LONDON, UK – After a frenetic opening weekend, the NIHL South 1 settled down to business as the NHS fired up the x-ray machine while action on the ice continued at pace.
All smiles in Swindon (Kat Medcroft)
There was bad news for a number of players following the opening weekend of fixtures as injuries and suspensions struck.
Remarkably three players across NIHL South broke their fibula, which for those of you that don’t know, is the bone that runs down your calf towards the ankle.
Best wishes go to Raiders forward Mason Webster, Oxford Stars’ utility man Stewart Tait and Haringey Huskies Captain Alastair Band who now have to face a few weeks watching Loose Women and Jeremy Kyle while using knitting needles to scratch the itch down their casts.
Tait, Band or Webster?
This week’s big question for you all is to identify which of our injured trio owns the flowery pillow case. Answer at the end of the article.
The EIHA wielded their disciplinary axe by announcing three multi game suspensions following the first round of fixtures. Basingstoke Bison’s Liam Morris was banned for two games due to his match penalty for butt-ending. Sheffield’s Tim Smith received a two game ban for his retribution in the same game. Swindon Wildcats goalie Renny Marr was handed a whopping four game suspension after his match penalty for fighting at Hull Pirates. All three bans show once again that the EIHA aren’t going to mess about this season.
Invicta Dynamos released footage of their narrow 3-2 home loss to Bracknell Bees with the talented Paul Bennett and his crew starting the season as they ended it, with a quality production.
Bennett stated on social media during the week that he would be going on holiday shortly which must be a first in many years mid-season and a disgraceful attitude to the cause. Only joking Paul, don’t forget to leave the crusty Liverpool shirts at home.
Eyes open in Streatham (Rick Webb)
Streatham became the latest club to publish their team photo for the new season with photographer Rick Webb doing a great job with the finished product. It’s always a nervous wait for all concerned when the team pic is released, especially as there’s a high risk that the club choose a pic that has you closing your eyes, or mid-sentence cracking a joke. No one wants to go down in the club history archives being the guy asleep on the team photo or looking constipated.
In a rare foray by the national media into our game in this country, the Guardian published a piece titled Get your skates on: The rise of British hockey.
Apart from it being pretty much a promotional piece for the EIHL and Sheffield Steelers it made a pleasant change from the usual national UK coverage the sport gets i.e a report on a player or coach clubbing a fan, being outed as a wrong-un or something else violent.
Yes it had quite a few errors (we are aware of our glass house), and of course ‘Love Story’ isn’t the best hockey movie out there, but these are small steps and we might eventually get to the mainstream media coverage we had in the late 80’s and early/mid 90’s.
Following the article, we did a rough poll of the UK’s favourite hockey movies that saw Slapshot come out on top, followed by Youngblood, Mighty Ducks and Goon. Memories of tea with Miss McGill, Reggie Dunlop’s strides, Xavier LaFlamme giving fans herpes and Adam Banks’s face when forced to transfer from the Hawks, all live long in the memory of us all.
Saturday review
The only game in the league took place at Bretton Way where the Peterborough Phantoms hosted the Raiders in what turned out to be a bit of a thriller. An overtime winner on the buzzer by new boy Aaron Connolly (or after the end of the game if you believe some disgruntled Phantoms fans) sealed a 3-2 win for the Essex side, after they’d equalised late in the third on the powerplay through Juraj Huska – reportedly his 450th point for the club.
Raiders on fire (John Scott)
The Raiders had initially taken the lead through JJ Pitchley before goals from James Ferrara and Corey McEwen put the Phantoms in the driving seat at one stage. The hosts also lost Will Wheldon four minutes from the end on a game misconduct to rub salt in the wounds.
Phantoms coach Slava Koulikov’s interview after the game raised the question of whether it’s the buzzer or the clock that the officials should take notice of. Slava is of an age that he will remember the famous non-digital Durham clock from his junior days in Hull, so he at least knows that things aren’t as bad as they could be, but there’s always room for improvement as far as technology is concerned. What about a Bluetooth vibrating wristband for the referee? You read that idea here first!
