Teir 2 Championships

After a string of losses during the season the C team entered this year’s championships with nothing to prove but to play good hockey. Although the weekend started with the news of losing 3 of our forwards to the B team, notably our captain, we came together and managed a respectable 10^th place. 

We didn’t get off to a great start on the opening day with our first match against Manchester. Their overall higher level of experience and better play led them to a 5-0 win over a C team not particularly proud of their performance; although some solace could be taken given the lack of training or playing together over the holidays. We picked ourselves up for our next fixture against a team we only narrowly lost to during the season. Imperial provided a much fairer match and the C team played a much more rounded game. The end score of 1-0 to Imperial showed the C team to be a worthy opponent, especially considering Imperial went on to beat much more experienced teams with far bigger goal margins.

The second half of the day saw the Nottingham Cs come up against another experienced team. We played well against Sheffield and although losing 2-0, we took a lot from it and it provided a good platform to enter our final game of the day and our make-or-break match of the tournament. After a closely fought match against the ULU B team in London earlier this season and after they refused a return match in Nottingham, we came to this year’s championships looking forward to playing them at the ‘match which never happened’. Mentally we were prepared for this match and it showed on the ice as we played well as a team with a drive to win. Our efforts were rewarded with the first goal going to the C team, especially welcome as being our first goal of the tournament. Although we continued to play well ULU refused to give in and we conceded; bringing the game back to a level playing field and creating an obvious feeling of disappointment. But we picked ourselves up and spurred on even more to win we kept our heads up and were delighted to see our 2^nd goal come not long after ULU’s goal. Our drive continued resulting in slotting in a third. Being 2 goals up we didn’t let off but were disappointed to see ULU score their 2^nd and putting the pressure on. The match carried on with both teams having a fair possession of the puck but disaster struck when ULU’s 3^rd came to put the score level at 3 all. The mood was notably dampened after losing a 2 goal lead and we were wondering if a 4^th was possible for us after giving our all and only producing an even result; but only a few minutes later we were amazed to see the puck go in from a shot let off by Rhys from behind the goal line. The ULU goaltender’s skate aided in changing the puck’s course to enter the back of the net putting us ahead 4 goals to 3. We got a new lease of energy and as the game entered the last few minutes we threw everyone into defence. The tension produced an incredible game as the timer counted down through the last minute and ULU piled on last-ditch efforts on attack. Thankfully we held our ground and came out with a well-deserved victory. With the most important game under our belts and a win amongst our results we were pleased to keep alive the now-probable progression to the 2^nd round. 

The next day saw us play our last qualifying match against the tier 2 north champions: Northumbria. Considering their season’s achievements we played a very good defensive game, with a few good attacking plays, to leave Northumbria with only a 2-0 win. Notably we also recorded a result with no penalty minutes; a special mention should go to our ‘nouveau’ captain, Yves, for making this possible! 

With ULU losing their last match we came 5^th in our group so we went on to play in the 9^th/10^th playoff. This was against Newcastle and given our previous form of the weekend we played a relatively poor match to lose 2-0 against a team we felt we could have beaten. Although the play was very even we just couldn’t convert especially after an absurdly bad decision to send off Vaughan for a more-than-legal check which resulted in one of Newcastle’s players hitting their head badly on the boards. 

We take from this weekend a well-deserved win over ULU and a 10^th place confirming tier 2 is the place for the C team. With more experience and practice hopefully the C team can add to the strong team-spirit they already have and go on to become a viable contender in years to come. 

Edd Rundell