SHEFFIELD U14 TOURNAMENT 

Saturday 10^th – Sunday 11^th  JULY 2010

Game 1:  Romford v Telford

A nice midday start so our boys were ready and raring to get playing. However this was not our usual U14’s squad: Ethan James (U12) in goal, replacing an injured Denis Bell-Blake; 3 guests – Sam Wills, Sebastian Downing and Toms Rutkis: 2 beginners – Elliott Steadman and Ryan James. The game started quite evenly with the teams sizing each other up but Romford soon gained the upper hand and put pressure on the Telford defence. A couple of shots ringing off the posts preceded Glenn Billing scoring the first goal after 12 mins assisted by Jake Sylvester and Matthew Hamilton. A minute and a half later Barney Pauley, again from a Sylvester pass, made it 2-0. Guest Toms Rutkis’ solo effort made it 3-0 by 15.20 and Mason Brownlie added a fourth after 20.35. Telford pulled one back before a Matthew Hamilton scorcher from the blue line made it 5-1 and game over.

Game 2: Romford v Chelmsford

A one hour rest and Romford were back on the ice ready to face our county rivals hoping to avenge a loss and a draw from last season’s league matches. Again Romford took charge, hitting the post and forcing early saves until Rutkis scored with a perfectly placed penalty shot at 7.40. Chelmsford equalised four minutes later but Rutkis made it 2-1 followed by his hat-trick goal at 13.20, both being solo efforts. A couple of missed penalty shots from both teams ensued before Hamilton took a further penalty shot, perfectly deking the netminder to make it 4-1 at 21.30. Less than a minute later and guest Sebastian Downing scored his first of the tournament to give Romford a second consecutive 5-1 victory.

Game 3- Romford v Sheffield A

Within 2 hours and the Hurricanes returned to face hosts Sheffield A, who were riding high after their 6-0 victory over Whitley bay and had plenty of support  from both the local crowd and officials. Billing fired in a beautifully placed penalty shot after 5 mins but Sheffield missed their chance to equalise from the penalty shot as Rutkis again gave Romford a 2-0 lead, scoring from his penalty shot at 17.20. Ethan James kept Romford in the game producing a brilliant save from another penalty shot. Olegs Lascenko took the opportunity to tap in a third Romford goal late in the game after a dubious refereeing decision not to call an obvious trip, resulting in the Sheffield defenders making a bad clearance, straight to Lascenko to easily beat a distracted netminder. With the hooter sounding the end of the game a Sheffield player tried to bait Mason Brownlie into a fight but to no avail, so he turned his temper towards the Romford bench and then to the Romford parents and supporters. This eventually resulted in the player being ejected from the tournament for his serious misconduct, nevertheless another fine Romford performance and 3 good victories. Final score 3-0

Game 4 – Romford v Cardiff A

With two close league games during the season, both tight one goal losses, the boys took the bull by the horns and started attacking the Cardiff defence, breaking through with Brownlie providing the pass to Rutkis to knock in after 1.45. Unfortunately Cardiff responded from the restart, scoring the equaliser at 2.20. Romford had the chance to retake the lead when awarded a penalty shot at 6.40 but the Cardiff keeper managed to produce a fine save. Seven minutes later Cardiff managed to beat James with a well taken penalty shot in a very even game. Pauley’s effort forced another good save before Romford were awarded another penalty shot at 21.50, which Downing slotted home to end the game as a finely fought 2-2 tie.

Game 5 – Romford v Whitley Bay

In the last round robin match of the group it was an unbeaten Romford versus bottom placed Whitley Bay, but the Hurricanes could not afford to be complacent, wanting to remain unbeaten. Hamilton’s precision pass around the back of the net to an open Downing was then passed to Billing to tap home after only 1.10. A Pauley face-off win at the restart to Rutkis, who deked past the Whitley defence to shoot top right after 1.25. A solo effort from Downing made it 3-0 by 5.40. A minute later Rutkis found Brownlie open in front of the net, making it 4-0. By this time Coach Alan Blyth was able to give the third line beginners plenty of ice-time, resulting in some good opportunities and good confidence building for them. A couple of penalty scores to both teams (Wills) and then a couple of misses before a further penalty shot was fired home by Brownlie to give a final score of 6-1.

Although nervous Romford won the starting face off with Downing passing to Sylvester and on to Billing to send the puck top right at 0.20. Continual Romford pressure from both forward lines and a strong defence forced Chelmsford to concede a penalty shot after 6 mins. Although the puck was sent high, Romford managed to keep possession and after some fine puck possession skills Lascenko found Rutkis, who deked through the Chelmsford defence making it 2-0 at 6.45. A minute later Chelmsford found a way through to pull one back. Romford pulled ranks, keeping tight at the back but couldn’t find the back of the net again until Rutkis converted another penalty shot, making it 3-1. Again Chelmsford pulled to within one goal at 17 mins with another penalty shot. Romford kept their heads up and continued to put pressure on the Chelmsford netminder. Rutkis picked up another rebound, spun round and slipped the puck to an unmarked Brownlie to slip through the five-hole at 19.30. Romford continued to fire shots through and finally another Rutkis pass, at 23.00 gave Pauley the opportunity to finish off the game making it 5-2.

Overall a splendid team performance, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament ,which gave ‘captain’ Hamilton the pleasure of lifting the trophy on behalf of a jubilant team and noisy, very proud parents and supporters.

Team and Goal tallies

Matthew Hamilton – ‘C’          2 +2

Glenn Billing –‘A’                    4 +0

Barnaby Pauley –‘A’               2 +1

Ethan James                           NM 

Mason Brownlie                      4 +1

Sebastian Downing                4 +1

Ryan James                             0 +0

Olegs Lascenko                      1 +1

Toms Rutkis                             8 +3

Elliott Steadman                      0 +0

Jake Sylvester                         0 +3

Sam Willis                                1 +0

William Wong                           0 +0

Denis Bell- Blake                     NM