April 2001

Storm Vs Reading.
It's Sunday the first of April and this is no April fool. Oxford Blues Peewees 'Storm' played at Greenham Common today and they won. That is about the end of the report but wait who scored? I hear you ask. Well to be honest the Oxford 'Storm were expecting an easy game, Based on previous results it was assumed that 'Storm would play up to their usual standard and blow the Reading Rhinos off the rink. However this was a large miscalculation on the part of the Oxford Storm team. From the first whistle Reading carried the game to Storm. They were close to scoring on several occasions but the mighty Tiger Hedges kept Storm in the game with several brilliant saves. Both sides pressed without finding a chink in either's armour until 10 minutes into the game when Storm No.27 Vicky opened the scoring for The Oxford Blues Storm. Oxford piled on the pressure until N0.99 Josh Kim managed to put another one past the Reading Rhinos keeper. Reading not to be out done advanced once more on the little figure of Tiger Hedges in the Storm goal and without his timely intervention would have certainly have pulled one back going into the half time break. As it were the first half finished with Storm running out leaders with goals from No.27 Vicky Coombs and No.99 Josh Kim. The second half started as the first finished with Reading putting the Storm under pressure. There was some great play by both sides with some of the Storm players holding onto the ball a little too long for their own good at times. Luckily they were not made to pay too dearly. After 4mins and 42 secs. of pressure the Reading Rhinos pulled one back bringing the score to 2 - 1 Seconds later the lead was restored with another goal from 27 Vicky Coombs. The play was to and fro for the next few minutes without anyone seemingly able to break the deadlock when No. 31 Dave Walton picked an advantageous time to score his first competitive goal for the Oxford Blues Storm, bringing the score to 4 - 1 The Rhinos tried everything they could to reduce the deficit but Storm held on and it looked like it was going to finish at 4 - 1 but Rhinos pulled of a brilliant long range effort that took Tiger Hedges by surprise and gave the Rhinos a glimmer of hope with only two minutes remaining on the clock. With just under a minute to go No. 8 Andrew Gregory younger brother of David who plays in the Oxford Blues Youth team, put the game out of reach with the final goal of the match.
A great and competitive game was witnessed by all and the 'Storm' were in the end deserved winners. You can take nothing away from the Rhinos though they battled long and hard and fought the fight right to the last whistle. They were certainly not the push overs that Storm expected. Oxford Blues knew that they had been in a game all right. It is always a shame that there has to be a looser but I am glad that the Oxford Blues continued their winning run. With three games gone they are won 2 lost 1 and with games in hand on the leaders in the league there is every chance that they will be competing for the honours at the end providing that they keep working as hard as they are at this moment. Well done Oxford Blues Storm!

Keith Devey.

March 2001

Sunday 11th March. A review of the Storm match against Shene YoungBloods, by Keith Devey.

The match started very fast with neither side managing to break through. Hard tackling and aggressive attacking was evident from both sides with the relevant goal keepers doing a steadfast job in keeping the score at nil nil.

The breakthrough came in the fist half when Vicky the only girl on the Oxford Blues Peewee team, scored a sweet goal after 10 minutes and 40 seconds of play. Shene Young bloods were not slow in responding and soon piled on the pressure to equalise four minutes later. With the score one each the game seemed to increase in intensity when Sean Devey the smallest outfield player on The Oxford blues side managed to sneak a goal past the very able Shene young bloods keeper just after the 16 minute mark. With the score at two one to Storm ,the Shene young bloods once again piled on the pressure and The Storm goalie Tiger Hedges was heroic in his efforts to maintain the score line, whilst the out field were put under all kinds of pressure from the Young bloods as they tried to even the score. The half ended with storm in the lead by one goal and the second half was set up to be a blinder. After only 3mins and 47 secs. the Shene young bloods levelled the score at two all. The pressure mounted on Storm when the Young bloods took the lead for the first time in the match one and a half minutes later. Shene piled on the pressure once more and the Storm goalie Tiger Hedges was faced down with three young bloods free on the attack. Tiger managed to save the day and release the Storm for an attack of their own after only 7mins and 25secs of the second half. 2mins and 10seconds later Josh Kim levelled the score for the Oxford Storm. On twelve minutes of the second half Tiger was once again alone against two young bloods and he won the day with a superb save. The keeper at the other end performing just as heroically. It was anybodies game when No. 38 Joe Edwards, brother to Great Britain player Dave Edwards, was sent to the sin bin for a two minute penalty for tripping with the clock on 17mins and 22secs. The Young bloods could do nothing about their power play thanks to the bravery and skill of the Oxford storm outfield players who tried to win the match with three players instead of just playing a holding game. Tiger Hedges the Storm keeper again came to the rescue when Young bloods broke through again in the dying seconds with three on the goalie but the ball was cleared and Shene Young blood could not capitalise on the one man advantage. Seven seconds after his return to the game, No.38 Joe Edwards was making up for putting his team under the late pressure by scoring the winner with only moments to go to the final whistle.

