and lone efforts from Jaroslav Cesky, Craig Tribe and Alex Barker.

Shannon Long enjoyed a 33 shot shut out for the Raiders after replacing Matt Colclough at the end of the first period.

Solent Devils secured their 7^th place in the league with a 4-2 win over Bracknell Hornets at the Gosport Arena.

Jamie Fitzpatrick, George Norcliffe, Andrew Magee and Drew Campbell scored for Solent with Carl Thompson on target for the Hornets. The result means that Solent will definitely play Invicta in the play-offs.

Thunder chilling (Claire Stanton)

The final game of the evening was an eventful affair as London Raiders went down 6-2 to MK Thunder.

It is fair to say that the Raiders were not a happy bunch and saw Tom Davis, David Oliver, Ross Wilkinson and their coach booted out of the game by referee Rick Adams.

MK scorers were Josh Nicklin with four and one each for Tom Mboya and Ryan Coffey.

Vaclav Drabek and Grant Taylor got the goals for London who are now likely to be a little short for that crunch game against Cardiff next week. London possibly do not care though as they have now secured a play-off match up with Chelmsford that should be intriguing.

Next week is the final weekend before the play offs and also features a cup final. Where else would you want to be?