SIHA Round-Up 24th & 25th January 2015

It was another mixed bag of results & fortunes for SIHA’s teams this last weekend which had got off to good start with a comprehensive 22-0 victory for Rapiers U16 D1 over Billingham. This followed on from Lasers U12 D1 midweek 5-3 win over Nottingham which strengthens their position at the top of their table.

Spartans were in NIHL action but a below par performance in a scrappy & at times lack lustred game saw Billingham Stars bag the points with a 4-2 victory. Stars took advantage of some sloppy defending to take a 1-0 lead into the second period. Some sustained from pressure for Stars should have seen them well clear but Spartans held firm to then hit back and equalise through Elliott Knell.

The final period was a scrappy affair, not helped by some inconsistent officiating with bizarre calls on both teams but Stars again punished some slack defending to go 3-1 up through Michael Bowman & Andy Munroe. Things got worse for Spartans as Stars scored a great goal through Thomas Stuart-Dant to make it 4-1. It could have been even worse had it not been for Brandon Stones in Spartans goal but another break in favoured Spartans who went onto enjoy probably their best spell of the game and pulled a goal back, a nice goal too scored by Nick Manning. Despite their efforts Spartans couldn’t find a way past a well drilled defence and in the final minutes Stars gained control to see the game out to deservedly win 4-2.

Whilst Samurai U10’s were tucking into their kebabs after their cross-ice contests in Solihull just down the road the academy’s other senior team, Senators, edged ever closer to automatic promotion with a superb 6-1 road win in Coventry. Blaze had opened the scoring but 2 goals in each period ensured the points came back to Sheffield with Josh Gent, Jonny Bell, Arran Bell, Sergevs “Stevie” Jegorovs, Nathan Britton & Callum Rawson grabbing the goals.

Meanwhile back at Ice Sheffield there were contrasting results for our U18’s teams. Greyhounds U18 D2 were comprehensively beaten 19-0 by Sheffield Steeldogs Academy who included EPL players Cam Brownley & Tom Barry with Cam the star of the show with 7 goals & 4 assists. Steelhawks U18 D1 enjoyed a good 10-0 victory over rivals Telford as their improved form continues.

On Sunday, Swampfrogs U12 D2 enjoyed a 4-1 win away at Blackburn with goals from Sam Parkin, Archie Grayson, Ethan Jones & Danecko Michael. Spartans Jonathan Kirk stood in to oversee Stormers U14 D1 superb 6-2 victory down the road in Nottingham to go back to the top of the table over Bradford but to also widen the gap between themselves and 3^rd place Nottingham.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend for our academy teams and no doubt those who suffered with disappointments will be keen to bounce back to show what they are truly capable of…onwards & upwards!

Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with the Frozen Steel Team on this article, Facebook or via Twitter:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@TomWalkeden
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@RatedRDG

Check out the Frozen Steel Forum

or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com