ICHC’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) for 2012 will take place:

Thursday 8th March 2012 at 6pm in Skempton Building Room 301.

The Men’s 2nd XI are currently experiencing a season of two halves. Going into the latest BUCS match against Roehampton Mens’ 1s in the home fixture having beaten them comprehensively 4-1 at the start of the season, we sit at the top of the league unbeaten with 3 wins and 1 draw, and not having played the league leaders yet. In ULU we are sitting squarely at the bottom, with 3 defeats.

A shakeup in the squad due to the rock that is Tinkerbell making a step up to the 1st XI; Unterbrøw deciding to contract an STI; and Doctor Fresher Tom twisting his knee the day before the match, meant we had lost our two central defenders and a key central midfielder. Luckily to plug this huge hole in our back four, we had our team captain B. Man Briggs, and esteemed fresher Meatspin coming in from right and left back respectively into the centre.

We came out of the blocks early and fast. Some great passing down the right and left wings led to the some great attacking plays. Within the first ten minutes our infamous 70% defensive press paid off and Dirty Whaler pilfered the ball from under the nose of the Roehampton left-back, promptly passing it to the newly bar-named Captain Slow who was lingering on the baseline. Some silky skills into their circle later, he pulled a pass back to Brickney who slotted it into the goal past their keeper.

Having poked our noses in front, we revelled in being awarded yet more short corners in their circle– however our esteemed corner striker C. Bell fired blanks and we were unable to capitalise on the proverbial campsite we had set up around their goal.

Consistently we were again unable to use the huge amounts of possession or the territory we kept gaining by pressing their defensive lines, which is something we should definitely work on at future training sessions. It took a breakaway counterattack by Roehampton’s sneaky centre midfielder to shoot towards goal, forcing an excellent save from Glory Hole. The ball fell to B. Man Briggs and in classic defensive fashion, he spanked the ball into a Roehampton player’s ankle. The umpire rightly gave a free hit to Imperial, despite the howls of pain of the Roehampton striker. At this point we experienced an interlude in play, while we waited for an ambulance to turn up. After half an hour of waiting around with icepacks, tinfoil and warm clothes, however, the ambulance never arrived due to the injury apparently not being severe enough to merit one and he was carried off the pitch by his teammates. Ironically, the same injured Roehampton player actually broke his thumb the last time he played us at the beginning of last term.

The second half was pretty much yet more Imperial domination, with some moments of brilliance by Roehampton’s midfielders more than matched by Soggy Biscuit’s magic tackle at the back. This is also when the half an hour “break” started to take its toll on us. As Dirty Whaler noted in his post-match comments, it was due to the accumulation of Christmas-induced layers of fat. A couple of members of the team such as Yellowbag seized up with cramp, leaving us to play Total Hockey, constantly switching in and out of each others’ positions in midfield.

Towards the end, IC experienced a barrage of attacks and short corners, and it was a tribute to our strength and depth that our solid sellotaped makeshift defence held out to the finish line. Eventually the game finished with the score at 1-0 to Imperial, and our unbeaten record in the BUCS league was further cemented.

On a cold Wednesday evening, IC M3 clinically dispatched St. Bart’s M2 to reach the dizzying heights of the top of ULU. A 3-0 scoreline did not flatter IC, with our boys creating many chances and defending solidly throughout.

The first half was all IC, but no goals came. Throughout the entire half, IC applied a lot of pressure on St. Barts and played the most of the game in the opposition’s D. Save for one break, which saw St. Barts squander a one-on-one, IC were in control throughout, with Fresher Ed and Tharun dropping deep into midfield and creating lots of space for wing wizards Cockerel and Pappity-boopity-poppity  to exploit. A stunning run from Free Willy should have earned the opener, but he choked at the crucial moment. Despite this dominance, IC had nothing to show for it, 0-0 at half time.

An inspiring talk from goalkeeper/captain Sifter, who was probably rather bored at this stage, reminded of us to just do the basics and not get sucked in to the game. The words were so standard, but needed saying as the M3 has a habit of forgetting.

Straight from the second half push-off, IC won a short and piled on the pressure. After taking a couple of minutes (seriously, it’s pretty ridiculous how long we take) to decide what routine to do, Pappity-boopity-poppity slotted in following Aquaman’s entirely intentional (not at all a scuffed shot) dummy.

If the first goal was good, the second goal was better. The same routine left St Bart’s stunned again. This time, Munter Gatherer’s pass pierced through the defence, leaving Aquaman with a simple touch into the goal. 2-0 the score, and it was no more than what IC deserved.

The third goal was something else altogether. A loose ball popped out from Designer V and Fresher Ed played a Cook-esque straight drive that crashed in off the post. A stunning goal and a stunning finish to the match.