The result did justice to a great game with the Oxford Blues peewee team called Storm running out winners by four goals to three. Both teams covered themselves in glory and it was a shame that there had to be a loser on the day. Well done to all who played and supported what was after all just one of several matches played on the day but a very enjoyable one for us Oxford
Blues supporters.

Febuary 2001

League Matches Sunday 4th

The league has got off to a good start this year, with Youth winning 11-3 against the newcomers Howardian Hustlers. The Howardians will be travelling travel from Wales every Sunday to play in our League.

The Juniors drew 6-6 against Reading

Mathew Doherty

Matt broke his leg while skating at Wheatley park. Trying to do a a particularly difficult double-axle I believe. He will be out of action for a few weeks. Get well soon Matt.

January 2001

The prodigal son.

Dave Edwards has seen the error of his ways and has rejoined the Oxford Blues in the Senior team. Dave plays for the GB national team and last year for Reading. He has now rejoined Oxford blues after his year sabbatical. Welcome back Dave.

Saturday Training Times

Finally, Saturday training times at Marston Ferry Pool have been sorted out and voted on by the committee. The times are:

Minnows and Peewees 4:00 to 5:00
PeeWees and Youth 5:00 to 6:00
Youth and Junior 6:00 to 7:00

It is hoped that the three hours may be moved to 3:00 to 6:00 when the current booking expires.

December 2000

Oxford Twisters at the BiSHA Minnow National Championships 2000

The Twisters were at the Nationals at the new purpose built Jesters Inline UK Arena, Hartlepool. The team was as follows:

Joshua Kim 99 Captain
James Gerrans 70 Assistant Captain
Tiger Hedges 72 GoalKeeper
Anna Carson-Parker 02
Daniel Trendell 44
Ben Chandler 15
George Wagerfield 45
Daniel Willis 34

Their first match was against the Bircotes Bombers, a team that had trounced them at a tournament in Ebbw Vale. It took the Twisters a bit of time to get used to the surface (slippery and bouncy) but they played admirably and only conceded 2 goals in the first period. In the second period they were feeling more comfortable and had several shots on goal but unfortunately conceded another goal.

Final score: 3-0 to the Bombers. A great effort against a team that was thrashing all others and that would go on to the final

Their second match against the Peterlee Panthers was a different story and the whole team were boosted when Joshua Kim opened the scoring. Their confidence soared and Josh was able to add a further 4 goals to his tally. He wasn't the only one though, and Ben (Chopper) Chandler decided to increase the score with 2 great goals, one with an assist from James Gerrans that went the length of the rink. George Wagerfield scored his first goal in a tournament with a sterling performance, which summed up the whole teams, excitement.

Final score: 8-0 to the Twisters.

Their third match against the Jaguar Jets was to prove to be their toughest. Maybe they were over confident from their previous game, Anyway, their defence in the first period was poor and the Jets were able to put 3 goals past them. They recovered a bit in the second period and established a better defensive play but could still not stop the Jets Captain getting another 2 goals past them.

Final score: 5-0 to the Jets.

The team had a great night out in Hartlepool at Wild Bills Eatery, where their coach managed to polish off at least 5 platefuls of good ol' American fayre.

Sunday 3rd December

The first match of the morning was to prove to be one of the best, especially the first period. They were up against the Wigan Warlords who went on to be the winners of the tournament beating the Bircote Bombers 8-2. The Warlords had played some exceptional positioning and passing play yet with great determination and some fantastic goalkeeping by Tiger; the Twisters held them 0-0 in the first period. In the second period the Warlords started to get their own way and scored a few goals.

Final score: 4-0 to the Warlords.

The next match was against the Panthers, and again the Twisters had no problem in scoring loads of goals, however in their excitement they also let one in. The last match against the Castleview Bobcats proved to be a cliff-hanger all the way through and unfortunately went against them in the last few minutes.

Everybody played extremely well and most importantly enjoyed themselves. Those that had been to Nationals before did feel that the venue was not as good, and hopefully that could be improved for next year.

All the other teams taking part consisted mainly of last year minnows, the Twisters only had 2. With another years training they should be in a far stronger position next year.

Well done the Oxford Twisters.

PeeWees excel under new management

Bruce has now taken over from Stuart as the PeeWee manager. He successfully managed a team of 9 players who went to the Welsh WASH tournament in the Rhondda valley on 7th and 8th of Oct. The PeeWees won all of their 3 games on the first day, and were narrowly beaten by Pontypool in the semifinals, despite our team having the better attacking play.