SURVIVING THE FINAL 4
FRIDAY
So the NIHL Final 4 play off weekend is over. Congratulations to the Basingstoke Bison on a truly dominant performance that saw the Herd Stampede past the Tigers to a 4-0 victory.
A few weeks ago I wrote a little guide for everyone on how best to survive the weekend. To all who read it thank you, and to the EIHA thank you for choosing to use it on your web site. I hope it helped any new comers to make the most of the weekend.
So what of the weekend just gone? Typically here at 2 For Flinching I like to do match analysis. But this time I have decided to leave that up to the likes of Banners On The Wall, 482 Days and David Carr. What I'd like to do is give a fans reflection on the weekend
Going in to this years Coventry weekender I had my fears, the loss over the years of the Manchester Phoenix,Guildford Flames and Milton Keynes Lightning fan bases. Had not only left holes in the league table but also a few gaps in the seating chart of the Skydome arena. And I was worried these gaps would prove too big to fill.That the weekend would be a disaster financially and an event I love so dearly would die. So I began trying to think of this weekend, not as another EPL weekend but as the league had advertised it. The First NIHL weekend, and the first of anything will have its ups and it's downs, and things could only grow from here. So I opened my mind and jumped in my friends car and left London for Coventry on the Friday
Check in did nothing to help y nerves though, the revelation we were the only other fans the hotel had seen was a shock as it was already 3 by the time we arrived, later when we decided to take a run around the city to squeeze in a little exercise we failed to spot anyone in any kid of hockey gear. We swung by the Windmill but the usual crowd of supporters spilling on to the street wasn't there yet. Where was everyone I began to ask? When we did get back to the hotel after dinner we met up with the rest of the Bison fans and the lack of ticket sales became a hot topic. Bison we knew had sold a lot, Swindon had sold out, Telford had sold a fair chunk as well. But looking at the NIHL classic blocks made me worry even more.
SATURDAY
TELFORD TIGERS VS PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS
AND
BASINGSTOKE BISON VS SHEFFIELD STEELDOGS
The next morning I awoke, full of excitement. It was now day 1 of the play off weekend. 2 days 4 games, despite my nerves over the weekends success I was excited. But sadly I soon learned of the disaster in Canada that had wiped out the entire Humboldt Broncos, and I had to take pause as I am sure many hockey fans both in Coventry and Nottingham did that morning. But as my friend Jess would soon remind me, the show must go on, and that's how the Bronco's would want it.
Arriving at a very empty Spon Gate around 10 I once again became alarmed, in previous years it was near impossible to get a table in Spon Gate at that time, and then it hit me. My friends from MK were not there this year, again my thoughts dwelled on those gaps in the seating charts. And then, A unicorn, a Zebra, a Cow, a Giraffe and Mr Blobby all walked in to a bar....no that's not a joke it was the vanguard as I like to see it of a group of fans who would steal the show from the stands. The fans of the Whitley Warriors. Soon they had filled out a fair section of the pub, and soon the place was full of fans from all manner of fan bases. Telford, Peterborough,Bracknell, I even spotted Dawn Danger of Streatham chatting with Isle Of Wight fans. It all brought a smile to my face as I realized yes we had lost fans, but maybe we had found others to take their place.
As we sat outside on the lawn by the dome, my friends and I did a little people watching to pass the time. Seeing how big the queue to get in the building was, we had decided to take it easy. My apprehensions about the weekends success fell further as I began to pick up on all kinds of jerseys from around the league,MK thunder, Billingham Stars,Solihull Barons, Solway Sharks, Bristol Bulldogs, Brampton Battalion and even MK Lightning. I even ran in to a couple who had come all the way from Germany, and had made visiting the final 4 weekend part of their trip before heading on to Nottingham the next day.
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| THE BISON BUILDERS GATHER OUTSIDE THE DOME (Thanks to Jo Loat for these) |
We settled in for Game 1 of the weekend, Telford Vs Peterborough. A game that had a lot of questions surrounding it given neither side had faced each other that season. However the atmosphere in the dome seemed capped through out this, almost as if the fans in the arena were trying to figure it out much like the Phantoms and Tigers players were trying to do on the ice.
