Monday, February 28, 2011

42 days to go

The senior mens national team has been selected and will be heading to the 2nd of 4 training camps.

This camp will be taking place at the Vaal ice rink over the weekend with 2-a-day training sessions. The team will be headed up on the ice as usual by Ronnie Wood as the head coach for the team.

With a little over a month left the team will be pushing their fitness levels and working on tactical plays in neutral, defensive and offensive zones.

This training camp will also be the final showing of the goaltenders as they did not have sufficient time on the ice this past camp to be selected.

We looking forward to see the team come together and mold into the our national team.


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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Selection game 2 - highlights from a players perspective

Going into this game and with a look at the lines and teams from the night before, coach Ronnie Wood, made a couple changes to both the teams and the lines that would play together for the duration of game 2.

Allowing players to play together that have prior knowledge seemed to do wonders as the game took on a great shape from start to finish. However some players and lines were targeted and unveiled in bad light, the other lines and players shone and proved their place in final team.

The first lines between were at loggers head between Ashworth, Reeves, Birrell, Giot & Marais vs Marsh, Engelbregcht, Lyon, Valadas & Yates. Marais scored on a break-away in the first 3 minutes of the game, Giot scored with a deflection from Reeves' slap-shot from the blue-line and Johnson scored bar-down late in the 3rd period, but sadly that is all that the Ram-Rods were able to do.

The youth line of Samaai, Carlse, Nebe and powerhouse Matthews were the line of the game as they scored 9 of the 12 goals that left the score-line 3 - 12.

At present the coaching and management staff are working through the games and their notes and will release the 2011 SA National Team list shortly.

Good luck to all.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Selection game 1 - highlights from a players perspective

730pm the elite of SA's senior players walked into the Grand West arena getting ready to perform for the selection panel.

Teams were split in the morning and lines defined to venture a guess into seeing players performance in unfirmiliar territory.

The game started at a decent pace, but not at lightning speed as expected with possibly nerves overcoming all.

Goaltender, Lloyd Schlutter, playing for the RedDogs were under heavy fire as BlueSteel (btw. Teams were named by Jerry Stevens) put on the pressure early from the initial face off.

Speedster, Damian Cardosa put on the burner and beat the defence to put the puck through the goalies pads.

A well oiled line of Samaai, Birrell and Joubert gelled together made things difficult for the opposition. Apart from outstanding play Mich Joubert entertained the crowd and the players as usual but this time not with his fast tongue but rather with being a human zamboni and the pinnacle of his act for the evening was body checking head referee, Nadine Sheffield, right off her feet.

It was so comical that the players on the ice had to change because they could not control themselves anymore with laughter.

The game was played in stop-time as preparation for what is to come in the upcoming worlds in April. Tonight (Monday) the final selection game will take place at 7pm where the teams and lines will be changing in order for the coaching staff to see variations of players to determine the best possible team and ensure all players gel well together.


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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Sunday - lots going on

A bright and sunny day outside at 7 in the morning and bound to be a scourcher.

At the moment the ladies national team is on the ice training as part of their national camp and the jhb section of the national mens squad is on their way from OR Tambo expected to arrive at Grand West for their first on-ice session as part of training camp 1.

This camp for the mens team is of vital importance as the final team will be selected on the performance of all players this Sunday and Monday.

All players are looking forward to the exhibition / selection games taking place Sunday night at 9pm (tonight) and Monday night at 7pm.

Hope to see you all there to support and enjoy the games.


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Friday, February 18, 2011

Bad knees - bye bye ice hockey

A personal note and some advice that I can offer from experience is about looking after your knees. Sadly with bad knees prevents you from functioning 100% and reduces the amount of physical preparation that you will be able to do to keep on top of your game.

A couple years ago a group of us senior players were preparing for World Champs just as we are now. With an offer from the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Milnerton to make use of their gym facilities we trained as much as possible to ensure that we were fit for the upcoming tournament.

In our preparation we focused on squats, both with and without weights. Sadly we pushed for quantity and not quality and due to the intense week of training (approximately 10 000 squats) it is now years later and I have added knee problems to my list of disadvantages.

