Teams we know, teams we once knew, and our favourite teams to watch play home and away!
Peterborough | Slough | Milton Keynes
Romford | Haringey | Chelmsford | Swindon
The Rink: Hmm. Peterborough rink is your average rink I guess. It has a cafeteria, bar, vending machines... all the usual stuff. It also has a smell of feet in the skate hire area and very strange smelling toilets. It's a lot colder than most rinks because your a lot closer to the action, but I think this is a good thing because it makes you feel more part of the game.
The Team: The best thing about our team is that they are all really nice guys. I've never spoken to players of other teams so I wouldn't know if this is the case anywhere else, but whenever I talk to our players, they always seem to have time for the fans and they always make you feel as though, you as a fan, are an integral part of the team. Enough waffling about that though. The now defunct Pirates had their fair share of problems, they had major financial problems a few times, leading to them going bust. One good thing came out of all these problems: The Peterborough Phantoms!! They've been going for almost a whole season now and leave me very impressed - they've already won the league and look like they could be favourites for the cup and playoffs! At first I was worried that since they had moved down into the ENPL, the standard of hockey wouldn't be as good, but it is just as brilliant as it has ever been and me and Laura couldn't be happier ... ... Except for the fact that our Pirates merchandise is now out of date :(
The Rink: Slough rink is one of my favourite rinks. The reason for this is because I get to sit right behing the players bench. Although this probably isn't the best place to sit your kids if you want to avoid them learning all the curse words under the sun, it's brilliant for me because I get to sit behind 20 or so fit hockey players. Okay, okay, so this shouldn't be a reason for liking the rink, but it's MY reason. ^_^
The Team: Slough Jets, eh? Well, they're okay. The best thing about them is their rink though. I really can't think of anything else to say about the team, except Rob Coutts plays for them. He used to play for Pirates. I don't like it when they beat us.
Milton Keynes
The Rink: Milton Keynes have an OK rink. They fans are a little far from the action, but it's not as cold as our rink is. There are lots of pillars which sometimes get in the way of viewing, and you have to que for ages to get in because the man at the ticket office has to ask you where you want to sit and then print the ticket. They have cheerleaders (or at least they did last time I went) which I think are really kewl. They must5 be about 13 or so, but they have some really good moves and are (mostly) enthusiastic.
Romford
The Rink: Romford rink was v. gd. About the same temperature as our rink so I was prepared for the cold. You can sit right by the players if you want and there is quite a good view all the way round.
Haringey
The Rink: Beautiful place to have a rink in the middle of Alexandra Palace. Unfortunately that is one of the most freezing cold rinks I have ever been in. Although it offers plenty of seating and a good variety of snacks and food - this did not compensate for the fact that I could no longer feel my legs and that it was warmer outside thenit was inside. :(
Chelmsford
The Rink: Chelmsford's rink is a lot like Slough's, it has a very similar layout. Except you sit next to the players, not behind them - all this being said you still can't see a thing unless you stand up if your sitting right by the players bench. Nice place to be though and you can actually hear the announcer - unlike at Peterborough.
The Rink: Swindon rink is a lot different to many of the rinks I've travelled to. There is one row of seats around the rink and the rest of the seats are raised up above one side of the ice. We sat behind the goal and had a great view, until the 3rd period when some very immature Swindon fans stood in front of us chanting rude things at the team and especially Daffy - just because they were losing. Nice facilities - fish and chip shop just outside the rink.
The Team: Milton Keynes Lightning (formally Kings) are one of may favourite teams because they always give you a run for your money. Dwayne Newman (who was once on my quiz team at a Pirates quiz night) and Nick Poole (also an ex-Pirate) play for MK and I enjoy watching them play because they are two top notch players, imho.
The Team: Hmmmm. Romford started up with one of, what I thought, would be one of the best teams in the league. They had two excellent goal scorers, and although they were a bit prone to racking up the penalty minutes, they were a good couple of players to have on the team. Unfortunately, they left earlier on in the season and Romford havn't really been the same since. :( During the season they signed Luc Chabot, Peterborough Ex-Player/Coach and they have picked up a bit since. One thing I don't like about Romford is Antony Child - the most penalised player in the EPNL last season - and for good reason: he is basically just a thug who likes to pull cheap shots... a real let down to what would otherwise be an OK side.
The Team: Haringey aren't a very good side and are very close to the bottom of the league at the end of the season. They have a lot of amateur players so this could be why they aren't up to the standard of a lot of the teams in the league. However, its great that they play for the love of hockey and not just to win :)
The Team: Chelmsford are a good competitive team who can be very tough to beat when they want to be. Douglas plays in goal for the Chieftans, and although we've nicknamed him Teabag, he is quite a good goalie. One of the most skillful players on their team is Andy Power a hard hitting defenseman capable of the same sort of play as Jesse Hammill - we always have to watch those two when they are on the ice together... We beat Chelmsford twice a couple of weekends ago, the game we played in their barn was probably one of the best games I've seen all season - that's one of the reasons I highly rate the Chieftans.
The Team: Swindon are probably the team with the most problems this season. Poor management communication has meant that by Christmas the Lynx were almost on their last legs. A lot of the players weren't getting paid, but still they hung on and managed to win quite a few game considering the circumstances. There now very small roster contains a mix of ages, the youngest being a very skilled 15 year old who really had me impressed. On the whole, a good team.