#nihl 2

Hey Mike, with NIHL 2 cup final games only a few weeks away we’re creeping toward the end of the hockey year! The Pitbulls are currently comfortably in mid table, how has the season been so far for you?

Crazy would be the right word! We have a better record against the top half of the league, than the bottom! We set out to be in the top three and anything lower than that wouldn't be seen as an unsuccessful season.

You’ve been with the Pitbulls from the beginning, but this year you’re also coaching the team. Is it difficult to transition from being one of the lads?

Not really, I try to take up the role of good cop! We have a great bunch of boys and they seem to know when to respect both me and Dick as a coach, but give it to us as players! Dicky also brought in Daryl Morvan and Becci (our sister) to run the bench, so my role has been more about telling the boys in a one on one style during games and training.

As one of the most forward-thinking clubs around the NIHL the Pitbulls are really setting the standards for other teams in terms of their publicity and charity efforts. What can we expect next from the team?

Cup jerseys and they look sick! The great thing about Dick is he always tries to think outside the box. He also has been trying to help other teams, telling them to do group on deals and other general things that he's used to promote our team over the last five seasons.

You’re currently playing home games in Oxford, how difficult is it to build a fan base when you’re playing in another town?

We are very thankful to Oxford for their help in helping us stay alive as a club, but it's almost impossible to build an Oxford fan base as they have a team in our league. We have a handful of die-hard fans that follow us and help out on game days. Rich has managed to retain all our sponsors, as well as adding some. So that goes a long way to keeping us alive and stops us relying on home gate money. However this doesn't mean he's not got ideas on how to push up our crowd numbers!

How weird was it seeing the team on TSN’s NHL coverage in December as they talked about your Christmas jerseys?

How cool was that! Again credit to my brother for doing something different, as far as we know no one has had the goalies and players in different shirts. The fact they were also voted one of the best shirts on the program as well was crazy, I know our Xmas jerseys were a big bit and I think we sold over 50 to the states! 

We have to ask… you lived with Chris Randall for a while. Does the Wightlink Raiders TV interviewer ever stop talking?

I've tried to blank those memories out of my mind... And no he doesn't!

He would wake me up every Saturday morning, with a copy of power play in one hand and Denver (his son) in the other! He would then sit at the end of my bed and rabbit on for hours, I still cry myself to sleep and thank you for making me re-live that!

  Thanks for your time Mike, anything you’d like to add?

Just a big thank you to all our supporters, sponsors, Oxford ice rink and Birmingham ice rink for their help and support

A big thank you to Mike for taking the time to chat with us. You can find the team at @bristolpitbulls

If you’ve got any feedback, you can tweet me @MattMerritt. I’d love to hear from anyone who takes the time to read the blog.

Big thanks to Flyfifer for the photographs too!

Hey Janne, we’re four games into the season and the Pitbulls have won three games and lost the one, how do you feel the season is shaping up for the team?

I think the season is shaping up quite nicely. The opening game against Chelmsford seems to have been a bit of an anomaly for us, but since then I think we’ve shaken the cobwebs out and started playing to our potential and skill level. It certainly beats last years’ start that really cost us in terms of standings. I think Richie kept the core of the team the same to last season, but added a couple of elements to the club that are paying dividends early on for us. It’s definitely better to have three wins (2 in league and 1 in cup competition) this early on than going six straight without a win as we did last year.

  Having said that, we can’t afford to get cocky or too comfortable and think the wins will just come to us, as we need to work hard 60 minutes game-in, game-out. It’s a long season and we’re only at the start and the league is better and stronger year after year and we’ve got some tough games ahead of us. We can’t count any team out this season as the opener in Chelmsford showed us.

  How are you and the rest of the team coping with having to play your home games in Oxford?

For me it’s quite nice. I’m based in Basingstoke so the drive to Oxford is quite leisurely and doesn’t take me as long as it used to take me to drive to Bristol and back for training and games, not that it mattered to me that much as I knew I’d have to travel a lot when I signed with the Pitbulls.

I think Oxford is a good second home to us and we’ve seen good crowds so far, so I think it’s working out quite well. It gives stability to the team as we’ve got a temporary home out of there. Last season we relied on getting ice time anywhere and played home games out of Swindon, Oxford, Basingstoke and Solihull, so it’s definitely good to have that stability this year.

Obviously, it would be great to have a rink back in Bristol as it was a popular attraction for the locals and every public skating session was always packed so it wasn’t like it was a derelict building used only by us and the synchronised skaters.