My only advice can be to ensure that you do not over train your legs, ensure that when doing leg exercises your knees do not protrude over your toes and that your legs are in alignment for every repetition.

Luckily I dont have to say "bye bye" to the sport that I desperately love just yet, but it does make keeping up with the rest and off-ice training rather tricky. In my research of leg training almost ALL exercises are detrimental to the prolonged life-span of my knees.

Cycling (interval training) has proven to be one of the suitable options (just not too often) otherwise good old sports-specific PowerSkating is again and again the winner.

I hope that you look after your knees and enjoy a long hockey career. I will post some on-ice skating training exercises soon.

Pre-game photos

Image 1: Ladies first line chat prior to face-off

Image 2: Andre Marais with final talk to his team prior to face-off


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Thursday, February 17, 2011

SA ladies vs SA U18's

Thursday late night the South African ladies training camp started off with a good spirited practice game against the Under 18 SA Cape Town based squad.

On the bench, Kieren Edge vs Andre Marais, with an obvious dominance in the heavy-weights corner but all rooting for the under-dogs, "come on ladies".

With a final score that does not do the ladies team justice, they stepped onto the ice looking like athletes and well coordinated in their pre-game warm up.
Needless to say that the ladies goaltender, Sandy McClurg, was under masses of pressure with shots fired from all over the zone and all the time, a great performance overall.

On the other side of the ice u18 netminder, Jack Nebe, was not too fased as partial bordem set in with not too much defensive work to be done in the u18's zone.

However the attacks on the ladies goal-net were not few and far between the ladies preparation is looking rather decent and we wish them well.

A thank you goes out to the u18's for offering up their time to assist with their preparation.


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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Don't shoot, can't score

If only the puck would magically see itself into the back of the net after a fabulous deke and move, but that's not always the case.

They say practice like u play, but then we would never learn to deke, much. Watching nhl games is a bit of an eye-opener as you will see how shots come from all angles and less moves are pulled.

Goal scoring is a percentage "thing" with the more shots on net the better your chance is of scoring.

So many goals are scored and recorded as SHOT-REBOUND-SCORES and famous words as said in passion and heat by commentators as they announce play-by-plays.

Don't be afraid to shoot the puck, if you see the net, shoot - if you can't and there is an open blade, pass... Otherwise shoot.

Last resort, deke...


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The first of four...

Francios Esterhuizen, Andre Marais, Cameron Birrell and Geoge Lyon make their way to Cape Town as the first of the up-country squad members for the first training camp.

Esterhuizen arrived Tuesday evening and took to the ice but not long after 20 minutes of a average paced scrimmage he left to the locker-room as he was ill.

The remainder arrive this evening where they will get use to the ice in an open late-night practice.

The rest of the players will be arriving early Sunday morning set to arrive just before practice 1.


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23,096 Stuffed Animals Bombard A NHL Hockey Rink


What an awesome sight... Perhaps something that we should bring to our local events....

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Not enough, too much?

What is too little and what is too much?

Preparing for any tournament or competition is a tough one, not just the physical elements but the emotional ones too.

In the past players have been known to peak too soon when training for a tournament and are simply burnt out by the time they arrive and must perform. So how do we gauge what is too little as we don't wanna arrive and think to ourselves that we could have done more and what is too much that we can't keep up the pace...

With many varied opinions on this subject let's try keep it as logical as possible.

An element that many neglect is nutrition, keeping this one short and simply saying how far you going to be able to drive with no fuel in your car...

For a fighter to train for a muay thai fight an ideal amount of time is 6 weeks of intense preparation, 6 days a week and often 2 types of training sessions per day.
These sessions are sport specific and relate to the conditions of the end goal, the fight.

Sure running is a great tool for fitness but put a long distance runner in the ring and he won't last to see the first round.

Let's move across to hockey now, with focusing on training that is actually beneficial to the sport.

Hockey players are built to skate hard for a minute at a time with 2 minutes break in-between (however times may vary) so this is how we should be training.

Commence with a basic full body training session to gauge where you are, how far you can push yourself and what your short-term and long-term goals are.

As it is great to do fitness in the gym or on a field, fitness for skating is totally different. With skating using lateral movement this renders many off ice exercises duds.

