This group of students gathered from North America and across Europe also known as London Dragons A represented Universities of London Union well this season. The team went through the regular season with an impressive 9-1 record, although we have to remember the fact that Warwick had massive struggle throughout the season with amount of players, as did Southampton and both games against Warwick were forfeits alongside with the first game against Spitfires. Even though ice hockey is usually a relatively high scoring sport, goal differential of +53 in ten games is quite an achievement. Second best goal differential of +26 belongs to our biggest rival, Oxford Blues, who were 5 points behind in the standings.
Season began with two matchups against Cambridge Blues, also known as the Light Blues. Season opener took place at Milton Keynes where the Olympic size rink favored the mobile Dragons and the away team cruised in to relatively easy 10-2 win. Second encounter at Lee Valley in London was tougher, but Dragons did what had to be done and won 5-1. Next one on the list was Cardiff and the longest trip of the season. Destroying the Redhawks 14-0 at Cardiff did some damage on the psychological side and the 11-1 victory at Lee Valley was a lazy game from both sides. In these four games, the player coach of the team, Martin Lambert had already managed to pile up 10 goals and 6 assists. Goalkeeper Ruth Cattell also stood tall, allowing only 4 goals in the first four games.
Dragons - Cambridge @ Lee Valley
Dragons - Cambridge @ Lee Valley
Action in Cardiff - Dragons @ Cardiff
The biggest game of the season so far took place in Lee Valley on 22 January when Oxford Blues rode in to the capital of the UK. After an eventful hockey game, Dragons were able to gain the upper hand with a 6-3 win. Full match report can be found HERE. Pictures can be found HERE and HERE, and some videos from HERE. The stage was set for a guaranteed grudge match and week later Oxford Ice Rink saw a game that was as close and as spectacular as they come. Massive two points with 5-6 away win ending in a bench clearing brawl and a 2-0 series lead over Dark Blues. Full match report of this can be found HERE. The regular season ended in Basingstoke with the awaited matchup against Southampton Spitfires. When Dragons realized that there were only seven Spitfires ready to take on the league leading Dragons, the guys in black and red relaxed a bit too much in the beginning and by playing extremely smart hockey the home team was able to grind a 6-4 victory while Dragons set a new standard for PIMs per game with 159 minutes.
Marting on the go in Dragons - Oxford @ Lee Valley
Ruth doing her thing while Uusitalo does his in Dragons - Oxford @ Lee Valley
Martin scoring in Dragons - Oxford @ Lee Valley
Freddy letting one go in Dragons - Oxford @ Lee Valley
Lukas patrolling and Suzy getting hit in Oxford - Dragons @ Oxford
Freddy taking the faceoff with Checking Line wingers in Oxford - Dragons @ Oxford
Cody after his fight during the brawl in Oxford - Dragons @ Oxford
After BUIHA announced that this year there was NOT going to be playoffs, and that the winners from both groups would meet in The Ultimate SuperFinal to find out who really is the undisputed King of BUIHA Division 1, members of the Dragons team set their focus towards the Northern group and waited for their next opponent to be announced. This team turned out to be the very northernmost team of the Northern group, Edinburgh Eagles. After some hassling, twisting and turning, it was decided that the venue would be iceSheffield, in Sheffield, during the Division 2 National tournament. Even after some intense harassing, I still havent received the game sheet from BUIHA so I could actually go through the game throughly and produce an amazingly accurate and totally objective report for y'all, but my hopes are up that this day will someday come.
Even before the match started, London Dragons received some bad news. The league leader in points and goals, Martin "Back check" Lambert, was not allowed to play because of what happened in Southampton. Other player suspended was one of the leading defenders of the team, the Slovak Lukas "Perkkhele" Frlicka. Dragons were facing a situation where their offensive leader and backbone of the defence were out. Talk about making things a bit harder... The game itself, as expected, was extremely tight. Edinburgh had clearly few key players on their team and shutting them down was the main interest of the Londoners and every person in the team contributed whole-heartedly. This, once again as expected, erupted in the third period approximately six minutes before the end of the regulation time, when Dragons were leading 4-3. The King of the Southern Sweden, Fredrik Hellander hit an Eagle next to the boards and when their team retaliated the Crazy Viking (name given by BUIHA officials after this game) stepped in. This developed in to pushing, showing, punching and very unsuitable language, but the main thing was that their key player was involved in the action also and the pressure of the game was clearly starting to have an effect between his ears. Uusitalo received a slightly undeserved 2+10, while Edinburgh got away with just 2 minute roughing penalty. During very tense last moments, with just 37 ticks left on the clock, home bench simply exploded in joy and the game was tied in 4.
