Banners On The Road – Solent Junior Devils vs Peterborough Phantoms 2 16/3/24
Posted: 19/03/2024 Filed under: Banners On The Road, NIHL | Tags: Banners On The Road, NIHL, peterborough phantoms 2, solent junior devils Leave a commentNIHL South 2
Solent Junior Devils 2-4 Peterborough Phantoms 2
Junior Devils: Russell, Peacock pp
Phantoms 2: N Pollard, White pp, Sansby, C Pollard
Keeping focussed: Nathan Pollard had jokingly warned me earlier in the day to bring my kit. When the Peterborough Phantoms NIHL 2 side started emerging from the dressing room, I realised that he hadn’t been joking. Other commitments meant that the visitors took to the ice in Gosport with 12 skaters and two netminders. This was after they all looked slightly confused by “the Gosport walk”, the need for the away team to enter the ice by circling round the back of the stand and in front of the fans to make it on to the ice.
The Junior Devils had taken advantage of a weekend off for the division one team having a weekend off to draft in some help. Junior Devils coach Harry Cloutman was available to play and roped in Joe Llewellyn, Kris Nekrosevicius, Jack Peacock and Cain Russell to assist with the effort.
Despite the depleted bench, it was a pretty even start to the game with shots in both directions. However, it was the visitors who struck first, a puck sitting up for Nathan Pollard to poke it by Rory Martin-Edwards in the Solent net in the third minute.
When Nekrosevicius was called for tripping, the Phantoms quickly made the advantage pay. They had to ride out a shorthanded chance, crafted by Charlie Wedge out of seemingly nothing, but the visitors broke up ice at speed. James White took the lay off from Jordan Ho, skated in and snapped it over the glove of Martin-Edwards. The visitors were 2-0 to the good inside 6 minutes and the Devils had barely had a chance to establish themselves.
Having had that punch in the face, the Junior Devils woke up. They upped the intensity, pushed Peterborough onto the back foot and shifted the momentum of the game. The issue was that Ryan Bainborough in the Phantoms’ net was making all the stops. Ashley Barnes was denied at the top of the crease, Wedge and Peacock had chances turned away. The visitors soaked up the pressure and the first buzzer went with the Devils left scratching their head as to how to make a breakthrough.
The second period started with both teams having opportunities and early pokes to try and establish themselves, but it was something less direct that put the Phantoms further in front. A hard drive from outside the zone whistled past the Devils’ net and slammed off of the end boards. Martin-Edwards had moved across to cover the shot but the rebounding puck didn’t die at the wall and instead launched itself over the crossbar and back in front of the net. With the netminder out of position and looking the wrong way, he couldn’t react quickly enough as Jack Sansby was on hand to fire home for 3-0 with just 2.05 of the period gone.
The game then took on a very even tone. It was just a good back and forth encounter for a solid 10 minutes. The encounter felt much more like a 0-0 than a 3-0 as the two sides created chances. Both netminders were frequently called into action but both were standing tall.
Just after the midway point came a glimmer of light for Solent. Callum Worthington-Evans was called for a penalty that I didn’t see the signal for and wasn’t announced over the tanoy but he had to sit for regardless. The Devils’ powerplay unit set to work and eventually got their deserved reward with Cain Russell taking the feed from Charlie Wedge and firing home to blot Bainborough’s copybook.
There was a bit of a pushback from the visitors in response, Martin Edwards needing to turn away White and Nathan Pollard in short order, the later seeing the Phantoms’ player/coach crash into the goal frame which saw the game delayed whilst he got in a position to move again.
The Devils came out of that break the better side, recovering the momentum of the game. A rush to the net saw Bainborough stay down hurt after the Devils’ forward was crosschecked into the Phantoms’ backstop gifting the hosts a powerplay inside the last minute of the second frame.
Martin-Edwards was forced into stopping a late shorthanded chance from the recovered Nathan Pollard and the Devils took advantage after the period break. Bainborough was forced into two or three stops in short order before the puck was fed high for Jack Peacock to step into the shot and blast it into the back of the net at 40.55. The game was on.
The problem for the visitors was that they were starting to look tired. This wasn’t unreasonable given the short bench but with the momentum against them and the legs getting a bit slower, the Devils started to turn the screw.
The hosts started having all the chances and all the momentum. Wedge went close multiple times but not as close as Oliver Cackett. With the Phantoms defence stretched and Bainborough scrambling, the young forward fired through the melee to see his shot ring off the inside of the left post and bounce out.