It should be noted that victories always start with the defence, and Fritzl, Eager Beaver, B. Tablet, Free Willy and Gingypops had an outstanding game.

P.S. At no point, did Kirby score. Ever.

The 2012 Alumni Newsletter is online now!

Check it out for updates on the teams, who’s won awards, what happened on tour and lots more. We would also love to hear from you and we’ve got a page for that too. http://ichcalumninewsletter.wordpress.com/

 To say that it has been a disastrous start to the season would be an understatement for the IC Hockey Men’s 3^rd XI. By losing their first four games they had already lost more times this season than in the entirety of the last. With relegation a shocking possibility, the team knew that they needed to register a win soon, which is exactly what they did against a shell-shocked Sussex 2^nd XI.

Playing 4-4-2 with a diamond had not been working for IC who have been lacking an attacking edge all season. So with drastic times calling for drastic measures, the team changed to a 4-3-3 and within minutes of the push back this change almost reaped immediate rewards with SCID almost knocking in a loose ball but for good work by the Sussex keeper.

IC kept up this pressure throughout the first 10 minutes of the half, but after this period, the game started to turn. A break by Sussex into our D saw goal-keeper Sifter run out to make a fine goal-saving tackle, but severely injure his neck in the process. After a lengthy injury time out, IC took too long to get back into the game and found themselves a goal down when the Sussex forward snuck in behind Eager Beaver and Fritzl to slot coolly past a helpless Sifter. Some more poor play from IC offered Sussex plenty of opportunities, but thankfully poor finishing kept the score at just 1-0 when going into half time.

An inspiring half-time team talk from Sifter rallied the troops, reminding the team to play simple hockey and show that they were better than their Sussex opposition. This, combined with the thought of losing all of the first five games of the season and the exuberant support of the Ladies 2s, saw IC push hard from the off in the second half.

Everything just seemed the click after half time. The midfield dynamo of Fresher Hemal, Designer V, and Aquaman dominated the opposition, leaving Cockerel, Fresher Ed, Pappity-Boopity-Popitty and Munter Gatherer to exploit the spaces behind the defence and provide golden opportunities for SCID.

It didn’t take IC long to draw level, when a surging run down the right by Cockerel found the stick of Designer V who laid the ball on a plate for SCID to finish off. With that equaliser going in, IC were very much on top, and had Sussex reeling. Wave after wave of IC attack failed to produce a goal until Bum Tablet caught one of Sussex forwards napping while on the ball, and produced a scintillating run, fluking his way past two defenders before getting barged off the ball and winning a short corner. From the resulting short, Fresher Hemal smashed the ball into the goal putting IC ahead.

Sussex were stunned and try as they could, they failed to muster much of a response with the IC defence pushing up high and snuffing out attacks before they could develop. It was a nervy end to the match though, as Sussex were awarded a short at the death but Gingypops stood up to the test and pressured the Sussex forward into a mistake.

2-1 the final score and a thoroughly deserved win for the Men’s 3s who hope to extend this one match winning streak against the RSM next week.

Hello everyone!

The best and messiest evening of this term is almost upon us!

This year’s infamous ICHC Christmas Dinner will be on Wednesday 7th December at the Walkabout in Shepherd’s Bush.

This is an evening you really don’t want to miss out on!

You’ll all get:

• a festive two-course set meal
• half a bottle of wine

Buy your ticket here:

• £17 for members: https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/hockey-116/hockey-christmas-dinner-2011-club-members-3547/product.html
• £27 for non-members: https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/hockey-116/hockey-christmas-dinner-2011-3545/product.html

Membership

If you haven’t bought your membership yet, now is the perfect time to get it and save yourself a tenner on your Xmas dinner https://www.imperialcollegeunion.org/hockey-116/hockey-membership/product.html

Lots and lots of festive hockey love,

Jason Ye
ICHC Club Captain 2011-12

The Mens 1′s saw their first win of the season this Wednesday, thrashing St Mary’s with a resounding 4 – 1. Having narrowly lost to St Mary’s in the BUCS League a few weeks previously, they were determined to not let that happen again, and as a result knocked St Mary’s out of the BUCS Cup.

The game started with heavy pressure from St Mary’s; the defence met every attack with equal force and repelled any chance of a goal in the early stages. However, IC soon gained control of the game, with Chris scoring the first goal, as well as a one on one with the goalkeeper later on. St Mary’s were truly beaten when Ewan effortlessly dribbled with ball past their defenders and placed a simple ball in the back of the net. Overall, despite only having 11 men, the Mens 1s fielded a closely knit team, which worked as a unit for the whole game, which saw them win the game and move to the next stage of the Cup.