SA's online hockey shop

It is here, SA's online hockey shop....

Players are able to buy and sell hockey kit via the online site. It will include all the relevant information such as Make and Model, Condition rating out of 10, A clear picture(possibly more), Price and the contact details of the seller.

Hope that the South African ice hockey community can make use of this and help those in need either sell their kit or purchase kit.

Check it out, click here

Ladies back in action

This coming Thursday, ladies head coach Kieren Edge will be hosting a training camp in Cape Town for the ladies squad for next years international tour.

This camp will commence Thursday evening and will run a course of a good couple days with Edge focusing on basics for the duration.

Ladies from Cape Town, Durban and Jhb will be attending.

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Heel spacers - supplement article below

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Heel spacers - supplement article below

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The skate doctor....

So in the space of 1 year I think that I personally bought and tried on 6 pairs of skates from various models of Grafs, CCM, old-school Nike's and the MLX fully customizable skate brought to you by Mario Lemieux & David Cruikshankl (former US 4x olympic speed skater)

The problems I was having on the ice was rather taxing both on the body and on the mind as I had been skating for over 10 years with no problem and at a relatively decent speed. All of a sudden my skating went down and I could not for the life of me figure out what the problem was, as I was sure it wasn't my skates, them being Bauer One95 (top of the range in 2008/9).

This over-night problem lead me to purchase various skates as mentioned in the opening paragraph and was seriously time consuming and extremely painful on my wallet. Luckily I am only left with 1 pair of skates but still lost a good couple thousand Rand in the process.

If only I had known months ago that the solution to my problem was a piece of 3mm plastic, it could have saved alot of time, effort and money.

The problems that I faced on the ice was being very flat-footed and struggled to get into a forward lean position to accelerate on command, also turning became troublesome with slower and wider turns in order not to lose an edge and finally cross-overs were hazardous and every step required way too much attention on the foot-skate-edge ensuring that I dont "eat ice".

This problem on the ice as you can imagine was very frustrating but I was determined to find a solution. I began with trying to re-create a forward lean that I was so use to in my Graf 709's by building up a raised heel with wet-suit material, this did give me a forward lean but it also lifted my foot out of the skate and therefore my foot and ankle was not properly supported and stability was lost.

With two options left, the latter being buying yet another pair of skates (and taking a $600 risk) I took my skates to "Jan Brand Vigus" in Goodwood and instructed them to place a 3mm durable plastic plate on the heel of the skates between the TUUK and the boot which would then be secured by the skates rivets.

Although the job was only done last week and I have been on the ice for 2 hours, I felt an immediate difference with power-strides, edging and cross overs.... Welcome back to hassle free skating, Iv missed you :)

In my adventures of skate troubleshooting I have come across many various solutions to possible problems, so if you are struggling with your skates or skating, leave your comment below I am sure I could assist.

Raising stars... The 3 muskateers (or however u spell it)

Not long ago these 3 "kids" were asking for help with shooting, skating and they would be seen on the ice at any available time (and still to this day)...

Over the months and short amount of years everyone has seen these 3 young stars rise to each occassion... Who are they you may ask?

Wesley Krotz, Alex Obery and Luke Stringer!

Always seen together, whether its in the food court, on the ice and in the changeroom, laughing - talking - joking, but ALWAYS about hockey. It is this passion that has seen them go for junior novice skaters to regular features in the mens senior local league and each of them having represented their country overseas!

If u don't know who I am talking about then here is a basic idea/description of each:

Wesley Krotz:
Under 18 SA national team player, with great all round skills and a good eye for the game. Similar playing style to Gareth Millar and "almost" has 'hands' to match, a pleasure to have on a line and a team...

Alex Obery:
Under 18 SA national team player, a nimble and agile player, good skating and 1on1 skills...

Luke Stringer:
Under 18 SA national team player, good size for a young guy on defence at his age, heads up player and solid on D, plays well with any defenceman, adaptable and open to advice, eager to learn...

So if you are wondering what the future of SA hockey is going to hold, look no further than these boys!

Well done and keep up the good work...

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Gauteng Miners vs Gauteng Colts - 13 September

The first game of the 2011 Inter provincials was played at Festival Mall in Kempton park last night. Both teams have been preparing for 3 weeks and the quality of the game was testament to the build up that both teams have had. Most of the game took place in the Colts defensive zone with the Miners holding possession very well and generating scoring chances with regularity. The defensive zone coverage and basic positioning of the Colts was encouraging however the sheer experience, speed and strength of the Miners made it difficult for the younger team to contain them. 9 of the Colts team were members of the U18 SA Team which participated in the 2010 World Championships in Monterrey and 9 of the Miners team were members of the Senior Team which took part in World Championships this year. The final score in the game was 13-0 and the goals were evenly shared between the winning team. Burton Matthews was on fire scoring 4 goals and 3 assists, Dave Watson also had a pair as did Andre Marais and Zane du Plessis however the stand out player for the night was man of the match Grant van Eeckhoven who played extremely well. Grant's effort, distribution and defensive work earned him the accolade which he deserved. The Colts man of the match was Nicholas Graf with good performances by goalies Farrell Foy and Steven Ryan who both faced a barrage of shots. On the other end of the ice Ashley Bock had a shutout and although he did not have a huge amount of work to do he saved every shot with excellent rebound control. The young goalie from Benoni seems to be recapturing the form which saw him almost single handedly take South Africa to the 2009 Inline World Championships. 