A hooking penalty to Kevin McAllister wasn’t helpful for the hosts but the penalty killing unit did its job with aplomb, stopping Peterborough from getting a clean shot on net for the duration of the man advantage. The Devils would get their own powerplay late as Sam Barlow was called for interference, but they still couldn’t find a way through as the final stages loomed.
Peterborough knew what they needed to do; push the Devils back. Knowing that they’d be looking to pull Martin-Edwards for the extra attacker, they needed to get the puck deep not give them the chance. However, Conor Pollard had a better idea. When the puck fell to him at the hashmarks, he turned and aimed for the top corner of the net. The puck came off his stick faster than Martin-Edwards could lift his glove. At 4-2 with 1.25 left , the game fizzled to its conclusion and the points left with the Phantoms.
I’ve seen the Solent Junior Devils win, I’ve seen them absolutely smashed and then there was this where they were arguably a bit unlucky. Getting in a load of the division 1 guys to help out was certainly a good idea. It made the roster well rounded in terms of its overall ability. What they were a bit guilty of was just lacking that clinical edge to really see them over the line.
Aside from the fact that Rory Martin-Edwards will want the third goal back, that was a horror show on all fronts for the Devils, this was a decent and accomplished performance from Harry Cloutman’s side. They maybe suffered from thinking too hard and not thinking smart on occasions, but the effort was there and they skated with Peterborough and didn’t ever look out of the game. Martin-Edwards faced over 50 shots in the game so one howler aside, he gave his team the chance to win. It just didn’t fall for them on the night.
How that plays into the cup quarter final will be interesting. Ice availability means that their playoff quarter final with Guildford has become a one game shootout at the Spectrum. The Solent division one side will be in Gillingham so there will be no division one guys available and the mammoth task of facing down the league champions on their turf. The Devils will be realistic about their chances, but they have a punchers chance. They just have to find a way with what they have. Their season comes down to one single game, do or die. Their fate is now in their hands.
This was my first-time seeing Peterborough and whilst it’s hard to get a real feel for them when they travelled so short, I can see why they made the South 2 cup final. Depleted or not, the majority of their top 6 was there. Both Pollard brothers and Taylor Romeo have played much higher than this as has James White with Jordan Ho having played at IIHF worlds for Hong Kong. Combined with Ryan Bainborough, a netminder who significant experience with the Phantoms main team, that’s a formidable opponent in South 2.
Ultimately, they had a good strategy which was to soak up pressure when it came and use their skill to craft out what they could. It worked. It did get dicey at times and the legs were probably very stiff the day after but where Solent weren’t clinical, they were. Being 3-0 up and letting Solent back in won’t sit well but that has to be tempered by the fact that so few bodies can only do so much. At the death, when it mattered, Conor Pollard’s shot ended all resistance. At full strength they will be dangerous.
Man of the match went to Romford junior Phil Maguire who at 16 looks a real prospect. Triple registered with the u18s and Buccaneers as well as the Phantoms 2, Maguire isn’t a huge body at the moment but his positioning and hockey sense appear to be high for the level. I can see why the Buccaneers are using him.
The Phantoms do not have an opponent locked in just yet, results on the last weekend will determine things but Cardiff is a possibility for them which would be tough. The Fire are the only team to beat Guildford so far though in my brief chat with Nathan Pollard he felt they matched up well with the Welsh side.
Will both these sides make Alexandra Palace? Probably not, Solent’s battle is gargantuan for that but buried away in front of 40-50 people on the south coast was two teams preparing themselves for what’s to come, that puncher’s chance at glory to end the season.
As it was the last game of the season, the Junior Devils gathered at centre ice to say goodbye to the campaign. It’s one where they’ve outperformed the year before and secured post-season hockey for themselves. It’s one where I think Harry Cloutman and his coaching team can take a great deal of pride in what they’ve achieved even if their season likely ends in two weekends’ time.
As the Peterborough Phantoms headed to their cars, I can’t help but think Nathan Pollard has something more than a valiant end to the season on his mind.
Lowlight of the night: I get why it wasn’t well attended but a shame there weren’t more people there.
Highlight of the night: The game itself. Would have been easy for either side to phone it in and they didn’t. A game played in the right spirit.
