LONDON, UK – The NIHL got a little spooky as the teams prepped for Halloween but with an old NIHL team yet to beat one of the top four in regulation time, there was a big shock on the cards this week.
Phantoms enjoy a 4 point spooktacular
When it comes to garden centres in Wiltshire the Whitehall chain takes some beating. With a wide range of plants, pets, a café and now a temporary ice rink you’d be forgiven for thinking things couldn’t get any better, but you’d be wrong. How about all of those things and the chance to skate with the Swindon Wildcats, who showed up during the week to sign autographs, clear the ice with spades and spray any ladies who took their fancy*
It capped a busy midweek schedule for the Wildcats who had to play Telford Tigers on Wednesday night in the NIHL Cup. It’s fair to say that traditionally midweek games have been as popular as genital warts with most NIHL players and fans in years gone by and very rare, but this is of course the second tier now so anything goes to pack in the crowds and pay the bills.
Wildcats hit the Garden… centre
If you are going to miss The Apprentice you may as well win, and that’s exactly what Swindon did with a 4-3 win over their visitors from Shropshire. Goals from Aaron Nell, Floyd Taylor, Phil Hill and Chris Jones bagged the points for the Wildcats with Rick Plant, Joe Miller and Warren Tait replying for the Tigers.
Basingstoke Bison revealed their Christmas jersey design with a lovely pine green number designed by competition winner Sandrine Maugy. Rather than use a silhouette of Hampshire’s most famous building, the iconic Fleet Services, Sandrine opted to play it safe with images of a Bison, a Christmas tree and snowflakes.
In other news, Tomas Karpov graduated with the University of Winchester thanks to the legacy of the Bisons link up with their educational partners. Congratulations Tomas.
Bracknell Bees coach Scott Spearing warned his side against complacency after his team squeezed past Invicta Dynamos last weekend. Top import Frantisek Bakrlik also came in for praise after a six goal weekend and Spearing also revelled in the depth of his squad.
“I can’t ask for much more from Frankie at the moment,” said Spearing in an interview with the Wokingham Paper.
“That’s what I signed him for in the summer and the same with Thommo (Shaun Thompson). They’re both top guys and we can rely on them but without the rest of the team stepping up to give him those opportunities and those breaks in the play to find him space, he can’t shoot the puck.”
Uni deal delivers for Karpov
“Although it’s him scoring the goals, there’s a lot of hard work going on around him. Against Invicta we had a full team with a spare line on the bench and on top of that we’ve still got another three forwards that we were short of. I’ve got countless lines that I can run with”
London Raiders TV launched with a flurry of footage including the highlights of their defeat against Bracknell Bees. The real question though is how far through the season can the cameraman stomach the inconveniently placed German flag hanging from the ceiling in front of his/her shot.
The large flags surrounding the ice at Lee Valley are a quirk similar to the much missed NHL pennants that used to line the roof of Alexandra Palace before going missing during a refurb – that Quebec Nordiques one must be worth a few pennies. If anyone can explain why Hungary and Australia have flags amongst the obvious ‘ice’ nations at Lee Valley please do drop us a line otherwise we will assume they came as a job lot at Hackney market.
Saturday action review
With Halloween approaching, the clubs that could be bothered, decided to use it as a twist to their match day build up.
In Peterborough the Phantoms took a leaf out of Coldplay’s book and asked their fans to use their phone cameras to create a visual display pre-game when the lights go out for the team introductions. In scenes straight from Phantom of the Opera (without the padded seats, ambient temperature or tubs of £6 ice cream) the Phantoms allegedly entered the ice in style before beating Sheffield Steeldogs 7-3.
Will Weldon scored two for the Phantoms with Darius Pliskauskas, Tom Norton, Conor Pollard, Nathan Salem and Glenn Billing also on target. Sheffield scorers were James Spurr, Ben Morgan and Andrew Hirst.
Bowers enjoys his night (Lucy McGill)
Swindon showed no signs of tiredness from their midweek exploits as they beat Bracknell Bees 5-2 in the Cup.
Chris Jones, Phil Hill, Max Birbraer, Joe Hazeldine and Jan Kostal scored for the Wildcats with Frantisek Bakrlik and Shaun Thompson replying for the Bees.