Certainly very encouraging signs for both teams ahead of the away leg of the inter-provincials to be held in Cape Town on the 25th and 26th of September 2011. Nicky Beukes and the Colts Team should be proud of their efforts and without doubt the Colts team have a very good chance of winning a medal this year. Both sets of players are eager, excited and prepared to go down and give a good account of themselves next week.

The Frozen Four - SA Mens National Champs

Caps Town's Grand West will be hosting the 2011 Senior Mens National Champs been called "The Frozen Four" as 2 teams from both Western Province and Gauteng take to the ice for the Gold.

This majority of the tournament is taking place over 2 days, 25th - 26th September with the 2 cities teams playing against each other during the week of the tournament.

The local game will be taking place between Western Province(A) and Team Cape Town(B) on the Thursday evening, 22 Sept, starting at 6:30pm.

The rest of the tournament will take place as follows:

Sunday, 25th:
WP B vs GT A - 06:30
WP A vs GT B - 09:30

WP B vs GT B - 18:00
WP A vs GT A - 20:00

Monday, 26th:
Bronze medal game - 18:30
Gold medal game - 20:30

More updates to come...
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First seniors power-skating lesson, well for most.

Late last night 20 senior players took to the ice under the guidance of Nathan Baskier (previously mentioned as the new ice hockey power skating coach) & head coach Ronni Wood overseeing this pilot program.

Many were taken back by being taught "how to actually skate" by a guy wearing figure skates and for the first couple minutes some of the younger players were rather stubborn and closed-minded as their "know it all" attitude shone rather brightly.

However before they could joke around drills got underway and they soon understood that there was alot to be learnt when it comes to basic skating and power-skating. Nathan implemented simple but direct drills to help players grasp the concept of "finding and using their edges", moving on to more direct drills like low & deep strides concentrating on technique and pure power along with building muscle at the same time.

Supplementing his demonstrations with accurate and clear instructions had everyone on the right track. With some players however putting in more effort than others and just going through the motions, a comment from Russian, Ivan Tchekashkine, "I was surprised that we were doing this kind of skating as it worked my legs pretty well and its good to practice what works!", and in my opinion, this is coming from one of the most natural skaters and power-skaters in the country.

Ivan's skating style is that of a low stance, lots of knee bend and long full extended strides, and this is pretty much what power skating is all about.

Players' fitness started to show as after a couple of controlled laps as technique dwindled but overall Nathan voiced his pleasure after the 30 minutes that we were on the ice with him. Looking forward to seeing the long term results...

Playoffs Game6 - Game review

As the series came to its half way mark and Penguins lead by 1 game, this put some pressure on the Storm team to strike when most needed.

Post game in the Pens change-room was one of slight chaos with players names been scratched due to injuries and illness.

2 broken hands ( Yates and Reeves ), injury to forearm ( Samaai ), a striking fever ( Carelse ) along with van Rooyen, Blaser and others that weren't able to make the game.

The game got off to a high tempo pace with the line ups as such:
Storm: Dustin Wessels, Brendan Stevens, Ivan Tchekashkine, Kyle Martin and Mich Joubert;
Penguins: Deen Magmoed, Jade Johnson, John Fay, Cai Nebe and Marc Giot.

Pens looked like they had the first goal setup of the game with an attack up the right side of the ice, with a pass on the tape from Giot to Fay in the slot but Storm goaltender McClurg was more than capable and denied early satisfaction.

Immediately after a quick pass combination ends with Tariq Ishmail pulling a move on Pens goalie Schlutter for the match opener and go-ahead goal.

The Penguins didn't wait for the score to settle as their first line scored on the next shift with a bar-down from Giot on a fast break just over the blue line. Score leved at 1 a piece.

This seemed to be a back and forth as Storms Kyle Martin scores the next and again Marc Giot snipes another from a screen outside the hash marks. Game tied at 2.

Pens defenceman, Klyde Stevens gets called on a "checking from behind" with a 5 + game, seeing him head to take an early shower and leaving his team mates to fend short-handed for 5 minutes.

Rather reluctantly, Wesley Krotz (a talented up and coming star) sat the 5 minute penalty while the injured Storm player, Cheslyn Cassiem was being nursed back to his feet. He suffered some minor bruising to wrists and ribs but managed to continue till the final whistle.

With 2 mins left of the penalty, and playing 1 man down, Deen Magmoed catches the Storm defence flat footed and hits Giot for a break away goal to put the score at 3-2.