Banners On The Road – Basingstoke Buffalo vs Solent Junior Devils 10/12/23
Posted: 12/12/2023 Filed under: Banners On The Road, NIHL | Tags: Banners On The Road, basingstoke buffalo, NIHL, solent junior devils Leave a commentNIHL 2 South
Basingstoke Buffalo 15-0 Solent Junior Devils
Buffalo: Wilson x7 (2pp), Robinson x3, Buckle x2, Harcup x2 (1sh), Anda
Junior Devils:
The short version: The muscle memory had still not left me. Even with all my travelling about, I could still drive to Basingstoke in my sleep. When I arrived, I parked the car and walked in. There was nobody immediately there so I just walked into the rink. I didn’t expect security to overly challenge me but I was expecting to see someone. Eventually I found myself bumping into familiar faces. A few Bison fans had taken the decision to come to this game so it was good to see familiar faces.
The rink itself is as you would expect. The lack of news surrounding the rink is and remains frustrating to the point of making my blood boil but I had to park it. The photo of the rink attached to this piece will show you what you know. My heart is here, a piece of it always will be but seeing it in such a mess hurts.
Now it would be cruel and far too long to sit here and recount all the goals in a sort of match round up format, especially given that the first of Hallam Wilson’s seven goals on the night came inside the first minute but a general overview of the game is probably necessary.
I’ve watched a fair bit of ice hockey in the 19 years since I first watched the game, and this was as one sided as I’ve seen any game. I know, dear reader, your shock at that revelation given the scoreline above but it was also the sheer weight of chances one way or another. In the same building many years ago, I saw the Bison beat the Bees 12-0 but Bracknell did have chances, they just got blown away. The game felt decided from so early on as to almost be moot, but two teams skated for 60 minutes, it’s just that one was simply better than the other.
I’ve now had the opportunity to see both sides of the Solent Junior Devils. Their win over Haringey was a great piece of patience and strategy played out on their own ice where they were led by division one Devils players and the netminding of Rory Martin-Edwards.
On this night they were not so fortunate. With the bigger brother club away in Milton Keynes and the unavailability of Aaron Taylor, it meant a few top end guys out and the netminding duo was Tylor Campbell and Richard Hurle.
The end result shows quite clearly how outclassed the Junior Devils were. Going forward they were unable to generate much of anything at all. There were shots, albeit I feel the shot count was a touch generous, but the most dangerous one was put right into the goalie’s glove by Riley Panter.
There wasn’t much in the way of offensive generation, and they were unable to get themselves up properly in the attacking zone to effectively get cycles going. Defensively they got beaten for position as well as pace at times. Campbell and Hurle tried their best in net but where the defence struggled to disrupt the opposing forwards from gaining position, they were in the firing line a lot. It should be said that both made some good saves into the bargain but got overrun.
The Junior Devils do deserve a lot of credit. Being outclassed happens, especially at division 2 level where the talent pool is very wide, but they skated for 60 minutes. They could have tried to get overly physical for the sake of it, they didn’t just let the onslaught happen. They put in the effort. They just weren’t as good as the other team. They deserve credit for turning up and putting the effort in.
The Basingstoke Buffalo are a different story. We could flip the above on its head and just say “everything went right” which is easy to do when you put a tennis score on a team but this was a bit more to it than that.
Co-coaches Hallam Wilson and Paul Petts scoring 14 points between them was symptomatic of the quality that the two of them possess at this level. Petts playing in his natural role of playmaking centre controlled the strings and Wilson, now at 39 points in 12 games, has a release of such quality at this level that he beat Tylor Campbell through the 5hole before Campbell could drop into his butterfly. The top line also included Alex Sampford and even then he was almost surplus to requirements.
Xander Robinson scored a hattrick to add to his impressive start to the campaign. The 17-year-old has got a very good turn of pace and very solid hands. His ability to add secondary scoring alongside Buffalo mainstay Cam Buckle is going to hopefully pay dividends. Players like Robinson, Buckle and Scott Anda as options in the top 6 when players like Sampford can’t play due to work.
The other addition who will be in and out of the line-up was Harry Harcup. Recently signed on a two-way with the Bees to garner more ice time, Harcup had an impressive debut with a 2+1 performance. Harcup was guilty of trying to do a bit too much too quickly, clearly needing a few minutes to adjust to the speed of the game at this level but he’s an industrious player who will help the Buffalo against teams with high work rates and physicality. Not the biggest of players, at division 2 his speed will be a real asset which will hopefully improve the forecheck against players uncomfortable with their time unchallenged on the puck to be drastically shorter.