In an online article it read that part of crosby's on-ice fitness was doing 30 lengths sprints, with the time that it took him to sprint a length, that was the time afforded to him as rest in-between the next sprint.

Another fabulous on-ice fitness exercise (simple works) is skating laps for 45 seconds. This simulates an average hockey shift and is directly related to hockey training.

Now in order not to run out of steam before its time to showcase your talents, goals are very important.

Ensure that you don't set goals that are too high for you (like superman riding horses) rather steady progression that peaks just as you reach competition d-day.
Once again nutrition is a massive part of achieving your goals and not over-taxing your body.

If you are looking for a natural, good supplement that is jam-packed full of raw power then look no further than wheet-grass. Found at most Kauai's and other health juice/food stores, Wheet-grass can be taken as a shot or mixed into a smoothie or with orange juice and is the equivalent to eating 2lbs of raw broccoli.


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Monday, February 14, 2011

Cape Town ladies prepare for Worlds

The Cape Town ladies national squad are seen here on the ice as part of their preparation for their upcoming World Championships.

With pro-bono assistance from Gareth Millar helping with general hockey skills and additional ice time the girls should be well on their way to do their best in Iceland later this year.

Donne Oxenham and Binki Birrell put in some additional ice time by staying in the MotherCity and training with the Cape Town part of the squad.

The ladies national team have another training camp coming up in the next couple week with ladies coach Kieren Edge polishing up the teams final weapons before they do SA proud.

Good luck ladies.

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A fitness practice to die for (well almost)

Smiles all around in the change-room with the usual crude banter that goes on and a hope or glimmer in some of the players eyes of a cruising practice until head coach Ronni Wood arrives and pays us a little visit with a scope of what is to come when we step out on the ice, FITNESS :)

We may bitch and moan for a couple minutes but we are all pleased at the style of the practices as everyone can clearly see the benefits of our preparation so far, but in the heat of the moment, wow.... what a practice to come.

Starting off with a basic goalie warm up, full ice skating, passing the puck and progression from 1 on 0, to 2 on 0 and 3 on 0, ensuring the goalies were nice and warm. Beacons were then set out in 2 rows up the ice with variations of beacon to beacon skating, stopping and sprinting, step overs, pushups and situps, cross ice sprinting, backward skating through staggered beacons and finally a 5 puck relay before a 90 second rest and doing it again and again and again and again.... You get the idea :)

Then divided into 4 lines and sprinting laps of 30 seconds per lap with 90 seconds rest time (simulating a hockey game) alternation direction each time, Figure of 8 sprints for 45 seconds, Blue-line to blue-line sprints for 30 seconds and ending off with 6 man relays at full speed for approximately 4 minutes.

We ended off training with a 15 minutes abdominal workout on the ice which did the job and at the end of training everyone was breathing heavily and rather silent in the change-room apart from some moans and groans of exhaustion.

Chris Reeves stretches after intense fitness practice

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AVALANCHE'S FORSBERG TO ANNOUNCE RETIREMENT ON MONDAY


Peter Forsberg (Photo: The Canadian Press)TSN.CA STAFF
2/14/2011 12:14:36 PM
Colorado Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg will announce his retirement at a news conference in Denver on Monday.
After being away from the NHL for more than two seasons, Forsberg was signed to a one-year deal with the Avalanche last week.
In Friday's debut agains tthe Columbus Blue Jackets, Forsberg played 22 shifts and finished the game with one shot on goal with a minus 2 rating.
On Saturday against the Nashville Predators, the 37-year-old logged over 17 minutes of ice-time with two shots on goal, four minutes in penalties and a minus 2 rating.
View complete article and comments:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=353836

IIHF - Dawn of a New Era

Beginning November 5, 2010, the IIHF entered a new era of providing information – past, present, and future. With the publication of the official 2011 Media Guide & Record Book, the IIHF now brings to the world its entire 102-year history in stats and facts under one cover.

This 604-page colossus includes information on every top level event, every IIHF member nation, and, indeed, every player to appear in even a single game since international hockey first took hold in 1920. In all, more than 12,000 players are included, as well as every coach, every referee, and every linesman.

