Category: Games

This is the Games category.

Falklands take home Bronze and Gold from Amerigol LATAM Cup 2019

This year the Falkland Islands Hockey Association took two teams to compete in the Amerigol Latam Cup for the first time and came away with medals for both teams!  The performance from the Falkland’s players was superb, with the under 16’s coming away with a bronze, and a gold for the senior team (which includes a number of players from around the world that are involved in Falklands hockey so competed under the rest of the world (ROTW) name). This tournament is traditional 5-5 ice hockey and the first time the club has played in a proper international tournament of this kind so this was a new experience for most, including rules for icing, penalty minutes, and a huge ice surface.

Friday

The competition began for the Falklands for the senior team with a game against Mexico which finished 3-1 to the Falklands. Next the under 16s took on the tournament favourites and eventual champions Colombia, which ended up finishing 7-2 to Colombia. Our boys played really well, and put in a couple of fantastic goals courtesy of Lane McKay with assists from Malachi Budd and Theo Duncan.  It was also the first time the lads played together on this ice surface and in these positions so it was a really great experience for them.

Lane McKay takes a shot in the opening game against Colombia (NM)

Next the seniors took on Brazil which finished 4-1 to the Falklands with local goaltender Stuart Duncan playing an excellent game and nearly getting the shutout (0.973 save percentage which is awesome).   This put the team on top of their side of the draw. This resulted in a buy though the quarter finals to the semi-finals, which also gave the senior team a very welcome rest over the Saturday.

Saturday

The under 16s then took on a USA team which was made of players which are based at the nearby Pembroke Pines rink.  They are a good group of skaters and hockey players with all the facilities to practice and play hockey.  Our boys put in a huge effort with James Hartley and Ethan Fowler (the two youngest in the team) taking the critical centre man positions, and Matt Francis was changing from forward to defence. This seemed to really help the lines and the whole team showed a great poise and strength in the game especially considering where they have to train and develop.  The boys won 3-1 in a highly competitive game.  With goals from: Danny Ross, Matt Francis and Malachi Budd, and assists from Danny Ross and Joseff Murphy.

U16s team proudly celebrating the win (L-R James Hartley, Stu Duncan(AC)*, Craig Dockrill (HC)*, Ethan Fowler, Jake Hawksworth, Malachi Budd, Temis Smith, Matt Francis, Lane McKay, Joseff Murphy, Tom Watson, Danny Ross, Nick Francis(TM)*, Grant Budd  (AC)*, Theo Duncan, Travis Jaffray, Tyrese Ceballos (MM)

Next up one of the most hotly contested games was the Argentine under 16 against our under 16. The Argentine team are highly skilled, and we got to know them well over the pre-tournament training, they are a great team with a great hockey attitude. Argentina ultimately triumphed in this game with the final score 6-1 but that doesn’t reflect the whole game, which was only 2-1 at the end of the second period. The team gave 100% for the entire game and left everything they had on the ice, but the larger bench and level of ice experience for the Argentine team showed in the final period with them netting another 4 goals against our tiring lads.  They could only get the one goal in this game from Malachi Budd with an assist from Jake Hawksworth, but again that doesn’t reflect the level of effort and skill, with a huge amount showed by all the team.

This result put the boys in the 3rd place playoff against USA.

Sunday

3rd place playoff (USA Vs. Falkland’s) This time it was clear the boys had settled into their positions and took the fight to the USA with Matt Francis leading the scoring with 4 goals on his sheet, a big part of the 6-3 victory, this landed the boys a highly deserved 3rd place. This was the first ever medal position for the Falklands in a full size traditional international ice hockey tournament!

It was an impressive stats sheet for the team with goals from Matt Francis (4), Theo Duncan, and Malachi Budd. Aided by assists from James Hartley (3), Danny Ross (2), Lane McKay, Ethan Fowler and Matt Francis.

The score sheets never reflect the whole team effort that is required to win in Ice Hockey, with excellent effort also put in by Travis Jaffray in defence, remaining solid in the Falklands teams own half.  The goalies can’t go without mention, with Temis Smith, Tyrese Ceballos and Tom Watson all putting in a whole game each, and all getting a shift in the 3rd place game.