  Despite a new addition to your family you put in a huge amount of effort to get into top shape during the off-season, how are you feeling a couple of games in?

I feel great to be honest.

  Getting into top shape was tough and I don’t think I’ve ever worked that hard during the off season. I knew areas I wanted to address after I struggled with speed and off-ice fitness last season, largely due to a reoccurring back injury, so I got help from a personal trainer in the US called Brandan Schieppati of Rise Above Fitness, who really put me through my paces and still is. For me hockey conditioning isn’t just for the off season. It’s a continuous process to make sure you maintain and build upon the explosiveness and strength you gained during the summer.

  The first game was weird and afterwards I was wondering whether all the work I had done was for nothing, as I felt like I was treading in tar the whole game. I had been on holiday the week before and we had a last minute change to our travel plans, so we didn’t get back in the UK until the morning of the game, so while some of the guys may have had bus legs, I had plane legs and bus legs to contribute to it.

  I’m really fortunate to have a wife who is encouraging with sports and allows me to chase my dreams on the ice and I think we’ve got a routine worked out with the baby, though I’m going to owe her big time by the end of the season. Obviously the baby and his wellbeing is our number one priority, but I think I’m lucky to be playing as I know far too many guys, whose careers have been cut short by their other halves not being supportive of the sports aspect. Yes hockey is a very demanding sport on the player and the family, but I make sure that I spend as much time with my son as possible throughout the day and week. Heck if the pros can manage a family and hockey, I don’t see that it’s impossible for me to juggle family, work and hockey.

      Richie Hargreaves was very complimentary of your leadership when the PItbulls announced you had resigned for the season. Just how important is it to have the right guys in the room?

It’s hugely important. I’ve played teams in the past (pre-Pitbulls) where the atmosphere has been really infected that comes down to one or two individuals, so yes, it is important to have a room full of guys who are there to play for the crest on the front, instead of running a social club.

What I really like about the team, is that Richie is a no-nonsense guy and won’t put up with anyone who’s just tagging along for a ride and the other thing is that we can all have a good time and a laugh, but when it comes down to business, we are all focussed on the task at hand. Rich has also added Darryl Morvan as a bench coach, so that brings more stability and focus on the bench. I’m not saying Rich wasn’t able to do it, but it’s easier to have a bench coach than act as a player coach (having done that myself while I was playing roller hockey in uni – NEVER AGAIN!!).

  You’ve been playing for Bristol for four years now, have you gone native?

Like said before, I live in Basingstoke so my knowledge of Bristol is limited to where any of our events are held and the location of the old ice rink. So I don’t know if I can call myself a Bristol native, but I’m very appreciative of the opportunities the club has given me and the support the fans have shown both myself and the team over the years, specially last season when we were nomads and played wherever we got ice.

  For those who haven’t seen you play how would you describe your style on the ice?

It’s like watching Bambi on ice or a new born gazelle finding its legs...

I try to be a responsible two-way player and play both sides of the puck. I’ll always take the teams’ wins and points first, but I’d be lying if I didn’t look at my stats as well, so I’m looking to contribute more offensively this season as well. In fact any hockey player that says they don’t care about individual stats is a liar. We all want to chip in and get on the score sheet, but for me it’s more important to get the W’s for the team and I can cry about my stats post season.

  You write a blog (read it here), providing some really interesting insight into your approach to the game and wider issues in hockey as well as reviewing a bunch of gear.  How did you first get into writing?

I’ve done a lot of writing throughout my life, mainly creative writing (read that as writing a lot of break-up poetry in my teens). As for hockey, I’ve always kept a game journal about my performance in games and at one stage I thought, I’ll stick it online for all to see and it’s taken off from there and evolved into something entirely different.  It was a scary experience, as I didn’t know how it would be received and it went sort of nuts after Yahoo’s PuckDaddy covered an open letter I wrote to the NHL about the European TV rights.

During the time when I was recovering from a quite serious brain injury in my first season with the Pitbulls, the blog became a good outlet for some of the frustrations and to really tell people what it feels like to live with a brain contusion. It was during the time when the NHL was going through its concussion epidemic and I thought someone oughta lift the lid on things.