The book includes records for all levels of top competition, notably the Olympics (men and women), the World Championships (men and women), the World U20 (Junior) Championship, and the World U18 Championship (men and women). As well, all information for the Summit Series (1972), Canada Cup (1976-91), and World Cup of Hockey (1996-2004) is included.

None of this information is available anywhere else, and fans can get the official version right here, right now! The IIHF has been the governing body for international hockey since its founding in 1908.

For questions about the Media Guide & Record Book and for special rates for five or more books (please indicate the country, province (CAN) or state (USA) of destination), please contact recordbook@iihf.com.

BOOK COST:
$29.95 USD (approx. €21.50) excluding shipping cost.

IIHF Page Link:

Selanne vs Roloson - a reminder of Hasek brilliance


It wasn’t quite as smooth as the Dominator, but watching 41-year-old Islanders goalie Dwayne Roloson channel his inner Dominik Hasek and throw a barrel roll attempt at Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne on a breakaway Wednesday (video below) brought back a lot of good memories.
Roloson didn’t quite go full Hasek. He only got halfway through the barrel roll. But it was still a great reminder of the often misunderstood brilliance of Hasek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner whose unorthodox style was too often dismissed as a fluke. While Roloson laughed and shrugged his shoulders dismissively as if to say “I have no idea what I just did” shortly after sprawling to turn aside Selanne, the reality is Hasek was always aware and in control.
As he once told InGoal Magazine, the “barrel roll” was actually a well planned save selection that he used in very specific circumstances. It was easy to brush off as a fluke if you only saw it executed once, but after watching Hasek use it over and over again – and use the same “technique” in the same save situations each time – you realize there is a science to the style...

Watch video:
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20102011,2,216&event=ANA617

Read complete article:
http://ingoalmag.com/news/roloson-barrel-roll-a-reminder-of-hasek-brilliance/#more-8998

Hockey abroad...

Over the many years that I have played hockey in and for this country I have met and played with many hockey players of varied and great caliber, and some if not all that you may know.

Recently contacted the majority of them via sms, Skype and Facebook, and they have agreed to post entires on a regular basis about their local hockey, where they are now. Dusan Halloun - player/coach in Switzerland, Tim Baldwin - university coach in USA, Anthony Ferra aka IIHF Jersey Collector - player/fanatic in USA, Philip Woolf - player in Scotland, Macky Reineke - player/coach in Canada, Darryl Easson - IIHF Development and more to come...

Hoping to get one or two entries a month from each of the above mentioned, and with the idea that they will shed light on what hockey is like in the country they are currently in, similarities to hockey in South Africa and keeping us up to date of what is going on around is.

If you have any interesting information that you would like to share, email it to me at marc@idragon.co.za

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Return of Forsberg not help to Colorado in loss at Columbus | AHN

Not even the return of one of the best players in franchise history could help the Colorado Avalanche snap their losing streak.

clearpxl

Peter Forsberg returned to Colorado and played his first NHL game since the 2007-08 season Friday but he did not provide the spark the Avalanche were looking for in a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Forsberg helped the Avalanche win two Stanley Cups during 11 seasons with the franchise and he won the 2003 Hart Trophy, leading the league with 106 points (29 goals and 77 assists) in 75 games.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Forsberg has 249 goals and 636 assists in 706 career NHL games, but none of those stats mattered Friday as Colorado lost its sixth straight and had its six-game win streak against Columbus snapped.

Things started well for Colorado as Philippe Dupuis scored his fourth goal of the season at 15:54 of the first period for a 1-0 Colorado lead.

Rick Nash took over in the second period and gave the Blue Jackets the lead for good.

Nash scored his 25th of the season at 7:19 of the second period to tie the game, 1-1. Nash then fed Derick Brassard for a goal, his 14th tally of the season, seven minutes later to put Columbus ahead for good.

Derek MacKenzie added an empty net goal with four seconds to play in the third period to cap the scoring.

Mathieu Garon made 31 saves for Columbus.

Peter Budaj made 29 saves for Colorado but got no support from the offense as the Avs have been outscored 21-8 during their recent slide.



Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90034095?Return%20of%20Forsberg%20not%20help%20to%20Colorado%20in%20loss%20at%20Columbus#ixzz1DlsBBmOK

Friday, February 11, 2011

Forsberg online...

Peter Forsberg is on the ice playing for the Avalanche as we speak. You can view the game online via http://hexsports.yolasite.com/

Forsberg Back!

Hockey Slide Board - Good Technique Video

Slideboard - off ice lateral training

A simple tool that has been around international ice hockey for many years and is seen all over the States, Canada and Europe is a lateral (side to side) exercise machine that best simulates a skating stride.

With limited ice time (no matter where you play) this tool allows you to best practice your power-skating stride and assists with correcting a running stride to a much more powerful lateral stride. Just to clear things up, a running stride is when a skater has the blade of the skate facing forward and using the same forward running style motion to propel forward, this not best utilizing the blade as a cutting too into the ice.

Ideally the hips are to open up and with the blade of the skate turned close to 90 degrees (over exaggeration to practice) this then offers a much more grip of the ice and ends in a powerful push.

The general consensus throughout the online hockey community is that you can make your own Slideboard for a fraction of the price without reducing the quality of the end-product, and this is what I have done here.

Starting off, and the most important part of this item is the material used for the main surface. I have gone with the ultimate, white-board (dry wipe board). I managed to get my hands on a 2.5m x 1.2m white-board that i cut down the middle with a jigsaw to create (2) 2.5m x 60cm surfaces.

I then purchased a 2.5m angled skirting board which was cut into lengths of 55cm and mounted onto the ends of the white-board with washers, long bolts and wing-nuts. For the second slideboard, I drilled additional holes approximately 35cm inward from the end of the board which allows you to shorten the sliding surface when used by younger skaters or novices.

Finally, lycra booties are needed to cover the soles of your shoes to ensure a smooth gliding experience. Now that you are ready to begin your off ice training and have some fun, polish the surface with basic furniture polish and slide your way to strong, powerful legs.

You can view photos of the slideboard below. Training videos to come.

DIY Slideboard

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

JHB hockey on top form

Every conversation between hockey mates pretty much ends up or starts off about the upcoming World Champs and the 1st training camp next weekend.

There is something about being able to put on your countries colours and skate out on home ice, infront of hundreds or thousands of fans... What an honour and trust me when I say that goose-bumps are raiding my body as these thoughts go through my head, and I am sure the same with many of the others that are passionate about this sport.

Speaking about passion, word on the street (facebook street) is that the guys up in Jhb are training just as hard and are looking really good with great things to say about each other and the effort that everyone is putting into their personal preperation.

Apart from one or two (not going to mention names) that are not really pulling their weight, the majority of the Jhb squad once added to the Cape Town squad is going to be, possibly the fittest and most well-prepared team for the last couple years.

Team SA will be starting their tournament against the favorites Israel but will definitely not give them a chance to get their legs moving. The goal will be to dominate the tournament and use this as preparation for advancement to Division II next year.

More to come...

Coming together nicely...

After a rather hard working fitness week on the ice this evening was used for a scrimmage which turned out to be a rather paceful and intense game.

Generally being split up by colour of jerseys sees the same players playing together which suits me just fine and with the 3 up-and-comers (Samaai, Carlse and Best) matching up in black jerseys split the teams rather decently.

Myself, Magmoed, Millar, Reeves and Yates faced up against Joubert, Tchekashine, Van Rooyen, Stevens and Nebe and rather dominated the 60 minute non-stop action with 1 or 2 shifts being awarded to the opposition. On the 2nd lines the 2 ladies in white (Donne and Delene) were making some of the u18 guys look rather silly.

But once again Samaai, Carlse and Best were working their magic against a younger line of Krotz, Marrow and Obery who were taking a little bit of strain from the constant pressure of attack down the boards.

Tariq Ishmail was working on the 2nd line as support and assisting well on defence, still not passing the puck like everyone would want him to (like Samaai) but played a solid role on the ice.

The name of the game seemed to be "intensity" with pressure on and off the ice and a great team-spirit all round. Very little negative commentary from the bench and all players seemed to be skating really hard, committing on the boards, making hits (well some of us) passing the puck and shooting.