Under 16’s receive their well deserved bronze medals
L-R (Back) Ethan Fowler, Jake Hawksworth, Matt Francis, Theo Duncan, Travis Jaffray, Tom Watson, Joseff Murphy
L-R (Front)Temis Smith, Lane McKay, Danny Ross, James Hartley, Tyrese Ceballos (BC)

 

Later that morning the seniors played Mexico again as they had won their semi-final. This game was tough with the Mexican keeper playing well and excellent passing and defending keeping the score sheet blank for the Falkland Islands and Mexico slowly collecting 2 goals.  That was until the final four minutes when Jonathan Nicholson finally got the Falklands their opening goal. With a minute remaining the Falklands pulled the keeper to get another attacker on the ice; this nearly ended in disaster when Mexico took a shot at open goal, fortunately missing and giving the Falklands another attack with Craig Dockrill netting the all-important equaliser with only 15 seconds remaining on the clock. This meant that there would be 5 minutes of overtime playing 3-3 hockey – this suited our team and playing style well and Ryan Bahl quickly got the golden goal which took the team into the final with Puerto Rico.

ROTW and Mexico line up for an after game photo – a great semifinal game of hockey! (BC)

The final hurdle to the seniors championship was the game with Puerto Rico, no-one on the team had seen them play but from the results the team knew they were dominant and did not concede goals easily.

The final started with PR showing incredible skating speed and stickhandling, with the goaltender Jason Wood taking shots right away.  Then the breakthrough was a long dumped puck toward the goal from our blue line which went in!  We had caught out the PR goalie unawares (which happens even to the professionals), but it lit a fire for the Falklands and the game continued in that style with Puerto Rico pushing their skating speed and skills to get shots at our goalie (which he mostly had covered), and our team breaking out and taking successful long shots.  The final score was 6-2 to the Falklands.   Giving them the Falklands their first win at a tournament

CHAMPIONS (L-R Back) Ed Naus(C)*, Nick Francis(TM)*, John Nickleson, Gabrielle Ceballos, Hillel Sokolsky, Craig Dockrill, Malachi Budd, Sam Cockwell, Grant Budd, Ryan Bahl, Claudio Ross, Arild Stormer. (Front) – Stu Duncan, Jason Wood (BC)
Thank you

This whole tournament was a great success, and with an international contingent of teams from throughout the American continents including: Jamaica, Puerto Rico, USA, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and of course the Falkland Islands.  We made great friends there, and contacts which are passionate about developing hockey in the Falklands and helping us however we can to take the sport to the next level.  Thanks especially to Juan Carlos Ortero from Amerigol ltd. for organising the Latam Cup and the Florida Panthers NHL team for hosting it in their training rink the Ice Den, as well as Wayne Whitmore and Wanda Weed for organising the pre tournament sniper/goalie camp, and NHL referee legend Mike Leggo and Michaela Bahl for holding a 2 day referee camp.  It was a total experience that we wont forget!

OUR SPONSORS

And of course our sponsors without which it would have been impossible to attend: Byron Ltd, Tonedog Designs, Sulivan Shipping Services Ltd, Shorty’s Diner, Seafish Chandlery, Penguin Travel, FIG, Seaview Logistics, JK Marine, Beauchene Fishing Company Ltd., Cyril and Val Ellis, G&K Services, Argos Ltd., Fortuna Ltd., Energise, Sure, The Narrows Bar, and the Skating Club.

Thank you to you all!

Thanks also to Nikki Murphy(NM), Marika McKay(MM), Nick Francis(NF), Ryan Bahl(RB), and BC Photography (BC) for use of their photographs.
*(TM) – Team Manager, (HC) – Head Coach, (AC) – Assistant Coach, (C) Captain

Goalies Vs. Girlies MATCH REVIEW

The annual Girlies Vs. Goalies game was held on Tuesday 16th July. The night got started with a Roller Disco which was the most popular one we have seen so far with kids of all ages coming to enjoy the night.
Then the main event, Andrew Newman once again kindly compered the evening introducing the teams (see rosters below) and awarding the trophy – a glorious golden creation by one of the mainstays of goaltending in the club, Paul Ellis.

