v Eskimos

The Statesmen kicked off the winter season with their first win against the Cambridge Eskimos. With the two previous encounters ending with a goal in it, the Statesmen were expecting a close game. The Statesmen welcomed three new players in their first game Tom Lahtinen, George Prich and Dmitry Selimir.
The Statesmen got off to a nice start with a goal from Tom on his first game for the Statesmen and bouyed by this jumped off to a 3-0 lead after 15mins, though this could have easily been tied with the Eskimos getting 3 clear breakaways but some great goaltending for Ben kept them out.
The 2nd period was a more back and forth affair with the Eskimos and Statesmen trading goals but the Statesmen getting the better of the period 5-3 with Mike getting a brace to lead 8-3.
The third period went to the Eskimos with the goal hungry Statesmen pushing more forward but unsuprisingly only scoring 1 to the Eskimos 3, 9-6 the final score. MOTM James

Ben gets 50

Thanks to Steve for finding some 'lost' gamesheets and thanks to our founder Mark Feehan as well, lol.
As such officially Ben has now reached 50 games and Ty has 250 goals, congrats Ben.

Memorial Game for Mat Hoxby

Sunday saw the first memorial game for Mat Hoxby who died last year in a fatal car accident. He played for both teams so it was only fitting we have a game in his honour and try to raise some money for Cancer Research (a charity he would have chose and one that is very worthwhile and close to me as well).
In what is hoped to be a bi-monthly game and a memorial cup to be kept by the winning team, the score doesn't really matter, but let's just say that the Statesmen are the current cup holders;)
Thanks to everyone who turned up in a very enjoyable game and we managed to raise a bit over £400 for Cancer Research. Thanks everyone.

Win v Hyenas

In a battle of the Freitag's, the game saw the Statesmen eventual 10-0 winners from only 8 players. A great game played in the spirit normally played between the 2 sides and a special occassion for the senior Freitag was undermined by the junior.

Win v Wolves

The Statesmen played the Solihull Wolves at the Coventry Skydome on the 20th June. In an enjoyable game in a very nice rink the Statesmen were never in danger and won 11-1.

James, Paddy & Mike

Congratulations to James (50) and Paddy (25) assists against the Solihull Wolves and to Mike H who scored his first goal for the Statesmen.

Best D Man & 50 games

Congratulations to Paddy who won best D man for the Streatham tournament and to Isaac who reached 50 games.

Streatham tournament

The Statesmen played in the Streatham mini-tournament on Bank Holiday Monday. 4 other teams of the Russians, Queensway Spitfires, Streatham Nightwolves and Streatham Redskins. Things started off well and a good quick game against the Russians ended up 0-0, then against a quick Spitfire team we lost 2-0, a very disappointing performance agains the Nightwolves ended 5-0 and finally a loss to the Redskins 4-0. 4 games and no goals sums it up, the games only being 20mins long a goal here or there would have changed our fortunes completely, but some good performances from everyone.
An enjoyable day and thanks to the Nightwolves for setting it up.
On a positive note, Paddy won best defenceman for the whole tournament, congratulations.

Win v Hyenas

The Statesmen won 10-1 v Basingstoke Hyenas, In a battle of the Freitags the Statesmen came out on top in a very good natured and enjoyable game between the old foes.
MOTM James

Tall Paul - 25

Congratulations to Tall Paul who played his 25th game against Basingstoke.

Win v Swindon

In what was another closely contested game between the old foes saw the Statesmen come out 7-5 winners. With 2 lines and borrowing Froudy, things could have started better for the Statesmen, but with Wednesday's game to get out of the system the Statesmen got the opening goal from Jamie O'Dell (first of a natural hat trick) after 8 mins, the Knights got back in the fray with a goal the 15min mark, but to the Statesmens credit no-one panicked and we got a goal either side of the 2nd period to lead 3-1.
The Knights were quickly back into it with a couple of goals 2mins apart to tie the game and took the lead a min into the 3rd period. The Statesmen then took the lead after 32mins only for the Knights to come back into it again and even it up a min into the 3rd period. The goals reflected the play and their were some good chances for either side to take lead, with the Statesmen finally able to do it with some very nice goals from James and another natural hat trick, with only their linemate struggling to keep up with the scoring:) The Knights finished off with a goal on the death but the Statesmen held on for the win. We look forward to playing again in the summer at a more reasonable time when some light refreshments can be had after.
MOTM James (though it should have been Jamie..)

April fools?

Wednesday 1st April saw the Statemsen play the Eagles in a WC game, normal service resumed and the Eagles won 15-0, with the highlight being their 'fans' playing and singing 'We are the Champions' during the game, nice.

John gets 100

Congratulations to John who got his 100th assist against Swindon last Friday.

Win v Swindon

Saturday night saw the Statesmen play our old friends and foes from Swindon, having not played them (unusually) in a year. In what is traditionally a good close contest saw the Knights score first after 10mins on a breakaway goal from Geoff Collins. The Statesmen then levelled off a nice goal from James (100th point & 400th for Ty) after 18mins to end the period.
The second period was scoreless but there were a lot of chances for both sides to take the lead. The Statesmen finally took the lead with a goal from Ty the Statesmen to go up in the game with 7mins to go and held off a Knights surge in the end to claim the well deserved victory with the Statesmen showed some real consistency and good transistional play lacking in previous games.
MOTM Ty

James hits a Ton

Congratulations to James who notched his 100th and 101st points for the Statesmen on Saturday fittingly against Swindon in a very impressive 36 games.