As for the reviews, I try and look at new stuff as much as possible, but it is often difficult to persuade the vendors to part with equipment in case it gets slated. I wanted to start looking at equipment from an independent players’ point of view and see whether the marketing and the paid for player testimonials were any good. It’s all well and good paying Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby a couple of million bucks to say your gear is the bees knees, but whether that actually stacks up to the ice is a different matter. I think there’s not enough of gear reviewers out there and I think its important that there are independent sources that give consumers insight on kit. Too many times people go out and spend up-to £200 on a stick that breaks after the first shot or a pair of skates that don’t fit and you bought them just because the advert said they make you super fast and have some space-age technology that will make you toast and coffee while you’re not on the ice. 

  Last question from us, if you could add any player to the Pitbulls who would it be any why?

I couldn’t possibly answer that. My personal view is that we’ve got a well-balanced team with experience from higher leagues like EIHL, EPL, NIHL 1, as well as international experience, which will filter down to all players. If there are any areas that would need addressing, the management team would do that. 

A big thank you to Janne for taking the time to chat with us. Head over to twitter and look him up at @Amateur_hockey, you can find the team at @bristolpitbulls

If you’ve got any feedback, you can tweet me @MattMerritt. I’d love to hear from anyone who takes the time to read the blog.

  You were top point scorer among British players in NIHL2 last year; do you have any targets for this season?   

On a personal level I never set myself point targets, to be up amongst the top again would be great but the league gets tougher every season and there seems to be a lot more competition around the league this year so for me there’s no target other than to try and remain consistent as possible.

The Tigers were runners up in the league last season; do you think this year you can go one better?

I think as a team our aim from the outset is of course to win the league and cup. With the addition of Haringey to the league and Oxford keeping most of their guys and adding to it I think it makes the challenge even more exciting and at the same time makes the league a lot more competitive and even more of a reason to bring it every game. We haven’t had the greatest of starts especially with our Coach Scotty Carter stepping down but we have to just try and build on from there and if everyone turns up each game then there is no reason why we can’t compete with any team in this league. We are all aware there isn’t an easy game in this League it will be interesting to see how it goes.

How did you first get into ice hockey?

My Dad used to take me down the rink on Sunday nights to Watch the Gosport Seakings (I think that’s what they were called) when I was about 3 years old as a few of his mates from work went down there and a few of their sons played... One of them being Krissy Abbot. I can’t remember everything but I’m guessing I liked it and Kris used to take me on the public skate once or twice a week and taught me how to skate. By 4 I was signed up and ended up being the youngest player in the Gosport setup and played 6 years in under 10’s. Best part of it that was all them years later from Krissy teaching me how to skate, we ended up being line mates in my first senior year in hockey at 16 back where it all started at Gosport.

You’ve played for England and South West throughout the youth age groups, how did that experience affect your game?

It definitely had a positive effect on my game when I was playing juniors. It fills you full of confidence and there isn’t a better feeling that representing your country, the experience playing against some of the best players in this country and around the world is something that looking back did really impact my game for the better. Having grown up being a part of that in hockey is something I will always take with me and feel that experience is so valuable to me as a person and a player.

For those who haven’t seen you play, how would you describe yourself as a player?

I have no idea really; I’d probably say a typical number 9. Good around the net and enjoy scoring goals.

You came up through the junior ranks at Swindon and Guildford and have played for Solent & Gosport, what brought you to the Tigers?

A combination of things really, I questioned my commitment at the time and after a half season with Slough I wasn’t sure if I wanted to commit to ENL1 with the Devils given the fact the Tigers Schedule was a lot more easy going and to be honest I wasn’t sure If I was even going to play that season. Then having spoken with Scott Carter over last summer and what he had planned for the team that year and the role I would play in the team and his plans for bringing me forward as a player it was a no brainer and for me, especially as I felt I wasn’t getting that from coaching at Gosport. It wasn’t the easiest of moves given the fact all my mates played for Gosport but it meant I could balance work and still enjoy my hockey which is exactly what I do over the island. We got a cracking bunch of lads over there and the atmosphere we have as a team is great and I like being part of it, so looking back it was a good decision and I don’t regret it one bit and I’m glad I’m back for another year!

If you could add one player to the team who would it be and why?

From this country it would probably be my old mate Frankie Harvey from the London Raiders. It would be a right laugh playing on the same team with him again and because were good pals off the ice I can only imagine how mental and often the team nights out would be. But if I could pick anyone in the world I’d pick Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, the guy is the complete centreman and would make my life a lot easier playing with someone like that!

