Team strengths should start with your goalkeepers. If a team has strong goaltending then winning is always a strong possibility. Davey Lawrence was a rock for us on Saturday night. The Phantoms have 5 players who scored more than 20 goals last season so limiting them to just one goal was a great achievement. On Sunday Tom Annetts was equally impressive. He stopped 30 something shots in a rink where defensive play goes out the window at times. Games in Romford can be high scoring shootouts.

When I signed the five defencemen in the summer I thought that these guys would do a great job for us. My only concern was keeping our defence from going forward too much.
At times during the previous two home games we have left ourselves vulnerable at the back. On the contrary, Sunday in Guildford and then in Romford the defencemen were outstanding. They controlled the game shutting down the opposition forwards and winning the battles in the corners.

I think that the League will be predictably balanced. There does not appear to be an obvious frontrunner at this stage. Sheffield has surprised a lot of people. MK and Slough have started the season well. The one thing that concerns me is the type of penalties that the referees are calling. They appear to be trying to clamp down on any physical play. If a hit is made and a player falls over then a penalty is assessed. Good clean hits should be a part of an ice hockey game. The fans want to see it as it adds another dimension towards the whole ice hockey experience. I hope that the refereeing decisions become a little more lenient as the season goes along. The last thing coaches want or need to do is to instruct the players not to hit!
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Article published courtesy of the Basingstoke Gazette, Thursday 1st October 2009.