by Sam Cockwell

Sign up now!

The 2020 season is nearly here! but we need you!

Please head to the sign up page to register for the new season, if you can Please register by the 24th of January so that we can get teams and fixtures sorted in time for the season.

Head here ↓ to register your interest in playing

Registration form

All ages welcome – we have different leagues for all ages and abilities.

and no experience necessary – training before and during the season is a big part of our sport and we are always happy to see new and returning faces.

The registration page also has links to the updated rules and statutes for the club.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any issues or questions either thorough the site or email directly media@hockey.co.fk

Also for up to date hockey news and banter and notices of training or scrimmages etc, please join our Facebook page: Falkland Islands Hockey

Cheers and Happy New Year!

by Sam Cockwell

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

by Sam Cockwell

LATAM Cup 2019 Teams

With days to go before our teams depart for the LATAM Cup it is time to make them official!

Under 16’s – stanley penguins

  • Danny Ross   (07) – Forward
  • Ethan Fowler (19) – Forward
  • Jake Hawksworth (10) – Defenceman
  • James Hartley (06) – Forward
  • Joseff Murphy (05) – Defenceman
  • Lane McKay (11) – Forward
  • Malachi Budd (09) – Forward
  • Matt Francis (08) – Forward
  • Temis Smith (02) – Goaltender
  • Theo Duncan (03) – Defenceman
  • Thomas Watson (01) – Goaltender
  • Travis Jaffray (15) – Defenceman
  • Tyrese Ceballos (12) – Goaltender

Senior Team – ROTW

  •  Arild Stormer (44) – Defenceman
  • Chris Keen (69) – Defenceman
  • Claudio Ross (07) – Forward
  • Craig Dockrill (91) – Defenceman
  • Edward Naus (58) – Forward
  • Grant Budd (10) – Defenceman
  • Hillel Sokolsky (55) – Forward
  • Jason Wood (36) – Goaltender
  • Jonathan Nicholson (84) – Forward
  • Michael Whitlock (15) – Forward
  • Ryan Bahl (19) – Forward
  • Sam Cockwell (42) – Forward
  • Stuart Duncan (96) – Goaltender

The tournament dates are 6th to 8th of September with our games as below (Falklands time) all games are in the Panthers Ice Den and here it the link to the tournament: LATAM Cup 2019

Friday 6th September
ROTW(Stanley Senior Team) Vs. Mexico 16:30
Colombia U16 Vs Stanley U16 18:00
Brazil Vs. ROTW 22:30
Saturday 7th September
Stanley U16 Vs. USA U16 09:00am
Argentina U16 Vs. Stanley U16 19:30

Fanzone + streaming of the games

We are beginning organising a Fanzone this year at the Narrows Bar with live streaming of all the above games (we hope) (and more if we go through to other rounds) with support from Sure to make sure (I know sorry terrible pun) that the games steam well and on time.  We will be publicising this nearer the time on radio TV and Penguin news – including possible time slipped game for the early Saturday game.

For those that can’t make the fanzone, you can stream these yourself from http://www.hockeytv.com for free all you need to do is sign up!

Wish us luck!

by Sam Cockwell

Holiday Skating

Should I skate on holiday?

Absolutely you should, recently I was on a trip to London and thought about having a skate, found a really great skate shop in Kensington called Slick Willy’s here is the link– they are a great shop, very knowledgeable and great to chat to.  Also very helpful with giving advice on the skating groups in London.  They will rent you inline skates, pads, the whole lot.  I am confident that there are other rental places in other towns, definitely worth a check on google if you are around a city for a while and fancy a day on the blades.

If you are lucky enough to be going somewhere with an ice rink (I was in Aberdeen and Oxford both of which have great ones)  consider taking your own ice skates with you if you have them. Its a good chance to get them sharpened and get some ice time in the actual boots you will use.  If however you can’t fit them in your bag, just go along and all ice rinks will have rental skates which believe me are totally fine for a quick blast.

Aberdeen Ice Rink – Beautiful Ice
Oxford Ice Rink – Fantastic viewing gallery with cafe – perfect for families.

Renting skates… won’t they be rubbish?