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| THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM |
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| Both images here courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
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| Images Courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
Game 2 would see some un-capping of the atmosphere in the building. Maybe it was the effect of everyone having a few drinks in the break, but for some reason there was a more jovial atmosphere seeping across the building. And there seemed to be two competing sources for this joyous atmosphere. First was what I will dub the Bracknell Beer Bottle Brigade. A group of Bee's fans who were quite merrily leading Bison fans in chants, and somehow pulling off the miracle of getting Bison fans to chant Bee Army back at them.
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| Images courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
But also, with the chant of "Dogs Are Wearing Pajamas" in reference to the Steeldogs jerseys the fans of the Whitley Warriors seemed to have taken up the mantle of atmosphere creation. Along with making the Bison fan base its puppets for the duration of the game as they chanted Stand Up For The Bison at intervals.
The Turning Point Milan Kolena's missed Penalty shot
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| Both images courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
After dinner that evening I decided to round off the Saturday by visiting the Windmill as I hadn't had a chance yet. And it resulted in one of the most rewarding evenings of discussion about British Hockey I have had. As I ended up along with several other fans talking with league manager Richard Carpenter and Twitters own 482 Days about the weekend, its success and how the league was being run. I won't detail what was discussed, but it was so refreshing to have someone running the league willing to just sit down with a random fan like myself and talk to me about the hows and whys, but also asking my opinion. If this had been the old EPIHL or the EIHL weekend I doubt if any owner/league official had been in Richards place they would have been as candid, or even have put themselves in that position.
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| In The pub with Ben Callaghan and Thom of the Swindon Wildcats |
SUNDAY
NIHL 2 FINAL
SUTTON STING VS OXFORD CITY STARS
NIHL 1 PLAY OFF FINAL
TELFORD TIGERS VS BASINGSTOKE BISON
Sunday would begin with another encounter between 2 teams who knew nothing about one another as the champions of NIHL 2 North and South faced of for the National championship.
As with the U20's game in previous years I hoped this game would serve as a nice curtain raiser for the day, help others to blow away the hangovers and get ready for the final. For my friends and I it would be a chance to indulge in a little chirping. I gathered groans when ever Sutton's Warren Gilfoyle made a save of saying Curses Gilfoyled again. But we had fun at mentioning that James Goodman, was a Good Man when ever he did something right.
It was good to see Oxford had bought a sizable contingent with them, and I hope even if the Stars don't come up to NIHL 1 next season their fans consider joining the party next year if they enjoyed themselves.
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| The Streatham contingent enjoying the weekend |
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| Image courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
However our bad jokes were nothing in comparison to the show stealing antics of the Whitley Warriors fans. Unicorns, Mr Blobby and Dogs Are Wearing Pajamas's had been the tip of the ice berg the day before. The game itself was entertaining from my perspective just what was needed after the day before. However the Whitley Warriors fans had other ideas, and it was sometime during the second period that a conga line began in the Whitley block and began snaking its way around the dome. Then the crowning glory was the inter-block game of catch that the Warrirors fans had begun.
It was only a northern division rivalry that served to try and scupper this as the fans of the Billingham stars attempted to hold Whitley's Ball hostage in jest. But eventually after some tense negotiation the ball was released. It was at this point my friend Jess and I agreed if there was a fan participation medal, Whitley deserved it. Some even remarked that it was strangely symbolic that the fan base having all the fun and getting so creative at generating a party atmosphere was sat in the old Manchester Phoenix block
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| The Whitley Conga Line in Full swing |
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| The off ice show stealers of the Whitley Warriors |
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| THE WHITLEY BEACH BALL, AND BILLINGHAM'S SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL! images courtesy of Five Hole Photography |
Meanwhile on the ice Oxford and Sutton where going back and forth, possibly wondering just what was going on, as they played for a championship in one of the strangest atmospheres ever. Stars would end up 3-1 winners on the day and it was thoroughly deserved. Despite the scoreline it was only really Sutton's lack of clinical finishing that had denied them victory, as Warren Gilfoyle had stood on his head for much of the game.