We also need to say a word about Morgan Parsons. The, what we’re told, retirement tour of Dan Weller-Evans could easily see the former Bison netminder take all the games and Morgan could watch. Instead, Parsons is being given chances to play, to get game time and improve. He did not have the toughest of nights in terms of shots but the game was a lesson. Being a netminder isn’t just making saves and mayhem but calmness and concentration. Being switched on for long periods of time, being in the moment is a massive skill for young netminders to learn. His first senior shutout came during a game that won’t garner much attention for what he did. It came because his outskating colleagues were a class above their opposition but he made the saves that came, he stayed in the moment and made it his. It was another highlight in a superb Buffalo team performance.
Both teams will move on from this day. They need to. The Junior Devils will rebound, and the Buffalo have their sights set on Haringey next weekend. For those from Gosport, they’re looking at the bigger picture. The Buffalo are as well but they probably have to face the fact that their top 9 is now arguably league beating and that after 6 wins on the bounce, they have the ability to make things happen. The next test will be very stern but pass it and there’s some earnest conversations to be had about where the ceiling is for Paul Petts and Hallam Wilson’s side.
Lowlight of the night: Would have been better had the game been more competitive, obviously.
Highlight of the night: Too many to mention really.
Banners On The Road – Solent Junior Devils vs Haringey Huskies 26/11/23
Posted: 29/11/2023 Filed under: Banners On The Road, NIHL | Tags: Banners On The Road, haringey huskies, NIHL, solent junior devils Leave a commentNIHL 2 South
Solent Junior Devils 3-2 Haringey Huskies
Devils: Harman pp, Peacock x2 (1sh)
Huskies: J. Hepburn, Tearall
Frozen thinking: So, it was back to Gosport for a different reason. When Saturday suddenly became very busy, my wife decreed that I needed to go to a game on Sunday and then in the fixtures, a gem that made sense.
I’d recently interviewed Harry Cloutman, Solent Devils defenceman at division 1 level and the youngest head coach in division 2 so the chance to see the Junior Devils and make that comparison to their big brothers.
On the other side, the Haringey Huskies. The Huskies had announced in the late summer that they intended to step up to South 1 for 2024/25, had been regularly selling out their home rink at Alexandra Palace and came into the game fresh off of a 12-0 destruction of the Streatham Blackhawks. Being another team that I’d never seen before, this seemed like a barn door game to go and attend.
It was a wet drive down the M27, outside the rink was wet and inside the Gosport Ice Arena, it was frigidly cold. I could feel the cold and damp slowly seeking into my bones and the rink coffee would only stave it off for so long. The excitement of something new would have to keep me warm.
A small contingent of Huskies fans had made the trip from North London and in total there were probably around 60 odd people in the rink, a mixture of friends, family and Devils fans who fancied keeping an eye on the second team.
It was also the first time for some time that I’d seen a two-man officiating system, Mr Brothwell and Mr Coyne were given the honour of this encounter but outside of division 1, this seemed reasonable.
I’d been warned by a Haringey supporting follower on Twitter that the Huskies struggled in 22/23 in the second half of back-to-back games. The game itself started in the way that all games in Gosport traditionally do; it was incredibly scrappy. The Huskies clearly had the players with the higher natural skill level and were trying to do something with that, only to be met with the Devils showing all the initial finesse of a tractor on a country road.
Eventually, a few penalties were called and after swapping powerplays, it seemed that the Huskies were starting to impose themselves on the game a little bit. They were forcing Rory Martin-Edwards in the Devils’ net to make a string of stops.
However, a powerplay the other way proved the initial difference. Jack Peacock was brought down by Cassius McCormack and whilst the powerplay didn’t get a chance to really set up, the breakout and a quick burst of speed up ice saw Peacock find Harvey Harman who snapped a very good wrist shot over the glove of Huskies’ goalie, Luke Clark to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at the end of the first.
The Huskies tried pressing early in the second, a Sam Roberts shot hitting the stick of Martin-Edwards and looping agonisingly open the goalie and the net. The visitors then were insistent that the puck had crossed the line after a shot clipped off of Martin-Edwards. Neither official was of the same opinion, neither I confess was this writer but an scuffle in front of the goal shortly afterwards saw the Devils’ Joe Silvester head to the box. The powerplay was decent but the lack of being clinical cost the Huskies again as the Devils went up the other end, this time Harman setting up Jack Peacock. Luke Clark got a piece of the shot but it wasn’t enough and it was a 2-0 lead for the hosts.