WC - Loss v Eagles

The second WC game was a strange affair, the Statesmen took the lead in the 1st period with a goal from Ty, but that was the only time in the game, with at least 3 breakaway goals going to the Eagles and finishing them well the first rounded out 5-2 to Eagles.
The 2nd period was very similar with the Statesmen getting a goal from John Leslie only for the Eagles to finish the period 9-4. The Final scoreline was 11-5, with James and Ty getting a brace each.
MOTM James

WC- First game loss v Legion

The first game of the WC saw the Statesmen playing the Legion, in what is historically becoming a very close game didnt disappoint. This time saw the Legion go up 2-0 only for the Statesmen to get the score back to 2-2, though the Legion took the lead and the momentum to 3-2 and a last minute goal saw the score end 4-2.

Another Frosty Night

Saturday night saw a return match against the Cambridge Eskimos in what is becoming very close encounters. The Statesmen started off the scoring after 3mins with Rich Jones getting his first goal for the Statesmen only for the Eskimos to reply 30 seconds later. The Eskimos then stretched the lead after 7 and 15 mins, to go into the 3rd period 3-1 up.
the Statesmen then got onto the board after 50 mins with a goal from James only for the Eskimos to score after less than a minute later. The Statesmen then got within 1 goal after 53mins with a goal from Ty only to be outdone by the running clock and an empty net goal with less than a minute to go, final score 5-3, a very close game.
MOTM Marcus

Win v Romford

Saturday saw the Statesmen take on the Romford Tornado for the second time, with a nice early f/o of 16.30. Even so, a few people turning up late saw the Statesmen start with only 2 lines, Romford took full advantage of the confusion arising from people turning up during the first period and took the lead after just 37 seconds on a goal from Marcus Cast.
The Statesmen then equalised after 6mins on a goal from John Cavanagh, only for the Tornado to then take a 2 goal lead heading into the second period, goals from Marcus and Paul Curtis.
With everyone now turned up in the 2nd and the arrival of Lukas seemed to bouy the team and between James (3) and Lukas (4) with Bob chipping in 1, the Statesmen scored 5 unanswered goals to go into the 3rd 6-2 up. 4 goals in the 3rd period with Romford netting 1 saw the game end 9-4 to the Statesmen. A good enjoyable game and a good friendly rivalry between the 2 teams.
MOTM Lukas

Loss v Eskimos

Saturday night saw the first meeting between the Statesmen and the Cambridge Eskimos. In a good natured and close game saw the Eskimos win 4-3.
The Statesmen still having a bit of trouble scoring went down 2-0 in the first 5 mins of the 1st period, 1 of the goals on a dubious penalty. The Stig and Bob Hedley then got the Statesmen back into the game to end the period 2-2.
Lot's of missed chances from both teams and with the Eskimos leading 4-3 on a couple of breakaway chances that were buried, saw the Statesmen pull the goalie with a minute to go and a couple of good chances missed and suprisingly not an empty netter saw the game finish 4-3.
MOTM James

50 Games

Congrats to Paddy and Dan O, both hit 50 games at the weekend.

WC - Loss v Eagles

Wednesday night saw the second leg of the WC against the London Eagles, having lost the first game 12-2 we knew we were in for a battle but went into the game very positively after the win on Saturday, this lasted all of about 40 seconds when the Eagles scored their 1st goal of the period. The Statesmen started off flat and seemed nervous against the Eagles who can pass the puck around well, after 10 mins it was 3-0, the poor start deflated the team but buoyed by a couple of good shifts the Statesmen got back into the game and proved that we could skate with them with Mark Fenwick getting a goal and host of missed chances towards the end of the 1st to get within a goal.
Determined not to start the 2nd the way we did the first, the Statesmen inevitably started the same way and another shocking 10 mins (running clock) saw the Statesmen down 6-1, yet again like the first the Statesmen then got back into the game with some good chances not buried by both teams. The third started off a lot better and we continued to battle throughout with James getting a natural hat trick and the Statesmen drew the final period 3-3. A good and entertaining game with the scoreline that maybe shouldnt have been so 1 sided if only the Statesmen could have buried some of the sitters that we had.
MOTM James

Milestones

Congratulations to Michael Baker who has now reached 251 games for the club, Dan O'Dell for reaching 50 points and James for getting 50 goals, well done to you all.

WC - Finally a win

The Statesmen kicked off the New Year with a win in the WC against the London Spitfire's, 5-4. The Spitfires kicked off the 1st period, scoring after 2 mins, in what was a fairly slow paced game from the start and thoughts of too much turkey at Christmas comes to mind, the Statesmen then equalised from James after 7 mins off of Frank and Rich, getting their first Statesmen points. The Spitfires then regained the lead after 11 mins and got another 5 mins later finishing the 1st period up 3-1.
There must be somthing strange about getting a 3-1 lead in the WC as for once the Statesmen started off better in the 2nd with Marcus getting his first Statesmen goal after 3 mins on a nice backhand, then after 34 mins Ty got the tying goal on a superb slap shot from outside the blue line ting in off of the post in which Ben was just a spectator (;-)) James then added another just before the end of the period on a nice shorthanded effort.
Once winning the game then seemed to take a strange twist with the Spitfires refusing to play as they thought there was too much contact going on and with the Ref on the sidelines thought someone might get hurt, fair enough but I personally didnt seem to think the game was dirty at all but then what do I know, the 3rd period was played on the proviso that there was no contact. This didnt really last long for the Spitfire's as after 2 mins there was 'contact' on the boards with Ty ending up with a slashing penalty, mmmm. What with this and running clock the Statesmen played a smart and almost farcical 3rd period with James getting his hat trick, the Spitfire's then almost immediatly getting 1 back to finish the game at 5-4.
MOTM James

WC - Loss to Legion

This was the last WC game of the year and the last against the Legion, again heading into the 3rd period up 3-1 saw the Statesmen lose the game 4-3, a dissapointing loss and end to the year.