Late into the 3rd, combination of Tchakashkine and Martins over power their opposition and with 2 men camping infront of the net, Joubert scores to bring the game level once more.

But the Pens 2nd line wouldn't give up and an oustanding performance from Stringer and Obery with the guidence from Lange and Fischer at the back kept the Storm at bay.

Marc Giot scores his 4th of the game from a cross ice pass, pulling the goalie and slotting it 5 hole on the back-hand and with another tie game, Cai Nebe slots home the game winner across the face of the net hitting the post and crossing the line.

A good performance from Tchakashkine and Martin on the attack and solid defence from Toni, Wessels and Marrow.

Penguins regain their 2 game lead in the series and well done to both teams for a really close and entertaining game.

Next game, Game7 will take place at the end of the month. Hope to see you there.

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Gauteng Hockey this past Sunday

The game was played at Vaal ice rink on Sunday afternoon. Wildcats had narrowly escaped defeat the previous week after being down 3 - 0 going into the final 20 min. This one would no doubt also be a tight affair. Last week however the Wildcats were without George Lyon, Chris Engelbrecht and Gary Bock who is out with a serious knee injury so with these players coming back Wildcats were definitely feeling confident. 

The game started in typical fashion with chances on both ends of the rink. Marais opened the scoring after Engelbrecht gained the blue line and made a 15 meter pass to him in acres of space which Marais slotted into the 5 hole. Scorpions then hit back almost immediately with a goal from Damian Cordosa and the game continued in this fashion for the next 55 min with plenty of ebb and flow. With 10 minutes left to play and Scorpions leading the game by 2 goals it was do or die for Wildcats. The Wildcats goalie Steven Ryan came up big on more than one occasion and the team took advantage of the good fortune with 2 further goals by Marais and another by Burton Matthews. One of these 2 goals by Matthews was an absolute ripper from the hash marks which goalie Farrel Foy had no chance on. Grant van Eeckhoven played extremely well at centre for the Scorpions and won almost every face-off and showed good positional play throughout. For the Wildcats the older players didn't have their strongest games but managed to come out strong when it mattered. Ian Ashworth was his usual energetic self but the star of the match was Burton Matthews who played the game with a strapped wrist which was noticeably sore and very limiting. 

Scorpions have had a tough time seeing out 2 games in a row against Wildcats but this is not to say that they haven't played well. If history is anything to go on then the Scorpions will come back stronger and more determined in the weeks to come. 

Next week sees Warriors take on Scorpions at the Kollonade at 17:15.

Penguins at a loss for players...

Cape Town's Penguins are looking a little scarce at the moment with an influx of injuries to some key players.

Both Reeves and Yates are out for 4 and 6 weeks respectively with a broken finger and hand, Fischer is out with a lower back issue and Samaai with a tender forearm.

This leaves the Pens with a tough draw tonight as the Storm team are looking to tie the series at 3.

On their side of the ice, smiles all round with a full complement of foreigners back on their active roster. We look forward to tonight's Game6 at Grand West.

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Nathans skating school - Cape Town

Nathan Baskier, x hockey player and current figure skating coach and judge, is helping with local ice hockey players basic form with a Power Skating course at Grand West.

Nathan being brought back to hockey as the Penguins manager alongside Steven Johnson, has been enspired to teach what he knows to the local hockey players both young and old.

Overseen by head coach Ronnie Wood, Nathan will take to the ice a couple times per week to to work on solid and basic skating along with the much needed tools summed up as "power-skating"...

Economy of motion, correct striding, edges, stops & starts and turning are some of the focus areas in the power skating syllabus being taught.

We welcome Nathan to the coaching team and hope that his efforts will be noticeable out on the ice.

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Cape Town's Playoffs - Game5

This past Monday evening saw the series game 5 take place at 730pm as usual, this time with a fired up Team Storm.

The two first lines faced off to start the game with Lorenzo, Reeves, Magmoed, Samaai, Carlse and Giot on the Penguins roster and for the Storm players McClurg, Giersch, Stevens, Joubert, Tchekashkine and Martins.

Penguins took the lead in the first period with a 3-1 score-line but Storm were hot on their heels.
Coming back within 1 after the second period with goaltenders changing for both teams and the 3rd period being written off to the Storm.

Kyle Martin and Ivan Tchekashkine were a powerful force playing upfront and putting strain on the Pens defense with 2 goals, Ishmail scores late in the game with a floater past Schluter as he slid out the net and Joubert on a counter play with Magmoed fanning on a back-door pass to Giot, but Joubert pulls a move on goaltender to finalise the score at 8 - 5.

Penguins are currently in the lead with 3 games to 2 in the Playoffs Series.

An interview took place after the game by a Christian Radio Station in Cpt with Pens captain Marc Giot as he remarked that he was not happy about the loss but that his team did learn more from the loss and will be working hard until the upcoming game6.

http://www.wpicehockey.co.za/theplayoffs.htm for more details


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The importance of correct stick flex

Hockey Stick Flex is a measure of how flexible or how stiff a hockey stick is when a force is applied to it. Flex is also referred to as the hockey stick stiffness.