In the Autumn Cup, Basingstoke lost 3-2 to Hull Pirates on home ice with Pirates goalie Tomas Fucik turning away 34 shots between the pipes. The Bison were 3-0 down thanks to goals from Jason Hewitt, Bobby Chamberlain and Matty Davies before late goals by Ashley Tait and Oscar Evans gave the hosts false late hope.
The result was the Bison’s second consecutive defeat in the competition and was made worse when star forward Michal Klejna was ejected for spearing in the first period.
Bison fan-site Banners on the Wall posted a summary of the game for those who want more information HERE
In the city of owls, steel and a mayor who likes to stand on bannisters, Swindon came from behind to beat the Steeldogs 4-3 at Ice Sheffield.
Floyd Taylor continued his strong start to the season with another goal for the visitors to add to efforts from Max Birbraer, Edgars Bebris and Loris Taylor. A brace from Milan Kolena and a lone effort from Ben Morgan completed the Steeldogs scoring.
Sunday review
After spending the previous evening at home seething with jealousy at the new range of superior mugs advertised by Peterborough during the week, NIHL media outlet 482 days headed out to support MK Thunder in their clash against the Phantoms at the Thunderdome.
482 days mugged off by Phantoms merch
Face-Off was also delayed meaning that the National Anthem was cancelled as per the rule book and the Thunder Coach Lewis Clifford handed new signing Jordan Lawday his first start between the pipes.
In the end, the Phantoms took the points in a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Taylor Romeo, Will Weldon, and James Ferrara. For the Thunder Jamie Line scored the consolation.
Swindon made it a four point Autumn Cup weekend with a 4-2 win in the return leg of their double header with Sheffield. The only consolation for the Steeldogs was the early face off meaning the trip back to the Midlands was not a late one, as an Aaron Nell hat trick and lone goal for Jan Kostal kept both points in Wiltshire. Ashley Calvert and Liam Charnock lit the lamp for the Dogs who face Peterborough back to back next weekend.
Youngster Tyler Perre picked up the Man of the Match for the Cats showing his worth in the absence of the suspended Marr.
Bees win at the Hive
Basingstoke and Hull played another hard fought sixty minutes of hockey with a goal fest in the former city of culture. The Pirates made it a four point weekend with an 8-5 win courtesy of a brace each from James Archer, Jonathan Kirk and Matty Davies, plus lone efforts from Aaron Lyon and Lee Bonner. Bison player coach Ashley Tait scored two goals himself to add to efforts from Alex Sampford, Richard Bordowski and Russ Cowley.
Bracknell needed a late winner from Josh Smith to beat Streatham 3-2 at the Hive as previous goals from Shaun Thompson and Harvey Stead, were cancelled out by RedHawks scorers Adam Carr and Rupe Quiney.
The result keeps the Bees at the top of the league with three wins out of three and an import to add.
Juraj Huska took just 29 seconds to score the first of an eventual brace against his old club as the Raiders beat Invicta Dynamos 8-2 at the Sapphire. A penalty shot from Filip Sedivy, a hat trick from Blaho Novak and lone goals for JJ Pitchley and Jake Sylvester completed the scoring with Martin Susters and Edmund Piacka on target for the Mo’s.
The four point weekend makes it three wins in a row for Sean Easton’s men who will fancy their chances of a title run, even at this early stage.
This week we are launching our new stars of the week feature. If you disagree with the choices (most likely) why not send suggestions each week to the author’s Twitter handle @carrsy2 . It’s not limited to players and can be a coach or off-ice official – or indeed anyone we fancy choosing.
Results
Saturday 22 September 2018
Peterborough Phantoms 2 Raiders 3 (after overtime)
Basingstoke Bison 2 Hull Pirates 3 – Autumn Cup
Sheffield Steeldogs 3 Swindon Wildcats 4
Sunday 23 September 2018
Raiders 8 Invicta Dynamos 2
Bracknell Bees 3 Streatham IHC 2
MK Thunder 1 Peterborough Phantoms 3
Swindon Wildcats 4 Sheffield Steeldogs 2 – Autumn Cup
Hull Pirates 8 Basingstoke Bison 5 – Autumn Cup
Contact the author: carrsy2@gmail.com
Flower power comes from Alastair Band.
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