A strong Div 3 showing...

by David Coolegem

Sorry for the lengthy read but our B-team managed to steal 3rd place in the Div 3 nationals from some much more experienced teams yesterday. What follows is a summary of what turned out to be a great day.

From what I gathered, the other teams present all seemed to have weekly trainings just for their teams, and some of their players even had up to 4yrs experience (One guy apparently played hockey for 4 years, got into an accident, lost his memory but not his hockey skills, and now is playing in his 'first' year). The sheffield and Cardiff teams in particular seemed exceptionally strong and I am sure would have given our A team a good fight.

We started in Group 1, consisting of what initially seemed the three weaker teams present that day (Nottingham, Newcastle and us). With most of our players having no game experience (probably never even having played ice hockey outside alexandra palace), and our coaching staff (Paul, Ilya and myself) never having coached before, everyone seemed stunned and mystified what to do during the first half of our first game. So no surprise that we went down 6-0. But we quickly regrouped and managed to stem the loss to finish the second half 'only' 7-0 down.

A nice baptism of fire that was! But credit to everyone involved, we addressed the issues, identified some pretty good line pairings, and put our revamped squad to the test in what was probably the weakest team, Newcastle. And work it did, Arvid seemingly decided to score a hat-trick and a great show of energy from Oli to score another one to make it 4-1. With Nottingham also winning from Newcastle, we ended 2nd in our group and progressed to the semi-final to play against the winners of group 2, Sheffield.

Having seen Sheffield play Northumbria in their group game, Ilya and me were, to say the least, a bit perplexed. How could this be div 3 standard? (I asked Ilya to write down all their good players so we would know who to look out for, but he came back with what was basicly their roster). So we put on a brave face in the dressing room, somehow inspired confidence in our team and crossed our fingers in the hope to at least finish the game with a score that could still fit on the scoreboard. But that wasn't necessary. Sheffield must have though we switched our B team for our A team as a very gritty and determined Imperial B stepped onto the ice, and did not relinquish anything up until the very end of the first period. Excellent goalkeeping from Mark, devoted defending from Matt P, Ruth, Chris P and Dan B and an attacking force that got a very respectable number of chances showed Sheffield they were in for the long haul. But a great goal from one of sheffield's top players (the guy with the accident who not only lost his memory but also the ability of comprehensive speech) proved the turning point. Our team now tired from their earlier heroics and mentally aware of who they were up against dropped their intesity and guard. Since the 3rd/4th place play-off was only 15 minutes after the semi-final, the order was given to drop our intensity without sacrifising our defensive capabilities. The final score was 4-0.

While the 15 minutes break turned into 45 as the Zamboni broke down in the middle of the ice with engine trouble and the RAC were called, the coaching staff set about preparing the team for their final game. No changes were made as the lines were working very well, and key positional strategies and the offside rule drilled in to ensure we could make use of as many breakaways as we could.

Facing Nottingham again after they lost their semi-final against Cardiff (2-6) we went in with confidence belying that of a team that only played together for the first time 5 hours earlier and after losing to them 7-0 in the opening game. And what a game this turned out to be. Mark produced some truly spectacular saves to deny Nottingham every single time (they had at least 5 clear breakaways). At one point Mark even flung himself in football-style across the goal with an oustreched handglove to catch a puck heading for the far top corner. After playing like if he had a stick of dynamite in his rear all day and being denied his first goal on countless occasions, Che finally scored with a well finished break-away. Imperial 1, Nottingham 0, 8 minutes on the clock. Inspiring our team to not give any ground to Nottingham everybody fought to their limit but that dreaded equaliser came with only 2 minutes on the clock. Knowing that there wouldn't be another chance everybody dug in to stem the Nottingham Blitzkrieg that started after their goal. The clock ticked down to 0:00 with the score still at 1-1. Faces turned to me to come up with a list of 5 penalty takers and their order. With only 1 minute to go the order was: Che (against his will), Oli, Arvid, Matt P and Ruth. The first three penalties from either side were nerve-wracking as nobody from either team was able to score. Neither did their fourth penalty taker (they were going first). But then came Matt P. Playing as if it were just another training and the grand prize was nothing more than a Rolo, he coolly side-stepped the goalie and casually passed the puck so that it hit the back of the goal, he turned around to see 100 people in the crowd giving him a standing ovation, a nottingham team giving his name to the local hitman, and an Imperial team partying like if it was 1999. With the score at 1-0 to Imperial and only 1 penalty taker left from each side, Mark managed to save the last shot of the game giving Imperial third place.

So, a respectable showing from the B team that definately surprised all other teams present. Also some great experience for our players, some of whom will probably graduate to the A team next year. They have set the bar high for the A team next week, who now have to get to the final if they want to improve on last year and prove that 'B' doesnt stand for 'Better'.

Thanks again to all the players, and to Paul and Ilya for running the defence and offence benches respectively, so that all I had to do was shout and tell myself I was making a difference.