Not at all!  These skate shops and rinks know how to look after their skates, and the ones for rental are specifically designed for rental so are extra tough, maybe not as refined or light as the ones you can buy or already own, but the inline skates I rented from Slick Willy’s were really good, I had them for 24 hours, and I got more than enough skating done in that time.  I had my own ice skates in Aberdeen so couldn’t really comment on their rentals, but the people I spoke to were happy with them, and they had decent edges so worth a go.

Chilling in Hyde Park with my rental skates from Slick Willy’s

Routes for inlining?

There are often groups for rollerblading in towns and cities, the Friday night skate in london is fairly famous, here is the link if you find yourself there on a Monday, Friday, Wednesday or Sunday.  I bumped into them at one of their stops and they were a good bunch.

Apart from that group there are always good bits of advice from skate shops, parks or seafront with space to skate.  its well worth looking into, and if you arent sure, have a look around and see if anyone else is doing it.

Just give it a go

by Sam Cockwell

Russel Smith Memorial Trophy Playoffs

Reapers hold on, and A STORMer comes to blow away the Beasts

Tuesday night saw two furious games in the Russel Smith Memorial Trophy, Reapers Vs. Scoprions, and Ducks Vs. Beasts.
First Game

The Reapers Vs Scorpions game was first with a close and hotly contested game, with the Scorpions having to win by 5 clear goals to get through on aggregate.

In the first period it all looked to be going the Scorpions way with brutal shooting and sharp use of rebounds putting them ahead while the Reapers struggled to connect and get past Stu Duncan in the Scorpions net.

Both teams had elite players playing for their first ever game, Craigie Chipunza for Scorpions and Ethan Fowler for the Reapers.  Both of these new players were playing their hearts out and netted a goal each before the end!

Well done to them both, and what a pair of great new players to see coming through.  Joseph Murphy also made a surprise appearance for the Scorpions adding his physical and aggressive game to their line-up.

The second half saw the Reapers holding on with equalisations which the Scorpions rapidly responded to; however once again Malachi Budd for the Reapers one of the association’s best players showed his quality with a late hat-trick on top of his other goals which put the Reapers into the lead with only a minute to go.  The Scorpions put up a hell of a fight to try and win the game in those last seconds with furious attacks and the Reapers just a furiously defending.

Results

TeamTOutcome
Scorpions8Loss
Reapers9Win

Final score of Reapers 9-8 Scorpions sadly sees the scorpions put out of the cup this year, but with a game in the GAMEATHON to look forward to at least there is another chance for this team to shine.

 

Lane McKay takes a low shot at Tom Watson
Guest Arild Stormer lines up a wrist shot with Thomas Graham standing ready for the Beasts
Second Game

The second game saw the league winners and very dominant Beasts being taken on by the Ducks.  Guest coach Arild Stormer took a yellow shirt for the ducks as they recently lost Hillel Sokolsky when he left to go back to Canada.  Playing up for the first time was Jose Quinto, who showed great effort and skills for the Beasts.

This game couldn’t have surprised people more, with the Beasts having Lane McKay and Grant Budd on the roster it seems like it would be a close and tough game for the ducks even with some new help.

However in goal for the ducks Tom Watson showed his class and put everything that came his way down, an amazing first period saw the beasts firing shots, but nothing getting past him.

Stormer had a slow start, but quickly found his balance and rhythm with brutal slap shots coming in which quickly found their mark, and passes gliding through the field to open player further down, Kyran Evans benefitting from this on his line with some beautiful through passes to the midline for Kyran to take forward for 1 on 0 attacks.

The second half was much the same with the beasts pushing very hard on Tom Watson but just not finding any holes in his armour.  Duck pressure mounted in this half with more goals coming from right across the team.  Final score Ducks 8 – 0 Beasts, a rare shutout for Tom, and against the league champions is well worthy of mention.

Results

TeamTOutcome
Beasts0Loss
Ducks8Win

Looking forward to Sunday 28th we have the Gameathon with opportunities to see all the teams play throughout the day, please make your way to the Stanley Leisure Centre and support the Hockey Association as we raise funds for the LATAM Cup in Miami in September.