All the Cape Town based players are looking forward to the training camp and as team manager, Lloyd Birrell expressed to us this past Monday, he is really looking forward to seeing the team come together in the first of four training camps (20 - 21 February 2011)

Got something to say ?

Well why dont you share your mind about the upcoming World Champs on the International Hockey Forum here http://forums.internationalhockey.net/showthread.php?p=191603#post191603

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

NHL on ESPN

For those of you that dont know yet, our local DSTV now shows a weekly NHL game on ESPN (Channel 230) on Wednesday's at 4pm. Tune in!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Senior Worlds to be streamed live

With the idea of streaming the games live last year while in Armenia, and that failing terribly with no fault of ours, this year things will be done properly.

WPIHA is putting things into place to ensure that everything runs smoothly and this live streaming is of high importance. This live streaming will allow anyone to be able to watch all the games from the comfort of their offices or homes as long as they have an internet connection.

The games will be streamed via various websites namely IIHF, SAIHA and WPIHA. Links to these sites will be provided in the not to distant future.

We are looking at the best possible streaming features with options for "anytime" viewing and multiple angles to provide the best viewing for those of you that cannot make the games whether up-country or overseas.

This service will be free to all viewers and we will keep you posted closer to the time.
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Deen Magmoed after a late night fitness practice

After 60 minutes in the gym with focus on legs and core, we hit the ice for another hour and thirty minutes of fitness, hence skating, skating and more skating...

Here is a rather comical look at Deen after practice...
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Worlds thread on International Hockey Forum

Check out this link to International Hockey Forums hosting a thread for the upcoming World Champs in April. This thread and forum is read my a massive base of hockey enthusiasts from all over the world and should get some great coverage out of it.
Click here http://forums.internationalhockey.net/showthread.php?p=191603#post191603 and post your thoughts or comments.

This is SportsCenter - Alexander Ovechkin The Spy

What a great advert... as seen during the 2011 All Star Weekend :)

Ovechkin Hip Check on P.K. Subban: "Hit of the year" [HD]

Apparently South Africa is up and down...