When a player bends his hockey stick when taking a shot, it essentially turns the hockey stick into a spring storing energy. When the spring is released (when the stick unbends and returns to straight), the energy is released and accelerates the puck.

For example, proper slap sot technique is to have the blade strike the ice a few inches before the puck to load the spring of the stick prior the stick striking the puck. As the stick moves forward in its swing, it contacts the puck and snaps forward from being bent to straight again. This same bending and snapping forward also happens with the wrist shot and snaps shots.

Generally you want the stiffest flex stick that you can flex completely to take full advantage of the stick recoil as it snaps the puck forward. If the hockey stick is too stiff then the player won’t be able to bend it and get the extra accelerating effects.  If the flex isn’t stiff enough the hockey stick will bend too much and the accuracy of the shot deteriorates.

Mid flex – Mid kick point, or mid/constant flex, sticks have a more traditional flex that allows the stick to be loaded from the bottom hand. This gives you a larger loading and potentially a higher velocity release. Wooden sticks have a constant flex profile that behaves in this manner.

Low kick points - The kick point is where the shaft flexes when enough pressure is applied to bend it. Composite sticks are often engineered to have low kick points on the shaft for a quicker release. The loading of the stick happens sooner since there is less distance for the stick to bend before it recoils back and whips the puck forward. This lower kick point is often created with shafts that have tapered ends near the blade.

The most common measurements for stick flex are:

Youth = 40 flex Junior = 50 flex Mid or Intermediate flex = 60-75 flex Regular flex = 85 flex Stiff flex = 100 flex Extra stiff = 110 flex

Composite hockey stick flex versus wood hockey stick flex: Does a composite stick flex more than a wood stick? It all depends on how the hockey stick is engineered but the short answers is that a stick flex rating of 100 is the same flex no matter what type of material the hockey stick is made from. The most significant differences between wood and composite stick flex is the flex points which were covered above.

Flex Tester – How Stick Flex Is Measured
Check out the How its Made: Composite Hockey Sticks video to learn a little more about flex testers and to see one in action. The short flex tester segment starts at about 37 seconds into the video.

Testing a Stick’s Flex at the Pro Shop
Use your normal hand position on the stick and hold the stick with the blade on the floor. Now flex the shaft of the stick by holding your top hand stationary and pushing down and forward with your lower hand. You should be able to flex the stick about an inch or so without using full effort. If you can’t flex the stick this much then the flex of the stick is too high.

How Cutting a Stick’s Length Affects its Flex
If you cut too much of the length off of a stick is will significantly increase the flex of the stick. Imagine bending a full length broom stick. Now if you cut that broom stick in half home much force is required to get it to bend the same as the full length stick? A whole lot more that is for sure. This is also what happens when a hockey stick is cut down a significant amount. How much is flex affected by cutting off 2 or 4 inches? Here is a chart that provides ROUGH guideline for how cutting your stick affects its flex.

		Approximate flex when cutting the stick…
	Baseline Flex	2 inches	4 inches
Youth	40	48 flex	54 flex
Junior	50	58 flex	66 flex
Intermediate	65	72 flex	78 flex
Senior	85	95 flex	103 flex
Senior	100	106 flex	113 flex

NOTE: These are just rough values for illustration purpose.
Check here for a more complete Hockey Stick Flex Chart

Another thing to note is that hockey sticks flex in more than one direction. In addition to the shaft flex that we talked about above, there is also a flex that happens with the blade. The blade impact with the puck causes a rotational flex that can also accelerate your shots.

How To Take Advantage Of Stick Flex When Shooting
Here is an excellent video of Alexi Kovalev demonstrating how stick flex works when shooting.

Flex Terms in the Hockey Stick Dictionary

• Flex
• Kick Point

Find the dictionary here Hockey Stick Dictionary

Article from:  http://hockeystickexpert.com/hockey-stick-flex/

2011 - SAIHA - Senior Mens Nationals

I  guess you can call it South Africa's grand stand event when it comes to local ice hockey.


The SA Senior Mens take to the ice this coming September for provincial pride, but more importantly as selections are made for the 2012 SA National Team to travel to Bulgaria for Div2 hockey.


The word on the street is that there will be 5 teams taking part this year, 2 from Cape Town and the 3 club teams from Gauteng's GIHA.


Game schedules should be released soon with the tournament taking place on the weekend of the 24th September 2011. Soon after the tournament the national squad will be announced where preparation will commence for the IIHF Div2 World Championships held in Bulgaria.


Teams that South Africa will be taking on are hosts Bulgaria, Israel, Mexico, Belgium and China. No doubt a tough group, Team SA will be looking to beat at least 2 teams to stay in Division 2 for 2013.

Graf skates for sale

Brand new pair of Graf Supra 709's size 8.5
R3200
Contact to purchase:
Marc @ 0741 700 780 / marc@idragon.co.za

Durban ladies brush with death

Upon leaving the rink in Vaal after the SA Ladies Inter provincials this part weekend a car-full of Durban hockey players left via car to return to the coast.