  A big thank you to Lewis for taking the time to chat with us. Head over to twitter and look him up at @LewisTribble9

If you’ve got any feedback, you can tweet me @MattMerritt. I’d love to hear from anyone who takes the time to read the blog.

You joined the newly reformed Haringey Racers this off-season, what tempted you to move to a new team and drop down a division?

After playing last year in Kent on my gap year it was ideal for me to play hockey near my University so I could focus on my studies whilst still playing hockey. I was contacted by the owner of the team Dave Richards in the summer and we had few conversations throughout the summer about signing for the team. I was apprehensive at first dropping down but it is evident from the team put together that this is not your average NIHL2 team. My main focus this year as a player is to develop and as any player knows you can only do that being on the ice in game situations. I’m looking to grasp my opportunities and prove what I can offer as a player.

  It’s the team’s first year back in the league, what are the goals this season? Will you be looking to stabilise or is promotion the aim?

By looking at our team on paper and in the first two games it’s clear that Simon has put together a team to push for the league and cup this season. Personally, coming away from the season anything other than first would be a failure. The team and infrastructure has been put in to set the organisation up and provide longevity and all that are involved in the set-up of the club should be commended for their work lust far. 

  You’re coaching at Guildford now too, how is that going?

I’m really enjoying it! It’s so refreshing to see kids playing hockey and smiling. Sometimes when you get older you lose sight at why you first started playing the game and just watching the u10s skate it takes you back and you appreciate the game even more. By going through the junior system at Guildford it was always on my intentions to do my levels so I could give back to a club that has moulded and shaped me into the person I am today. In the summer I worked in New York working for the Future Rangers. This experience alone has taught me a lot about coaching and has given me a great insight into coaching.

You played your youth hockey with Bracknell and Guildford, and have also played for Oxford & Streatham. Having moved around so many different teams are you looking for more stability now?

 My dad has always said to me never plan your life around hockey and he’s right in many respects. Hockey is a small world and you don’t really know what opportunities may arise on your horizon. All you have to do is work hard and better yourself and the team day in day out. On the stability front – It would be nice! I feel really happy to be a part of the Racers organisation and am enjoying my time thoroughly with team.

  For those who haven’t seen you play, how would you describe your playing style?

I’m a thinker. My brain is the best part of my game I feel and I try to use it as much to my advantage whilst I’m on the ice. I play team first and do what it takes to stop goals. I’ve nicked a phrase Stewart Tait used to say, ‘even or up’, and take this is into how I play my game. I know there’s much to be developed around my game which is why I’m working hard on my weaknesses and bettering myself towards my goal.

How did you first get into the sport? Are there any particular players or teams that you grew up watching?

I think 80% of the people born in the 90s would answer this question with – ‘Mighty Ducks’. I am no different. It was a movie I watched at three years old and ever since then I never looked back. I owe a lot to that movie. Who knows what I’d be doing. Since watching the movie I pursued ice skating lessons and once I turned seven I trialled for the hockey team playing alongside Christian Cole, Callum Best and Andy Melachrino in my first year. Otherwise I would watch Guildford every other weekend when I was younger too but football dominated the household television wise.

You’ve played alongside so many players, if you could pick any one to line up alongside who would it be and why?

Last season I played alongside Andy Smith who for me is an amazing hockey player. He has all the skills and comes to the table every night. The other person I would like to play with in a line is Milos Melichrik. If it wasn’t for Milos I would probably have quit hockey. He has given me many life skills that I could never forget. However, a couple years back whilst at Guildford we lost a team mate, Alfie Skelton, to a freak accident. He was a big soul and had a bright future in hockey as well as outside of hockey. I’d love to line-up with him again and in respect to Alfie I write A.S 10 on all my sticks.

Anything else you’d like to add Sam?

Many thanks for your time Matt in providing the interview and to anyone reading this. I hope everyone enjoys their hockey whether playing or spectating. 

  Many thanks to Sam for answering our questions. You can keep up with the Racers throughout the season at @racers_london and you can say hi to Sam at @samcheema21​

If you’ve got any feedback, you can tweet me @MattMerritt. I’d love to hear from anyone who takes the time to read the blog.

The Racers are back! You were one of the first players Haringey announced when they were voted back into the league, were you eager to join?