Birbraer also dropped the gloves with Bees Josh Martin and you can watch the scrap HERE
Basingstoke Bison welcomed Dan Davies back into the squad after he passed a late fitness test before their home game against Cardiff Fire. The Bison were 3-0 up in the first period and looked like they may run up a big score but the Fire didn’t give up and eventually went down 5-1.
Tomas Karpov notched a hat trick for the Bison, Davies scored on his return and Ryan Sutton completed the scoring. David Christian scored the consolation for the Fire.
London Raiders beat Invicta Dynamos 3-1 in NIHL Cup group C thanks to a brace from JJ Pitchley and a lone goal from Ollie Baldock. The Dynamos iced without star forward Adam Rehak and got their goal through Mason Webster.
Baldock gets the Raiders belt
The final game of the evening took place in Milton Keynes where the man of the moment, Ross Bowers celebrated his 600th game with the winning penalty shot as the Thunder beat Streatham.
The game finished 4-4 after regulation time with MK scoring through Line, McPherson, Quiney and Bowers. Streatham’s goals came from Ryan Watt, Ryan Webb, Aidan Doughty and Andreas Siagris.
Pro Hockey News will be publishing an interview with Bowers later this week to mark his achievement.
482 days were present at the game in Milton Keynes and caused chaos as they plugged their famous yellow lap top into a ‘cleaners only’ socket and knocked out the power supply briefly, also spoiling diners meals at the nearby Jaipur Indian restaurant connected to the same grid.
Sunday action review
Streatham became the first old NIHL side to beat one of the ex-EPL sides in regulation time with a 5-1 victory over Swindon Wildcats at Streatham Arena.
An Aidan Doughty hat trick stunned the Cats and goals from Ryan Webb and Jamie Hayes completed the scoring for the RedHawks. Chris Jones got the consolation for Swindon and the jubilant home crowd also watched Hayes drop the gloves with Sam Zajac at the end of the first period.
The result probably goes down as one of Streatham’s most impressive in recent times and gives the Londoners some reward for good recent displays.
Doughty Time (Rick Webb)
Bracknell Bees bounced back with a 4-2 home win over London Raiders despite star man Frankie Bakrlik being ejected on a slashing call at the start of the second period.
Bakrlik had already opened the scoring for the Bees with Callum Best, Josh Martin and James Galazzi also on target. Ollie Baldock and Juraj Huska got the goals for the Raiders.
In Cardiff, the Fire took the full brunt of a Bison attack as the visitors racked up a 12-2 win. The Fire had promised pre-game to play the UK national anthem for the first time to our knowledge, reciprocating the goodwill after the Bison had played the Welsh anthem 24 hours early.
Graduate Tomas Karpov top scored for the Bison with Hallam Wilson and Aaron Connolly each getting a brace. Lone goals from Kurt Reynolds, Ryan Sutton, Dan Scott, Dan Davies and Josh Smith completed the scoring. Cardiff goals came from Jordan Powell and Michael Stratford.
Invicta iced again without Adam Rehak and became the latest team to be run over by the Peterborough train as the Phantoms continued their 100% win record in the league with a 5-1 win in Kent.
A brace each for Ales Padelek and Owen Griffiths added to a lone goal from Glenn Billing to complete the scoring for the Phantoms. Mason Webster got the consolation for the Mo’s.
482 Days made it a weekend to forget after the game as they visited Gillingham Nandos and annoyed the staff by sucking on the nozzle of the medium spicy sauce on the table.
Results
Saturday 28 October 2017
London Raiders 3 Invicta Dynamos 1 (Cup)
Basingstoke Bison 5 Cardiff Fire 1
Peterborough Phantoms 7 Sheffield Steeldogs 2 (Cup)
Swindon Wildcats 5 Bracknell Bees 2 (Cup)
MK Thunder 4 Streatham IHC 4 (MK win in shootout 5-4)
Sunday 29 October 2017
Streatham IHC 5 Swindon Wildcats 1
Invicta Dynamos 1 Peterborough Phantoms 5
Cardiff Fire 2 Basingstoke Bison 12
Bracknell Bees 4 London Raiders 2
*The last point was pure speculation.
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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