Youth Nationals 2005

The weekend of 19th/20th of November 2005, at Torbay Leisure Center

The Tornadoes had finished the SASH league with an unblemished record - well, they hadn't been beaten in a match anyway. Their hopes where high. But this is the Nationals, and all the teams here want to win.

Off to Sunny Torbay in the BattleBus.

Torbay Holiday Motel - patiently waiting for the day that 1970s style stone cladding comes back into fashion.

11:15. Our First game against Wigan Warlords. 3:3 Draw.
Andrew got the first goal. We controlled the game, but somehow went 2:1 down at half time through basic defensive mistakes. Joe equalised after the goalie lost his stick. We got one more, then they equalised. Tiger managed to hold onto the draw with a miraculous snatch out of thin air after they got a break away. A draw, but a good wake up call for us to tidy up our act.

No, Tiger hadn't just let one in, The Tornadoes were just warming up.

2:15 Second game against Redditch Rockets. 4:1 to Oxford.
This game was much closer. Redditch fought well. Joe got one of his trade mark long shots on, but they equalised. We had to fend off a 4 on two power play against us, which Redditch werent able to capitalise on it. 1:1 at half time.

The second half was equally closely fought, but the tempo lifted - thanks in part to Jo Flo on drums!. We where getting shots on and working hard. First 2:1 then two more goals taking it to 4:1 at the end. Hopefully we are now finding our form and can make progress later.

Our placing in the group would depend on the Redditch vs Wigan game. We went off to watch the video recording of our games then back to the sports hall to watch the Redditch/Warlords match. Redditch beat Warlords 2:1, so we win our group on goal difference.

If they had lost, we would have had the last game tonight against Borehamwood. Being top of our group, that puts us up against Brighton tomorrow morning , 9:00. So its early to bed tonight.

9:00 Game against Brighton Street Stormers. 6:1 to Oxford.
Borehamwood had beaten Brighton, Redditch had beaten Borehamwood, and we had beaten Redditch. So we really ought to beat Brighton. But Hockey being hockey, anything could happen.

Practicing the scrum for the Roller-Rugby match later.

The game started well, with Dax getting a shot on goal within seconds of the face off. We dominated their half, but just couldn't get the goals in. Maybe it was because all the players had taken a shine to the Brighton goalkeeper-ess! We finally broke through and pulled one ahead, but they managed to equalise by half time.Surely it was just a matter of time before the goals started to flow?

Second half and we started to show our form. We started to get into the game and managed to defeat the goalie. She must have given them the cold shoulder. George got a beautiful mid-air deflection goal. Final score 6:1.

We have now had a good warm up for the semi-finals against Caerphilly at 1:15.

The lads giving the Brighton Goalie their support and encouragement,
respecting her as a player, sportswoman and fellow athlete. Yeh right...

Oxford supporters take their place in the far corner.

1:15 Caerphilly - Semi final.
Caerphilly had looked awesome in their previous games. So far they have scored 32 goals and only conceded one goal!! .This looked like we had the hardest semi-final. The other semi-final was Wigan Warlords against Norton cyclones. Cyclones beat Wigan convincingly, but the game looked slow. Caerphilly would be something different.

The game started with Caerphilly keeping play in our half. It looked like Caerphilly where going to get on top of us. We fought on, traded shots on goal, but first blood was to us. Andrew popped one home and we where 1:0 up. We hoped that we could just hold onto this lead. Caerphilly were not giving us any room. But, as often happens, our game lifted to the quality of the opposition and we managed another goal. Things started to get a bit rough out there. We were both checking hard, but Caerphilly where just that other side of the legal dividing line and we started to get power plays in our favour. We put another goal away during a power play, and had broken their spirit. They seemed to be just after blood now, and a few punches where thrown in our direction. We held the 3:0 score. We are through to the finals!!

Let there be drums...

6:00 Norton Cyclones Final
Norton looked strong throughout the tournament, but slow in the semis. Its going to be a tough game - but whatever happens, we have qualified for the Europeans next year so roll on Tournaid. (Stop press: Rumours are circulating that as more countries are joining the European championships, second place wont guarantee us a place)

Norton started strong and continued strong. They pulled ahead and we couldn't narrow the gap.. Although the game went to three 15 minute periods, we couldn't win any of the periods. We flung every thing at it, but finished the game 9:5 to Norton. This is actually the first (Bisha) game the Tornadoes have lost this year.

Every one lends a hand blowing up the balloons - well, almost everyone.

But of course, the Oxford supporters easily outclassed the opposition, and really made a bang. Not only on the drums but by bursting all of the balloons we had blown up earlier!

A sea of red, white and BLUE

.
Now that's plain silly...

Many thanks also to Brighton Street Stormers (and others) who cheered us on.

So, Oxford Tornadoes - Youth runners up 2005.

Yeh ok, so you got to the Finals. You can take a rest now.

Trophies all round - except for Max..one day eh Max?

OXSKATE - It's like you where there....