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| Images courtesy of Five Hole Photography |
With the game over my friends and I donned our Bison colors and put on our war faces(see below)
and did the best we could to convince ourselves of every way the Bison could win it. My friend Chris from Peterborough kept telling me your the better team you'll do em. But all I could think was of the curse of the dragon locker room. In recent years no team who had entered the ice from the Blaze locker room had won. And it was against Telford a team who after 3 years of finals weekend defeats were desperate to put the quest for a final 4 win to and end. Hockey's a game where whats on paper can end up meaning zero. Could Bison end the curse, could the death of the EPIHL, and the birth of the NIHL Final 4 end the curse
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| Image courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
The game was tense for a while, and even at 4-0 up I was convinced it would all come crashing down around us. But all through this game the party atmosphere carried on. Anyone but Telford rang out around the dome as it had done many times over the last 3 years. The Bracknell Bee Beer bottles had returned and in the words of one had only had 3 sips of water that day. But despite that, despite having a blood alcohol level I'm sure made them flammable and despite having not much left of a voice they lead sections of the Bison fandom in chants, and of course the chant of Bee army rang out in return.
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| Image courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
Not to be out done, the Warriors fans joined in as well, making sure we regularly got some exercise by getting us to stand up for the Bison on a regular basis. While also coming up with many imaginative chants, the most ridiculous and bravest considering the state of the skydome floor(even before the weekend began) was Shoes off for the Bison, I wish I had a photo of the Whitley block all stood there with 1 shoe held in the air. Why I have no idea. But as my friend Anthony Russel would describe it later. I think the Bison and Warriors are friends now.
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| Image Courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
On the ice we would see a perfect Bison performance, as the Herd would stampede through the Tigers to end the game 4-0 and probably my happiest moment of the weekend as Vanya Antonov scored a beauty leading to the chant of Who's that skating through your legs Vanya Vanya. The Bison's speed had been too much for the slower and bigger Tigers squad and the buzzer sounded to make the Bison NIHL Final 4 weekend winners, and with the play off title chants of we just did the treble rang out(I'm sure no doubt instantly corrected by Phantoms fans that its not the EPIHL treble)
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| Images courtesy of 5 Hole Photography |
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| Courtesy Jo Loat, Jess B and Myself |
As I remarked in the offing, I had my worries about the weekend, would the NIHL fans buy in to what was an EPIHL format weekend. I had heard some negative bias towards it, but in the hotel as the night wound down I found myself along with the rest of my Bison fan friends talking to some Billingham fans. They had traveled 6 hours to be there,but they had really enjoyed themselves, and that they had already booked rooms for next year. They wanted to come back. And there it was, if the two fan bases who with the exception of Solway that had traveled the longest, enjoyed themselves and wanted to come back, I knew we were on to a winner.
Thankyou's
So I had my fun, but there wouldn't be any of that fun, if it were not for those who had given up free time and made the effort to make sure the weekend had gone ahead. Of course first and foremost I must thank Richard Carpenter for steering the league through the choppy waters of this period of transference for the league and getting an agreement that lead to the continuation of this format
But of course if it wasn't for the efforts of Steve Merry this weekend would never have happened. I'll never forget the little jig of delight he did when I told him of all the NIHL fans I had encountered enjoying themselves on Sunday morning. Also Steve your'e in here both in word and picture so you owe me a pint next year :)
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| Weekend organizer Steve Merry enjoying a dance with Shirley Packwood 5 Hole Photography |
And of course the off ice officials who kept the weekend running smoothly. Our arean DJ Scott Collier, and our off ice staff. Simon King,Nick King, Liz Mustoe, Chris Burbage,Scott Ellis,Steph Sellers,Lucy Spalton,Mark Hatherley,Andy Howells and Lisa Howells and medics Glenn Wells and Shirley Packwood
Lastly I'd like to thank everyone who came along, no matter what fan base you are a part of. Thank you for making the first NIHL Play offs a success both off and on the ice in my eyes. I look forward to seeing all of you there next year for another great end of season party and some great hockey.
My thanks to all who have contributed photos to this blog
5 Hole Photography-https://www.facebook.com/5holephotography/?ref=br_rs
Fellow Bison fans
Jess B
Jo Loat.