However shortly afterwards, the Huskies justifiably got themselves on the board. Having failed to be direct enough for the large swathes of the game, the first bit of really paid dividends. James Hepburn took Tom Avery’s pass and forced his way up the middle lane, taking the chance to backhand the puck over the glove side shoulder of Martin-Edwards.
The Huskies immediately turned up the pressure but the Devils responded to try and shut things down to retain the lead at the second break.
The visitors came racing out of the gate for the final frame and got an immediate result. Joe Tearall was on hand to slam the shot past Martin-Edwards from the low slot and within two minutes of the restart, the game was tied.
As you can imagine, the game then became very attritional and nervy, a tightly poised affair where the Huskies were pushing the pace and the hosts were happy to frustrate and wait for the right moment. The tempo was high and the physicality was high but nobody could seem to find the golden touch. The Devils weren’t really creating loads and the Huskies kept being frustrated by Martin-Edwards.
After Roberts hit the crossbar for Haringey, the visitors were given a golden chance. Graham Ruddick had been solid at the back for the hosts but a clumsy hit on Connor Smith was adjudged as a 5 minute boarding major. With 4.45 left to play in regulation, it meant Solent needing to see out the remainder of the 60 minutes a man down.
The Huskies powerplay, that had looked decent enough all night, went to work and went looking for the golden moment to win the game and keep the pressure on Peterborough and Guildford at the top. Instead, they were left to think about the one that got away. Jack Peacock, who had looked the best outskater for the hosts all night, powered his way out of the zone and bore down on Clark. The initial shot was saved but Clark was forced out of his net to the right to make the save. Peacock beat the backchecking defenders to the puck and his backhand shot beat Clark to make it 3-2 with less than two minutes to play.
The visitors kept pushing, called their timeout and pulled Clark from the net but they ran out of time. Rory Martin-Edwards was mobbed at the other end and after losing to Lee Valley the week before, the Devils had pulled off one of the upsets of the South 2 season.
The Haringey Huskies will be kicking themselves for losing this game. This was on a plate for them to win and they had all the momentum in the world after their dominating performance the night before. Unfortunately they ended up looking mentally a bit spent after putting in a lot of effort for little result.
Let’s get this straight, at this level Haringey are clearly very good. They appear to have a good mix of skill and grit, Luke Clark looks like a very handy goalie at this level as well. However the Huskies fell into the trap that Invicta fell into during one of the early editions of this series. You can’t play expansive, pretty, stick handling heavy hockey in the phone box that is Gosport. You have to be direct. You have to be less ballet style precision and more battering ram.
The Huskies were guilty of trying to do too much in too many ways and ended up paying the price for it. The counterargument will be that you don’t go into Solent’s rink and try to play Solent’s game because they’ll be better at it. It’s a fair point but sometimes you don’t need to add Worcestershire sauce or some greenery to anything fancy to a cheese toastie, you just need cheese, bread, butter and to toast it. What Haringey needed to try and do was focus the clear skill element of their roster more on getting pucks and quality shots on net rather than trying to stickhandle for the sake of it.
Cassius McCormak took the man of the match honours for what I call an industrious performance and I had no argument with that. The former Milton Keynes junior is finding his way in senior hockey and this was a good showing.
Harry Cloutman looked tired after the game but it was a very happy tired and it was justified. Following their loss to Lee Valley, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that this game would be one sided and even more so after Haringey gave Streatham an almighty kicking. Instead what we got was the antithesis of what they played against. They met skill with steadfastness.
The Junior Devils are a development team in the true sense of the word, an improving one, but where the Huskies have silverware in their plans, the Devils are there to get the players better. They don’t have the same level of skill as the Huskies but what they did was to not overcomplicate things. The hosts sought to frustrate and they frustrated. They sought to disrupt and they disrupted. They sought to hit on the counter and hit on the counter three times and then let Rory Martin-Edwards pick up the rest.
Some will wonder why Jack Peacock didn’t get man of the match and I did wonder this myself for a bit as he was arguably the most effective outskater across both sides and scored the game winner but Rory Martin-Edwards did face a ton of rubber and turned over 50 shots away from a team that has had multiple double digit wins this season.
The trick for the Devils going forward is some level of consistency in their play. It’s not fluctuating from good to baffling but the roster, all of them, learning how to do that week in and week out. However the entire team can take credit for this night. It was an excellent team performance that they should be proud of.
Lowlight of the night: The carbon monoxide monitor going off and the olympia being started up next to it probably didn’t help.
Highlight of the night: The game winner, superbly taken goal.
Banners On The Wall 