Before they knew it, a male driver jumped a red light and collided with them, leaving a wreck of a car and some banged up hockey players. Two injuries reported with a broken hand of one of the passengers and the driver with damage to her knee cap and leg needing to be stabilized.

We are thankful that they are still with us and hope they recover from this terrible accident.

Jagr back from KHL.... Video from NHL.com

Jagr back from KHL....

The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Jaromir Jagr, the club announced via their official Twitter feed Friday afternoon. TSN reports it is a one-year contract worth $3.3 million.

Jagr hasn't played in the NHL since the 2007-08 season with the New York Rangers. He played the last three seasons in the KHL. 

"There's a reason why there was so much interest and hype about him in the free agent market, because he's a good player," said Max Talbot, who also signed a five-year contract with the Flyers on Friday. "He showed the world at the World Championship that he can definitely play. I remember playing against him and he was one of the guys that was always toughest to play against. He was so big and controlled the puck in the corner and made the right play. Just a great signing for the Flyers." 

Jagr was reportedly being wooed by several teams, but both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings pulled their one-year contract offers off the table Friday morning, opening the door for Jagr to sign with the Flyers.

The 39-year-old Jagr is ninth all-time in the NHL in scoring with 1,599 points, just 42 behind Joe Sakic. He has played in 1,273 NHL games over 17 seasons, including the first 11 in Pittsburgh, where he won the Stanley Cup twice, the Hart Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy five times and the Lester B. Pearson Award four times.

He was also a finalist for the Hart Trophy five times, including in 2006 with the Rangers. The last time Jagr played in North America was at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he was the flag bearer for the Czech Republic. He won gold at the 1998 Olympics and bronze at the 2006 Games.

Superstitions - a little closer to home

With the previous post about the top 10 hockey superstitions I thought about commenting a little closer to home. Some of you, if you play hockey you would notice that superstitions or rituals become natural and almost second nature...

Either with or without thought, one day a player does something a certain way and for some or other reason, it sticks... Either his team wins or he has amazing game scoring the game winner, and this is the beginning of a ritual or superstition in the making.

Players right here in South Africa too have the oddest rituals, some having to tape their stick before every game and often during every period, others have to put on a certain skate first, some wear a red g-string under their padded pants, others like to sit in their skates for 10 minutes before they kit up, more of a warm up but a few stick-handle a golf ball for 5 mins....

The pan-ultimate I guess is players that dare not wash their lucky under-kit or jock-strap, now you may think that "Thats cool, if thats his thing" but you have to feel for the players that have to sit either side of him.

I guess this is all part of the game that is made up of tons of history and been played by great athletes and we are the lucky ones that get to naturally follow in their superstitious ways like dirty underwear, throwing up before every game and standing on the same side of the goal-net as a pre-game ritual...

 

Hockey superstitions

For as long as the game has been around, so have hockey superstitions. Have a look at the top 10 as posted by www.thehockeynews.com:

10. Tape two
As the most important instrument in all of hockeydom, the stick has been doctored and babied for decades. With the coming of composite sticks, the doctoring has slowed. But players still insist on taping their sticks in a specific manner. 

9. The cookie toss
Glenn Hall is one of the NHL’s all-time greatest goalies; 502 consecutive games in an era before goalie masks were the norm, three Vezina Trophies, 407 wins. But Hall vomited before every game and believed he’d lose if didn’t. 

8. The march 
On every team, there’s an order to which players leave the dressing room for the ice; whether it’s the captain first, the starting goalie last or a veteran tapping each player with his stick, it happens the same way every game.

7. Gearing up
Every player has his own rhyme and reason for the seemingly random practice. Do it just so or start all over.

6. One final stop
The legendary Ken Dryden would never leave the net during warmup until he had made one final save. But playing for the powerhouse Canadiens in the 1970s meant that was not always easy. Larry Robinson picked up on it and took to making sure Dryden had an easy one to stop if the goalie was having problems. But Dryden figured Robinson out and began to work even harder to make that final save before Robinson lobbed an easy one his way.

5. OK, but it’ll cost you a buck
At the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics, Canada won men’s hockey gold for the first time since 1952. And at center ice was buried a Canadian one-dollar coin. Burying a ‘loonie’ at center ice for international competitions has since become a superstition, albeit one other countries are not overly enthralled with.

4. The tobacco toss
In no way are we advocating smoking – not that you could now in most arenas anyway – but there were few more masculine-looking superstitions than Stan Mikita tossing his cigarette over his left shoulder as he exited the tunnel for the ice at the old Chicago Stadium.

3. Conversing with iron
Goalies are weird. Period. And Patrick Roy is one of the weirdest in recent memory. He had a number of superstitions, including carrying on running conversations with every goalie’s best on-ice friends, the goal posts.