SOUTH AFRICA - UP AND DOWN

 flag_of_south_africa_72.jpg                                              .saf-logo_1.jpg
Kockelscheuer, Thursday, April 3rd: Luxembourg – South Africa
By Michal Travnicek
South Africa is the one and only African team which is participating in the World Championships. This tournament takes place during Summer for the South Africans, which means that it is at beginning of season for theplayers. Their land is situated in the southern hemisphere. Strength of South African ice hockey is something like a sinusoid – up and down.
sa_012.jpg
2006 IIHF World Championship Div II Group A, Sophia, Bulgaria
The history of ice hockey in the southest African country started in the second half of 30’s. The game was mainly played by foreigners. In 50’s and 60’s Durban was the ice hockey center of the country. Then Gauteng took over the lead in South African ice hockey for more than 40 years. Now Western Province is the current champion. In fact, there are three „ice hockey provinces“ in South Africa – Gauteng (former known as Transvaal with center Pretoria), Western Province (Cape Town) and Kwazulu Natal (Durban).
The first league results known outside South Africa date back to 1938. Johannesburg Mohawks became Gauteng league winners. This competition was the strongest in South Africa and therefore its winner was recognized as national champion. At the beginning of 70’s the first „golden period“ of South African ice hockey starts. There are professional players in the country. It was among others thanks to the fact that the season in South Africa takes place during the European off-season. Best known player in that time was Swiss national team defender and later co-coach Jakob Kölliker.
The second part of the Golden years started halfway the 90’s. There are very good players in South Africa like Dusan Halloun (who played in Belgium and this 2007-2008 season for Smoke Eaters Geleen, The Netherlands) or Igor Zajec. League games are covered by TV and it seems to be South African ice hockey is on the way up. This is only true for a few years. At the end of 90’s there were talks of a breakaway league. In season 2005 Gauteng league folded and only thanks to private funding this league is still alive.
In 2002 Interprovincial championships for senior teams was played for the first time. Gauteng selects hold the trophy till 2006. Last season saw two premieres. Kwazulu Natal selects took part in this championship for the first time and Western Province became champion for the first time. What’s the reason? Dislikes to play from the side of Gauteng players. Gauteng teams were partly manned by Western Provinces players. Unfortunately, the same situation is valid for South Africa’s national team. Its strenght depends on likes or dislikes to play for national team and this year will not be an exception.
western-province-2007_1.jpg
Wester Province 2007
It is no surprise that Alan Verwey (46) is still one of the best South African players who skates on home ice in this situation. Three Reinecke brothers are very promising players and learned their hockey in Toronto, Canada. Very remarkable is the goaltending duo of Bock brothers. None other national team has brother on this position. Michael Fraquet was selected as Most valuable player during Interprovincial championship 2007. He is one of best South African players. His best stunt was scoring all six goals for his team during a league game in 2006. By the way, his team the Rams was defeated 6:8 in that encounter. Unfortunately, he and other very good players from Cape Town (like Marais or Giot) did not play for national team from the 2005 season.
verwey_alan_1.jpg
Werwey Alan
As said above, Western Province is the league´s champion. Its players defeated Southern Gauteng 3:0 in the 2007 finals. The teams met earlier in a round robin encounter in which Southern Gauteng won 3:2. In the final game Andre Marais, who was selected as best forward, scored both the first and winning goal. The latter with ten minutes of play left. Nick von Rahden scored for 2:0 and the result was sealed by another Western Province star Marc Giot with his shot just above ice. In the bronze medal game Northern Gauteng crushed the tired Kwazulu Natal players 15:1. Western Province’s goalie Erik Rodenwoldt topped the tournament with a 97,14 % Saves Percentage.
lyon_george_saf_1.jpg
Photo of George Lyon  - WC 2007 in Dundalk (against Ireland)
The very first game between South Africa and Luxembourg was played in Johannesburg during the World Championship 1992. The home team won clearly 16:0. Alan Verwey (30 at that time) scored a hattrick. In the last encounter against South Africa Luxembourg celebrated its first success by a 5:2 score. It was a very close game. Both the fourth and fifth goals being empty netters on the powerplay.
Luxembourg – South Africa :
0:16 (0:5, 0:9,0:2) – 21.3.1992, Johannesburg, World Championship C.
3:7 (0:3,2:2,1:2) – 12.3.2005, Mexico City, World Championship D3.
5:2 (1:1,1:0,3:1) – 15.4.2007, Dundalk, World Championship D3 Qualification.

JHB Squad comes to Cape Town

... for the first of 4 training camps leading up to Worlds...

The camp takes place on Sunday 20th & Monday 21st where Ronnie Wood and Lloyd Birrell will be honed in on the action as the 32-man squad will be showcasing their talent in 2 morning practices and 2 evening exhibition games.

This camp is sure to be a lot of fun combined with some outstanding hard work and team bonding with old friends meeting up and getting to know each other again on the ice. Although nerves will be running high and players anxious not to be cut, we are looking to have a great camp and good luck to all 32.

As usual WP Ice Hockey will be advertising the game and we hope to pull in a couple spectators to ensure an all-round game atmosphere and a slight taste of what is to come in April. So with only 2 weeks away, you can be sure that all squad members are putting in everything they can to ensure that they are running at speed and impress the "judges" at selections.

More to come....

Monday, February 7, 2011

Monday night is ice hockey madness

A couple hours ago saw the top u18's and senior cape town based national squad members going head to head showcasing their skills to coach Ronni Wood and manager Lloyd Birrell.

The game took off at 8pm with a 10 minute warm up, teams simply being divided using players own black and white practice jerseys. First period took off at a rather high pace and all players were looking sharp.

First line on my line was reeves, yates, millar and magmoed. We generally play together most of the time and enjoy the flow from each other. On the other side of the ice was tchekashkine, joubert, stevens klyde, blazer and van rooyen.

Not putting too much focus on the physical game but rather playing at speed and moving the puck. Our line was dominating most of the first period with good possession down low, on the boards and getting shots in from the blue line.
Taking a shot on the inner thigh from yates kinda put me on edge and after the next face off we got a fumble infront of the net and put the puck away for the first of many to come.

