The Whitley Bay Islanders recovered from an opening game defeat to skate off with yet more silverware, seeing off local rivals and Summer Cup opponents to lift the EIHA Masters Championships Trophy.
The annual tournament for players over the age of 35 was claimed with a Kevin Bucas overtime winner against Northeast rivals Cleveland Comets on Sunday, in a result which will give the Tynesiders a psychological boost before the two sides meet at Hillheads in a couple of weeks time for a Summer Cup fixture.
However the tournament didn’t get off to the best of starts for the Islanders who had to face a formidable opponent in the form of the Eastern Stars. The side who are based at Lee Valley in London have an array of talent from Eastern European countries such as Russia, Slovakia and Latvia and they duly skated off with a 2-0 win with the Islanders struggling to adapt to the non-checking version of the game.
Despite being ineligible to play as he is under the age of 35, Goaltender Calvin Khass, travelled to Nottingham with the team, and had a first hand look team of imports.
'I think the Stars were a team that were well suited to playing that style of hockey.' he said. 'Many of them have come from Roller Hockey backgrounds but the way they were passing the puck into space was very impressive and what you would expect from Eastern European players.'
But whilst nothing should be taken away from just how good the Eastern Stars were, it took the Islanders the whole of that opening encounter to adjust to the non-checking format.
'To be honest we were not aware of the rule before arriving in Nottingham.' Khass said. 'We usually compete in the Sheffield Rec Fest where hits are allowed so we assumed it would be the same for this tournament.'
'I think we were a bit over cautious too, as our normal style of play involves physical fore-checking and if we did that during the weekend we would run into penalty trouble.' he said.
'I think we didn't want to take any risks in that first game, but then we also had to quickly adapt to how we were going to approach the rest of the tournament.' he added.
Defenseman Kevin Bucas was clearly frustrated with some of the calls on him and felt he had played a new sport for the first time ‘Non-Contact Ice Hockey’ as he tweeted.
Putting that opening game disappointment behind them, the Islanders got back to winning ways in Game 2, beating one of their Summer Cup opponents, Grimsby Lightning, 3-1. Grimsby were clearly not used to playing on the large ice surface compared to their 'postage stamp' sized rink on Humberside and the Islanders used that to their advantage. However, the Tynesiders got the job done and defeated the Lightning for the third time since early April.
In their third and final game on Saturday, the Islanders took on the Solihull Vikings, another side they were familiar with from the Summer Cup. The Islanders twice went two goals ahead before Solihull pulled it back to a single goal game on both occasions. But at 3-2 the Islanders stepped up a gear and rattled in three unanswered goals to end the day with two wins.
Day 2 saw Whitley take on the host team Nottingham Outlaws, and both sides exchanged goals in the opening 4 minutes, before Whitley opened up a two goal lead soon after. A veteran play by Bucas at the back post made it 4-1, before two further strikes made it 6-1 in what was deemed a very hungover win.
The fifth and final game of the group stage was a local derby with the Durham Dragons in what is becoming an ever continuing rivalry. Still smarting from their Summer Plate defeat to the Wearsiders, the Islanders skated off with a 3-0 win to secure second place in the group and their place in the semi-finals. Despite missing out on a final four berth to their arch rivals, Dragons goalie Craig Davies, who like Khass also didn’t feature for his team this weekend, very sportingly tweeted a message to the Islanders after the game, ‘Good luck for the rest of the tournament gents. Try not to drink too much!!’
The Dragons have come close to picking up this trophy a couple of times in recent years and despite only carrying a small squad of 7 players, were looking to make a good run at it again.
They opened the tournament against Grimsby Lightning a team that beat the Dragons 7-6 back in April. However, the 'Magnificent Seven' secured a point when Ian Greenwood grabbed a brace after his side were down 2-0 early on. In Game 2 against the hosts Nottingham Outlaws, the Dragons claimed their first win of the weekend with Greenwood grabbing another double strike and Mark Foster getting the third. The final game of the day saw the Dragons lose 2-1 to the much vaunted Eastern Stars, the same side that shot down the Islanders in their opener.
Sunday, saw the Dragons make a much better start beating the Solihull Vikings [a side they have already smashed 14-2 earlier this season] 2-0 thanks to goals from Ian Greenwood (again) and Darren Webb. Ian Watson also earned his side a first shut out of the tournament.
After losing the North East derby to the Islanders, Durham ended the tournament by beating the Chairman's Select team in the playoff round. They needed penalty shots to do so, winning 2-1 after the game had ended 2-2 during regulation time.
Whilst Durham were disappointed not to make the Semi-finals, it was still a great performance to come away with two wins and a draw despite having only seven skaters. The Dragons were missing a few names from their original over 35’s roster. Captain Chris Hall is still out with a knee injury along with Left Wing Gareth Beddoes, while Dave Farren was unable to make the tournament after the dates were changed to earlier in the year. The small squad ultimately caught up with Durham in the end.
The third Whitley-based side at the tournament were the Newcastle Predators, and they got off to a great start, winning all three of their games on Saturday and rattling in 16 goals in the process. Blackpool Seagulls were dispatched 8-0 in their first game before Basingstoke Hyenas [3-1] and Charimans Select [5-0] were also defeated.
Sunday was always going to be a much trickier prospect. They lost 3-2 to Bradford Cannibals in a game which they really should have won. Most neutrals believed Newcastle could have won the game 5-0. That reverse ultimately cost the Tyneside-based side a place in the semi-finals when they lost 2-0 to a very strong Cleveland Comets side.
Newcastle ended their weekend losing 3-0 to Grimsby Lightning in the playoff round but once again a lot of positives could be taken from the weekend. They arrived at the tournament with only seven skaters and then were down to just six for the final game, but that didn’t stop them being a goal away from a semi-final berth or the fact they limited a strong Comets side to just two goals.
Canadian Goalie, Brent Hope can be equally pleased with his two shut outs between the pipes too, so all in all it was a good tournament for the team.
In the end finishing second in their group did the Islanders a massive favour as it meant they avoided playing the Cleveland Comets until the final and would instead face surprise group winners Bradford Cannibals. Whilst it wasn't a walk-over, Whitley won the Semi-final 2-0, meaning they would face another local rival in the Cleveland Comets.
The Teessiders look set to push the Islanders all the way in this year’s Summer Cup and have claimed the Nottingham Masters Championship a couple of times themselves in recent years so they know what it takes to loft the trophy.
That experience was evident when the Comets took a 1-0 lead five minutes into the game. Chances were always going to be scarce in what was a very tight encounter but a goal from Craig Thompson which was assisted by another former Warriors player, James Ramsay, levelled the scores and took the contest into an extra five minutes of overtime.
Kevin Bucas, who was left feeling frustrated after the first game of the weekend ended the tournament much happier, when he won it in for the Islanders in OT.
The Tynesiders have certainly developed a habit for winning silverware over the past couple of years, and this latest success, having had to recover from an opening game reverse against quality opposition full of imports suggests they are warming up nicely for more honours come the end of August.
'This was a great trophy to win in what was a fun weekend.' said Calvin Khass. 'Obviously our attention now switches back to the Summer Cup and the hope is we can skate off with the treble. We have this one in the trophy cabinet but we still need to claim the League title and the Summer Cup playoffs.' he said.
While the Islanders were crowned EIHA Master Champs for 2017 the best forward award went to James Waller. A great honour for the former Whitley Warriors and Sunderland Chiefs Right Wing.
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