FEATURES
RAF Ice Hockey
The Royal Air Force Ice Hockey Association (RAFIHA) held their Annual four-day Championships at Dundee Ice Arena during the Autumn ‘16.
The 4 regional teams, made up from a number of supporting Stations and civilian players, made the journey to Dundee from all across the UK to compete for the honour of being named as the top RAF team of 2016; RAF Lossiemouth Jets, RAF Vulcans, RAF Cosford Stars and the RAF Bluewings.
Teams arrived on Monday evening for an arrivals brief and the much anticipated allocation to the ‘trade’ teams which were to compete in the pond hockey tournament on the Tuesday for bragging rights throughout the week. Competition was fi erce but the ‘Logistics’ team eventually skated away as the victors in a convincing style over the Offi cers team, winning 3-0 in the fi nal.
The tournament itself started in earnest on the Wednesday with some hard fought games. The Bluewings and
12 Winter 2016
Vulcans got off to a blistering start. The Bluewings tore through the Cosford defence in the opening game to win 6-1.
It was clear from this early point that, besides the Bluewings, the other team to watch was that of the reigning Champions, the Vulcans who play out of Planet Ice, Peterborough and have players from East Anglia up to Lincolnshire. The Vulcans fi nished the fi rst full day of play with a signifi cant win over Jets, 6-1.
Wednesday saw a confi dent Bluewings side claiming fi ve scalps with an unbeaten run which continued after the lunchtime break to fi nish the day at the top of the leaderboard in a style that was reminiscent of the 2015 tournament. Hopefully this year’s fi nal would not see them falling at the fi nal hurdle and losing out on a Penalty shoot-out.
Meanwhile, Lossie Jets defeated Cosford 7-3 to secure third place in the competition.
The fi nal day of competition play saw the two teams that were ultimately
going to be the fi nalists face each other for a prequel of what was to come; Vulcans V Bluewings. A confi dent Bluewings, buoyed by their recent run of success, started the day on a high, infl icting a punishing 6-1 defeat on the Vulcans. Their undefeated run saw them coast into the fi nal scheduled for later that afternoon ready for whatever may come.
Thursday afternoon and AVM Martin Clarke, the RAFIHA President drop the puck for the fi rst face-off. This was to be the fi rst full 20 minute period game and it would be the fi tness of the team and clever use of the lines that would make the difference.
The Bluewings came bursting out of the out of the centre circle and put the fi rst period to bed with 3 unanswered goals; Cpl Richie Gray and SAC Adam Rosbottom were being allowed to skate and combine well giving the Vulcans a lot to think about in their defensive zone.
The second period followed on along the same lines, and although the Vulcans had some strong players
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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