Tactical meeting while on the way to Sheffield for the SuperFinal.
Edinburgh - Dragons, the SuperFinal @ Sheffield.
Cody Punter scoring against Edinburgh in the SuperFinal @ Sheffield.
Kalle Uusitalo crashing the net during powerplay in the SuperFinal @ Sheffield.
Adam Gray of the Eagles flying towards Dragon's goal in the SuperFinal @ Sheffield.
London Dragons were down (sort of), but not out. From the next faceoff, Donny "Donuts" MacPherson took the faceoff, skated between the D's and took a wrister hitting the unexpecting goalie around to the noise producing area. Rebound was batted in by Cody Punter but while he and the team in white were going absolutely bonkers, referees waiwed the goal off. After trying to climb over the boards in order to ask referees about their knowledge of the rules in a supremely polite way, Kalle Uusitalo who was still serving the 10min penalty, consulted BUIHA officials sitting next to him (lucky for them, there was a plexiglass in between) about the rules used in BUIHA. Simon Hopkins himself revealed that the rules used are supposed to be the ones described in the IIHF rulebook.
Here is what IIHF rulebook has to say about disallowing a goal:
a) No goal shall be allowed:
1. If an attacking player deliberately kicks, throws or bats with the hands or otherwise directs the puck by any means other than his stick into the goal net even if the puck has been further deflected by any player, goalkeeper or official,
2. If an attacking player contacted the puck with the stick above the cross bar,
3. If the puck has been directly deflected into the goal net off an official,
4. If an attacking player stands or holds his stick in the goal crease when the puck enters the goal net, unless he has been physically interfered with, by the action of any defending player so as to cause him to be in the goal crease when the puck enters the goal net, unless if in the opinion of the Referee, he had sufficient time to get out of the crease or unless Rule 470 applies.
5. If the goal net has been displaced from its normal position, or the frame of the goal net is not completely flat on the ice
6. If an attacking player initiates contact with the goalkeeper, incidental or otherwise, while the goalkeeper is in his goal crease and a goal is scored.
7. If an attacking player initiates any contact with the goalkeeper, other than incidental contact, while goalkeeper is outside his goal crease and a goal is scored.
8. Where an attacking player enters or takes a position within the goal crease, so as to obstruct the goalkeeper's vision and impair his ability to defend his goal net and a goal is scored.
9. Where a goalkeeper has been pushed into the goal net together with the puck after making a stop. If applicable, appropriate penalties shall be assessed.
b) Where the puck is under the player who is in or around the goal crease (deliberately or otherwise), a goal cannot be scored by pushing this player together with the puck into the goal net. If applicable, the appropriate penalties shall be assessed, including the Penalty Shot (See Rule 557).
But it however does say this:
d) Should a hard shot hit the goalkeeper's facemask, while play is in progress, the play may be stopped at the discretion of the Referee only if no immediate scoring chance is presented to the opposing team
So, according to this, there was no reason to disallow the goal. We can also argue that Mr. Triple Whopper's wrister is not even that hard, which is one of the factors required that a stoppage of the game can ensue. However, what BUIHA officials did NOT tell him, was something that our goalie Ruth did. Apparently, for the protection of the goalies, there is a rule (in BUIHA or in UK in general) that forces referees to blow the whistle every time the puck hits the goalie in the head. Makes sense, but it is very interesting that the ultimate authorities of our league did not know such rule existed. After this interesting conversation between the away team and the referees was done and goalie was told that he indeed is in Sheffield and seconds away from facing some sudden death penalty shots, we were ready to continue in to exactly that. A sudden death shootout, where both teams go man against man until we have a winner.
Edinburgh was selected to go first and they indeed loaded some pressure on to the first Dragon shooter by scoring a goal. Coach Martin put his faith on an old friend and a true Old School Dragon, Cody Punter who had been a major factor in the game already. After ensuring everyone in the bench that he has this in the bag and that he is not nerveous at all, he skated on to the ice and did what he told he was going to. Even though the puck was doing everything it could to hop out of his blade, he remained ice cool, deked the goalie out and absolutely roofed it on the backhand, going straight to the top shelf where daddy keeps his magazines.
After this it was time for the most wanted man in the Edinburgh team to go. Number 42 Adam Gray had been the soul of Edinburgh's offence and therefore he had had a target painted on the back of his jersey throughout the game. It had already been proven that the battering he had taken was getting the best him when he lost his temper and got in to a physical altercation with Uusitalo earlier, and now he had the keys to become either the hero or the man who lets the team down. Probably unwillingly, he was in danger of becoming the latter as he tried to go forehand but cat-like Ruth Cattell flashed her left pad and stopped his attempt in a way that seemed very effortless.