 

by Sam Cockwell

Gameathon

this sunday 28th July

overview of the day

Hi All, this weekend we have got the GAMEATHON, its an all day hockey extravaganza.  The Home and Away sides are picked (see poster) and the scores will be added up as the day goes to see if the Home or Away side is victorious overall at the end of the final game.  We start with the youngsters, and then work our way through the youth and elite leagues to finish off with the seniors.  Please do sponsor someone from your family or a friend who is playing, it can just be a donation to the club to go toward our first full size international hockey tournament in Miami in September.  This tournament is the biggest thing we have ever done as an association and the culmination of years of work into hockey in the Falklands.

sponsorship form

Down load by clicking here – Gameathon Sponsorship Form – July 19

by Sam Cockwell

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

PlayerPosition
flkAnthony PhillipsPlayer
flkDean EllisPlayer
flkJohn McLeodPlayer
flkNick FrancisPlayer
flkPaul EllisPlayer
chiRoddy VasquezPlayer
flkSam CockwellGoaltender
sthStu DuncanPlayer
flkTemis SmithPlayer
engThomas GrahamPlayer
flkTom WatsonPlayer
flkTyrese CeballosPlayer

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.

by Sam Cockwell

Training begins

Training for LAtam cup 2019

Training for the Amerigol LATAM Cup 2019 commenced on Tuesday 21st of May with the selected youth players taking part (and one senior).

The training focused on the team getting used to working in their own third and breaking out.  This is difficult in the Falklands as our playing surface is actually only the size of a third of a full size rink.  The youth players there performed very well, taking on board the coaching from Grant, and working on break outs, defending a 3 on 2 attack, and assertive passing.  A good focus and strong effort all round.

More updates as the training gets more intense.

by Sam Cockwell

MEGA Patagonian 2018 Teams Rosters

The success of the Falkland Islands hockey teams in 2018 at the MEGA Patagonian hosted in Punta Arenas is fully covered in the write up here: Round up of 2018 Internationals, however in brief the teams took home gold in all of their respective categories which was a huge accomplishment for the players, the association and ice hockey within the region.  Especially as there is no ice in the Falklands, so all these teams had to convert to ice from inline in the days running up to the tournament. for clarity this tournament was played on a small ice rink so the game format was 3-3 with only two zones with the centre line being the offside line also.

This page is dedicated to recording those who competed and contributed to the team during that contest:

Seniors Team (Stanley Penguins)

  • Claudio Ross
  • Macro Leyton
  • Sam Cockwell
  • Grant Budd
  • Ed Naus
  • Tom Watson (GT)
  • Stu Duncan (GT)
  • Mike Whitlock
  • Theo Duncan
  • Matt Francis
  • Malachi Budd

Ladies Team (Valkyries)

  • Lucy McGuire
  • Samantha McCormick
  • Gabby Hartley
  • Juliette Hennequin
  • Kathy Aguilera
  • Regan Newman
  • Thomas Graham (Guest GT)

Junior Team (Stanley Penguins)

  • Matt Francis
  • Malachi Budd
  • Theo Duncan
  • Danny Ross
  • Kathy Aguilera
  • Regan Newman
  • Tyrese Ceballos (GT)
  • Richie Short
  • Dean Ellis (GT)
  • Lane McKay
  • Gabby Hartley

youth Team (Stanley Rock hoppers)

  • Jake Hawksworth
  • Luke Gilbert
  • Calvin Curtis
  • Theo Clifton
  • Tyler Jordan
  • Jacob Smith
  • Jack Kelly
  • Logan Halliday
  • Liam McRae (GT)
  • James Hartley
  • Louis Francis

Staff

  • Nick Francis – Equipment manager
  • Grant Budd – Head Coach
  • Ed Naus – Assistant Coach
  • Pam Budd – Treasurer
  • Paul Ellis
  • Jeanette Hartley
  • Jeff Halliday
  • Thomas Stockting (FITV)

Thanks also to the Zona Austral for hosting the tournament and all the work put in by the organisers and teams in Punta Arenas for making it happen.