GOALIES

GIRLIES

PlayerPosition
chiCary DavisPlayer
flkDarby NewmanPlayer
flkGabi HartleyDefender
chiIzzy CeballosDefender
flkKarla AguileraGoaltender
czeKrystina SakilikaDefender
engLucy McGuireDefender, Forward
zimMarvis ChipunzaForward
flkRegan NewmanForward
flkRuby ShepherdForward
flkSamantha McCormickForward
flkShania ShepherdMidfielder
engSharon GilbertMidfielder

Girlies team looking happy and ready for the game

First Period

There was plenty of action right from the start with the ladies opening up the scoring after only a couple of minutes putting shots past first timer goaltender Sam Cockwell. The goalies didn’t let up on the ladies though, with constant, if somewhat occasionally erratic, effort finally netting them a goal finishing the first period 3-1 to the ladies.

In the first break the club held the first ever shooting challenge for the youth attending with a highly engineered plywood design to go in the goal with various sizes of holes in it for people to shoot pucks into, the price was £1 for 5 shots and the higher the score the better the prize!

Second Period

The second period got off to a surprising start with goalies getting back into it with an early goal – much to the crowds delight. The ladies again demonstrated their skills with beautiful stickhandling, hard skating and accurate shooting to maintain their lead and get another 3 goals. The goalies did commit two fouls worthy of penalties in this period one for roughing and another for cross checking, fortunately both were saved to keep the goalies in contention.

The second break was the puck throw contest for the audience and the draw of the raffle.

Final Period

The final period saw both teams starting to show a bit of tiredness with goalies falling and sliding left right and centre (often taking a few ladies with them), fine efforts from both sides saw a goal a-piece in that period for the most part with another penalty awarded to the ladies for handling the puck, which was again saved to keep the game close.  That was until the final minute when a rink invasion from both benches (possibly instigated by the goalies – but thats purely conjecture at this point) led to a minute of insanity which resulted in the goalies netting another goal. The game never really got restarted after that as there were a “few” too many players on the rink. The speed and finesse of the young players showed throughout the game with hard attacking lines from Marvis Chipunza and Lucy McGuire particularly successful with two goals each.

Goalies take their loss well by dog piling the rookie keeper!

Result – Girlies triumphant!

The match finished up 7-4 to the ladies who take home the trophy this year, showing that their skills, confidence and ability were more than a match for the enthusiasm of the goalies this year. Spectacular effort from players, and we can really see the development of the sport over the last few years.

Trophy presented by Andrew Newman

Thanks of course to all the organisers and spectators who make these evenings a great event, and of course the leisure centre for enabling this to happen again.

The club raised a total of £201 from the various games with some more to come in from the refreshments table.

Thanks again to everyone who came to make this event brilliant – and also special thanks to Andrew Newman and Jill Ford for pictures of the night.

Venom v Reapers 26 March 2019

The first game of the 2019 inline hockey season kicked off to a ferocious start. Both teams came out at a full charge, with Sam Cockwell of the Reapers scoring the first goal but Venom returning fire soon after. Both goalies were under pressure from the start with no let-up throughout the 3 periods of 20 minutes.
By the second period, Reapers were 10 for 7, but a furious reply from Venom levelled the scores at 11 apiece.

Reapers first line make a plan for the third period. Goalie Roddy Vasquez getting focused.

After a close score chase, the last 5 minutes of the match were intensely fought with reapers edging ahead 13-12 but again, Venom attacked and levelled the score.

Final Score 14-13 to Venom

But with just 15 seconds left on the clock, Matt Francis scooped in a sweet lift into the top corner and it was all over. Final score 14- 13 Venom.

Top scorers were Matt Francis with Cleggz, Danny and Shania getting on the score sheet for Venom, and top scorer for Reapers was Mal Budd with Sam Cockwell, Gethin, Richie and Lucy also scoring- best assist by Keon with a lovely flick across the goal from the corner for Mal to hammer home.

Also a thanks to guys that came down from Mount Pleasant to play and watch, hopefully we will get more coming down, its not impossible to imagine a whole team from out there in the future?

In a passionate game that at times looked like a proper ice hockey brawl was about to break out, the two sides deserved the rousing applause on the final whistle for a fast, exciting game that was enjoyed by the spectators. For those of you who were not there- you missed a cracking game- next up is the Elite match on 28th at 5pm- Knights v Dragons which is the first of the Elite matches for this season. If today’s match is the set bar, then this season is going to be better than ever!

Paul Ellis