2. Grow baby, grow
It’s believed the Islanders began the playoff beard superstition during their Stanley Cup run in the 1980s. It worked, too. They won four Cups in four years, the last in 1983.

1. Don’t touch that
There’s only one trophy teams want. And to touch another en route to the Cup is anathema until (gasp!) this year. We’ll know soon if this superstition is proven false.

Playoffs back on track

With the Cape Town Playoff League taking great shape since its commencement earlier this year and 3 games already been played, the Penguins vs Storm have become a great success in the "entertainment" category for sports enthusiasts.

As the series currently stands with Penguins in the lead 2 games to 1, you can be damn sure that the Storm team are planning their attack and Game4, this coming Monday, is going to be NO walk in the park for the Penguins.

This pic taken from Game1, shows Storm #17 Ivan Tchekashkine (Rus) beating Penguins defenceman Grant Yates and getting a shot off on goaltender Lloyd Schlutter who easily "gloved" it to keep the Pengiuns in the game.

However Team Storm ended up taking this game 6-5 and with the Penguins losing Marc Giot and Chris Reeves due to equipment malfunction and injury.



There has been a massive response from the local players as this league has instantly "upped" the level of the game and created such a rivalry between the 2 teams and the players, "actually something to play for now" as mentioned by many of the players.

With a guaranteed R15 000 cash prize for the winning team plus a portion of the door takings for the season, both teams are going to be working really hard to ensure that they get to "drink" from the winning cup come the end of year function and prize giving and to top it off a handy cash incentive for those lucky 15 who take the series.




This photo from Game2 show the Penguins team coming back after a play up the ice and finishing on the Storm goaltender. A team effort and the smiles on the faces with a much deserved scoreline for them but sadly not for the Storm players who went down 12 - 4 as they clearly missed their absent players.




The next game will be taking place this coming Monday, 18th July at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at computicket via this link http://www.computicket.com/web/event/wp_ice_hockey_premier_league/413500719/referer:highlights-index-5-2-0-grid

And last but not least, a thank you to photographers Alexander Paizee, Junaid Samaai and Addinall Roman for assisting with awesome pics from all the games.

Marc Giot (me) with wrist shot from blue line - Game3

Visit the official Playoffs website at http://www.wpicehockey.co.za/theplayoffs.htm

2011 SAIHA Ladies Nationals

So far this year there has been alot of ice hockey action, from the Senior Mens Div 3 held in Cape Town in April to the under14, 16 and 18's nationals recently held also in Cape Town this past June.

And now it is time for the Ladies to take to the ice and showcase their talents for the SA selector panel that will be keeping a close eye on the upcoming games this 15 - 17 July 2011. Their tournament will be hosted by the GIHA (Gauteng Ice Hockey Association) and the games will be played at the newly opened Vaal ice rink (old school hockey rink - no glass, netting around rink, but good solid ice and an enjoyable place to play)

Sadly and due to lack of players, there will be combined teams taking part to up the level of the game and to accommodate "numbers" in each team. The Gauteng Scorpions and Sabres will be joining forces along with the coastal teams Natal and Western Province and the third team will be the Pretoria Warriors.

The schedule will be as follows:

Game1 : Friday, 16:00 - Coastal vs Warriors

Game2 : Saturday, 07:00 - Sabres/Scorpions vs Coastal

Game3 : Saturday, 16:00 - Warriors vs Sabres Scorpions

The Sunday will be an All Star game featuring 2 mixed teams selected by the joint coaching panel, this will allow coaches to see additional player combinations and assist with SA selections.

We wish all the ladies the best of luck for the upcoming Ladies Nationals and "May the Best team look good and win" :)

Ducks' Teemu Selanne has surgery

Anaheim Ducks forward Teemu Selanne's decision on whether to return for an 18th NHL season could be delayed after the forward underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Thursday.

Selanne's agent, Don Baizley, confirmed to The Orange County Register that Selanne had surgery in Finland but did not offer any other specifics about the injury. The Ducks also confirmed Selanne underwent surgery.

Ducks general manager Bob Murray did not want to speculate about the surgery but hinted that the procedure was more exploratory, according to the report.

Selanne, who turns 41 on Sunday, became an unrestricted free agent Friday.

After the Ducks were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs in April, Selanne did not give any indication about his plans.

"I'll let you know when I know something," Selanne told ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I'll just wait and see how I feel. I don't have to rush."

Selanne had reconstructive knee surgery in 2004-05, when the NHL was in a lockout.

Selanne had 31 goals and 80 points in 73 games last season. In his career, he has scored 637 goals and recorded 1,340 points in 1,259 games.

Selanne's former linemate, Paul Kariya, announced his retirement Wednesday. Kariya missed all of the 2010-11 season because of post-concussion symptoms and was still unable to play because of damage to his brain.

The lead up to SAIHA Junior Nationals, June 2011

The WPIHA are busy prepping for the SA Junior Nationals which are taking place in Cape Town this June.

The tournament runs from the 24th through to the 30th and will be hosting the u14, u16 and u18 divisions.

