The more games I see, the more I am getting into the exploits of the Solent and Gosport Ice Hockey club, and Ice Hockey in general. My local club takes up so much of my available free time however, that I have yet to gain further insight into the wider world of hockey.
Actually, I have dipped my toe into the world of the American National Hockey League (NHL), but only by buying a couple of hockey shirts off ebay - Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils. The New Jersey Devils are now my NHL team (when I start following it properly) - Harry made the suggestion that, since our own ENL (that’s English National League) team are the Solent Devils, it made sense to choose a NHL team that shared the name. What the hell - I have no connection to any particular American city, so the choice of team was going to be compleetely arbitrary anyway, so I can think of a lot worse ways to choose!
I have taken further steps to involve myself in the world of British Hockey - my dad and I are intending to go up to Nottingham to stay with family up there (who are hockey mad) and spend a weekend at Nottingham Arena watching the Elite League playoffs, Hopefully I will be able to pick my cousin’s brains about the wider world of hockey, as I currently do of some of the more knowledgeable parents at the Gosport games. I will hopefully have the dosh to pick myself a Nottingham Panthers shirt while I’m there - my Auntie Elaine would no doubt disown me if I dared to support any other team!
But I think my first love will always be with Solent & Gosport - I find that as I get to know the players in the teams, my enthusiasm for their performances increases. At the moment I know all the players in the Under 10’s 12’s and 14’s teams (and by ‘know’ I mean know their names - I have met and spoken to many of them though - and I could probably tell you all the numbers of the Under 12’s and 14’s players), so they are the teams I am most keen to watch. There’s something about kids playing sports - the way they can throw themselves heart and soul into the moment, and play with passion, not to mention the whole learning experience - winning and losing, fair play, sport as a metaphor for the game of life and all that. I imagine that there is a degree of vicarousness (is that an actual word?) about it too - “I wish I’d done this when I was their age”.
[Although I am still hopeful to actually play rec hockey at some point in the not too distant future!]
But anyway, I’ve just witnessed the best weekend of local hockey so far, but before I go into that, I better take a few steps back, since I not posted about a few postworthy things…
[You'll notice that I have not apologised for the lack of posts like I normally do - I've decided to stop apologising for things I don't have any need to apologise for, as I do that too often. Besides, half the posts on this blog are apologies for a lack of posting, so any further apology would be a bit shallow!]
Twas the third of January - the penultimate day of my Christmas leave. I had been invited to go up to see the Hunters (under 14’s) play a game at Bristol. Actually I can’t remember if I had been invited, or if I had asked to go. Either way, I was keen to go to an away game, as I was by now taking photographs of all the home games of all the age groups, and it was becoming apparent that when taking photographs, one’s ability to properly spectate and enjoy the game is severely compromised - in order to do a good job, you can’t get caught up in the emotion of the game, as you forget to take photos at the critical moments. So when your team score, you can’t cheer, as you need to take photos of the team celebrating. And like I said, as I get to know the teams, I get more caught up in the emotion of the game, so I need to focus harder on doing the photography.
Not that I’m complaining - far from it! Like I may have said before, doing this is by far the most fun I’ve had with my camera to date, and long may it continue. Just that I’m getting so into it, that I want to have my cake and eat it too - I want to watch and enjoy the games as well as be able to photograph them. The answer? Away games!
Easy! I photograph the home games, and watch the away games. And since the season runs over the winter, the demand on my weekends is not quite so intense, so I am freer to attend. This is of course dependent on being able to get a seat in a car of one of the parents, but they are all so friendly, that it seems to be no problem.
So, on the 3rd January, Natasha came and picked me up at lunchtime, and I travelled up to Bristol with Natasha, Sam and Harry, and another hockey family (and another great family may I say) - Tania, Taran and Calum. Taran is a fully-fledged Under 14 (who is going up to Under 16 level next season), while Calum and Harry both play for the Destroyers (Under 12’s), but regularly play up at Under 14 level.
It was a fun trip up, with me and Sam acting like total chidren in the company of the three kids behind us. The game was even better though.
