LONDON, UK – As the countdown to Christmas and indeed the January transfer window continued there was still no shortage of news across the NIHL South.
Rehak on fire (David Trevallion)
Bracknell Hornets Head Coach Kenny Redmond continued the slow transformation of his roster by adding more quality in the form of smooth skating Slovakian Michal Oravec.
The basement dwelling Hornets now look far more competitive than a couple of months ago with Oravec joining semi recent arrivals Ondrej Pekarik, the Ealey-Newman brothers, Conor Redmond and Jordan Gregory on the roster.
The arrival of Oravec comes as a result of a long term injury to Kamil Kinkor whose horrific leg break against MK may take some time to heal.
MK Thunder were rocked by an injury to star forward Ross Bowers as it was revealed that he had broken his thumb. The injury was even more of a blow for the former EPL star as he is an accomplished tree surgeon away from the ice. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery for Ross.
Sylvester – hired
Regular users of Alexandra Palace were dismayed to see that the usual netting around the rink had been replaced by a large black curtain during the week.
It is of course the Christmas show season in many ice rinks with the Palace hosting ‘Alice in Winter Wonderland’ this coming week.
It has long been an ambition of many smaller NIHL players to play a character in one of these shows with the little forest creatures a role of choice, made famous by cult movie Blades of Glory.
One player who made the cut for the show this year was Chelmsford Chieftains highly rated youngster Jake Sylvester who beat Haringey Racers Captain Alastair Band for the role of Chief Elf.*
Less than a week after admitting he had a goalie selection problem in the Romford Recorder, London Raiders Coach Alan Blyth found it solved as long term Raiders stopper Michael Gray announced he was leaving the team.
Keeping two ‘starting standard’ goalies happy in the NIHL is a task most coaches find difficult if not impossible to master and a glance across the rosters prove this point.
Band – not hired
Gray is a quality keeper and faced more shots than any other NIHL goalie last season for the Raiders and it will be interesting to see where he heads next.
Chelmsford Coach Sean Easton wasted no time adding to his blue line a he snapped up free agent Carl Graham who recently left Bracknell Bees of the EPL lately.
NIHL fans will remember Graham appearing for Wightlink Raiders a couple of years ago so his NIHL experience must not have put him off a return to the league.
Streatham IHC have no more games until mid-January and celebrated with a light hearted training session featuring none other than Head Coach Jeremy Cornish, who padded up to show his soft hands and goal scoring prowess.
The former Elite league enforcer scored a brace on the big horseshoe and later rode his stick down the ice after scoring on the scrimmage, mimicking his arch enemy Alan Armour(now of Cardiff Fire).
Cornish back on the ice (Rick Webb)
Every young Brit enjoys a city break to Budapest with its fine thermal baths, fantastic Danube cruises, affordable alcohol, AK47 shooting ranges and full contact strip shows, but for one plane load of youngsters they had more pressing business in the Hungarian capital.
The GB u20’s squad flew off to take part in the World Championships stacked full of NIHL South alumni with Luc Johnson, Glenn Billing, Denis Bell, Ivan Antonov and Ed Knaggs all representing their country.
Good luck to the team from all at Pro Hockey News.
Saturday action
The only fixture of the day took place in East London as London Raiders beat MK Thunder 6-3.
Taity Time (John Scott)
The Thunder actually outshot their hosts but were undone by a brace each from JJ Pitchley and Slavomir Buda, plus lone goals for Tom Beesley and Stewart Tait.
Jakub Klima scored twice for the Thunder against his old club with Conor Goode also on target.
The game was attended by top NIHL media outfit 482 Days who were later ticked off by security after breaking into the nearby Alexandra Palace facility and posing in the forest creature costumes for their Instagram account.
Sunday action
Oxford City Stars bid to improve their fortunes at Invicta Dynamos looked a big ask right from the beginning as Adam Rehak put the hosts ahead after only 38 seconds.
The Stars recovered but lost 7-5 with Rehak completing his hat trick with 12 minutes remaining in the game. Ondrej Zosiak scored a brace to add to lone goals from Ashley Jackson and Callum Fowler to complete the Mo’s tally.
Joe Edwards scored two for Oxford with Joonas Liimatainen, Alan Green and Ben Paynter also on target.
Mason Webster and Mike Whillock dropped the gloves to add to the storyline.
Miles better from the Hornets (Kev Slyfield)
Chelmsford Chieftains have struggled this season at times against their old rivals London Raiders, but the Essex side made no mistake this time round with an 8-2 win.
The home side scored an incredible four shorthanded goals in a game full of incident.
London turned up with just 11 skaters and were punished by a four goal salvo from Juraj Huska and lone efforts from Liam Chong, Darren Brown, Matt Turner and who else but Jake Sylvester.
For London Jacob Ranson and Marek Nahlik were on target.
Cameron Bartlett and JJ Pitchley dropped the gloves in the third period to give the Riverside crowd something else to shout about.
The final game of the night saw Bracknell Hornets end an 8 game winless run with a stunning 7-4 win on the road at Milton Keynes Thunder.
Two goal hero Conor Redmond led the charge for the Berkshire side with Will Stead, Josh Ealey-Newman, Ondrej Pekarik, Jordan Gregory and new boy Michal Oravec all getting a goal each.
Boris Ruzicka fired in a brace for the Thunder with Jakub Klima and Harrison Goode also on target.
The result now brings the Hornets within two points of Solent Devils above them, although the Devils have a number of games in hand.
Results
Saturday 10 December 2016
London Raiders 6-3 MK Thunder
Sunday 11 December 2016
Invicta Dynamos 7-5 Oxford City Stars
Chelmsford Chieftains 8-2 London Raiders
MK Thunder 4-7 Bracknell Hornets
*Note for those in doubt this is entirely fictional and Sylvester is far too busy with the Chieftains to appear in the show.
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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