Fixtures, Results & News

RAF Eastern Crusade Ice Hockey Club – Tri-service tournament 2009

As summer approached the training intensified in preparation for the annual Tri-service Ice Hockey Tournament. The RAF Eastern Crusade Ice Hockey Club has gone from strength to strength over the 2 years it has been formed. In our First RAF championship we were the Whipping boys being defeated by every other team in the RAF. During last years Tri-service Championships we fought hard and achieved more than the club could have hoped by finishing runners up in the Plate Tournament. This year we were determined to improve on this by either taking home the Plate trophy, or competing with a higher standard of teams in the Cup.

Now you may not have heard of the Crusade before so let me introduce who we are. The team has now been established for a little over 2 years and we consist of players brought together from all the units around the Eastern counties of the UK. We currently have players from Wittering, Cottesmore, Cranwell, Waddington, Conningsby, Honington and Marham. We train in Peterborough, at Planet Ice, which is located in Bretton. We have players of all standards ranging from the absolute beginner (Bambi with a stick in his hand) up to the hot shots who have played at National League level. The Club has several qualified coaches that strive to improve everybody’s fitness, skating ability and Ice Hockey skills.

So, onto this years Tri-services Championship. The hotel was booked, the cars were packed and the team made the relatively short journey to Sheffield, the home of this years tournament. Due to the number of teams competing in the tournament, the teams were split into 2 groups. These randomly picked teams would compete on day 1 to be entered for the Cup or the Plate championship. Day 2 would see teams competing to decide their final game where they would either compete for position, or to take home some silverware.

The groups were decided, Group 1 looked like the group of death, most of the militaries big hitting teams were in this group they were, RAF Lossiemouth Jets, Army Allstars, RAF Cosford Stars, Navy Destroyers, RAF Brize Norton Bluewings. We breathed a sigh of relief we hadn’t been drawn in this group. However when group 2 was announced it seemed we were still in for a very difficult ride. We were grouped with the REME Stallions, RAF Leuchars Knights, AAC Ice Hawks and the RLC Chiefs. None of these games would be easy.

We were in for an early start on the first day of the tournament hitting the ice at an eye watering 07:40. We notoriously start our games quite shakily, but were quick to react to the AAC and after a solid first period we were tied at 0-0. The team talk went well and the extra effort we all put in paid off with an early victory, winning the game 3-0. We had shaken away the early cobwebs and the confidence was high. Our next game was a tough one, in last years tournament the RLC Chiefs had beaten us by 1 goal. We were determined to get some well-earned payback. The game was tough, it could have gone either way, in the end it finished a 1-1 draw, an improvement on last year. Our next game was going to be one of the toughest we’d ever had, the REME are a well drilled team and on their day could beat any military team they play. Painfully they romped to a massive 7-0 victory. This hurt the teams spirits and we needed to re-coup for our final game of day 1, a grudge match against RAF Leuchars. Leuchars hit us hard out of the gates and took an early lead, we were holding off their attacks but couldn’t score ourselves. The first period finished 3-3 thanks to an inspirational team talk we got our heads into the game and were on the attack. We were really taking the game to them, we managed to draw level and could have won was it not for the pipework denying us that winning goal. The game ended 0-4. Day 1 was over. We had done enough to get into the Cup competition and were in for a tough ride on days 2 and 3.

We had a bit of a lay-in on day 2 with our first game not starting until 09:15, we were playing the RAF Lossiemouth Jets who had all but destroyed their previous opponents. It was nail-biting stuff with our goalkeeper being peppered with shots from all angles, but still the score remained 0-0 throughout the first period. Another excellent second period saw us heroically defending the onslaught from the Jets, right up until 2 seconds left of the period when the Jets managed to lift the puck into the roof of our net, it was 1-0. The Jets found the opening they needed and bombarded our net throughout the 3rd and final period. We were able to get a consolation goal bringing the final score to a respectable 4-1. Our second game on day 2 was facing a team which had already defeated us earlier in the tournament, the REME Stallions. Due to a shortage of time this match was to be a short one, with only one 20-minute period. We played our hearts out, giving it everything we could, we took shots from all over the ice but their keeper was more than equal to the challenge. Their attacking force was incredibly accurate with their shots and managed to score 3 goals. The game ended 3-0 to the REME. That meant that on day 3 we would be playing RAF Leuchars again to decide 5th and 6th place in the tournament.

Day 3 we appeared to be a different team to the previous 2 days, full of fatigue and injury ridden we put in a rather dismal performance against the RAF Leuchars Knights who romped home to a 4-0 victory securing their place as 5th. We had to settle for a disappointing 6th place. However, we managed to go home with pride in our achievements and when we look back at our humble beginnings, we’ve come a long way as a team. We are safe in the knowledge, we are no longer the whipping boys, and I am certain we’ll be doing some whipping of our own in the future.

If you’d like to give the sport of ice hockey a go and would like to be a part of this fast growing sport, give us a ring. We welcome all interested players and the club does have spare kit if you want to give it a go. Please contact your PED flight for local contact details.

Updated 25th June 2009

Crusade Beat Local Rivals
The latest fixture between EC and local rivals the Peterborough Predators took place exactly a week after valentines day. There was to be no love lost between these 2 sides though, as the last closely contested affair was more memorable for the needle and amount of penalty minutes racked up. Crusade were seeking revenge for the narrow 4-3 loss and at first, looked unlikely to get it. Preds took the lead early on against the run of play, and their net minder ensured that they maintained the 1-0 advantage until the break. Crusade finally began to get a hold of the game in the scoring stakes and in the second period notched up 3 goals. These weren’t without reply though, as the period ran out with a slender Crusade lead of 3 goals to 2. It was a tale of 2 net minders so far, with Preds stopper playing out of his skin and Crusade’s Tony Wright using his blocker for an altogether different reason. Having been hooked in his own crease, EC’s own Humberside Hand Grenade went into windmill mode on the Predators forward. And not a beer can in sight! So it was penalties all round, and the tie was really coming to life. Nearly ten minutes of the third period passed without incident despite the constant Crusade barrage of the oppositions goal. Predators notched their third goal to even up the score and it appeared that all the hard work and solid team play of the Crusade would go unrewarded. That was soon to change as Crusade racked up 5 goals in 2 ½ minutes to run out comfortable victors at 8-3. EC’s hard work and fitness paid off in the end, none more so than wee Barry Stewart who claimed MoM despite playing out of position. Roll on the Anglo Cup!
Updated 8 Mar 2009

Plate Finalists in the TRI Service Championships
How about that then! After 2 days of hockey crushing the army air core and beating Cosford All Stars by the huge margin of 1 goal. The mighty Crusade faced RAF Bluewings for a chance to win the plate final in the first official tri service championship. Crusade were hoping to carry their amazing form and morale over to the final. Boosted by the news of Bluewings Buckfast fuelled superstar being ineligible to play and the opposition being short on players it was there for the taking. Bluewings came out hard to take the title. They through everything but the kitchen sink and skated of the ice plate winners congratulations Bluewings. A big shout out to the Choppa for Team MVP. Scott Fisher, Karl Elliot and Tim Looseley for well deserved Aces slots Go Crusade this is a performance we can be proud of and build on. A big thank you to those players who turned up and coached despite being injured in a freak fishing accident with a 3oz carp
Updated 17 Jul 2008