As soon as they were reformed I contacted Dave Richards to talk about joining for the 14/15 season as I was still planning to go back to university in Bath this year, but even before those plans changed I said to Dave “I’m in, I’m not missing out on this”. I grew up playing my entire junior hockey at the Palace and I knew Dave Richards Sr. who is a man I had a lot of time and respect for. I have a lot of love for the rink and the fans there and to see hockey succeed there will be a dream come true. I was never going to pass up the opportunity to be part of history. We have a great group of players in the room and the young guys coming in are ones to watch for the future. With guys Danny Ingoldsby, Jack Cooper and Denis Bell playing outstandingly so far I think it’s those guys that can be our key players this year and I like to think I can help them a little bit on their way.

You’ve played in the EPL and NIHL1; did you have any hesitation in dropping down a division?

Honestly, yes. I wasn’t sure what to expect and had heard a few ‘horror’ stories about the league but when I heard of the quality of guys we were looking to sign I knew that regardless of who’s put in front of us the guys beside me in the locker room and out on the ice were all quality players. The league’s improving every year too and it’s a great place for young talent to develop with increased opportunities of ice time, so if I can help the next Rob Dowd on their way to stardom then great! What I love about this league is that it’s a true development league and, certainly within the Racers, we’re not going to hold anyone back from progressing and we’re here to be a stepping stone up to higher leagues.

It’s the team’s first year back in the league, what are the goals this season? Will you be looking to stabilise or are you aiming straight at promotion?

There’s always the talk of promotion, we are aiming for the double this year. We want to win both the cup and the league and I see no reason why we can’t, the way I see it is they’re ours to lose. Back to the promotion topic though and I think we’d moving too fast if we took it right away. We need to look at the long term picture, can we compete in NIHL1 with the squad we’ve got? Absolutely. Could we win the league? Not a chance. Winning isn’t everything for us but it’s a massive part of it. Fans are fickle and we need a few solid years of a winning side to build a fan base that will stick with us through and thin. We need to walk before we start running. Once we get the under 18s coming through the ranks and get them up to standard then I think that will be the time for promotion. But it’s not up to me.

Alexandra Palace is a pretty special location; it’s certainly got a bit more glamour about it than the other rinks in the NIHL, but what is it like to play on? There used to be a bad reputation about the quality of the ice for example… 

They refurbished the ice rink a couple of years and honestly its pretty good now. Plexi would’ve been nice but you can’t have everything. We’ve definitely got the best home changing room in the league though. It’s our own room where every player has their own stall. We’ve got TVs, a sound system and thanks to the hard work of Perry Whitlock, Denis Bell, Mark Robinson and myself it’s now red and white. Rumour has it that as a result of our hard work the queen now wants to reclaim the Palace with our changing room as her master suite.

You’re comfortable both in defence and as a forward, which role will you be primarily playing this year?

I wouldn’t say I feel comfortable anywhere on the ice. My skating stride has been liked to that of a new born gazelle that’s beaten round the head a few times. However, I feel much more at home playing defence. I’ve worked hard on my pylon impression over the years and from extensive research I’ve found that they don’t actually move, which suits me perfectly. Playing forward came about from my time in Romford in the EPL where it was a case of play D and sit on the bench or play forward and sit on the bench. I chose the latter as there was a slim chance I might touch the ice beyond skating to the penalty box to sit a bench penalty. I got one chance against Swindon as a defenceman, and I thought I did well. I played on our second line, went +3 in the game, got an assist (never got the credit for it, but I don’t chase refs for that stuff. Kids reading this: DON’T CHASE THE REFS FOR POINTS! Go celebrate with your team mates and enjoy the win as a team) and we won 8-3. I got benched in the 3rd period for some reason and I think that was the last time I touched the ice that season. It seemed to make more sense for them to draft players in from Cardiff ENL Devils than to play one their contracted players. I think per minute played I must’ve been the highest paid player on the team. On the plus side it freed up more time to dedicate to just being an all round beauty and getting naked on the coach trips home.

How would you describe your playing style?

I would describe my playing style as a no nonsense player. I try to do the simple things right and keep the puck out of our net. I used to play the enforcer role where I’d just go looking for fights, I loved it and saw it as a ticket to move up leagues but over the past couple of seasons I’ve tried to concentrate on improving my skating and focus on just playing hockey. I’ll always stick up for my team mates and if we need a spark then I’ll drop the mitts but I’m play hockey to play hockey now, not having dick measuring contests with the other teams tough guys. I’ve had some good wars in my time and fought some tough guys, with good results. The only two I’d say that got the better of me are Jeremy Cornish and Chris Wiggins. I’ve got nothing left to prove, but if you mess with my team mates I’ll be there like a flash.