News from all over the country is that teams are practicing hard and getting ready for what should be a great event.

More info coming soon.

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Hockey this week in Cape Town

With the 2nd private training session taking place last night the Storm and Penguins are starting to look more and more like independent teams.

Unfortunately for the Penguins they are suffering many an injury along with players unable to attend practices due to studies, family commitments and travelling.

Blazer is off to Israel until the 30th June meaning he will miss game 2 and 3, Reeves is still out due to hand injury, Samaai - Carelse - Nebe - Williams - are all out due to studies.

On the other side of the ice, the Storm team are looking good and strong with an almost complete squad at last nights training. A slight mishap on the ice last night with a late hit on David Bates sent him to the ice for a couple minutes but rose eventually seeming ok.

The previous Thursday the Playoffs Management meeting took place in the board room with a large panel of assistants with eager ears to ensure the new leagues success.

The website for the Playoffs is seeming to be a bit hit with constant updates on games, players and general information. Within 24 hours of Game 1 the photos and video of the entire game was uploaded and viewable via various links on the website.

To view the site click here http://www.wpicehockey.co.za/theplayoffs.htm

Game 2 takes place this Monday coming, the 13th of June at 7:30pm. Storm are currently leading the series by 1 game and Penguins are surely looking to level up the scores this coming Monday.

For more info check the website.

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Cape Town's Premier League gets underway

This passed Monday was the game opener for the Playoff Series in Cape Town at the Grand West ice arena.

The event took flight with doors opening at 6pm, junior and senior players making their way to their designated areas. The junior players were directed straight to their locker rooms to get kitted up for the curtain raiser to commence at 6:30.

In the meantime the senior players reported to their team managers and prepared for game warm up. A moderate crowd filled the arena as the players were called out onto the ice at 730pm for the opening face-off.

The two newly branded teams, Penguins and Storm, faced off as follows: STORM = Jack Nebe, Christian Schiess, Timo Giersch, Ivan Tchekashkine, Brendon Stevens and Mich Joubert. PENGUINS = Lucian Lorenzo, Deen Magmoed, Christopher Reeves, Grant Yates, Luke Carelse and Marc Giot.

The game got underway at a decent pace that saw both teams keeping simulated changes and shifts as short as 30 seconds ensuring a high tempo throughout the game.

Storm put 2 goals away in the first period with one of them being a controversial call as 2 Storm players were camped in the blue paint. Although Penguins were down they kept pushing and pulled back a goal.

Christian Schiess pulled out a massive hit on Marc Giot taking him to the ice and an attempt of a late hit by Giersch saw him connecting with the Penguins visor, crushing it and Giot's face connecting with the ice.

Penguins defenceman, Chris Reeves, goes down after another nasty bit defending a rush up the ice and leaves the game after the 2nd period with a broken right hand.

The game got more and more heated and Penguins pulled back another 2 goals, now trailing by 1. A fumble at the Storm goalnet saw the puck being hacked into the net by Kyle van Rooyen but soon after waved off by referees as Storm players protested their way out of a draw and back to a win.

Grant Yates taking his frustration out on any Storm players that got in his way as they were getting a little too close for comfort in the zone. Being backed up by Jade Johnson as Stevens refuses to "go".

With the win just seconds away, Storm try for 1 more but come up short. Their next game will take place on Monday 13 June at 7:30pm.

Due to school holidays commencing on June 24th, the 3rd game will take place the following Monday, 20th June.

http://www.wpicehockey.co.za/theplayoffs.htm for more information

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New league takes shape

Cape Town's new Premier League begins to take shape with a bright light at the end of the tunnel after Monday evenings first split private training session for the Storm and Penguins teams.

The majority of the senior players arrived at the rink at 730pm and eager to see what's in store for them.

Team Storm started the night off with their 1 hour on ice session with head coach Ronnie Wood working on specific team plays, strategies and building team spirit.

The Penguins team began their first session in the gym with SA physio, Caryn Maart, who ran a full body 45 minute impact session.

After the hour the zamboni took to the ice and both teams changed, getting ready for the 2nd half of their evenings session.

Dougie Grebe and Quintin Steytler have been appointed as General and Team managers for the Storm team and Nathan Baskier & Steven Johnson the leader of the pack for the Penguins.

Their roles will be to ensure the ultimate in communication and team management, encouraging their players and ensuring they have the best team on game day.

This simple change somehow has created an immediate bond and team effect between the players, with smiles on all faces whether on the ice or in the gym.

All the players are looking forward to this Monday coming as they will be putting on their brand new team kit.

More cpt updates to come...


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Gauteng hockey with Pretoria off to a great start

Last week saw Pretoria take on the Scorpions at the Vaal arena.

As this game took place just after the roller hockey selections Gareth Miller and Deen Magmoed were playing as imports in the Pretoria team.

A fast paced and physical game was underway for the duration of 60mins. However with Andre Marais not rostered due to knee complications the Scorpions team were looking to clean up.