Now it was time for yet another old timer to step in to the limelight and be the one who possibly writes history when Lambert, probably encouraged by what he saw the last time around, told Don "Dangelitis" Needham to get on to the ice. If possible, he was even more relaxed than Punter and stepping out of the bench he just shouted: "Don't worry guys, I know what I'm going to do". And once again, the older generation delivered. He skated in from the left hand side, forced the goalie to move sideways and just slid the puck calmly between the wickets in to the back of the net. Approximately 57 milliseconds later, the air was filled with sticks, gloves and helmets as London Dragons stormed on to the ice and rushed towards Daddy Don who was gliding on the center ice.
Don scores...
...and the Dragons go ape.
"Where are my gloves"
Kell Lynch, Kalle Uusitalo and Cody Punter strike a pose.
Some yeehaaw's, wooo-hooo's and probably even few YEAAAH's later, teams lined up to see how the man who has been there since day one for the Dragons received the cup, and lifted it up making sure that everyone can see it. What an ending to the season that started the journey for many new Dragons but on the downside was the last one for some of the players who had been around for a long, long time. However, after winning the Playoff Championship, there was still one chance for these players to prove themselves for the last time: The National Championship tournament that was lurking only six days away.
Dmitry Strusevich receiving the cup from Simon Hopkins with Lukas Frlicka and Martin Lambert
Martin got his hands on the cup as well.
Cody feeling a bit sentimental with the cup.
One happy Dragon-family on the way back.
London Dragons - Division 1 Playoff Champions 2011
From upper left: Lukas "Gaborik" Frlicka, Thomas "German Precision" Koch, Dmitry "Manager" Strusevich, Fredrik "The Emperor of Sweden" Hellander, Martin "TWO LAPS" Lambert
Mid row: Suzanne "Mother", Don "Ice cool" Needham, Kell "K-Train" Lynch, Andrew "Tall" Slater
Lower row: Kalle "Crazy Viking" Uusitalo, Cody "Bed-shitting drunk" Punter, Felix "Mr President" Franck, Philippe "AH MERDE" Dembele, Donny "Mr Skinny" MacPherson
Lying down: Ruth "OI, GUYS! Shoot LOWER!!!" Cattell
Missing from the game: Axel "Ox" Nyström, Eric "Kangaroo,eh?" Sewell, Timo "Ambulance" Rautiainen, Ludwig "One-timer" Wolfegg
Only six days later, it was time for the Dragons to make their way back to Sheffield once again and face the teams from Northern group they have not faced all year, such as Sheffield and Nottingham. First game was scheduled to start 1050 on Saturday morning, but because Warwick had pulled out from the tournament, first session on ice turned in to a nice morning skate and light workout to get them legs going. Just as a note, games in the Nationals tournament are only two periods long.
Ready to go.
"Listening" to the coach.
In the first actual game, the other half of the ice was filled with team that was familiar from the regular season, Cardiff Redhawks. For the first 11 minutes the game went back and forth and Dragons were amping up the pressure without being able to score. 11 minutes and 30 seconds in to the first, Thomas Koch scored a power play goal and the floodgates were open. Suzanne scored 40 seconds later and just over three minutes from that Kalle Uusitalo and Lukas Frlicka score two goals only 17 seconds apart. Martin Lambert topped the period up with fifth of the game and Redhawks were in a world of trouble. After the first two minutes of second period, Uusitalo scored 3 goals while Koch amassed 1+2 in seven minutes and it was curtains for the team from Wales. Donny MacPherson scored three more goals and McGoey scored her second while Lambert was piling up assists. In the end the score was 13-0 and Lambert gathered 1+5, Uusitalo 4+1, Koch 2+2, MacPherson 3+0, McGoey 2+1 and Ludwig Wolfegg 0+3.
After this it was time to examine the damage as Philippe Dembele had hurt his shoulder in the opening minutes of the game and Cody Punter's back that got hurt in the SuperFinal was acting up. These two warriors were not to play in the next game, which was moved from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening and the team facing the Dragons would be hometown heroes, Sheffield Bears. In the meantime, players kept themselves busy by eating, hydrating themselves, scouting the opposition and watching the Division 2 Playoff Final between Bristol Lions and Sheffield Bears.
Action from Manchester Metrostars - Cambridge Blues -game.
Action from Manchester Metrostars - Cambridge Blues -game.
