This was the tournament to prove what a team the Tornadoes are. We got to these championships the hard way. We won more games than any other team in our league, AND got more goals than Ash AND where the only team to beat both Shene and Ash, and yet we came third!

How could that be? Ash and Shene repeatedly tied their games against each other making the points equal between us. So it came down to goal difference. Just one goal difference separated us and Ash. That meant we had to go to the playoffs in Gloucester to earn our place at the nationals. This turned out to be valuable training for us. We won the playoffs, and joined Forest flyers and Kilmarsh Khaos in going to the Nationals in Dorset.

We where determined to show that we where the rightful league winners. It was only goal difference that stopped us coming top in the league. We never chased goal difference in our league games, preferring to give all players fair time rather than pumping in the goals. The peewees had come third in their Nationals and we were determined to do even better here.

This was a three-day tournament involving 16 teams from around the country. The games where only 15-minutes each way with just two games per day, so we had to play hard and fast.

Being late entrants into the championships, it was difficult to find a Hotel (or a campsite) that wasn’t already booked up. We found a Hotel (the Kingswinford Hotel) that actually opened up especially for us. The one down side to this Hotel is that it was too near to the sea front and all its slot machine arcades. We had herds of Tornadoes sweeping majestically through Torbay’s arcade land. We had to shepherd them together after the first night so they would be well rested and ready for our first match against Havering liberators the next morning.

We had Ash, Havering and the Wasps in our group. The first and second of our group could progress to the finals, the third and forth in our group could do no better than 9th place. With the Wasps in our group we had to beat Ash and Havering to stand a chance. We had already played the Wasps earlier in the season at Sheffield, and been beaten by them, but, then we didn’t have Doc and Joe with us then. Things could be different this time!

Friday 10:30, Oxford Vs Havering liberators.
We had warmed up thoroughly with a quick game of Rugby on the Astroturf outside. Then, remembering that we were here to play hockey, dashed in for our first match. (this was the weekend leading up to the Rugby world cup after all).

Havering were only fielding 6 outfield players, so when we went a goal down, we needed to keep the pressure on to make them tire. Unfortunately we slowed down to their pace. We needed to get ourselves fired up again to play to our advantage. Havering helped us to our next goal with a deflection in to equalise before half time.

Havering again pulled ahead, but we soon equalised and started to dominate the play. Karim sunk in the winning goal taking us to a 3:2 victory. A bit close, but a win is a win.

Oxford vs Ash Avalanche.
Ash really wanted to win this one. In fact they needed this one to stay in the running. But we were fired up and ready to burn Ash.

John scored first, to put us in the lead. We held the lead and Ashley put away a second just before the half time whistle. The second period became frantic, with each team trading goals. The game was becoming a chaotic round of penalty plays and penalty kills. The sin bin chairs never had a chance to get cold and the refs where calling all sorts. We even had a penalty shot that Doc popped in top right.

This seemed to break the spirit of Ash. Before the end, Springer decided to take his body armour off and not finish the game. Final score 5: 3 to the tornadoes and 12:10 in penalty minutes to Oxford! Phew. That meant we now have a path to the finals. It’s all to play for. Next game wasps at 09:00 so it’s early to bed.

Oxford vs West coast wasps.
The wasps did not seem to looking as strong as they did at Sheffield. Or maybe it was that we were that bit older and wiser. The game did not go all the wasps way and we had some very spirited play. We even had a great 5 on 4 going during a delayed call of penalty - until David put a back pass in to our own open net! Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before. But the rules say you can’t score into you’re own goal during a delayed call of penalty, so we got away with that!

The wasps held their lead. Doc managed two goals but that left the wasps the winners 4 goals to 2. This meant that we were second in our group and would play the winner of group A. Anyway, a good warm up match for our next game against Shene at 1:30.

Oxford vs Shene youngbloods.
Shene had comfortably won group A, having played all their group games the previous day – a long but successful day for them! This gave them the honour of playing us as the second in group B.

We had the advantage over Shene of playing them within 3 hours of our game against the Wasps, while Shene hadn’t yet had a game that day. In these situations, the edge of mental alertness tends to win over slight physical tiredness. The last time we beat Shene, was after we had played two league matches previously on the same day!

However, we had the disadvantage of Joe and Karim not being in the team. (They where travelling from Devon to Kent to go and play in an ice match that afternoon!!). This meant we had to assemble up a set of lines that we where not used to playing. This is what is known in the trade as “bloody scary”.

Before the game, you wouldn’t think that we were just about to fight for a place in the semis. The good-natured banter between Shene and us was what makes these tournaments worthwhile - if only some other clubs could follow suit.

This was to decide who would take the SASH banner through to the semi-finals. This was to finally settle who were the true SASH champions. We already knew we where really, but this would just prove it!

We were on the look out for Max Montgomery and didn’t want to give him any space. We managed the first goal, from the red-line popped in by Andrew. Shene soon replied with two goals in rapid succession. We managed one more before half time to draw the score at half time. It was still any one’s match.

Second half and Doc managed two goals to put us into the lead. Shene had little reply and we each scored one more making the final score 5:3 to Oxford. Result!

This meant that we wouldn’t be playing any more matches that day and would get a lie in tomorrow (11:15 game) – now that was a result! (Shene where left with the night shift again).

Oxford vs Borehamwood - semi final
We where now in sight of the Finals. Just one game away. Just Borehamwood to contend with. Borehamwood who beat the Wasps at the Sheffield tournament and who look more like a Junior team than a youth team (has any one checked their birth certificates?) At Last year’s Nationals it was Borehamwood who knocked us out of the running, (although we had them beat up to the last minute). Would justice be done here and luck be with us?

We fought bravely, but Borehamwood managed two goals to nil at half time. We had the opportunities but they didn’t convert to goals. Borehamwood put 5 more away to our one in the second half, taking the score to 7:1. A bit of a pasting.

The Bircote bombers managed to beat the wasps in the other half of the semi finals, meaning that the final would be between the Bombers and Borehamwood. This left us to fight it out for 3rd/4th place against the wasps. The Wasps looked distinctly ragged against the bombers – maybe the wasps where loosing their buzz? Maybe we could finally beat them. We were so up for it.

Oxford vs West coast wasps – 3rd/4th placing.
I thought that if we could manage to get two goals ahead then the wasps would crack up and we could take the match. We did go two goals ahead, helped by their goalie who obligingly handled the ball into his own net. However they refused to give in and kept up the pressure. We were still winning 3:2 at half time, and just needed a final effort to finally swot these wasps.

We made too many errors that the wasp used to punish us. We didn’t convert the power plays and the wasps pulled two ahead in the last two minutes, making the score 3:5 to the wasps. The wasps where in our grasp, they stung us and got away! Arr well. Fourth at the Nationals – A great achievement from a really great team.

The Final: Boreham Wood vs Bircote bombers
This was a great final. Borehamwood looked stronger, but the goals where being traded evenly throughout the 3 period match. In the last period, the bombers pulled ahead and tried to hold onto their lead. Borehamwood then benefited from the ‘time wasting in the last two minutes’ rule. The Bombers knocked the ball out of play, got a penalty shot against them and then had a power play against them.

Borehamwood used the opportunity to pull back two goals and won the final. I hate that "time wasting in the last two minutes" rule - yet again, it came to the rescue of Borehamwood - a very exiting final. I think the stronger team did win in the end, so well done to Borehamwood.

When you look at our guys lined up against some of the other teams, it looked like we where in the wrong age group. To my knowledge, none of our team shave (well OK, Doc has shaved his head).