Deen Magmoed scored 2 goals, 1 of a break-away putting the puck between David Burgers legs. Cameron Birrell was his normal sniping self building the Scorpions scoreline to 7-2.

Damian Cardosa did get some stress relief as he crushed Magmoed late into the game.
A welcome back to Gerhard Habib after his recovery, and good luck to the Scorpions for their next game.

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Its all shiny and new in Cape Town

WPIHA is proud to announce the launch of their new Cape Town Premier League's Playoff series.

May 30th will be the game opener to this rather exciting league between newly wrapped Team STORM and The Penguins.

These two rivals have been developed with the senior players from WPIHA which include their local SA athletes and foreigners from Russia, Canada, etc...

Each Playoffs team will host 4 lines and 2 goaltenders along with training/developing reserves. Teams will additionally have private training sessions both on and off ice.

All players are looking forward to this new venture and this ultimately will improve the local game.

http://www.wpicehockey.co.za for more details, tickets, etc.

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Changes in Worlds structure

Congress approves new format in IIHF Championship program 12-05-11
		The IIHF Extra-Ordinary Congress approved the new IIHF World Championship structure for Division I and below. Photo: Martin Merk
BRATISLAVA – The IIHF Extra-Ordinary Congress in Bratislava approved a change in the IIHF World Championship program on May 12 that affects all events of the Division I level and down to Division III in any category as of the 2011-2012 season. The changes in the program structure were unanimously approved by the IIHF’s member national associations. The objective is to have all nations play on a level which reflects their current status of development. From the season 2011-2012, the events in all categories will be structured vertically, which means that the Division I groups A and B will be two separate tiers, same as the Division II groups A and B and eventual Division III groups. Previously, the 12 teams of each Division played in the same tier divided into two groups while now the best six teams of a division will be seeded into Group A and the following six teams in Group B to increase parity and the number of competitive games. In the men’s category the two teams promoted to the Top Division will be the best two teams of the Division I Group A. The last-placed team of next year’s Division I Group A event will move down to Group B, and the best Group B team up to Group A. By way of example: Poland will accordingly play in the Division I Group B the next season. This means, that in order for Poland to earn promotion to the Top Division, they must first win the Division I Group B which will earn them promotion to Division I Group A for the next year. In Division I Group A, the top two teams earn promotion to the Top Division. Accordingly, the best Division II Group A team in next year’s event will be promoted to the Division I Group B and replace the last-placed team of that group (see illustration below). This is the first major format change since the current championship structure was implemented in 2000. An IIHF study of all championship results showed that depending on the category in men’s events (senior, U20, U18) between 49 and 68 per cent of the games ended with a goal difference of five or more goals in the 2010-2011 season. The majority of these uncompetitive games were played against nations not completely fulfilling the minimum participation standards. In the women’s senior category where the program has already been structured vertically before the equivalent number was 30 per cent. This situation was urging for a change that was eventually approved. The following illustration shows the changes for the men’s senior category: According to the new structure, the teams will be seeded as follows (subject to change at the Annual Congress this weekend depending on the host country and eventual swapping): Division I Group A: Austria (17), Slovenia (18), Hungary (19), Great Britain (20), Japan (21), Ukraine (22). Division I Group B: Korea (23), Poland (24), Netherlands (25), Lithuania (26), Romania (27), Australia (28). Division II Group A: Spain (29), Estonia (30), Croatia (31), New Zealand (32), Serbia (33), Iceland (34). Division II Group B: Belgium (35), China (36), Mexico (37), Bulgaria (38), Israel (39), South Africa (40). Division III: DPR Korea (41), Ireland (42), Turkey (43), Luxembourg (44), Greece* (45), Mongolia* (46). * Note: Bosnia & Herzegovina and Chinese Taipei applied to enter the Division III. The fulfillment of the minimum standards for participation will be reviewed until the IIHF Semi-Annual Congress, 22-24 September, in Istanbul, Turkey. The admission of additional teams could make a Division III Qualification tournament with the two last-ranked teams seeded in Division III (Greece, Mongolia) necessary. Note: The new structure will also be implemented for all categories in men’s (senior, U20, U18) and women’s (senior, U18) events. The final composition of the groups of all categories and the host countries will be determined at the IIHF Annual Congress and published on IIHF.com presumably on Saturday. Together with the new structure, the congress also approved changes in the organizer support and contribution to teams. In the future, the organizer support for six-team events in men’s tournaments and other categories (U20, U18, women, women U18) in Division I and lower will be the same. Earlier they were lower in other than the men’s senior category. The money given to organizers and teams increases from CHF 14.3 million to CHF 15.8 million next year following the changes. The Extra-Ordinary Congress also approved housekeeping changes of the IIHF’s Statues and Bylaws concerning governance, minimum standards for participation in the IIHF World Championship categories men’s U18 and women’s U18, tax issues of national associations hosting IIHF events and bylaws related to WADA code compliance. MARTIN MERK