Action from Manchester Metrostars - Cambridge Blues -game.
Division 2 Playoff Final, Sheffield Bears - Bristol Lions
Decisive shootout goal in the Division 2 Playoff Final, Sheffield Bears - Bristol Lions
What a familiar feeling, championship decided via the sudden death shootout. Congrats to Bristol!
After the rest it was time to take the ice against Sheffield. Winning was the only option for the Dragons, because leaving too much at stake for the Sundays morning game was a risk the coach Martin wanted to avoid. However, Sheffield came out of the gates like a bat out of hell and score two goals in the first minutes of the game and absolutely dominated the physical side throughout the first. Dragons were significantly slower to get going and after the first period they were trailing 4-0. Once again the Champs were down but not out and as Bears started to slow down the Dragons took over the physical department and started a furious comeback.
Getting ready for Sheffield Bears.
Ruth found someone from her net.
The comeback started when Thomas Koch scored and the goal was followed by a point shot from Uusitalo on the power play. Donny MacPherson scored yet another goal in the nick of time, in the last minute. End of the match was all about Dragons trying to push ahead with full team but there was a problem between them and scoring known as the defence and the goalie of Sheffield. Dragons were banging their heads in to this wall throughout the second period and they stood their ground when it mattered the most and they were able to hang on to the win. Final score was 4-3 in the favor of Sheffield and the situation that was dreaded now stared Coach Martin and his troops in to the ball of the eye: everything depended on the game waiting for them early in the Sunday morning where they would be facing Nottingham Mavericks. On top of that, the already bruised team received even more bad news when Suzanne got absolutely destroyed by a big hit that sent her flying back first heavily in to the boards, and Andrew Slater pulled his hamstring. Regardless of this, they showed some serious guts, and both of them were confident that they could play in the next game.
Uusitalo in pain after getting SPEARED in to the groin by a girl in Sheffield team.
Ruth making an amazingly crucial save on a penalty shot.
After the tough loss, it was time for the Dragons to rest and pump some energy in to their bruised bodies and hope for some for some fast healing. The weapon of choice for refueling was the obvious option, and chosen by many top athletes around the globe: MacDonalds. After this very, very nutritious meal it was time to hit the bed and start mental preparing for the challenge awaiting in the morning.
An absolute rarity: Lazy Frenchman.
What showers in hotels made for.
In the morning it was time for team breakfast in the hotel lobby and heading back to the rink, which was luckily only about 176 meters away from the hotel itself. Preparing for the game was good and it seemed that Dragons are ready to take the win and advance in to the playoff rounds. Only win would cut it this time, and that showed on everybodys faces. Once again, game was pretty even, but when Dembele was not able to play and Punter could only play few odd shifts here and there, things were looking pretty bleak for the Londoners. Unmanned and playing most of the game with only 8-9 guys on the bench, slowly but surely Dragons were running out of steam. It was getting painfully obvious that the nutritional values received from Maccy D's burgers were not enough to restore energy storages and in the end the score was 8-5 in the favor of Nottingham team. Result was clear cut with no ifs or buts involved, Nottingham and Sheffield move on and the Playoff Champions had fallen in the Round Robin.
This meant that one era in the Dragons saga was over, as this loss was the last game for four eternal Dragons. Dmitry Strusevich was one of the founding members nine years ago, and has seen the ups and downs but has always been there for his men. Manager has all these years been taking care of ice time, jerseys, transportation and social events in the ULU bar among other things. And broken more sticks than I have ever seen anyone break during one season. Player/Coach Martin Lambert has been the offensive juggernauth of this team for years and not even NASA computers can calculate the amount of laps the team has done inside the Dragon's Lair, Lee Valley Ice Centre. Or the litres of sweat people have shed in his gruelling training regimes, before and during the seasons. Cody Punter made an amazing comeback this season and at the end of the season when it mattered the most, he showed his amazing hands and scored some very, very important goals. He also represented in a classic Dragons fashion in the social events... Axel Nyström, the Smaller Swedish ox has also been around for years, and his physical strength and unforgiving attitude spiced up with Scandinavian toughness made sure that whenever he was on the ice, the opposition was in a world of hurt.
I can only express my deepest respects to these people who have given their everyting to the team (most of the time at least), and hope the very best for them for years to come.
This was a sketchy sum up of the 2010-2011 season of the London Dragons A, and what a journey it was. For me, it was the first year and I have already made tons of new friends while playing the game well all involved in it love so dearly. Only thing we can do now, is to keep improving from this, and go for two out of two possible Championships available next year, and make our predecessors proud.