It’s been too long since the game for me to give you a proper review of the game, but it was a fast paced, and by the end, bad-tempered affair (on Bristol’s part anyway). All our supporters were in fine voice that day, and the cheering and chanting was getting very loud by the end. If memory serves, it was 2-2 at the end of the 2nd period, and we got (I think Taran scored them both actually) 2 more part way through the 3rd. Bristol started to get a bit nasty by then, both players and fans alike, and there were a few exchanges between some of their fans and ours, resulting in some Bristol girls getting ejected from the rink. The exchanges on the rink were slightly more intense, with Bristol getting a bit physical as soon as they fell behind. Poor old Paul (one of our Under 12s playing up) was clearly being marked out by Bristol because of his ability, and was getting smashed against the boards at regular intervals. Taran was also receiving similar treatment, and was also subect to some squaring off from the Bristol players, with one of their players even coming up behind Taran and sticking him in the back of his head! The refs managed to miss this somehow, even though we were all going ballistic (especially Taran’s dad, who nearly smashed the plexiglass!). There was even some argy-bargy at the handshakes after the game - Bristol really were a bunch of bad losers.
There was even a rumour that there were 30 Bristol fans outside waiting for us…which turned out not to be true - Sam and I went out to check, and it was just the three girls who got kicked out of the rink!
The ride home was a riot, with more childish behaviour, culminating (for me anyway) with Taran attacking me with his feet from the seat behind. I thought I’d be clever and steal his shoes, only to realise that this exposed his post-hockey, no-shower-yet, extraordinarily sweaty feet, which he proceeded to rub in my face…
Not such a great idea then. Still, I fared better than Sam. As I got out of the car at home, Taran jumpd into my vacated seat, and continued the sock attack on Sam. I found out the next day that he had managed to take them off and stick them in Sam’s mouth at one point!
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!
So the home games progressed through the rest of the month, with mixed results. I got my first actual game shots of the Hunters, as well as the Cruisers (Under 16’s) and Patriots (Under 18’s), which made a full set of teams. Except for the Scorpions of course - that’s the rec team, and they haven’t started their season yet. Besides, they haven’t actually asked me yet!
There was another away game lined up in Haringey, for which I’d managed to get a set, but it got cancelled due to lack of numbers on our part. A mixture of illness, groundings, and inability to get to a really inconvenient part of London (most of the way round the M25 and then a long way in!) conspired against the team that day. I was surprised at how cheesed off I was at not being able to watch a game!
The Destroyers made up for it the following day (or was it the following weekend?) by winning their first game of the season. It was against the bottom team in the league, but this did not diminish the boys’ sheer joy at winning a game. It was amazing - at the final buzzer they were all hugging and ended up in a heap of bodies on the ice. I felt a little emotional, I don’t mind saying!
But coming back to this weekend just gone. The Destroyers again, on the back of their first victory, travelled to Oxford. This was the reverse fixture of my the first game I watched, when Oxford (a much stronger team than the last one) beat the Destroyers quite soundly. And they weren’t very sportsmanlike about it either (there was a bit of gloating at the end).
Our boys must have been on a high still from the last game, as they played their best hockey I have yet seen. Every member of the team gave their absolute all, and gave their all for the team too, not just for their own glory. It was inspiring!
The parents were being nice and vocal again, and got a little too vocal when a very dubious goal was awarded to Oxford. I did not see it clearly, but the contention was that the whistle went before the puck crossed the line, and also that it did not completely cross the line anyway, but the ref (after talking to the line ref) awarded the goal that put Oxford up 3-2. The parents were justifiably put out, and nearly got our team a bench penalty for being a bit too verbally critical of the ref!
4-3 down at the start of the third period, the lads continued to play out of their skins - even the Under 10s, who were playing a whole line against kids older than them, held their nerve all the way to the end, securing a 4-6 victory at the buzzer - we went bananas! It was pure drama! Best game of hockey I have seen yet!
I was on a high all the way home, and all that night. It was superb!
The next day was back to the job - photographing the Tiger Sharks (Under 10’s) at home against Swindon. The Tiger Sharks are used to getting beaten - they lost 28-0 the previous weekend. Its a very different set up though, with the emphasis on fun and fair play.
This game though…..it was like watching a different team playing. They matched Swindon (who are second in the league) line for line all the way through the first period, and were only two goals down at half time. This was unprecedented as far as I can tell. Unfortunately, they lost their focus and shape in the second period, or simply ran out of steam, but lost…..ummmmm…..9-3 in the end?
They obviously were aware of their performance though, as (even though they lost) they all mobbed Aiden, the netminder at the buzzer (he did play a magnificent game), and were utterly thrilled at the result.
I was thrilled too - it is so difficult not to get caught up in the action and emotion. A massive well done to all the Tiger Sharks and Destroyers for a really entertaining weekend of hockey.
Long may it continue!