How did you first get into the sport? Are there any particular players or teams that you grew up watching?

I got into the sport when I was about 11 or 12. My dad’s Canadian and his school used to have it’s own rink where they’d play ice hockey for intramural games. He was telling me about the fights that used to happen and after a lot of pestering he took me up to see game. We went to se the old Haringey Racers. We got there a bit late and as we walked in there was a guy being stretchered off and a huge puddle of blood on the ice. I was hooked! It took a few years of pestering my parents to let me play and eventually they conceded, as long as I bought my own kit. We went to the learn to play at the palace on a Friday night and I picked up some skates from the second hand kit sale, the next week I bought my first full kit from the kit sale and never looked back. It’s the first sport I’ve fallen in love with. I was going to pack it all in after my shoulder operation last year, but after a call from Mark Cuddihy of the Cardiff NIHL Devils I was all of a sudden signed to a team again. I have a lot thank Cudd for he made me love the sport again. After turbulent 11/12 season with a mid season switch to Invicta from Bristol I just hated the sport. I have many fond memories of my time at Invicta, we had a great bunch of guys on the team and their fans (even Ralph) are by far the best fans in NIHL1 but the man management of their coach within hockey made me hate the sport. Away from the rink Parrish is great guy, but at the rink and on the ice there was a lack of communication and no clarity in his decisions. One week I was getting ice time, the next I’m riding the pine with no explanation and nothing to work on. I was promised sticks, all I got were used sticks to start with and then left overs no one else wanted. When I asked for stick with the right curve and flex in private he walked out of his office and exclaimed loudly in front of the boys “what do you need sticks for? You’re just here to fight”. That may have been true, but I felt it wasn’t the right way to go about things.

You’ve been playing in the AIHL this year, how has the perception of ice hockey changed in Australia since you last played there a few years back?

It’s changed hugely in all the teams bar Canberra. The general perception of the league is great, there are games streamed live on TV now and the quality has increased greatly. In Canberra however the owner cares more about lining his pockets than putting a quality product on the ice. In his words “what’s the point? The fans will turn up anyway”. There needs to be a total rebuild of everything in Canberra, they have some quality players and guys that will do anything for the team but there’s a rift between the Knights and the junior set up and there’s very little new talent coming through and a lot of guys are being driven away from the team. Every other team in the league gets their food paid for on the road, but we had to buy our own and take days off work because the cheaper flights back were on a Monday morning rather than a Sunday night. We had by far the best coach in the league, Matti Luoma but he was so constrained by the owners budget that he had very to little to work with.

I’ve always followed the league closely and it’s amazing to see it grow. I have to give credit where it’s due and that goes to the Perth Thunder and Sydney Ice Dogs. Perth finished 3rd in their second season in the league and the Ice Dogs have gone from a last place team to winning the league and playoffs in 3 years. The league does an excellent job on social media and online and it has some great exposure across the world. Things are looking good for hockey down under.

The AIHL/NZIHL seems to be picking up more of a following among hockey fans here in the UK, in part because they stream their games for free. It seems that our own leagues would do well to follow suit. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I think it would be great for teams to do it, in this day in age it wouldn’t cost a huge amount to do and would gain some valuable exposure across the country, however I think a big reason for the successes of the AIHL and NZIHL are because they play during our summer. For the main ice hockey markets there’s not a lot going on in the summer other than some transfer and signing news and watching how bad Teemu Selanne is at golf (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRkcl_RHwoc). Also, the less Dave Simms’ mug is on TV the better. I’d love to be on TV though, we’d certainly get more female fans if they thought that all players were as good looking at me.

Thanks for your time Alastair, anything else you’d like to mention?

To finish off I’d just like to say a huge thank you to Mark Cuddihy for getting me back on the ice and to my mum for putting in the countless hours to get me to training and games as a kid. Without her I’d probably be memorising star wars scripts now.

At Haringey all our games face off at 5:15pm and the schedule is our website (www.haringeyracers.co.uk), you can also buy tickets there for a discounted price. Come on down and watch some players of the future. You can follow me on twitter too, @aliband24, for some random thoughts and an insight to a head that’s been punched a few too many times.

Big thanks to Alastair for answering our questions. You can keep up with the Racers throughout the season at @racers_london

If you’ve got any feedback, you can tweet me @MattMerritt. I’d love to hear from anyone who takes the time to read the blog.