Our 2nd line was made up of johnson, williams, samaai, carlse who saw themselves facing the young line of alex, keenan and lead by cai nebe with his rather comical backhand slapshot.

A fab goal by luke carlse on the rebound from the shot from samaai put our team in the lead but not to speak too soon... Goals from both lines brought them back within range but a bad pass from me, trying to make a cross ice pass was intercepted by mich joubert who finished on lucian lorenzo but redeemed himself moments later with 3 shots on him from russian tchekashkine all with flashy glove saves that put "lucy" back on top.

The final period was a rather scrappy one with the ice not being done throughout the whole game. Passing became a lot more stale and the hitting came into play as players were getting frustrated with the terrible ice surface.

A tag team hit by yates and myself put tchekashkine on his ass in trying to make his way from behind the net to try and stuff the puck but that ended swiftly. A wild stick from youngster heiko meyer landed in the top lip of reeves and caused minor irritation with a blood flow that took a couple minutes to subside.

A tussle behind the net between magmoed and joubert and a big collision with myself and stevens and van rooyen put a great end to the game. Playing half the game stop time and the other half running time, giving the players a feel of what is to come in the world championships in april.

End score was 8-5. A good start and level to measure our final 8 weeks before the champs.
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom

IIHF Website - link to official page for tournament in Cape Town

Check this out. This page is from the IIHF website and will be update live for all the games in Cape Town.

http://www.iihf.com/channels1011/wm-iii

SA Senior National Squad cut to 32

The South African Ice Hockey Association has the pleasure of announcing the first squad cut to 32 players for the 2011 IIHF World Championship, Div III, which will take place in Cape Town, South Africa from 11th April 2011 to the 17th April 2011.

The players in the SA squad are as follows:

1.       ASHWORTH, Ian
2.       BERGER, David
3.       BIRRELL, Cameron
4.       BOCK, Ashley
5.       BOCK, Gary
6.       CARELSE, Luke
7.       CARDOSO, Damian
8.       ENGLEBRECHT, Chris
9.       ESTERHUIZEN, Francois
10.   FOY, Clinton
11.   GIOT, Marc
12.   HABIB, Franco
13.   ISHMAIL, Tariq
14.   JOUBERT, Mich
15.   LABUSCHAGNE, Cyle
16.   LYON, George
17.   MAGMOED, Deen
18.   MARAIS, Andre
19.   MARSH, Ryan
20.   MATTHEWS, Burton
21.   MILLER, Gareth
22.   NEBE, Cai
23.   NEBE, Jack
24.   REEVES, Chris
25.   SAMAAI, Uthman
26.   SCHLUTER, Lloyd
27.   STEVENS, Klyde
28.   VALADAS, Jack
29.   VAN EECKHOVEN, Grant
30.   VAN ROOYEN, Kyle
31.   WATSON, Dave
32.   YATES , Grant


The final team consisting of18 players and 2 goalkeepers and 2 non traveling reserves to participate in the 2011 Championships will be announced after the camp which will be held in Cape Town from the 20th of February 2011 to the 21st February 2011.

The team manager is Lloyd Birrell and the coach is Ronnie Wood.

Congratulations to all the players on their selection and good luck with the final selection for the team. 

Avalanche sign Forsberg for the rest of the season

For those of you my age, would remember and best know the likes of Teemu Selanne, Sergei Fedorov and Peter Forsberg back in the days long before the 2005 NHL shutdown.
Like many of the NHL super-star that have hung up their skates or moved to less flash leagues, this super-star has decided to come back and has been signed to his former team in Colorado... Here is the story:
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Peter Forsberg is returning to the NHL.
The former league MVP signed a $1 million prorated contract for the remainder of the season with the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. He joined the team on its charter to Phoenix after practicing at the team facility and meeting with general manager Greg Sherman to sign the deal.
"Peter believes he can compete at the NHL level based on how his workouts went," Sherman said. "He will provide additional leadership to our club and he will have an impact with this young team."
Forsberg said he made the decision to return following a three-year hiatus before Sunday.
"I was a little back and forth," he said. "I kind of made up my mind before practice if nothing went wrong in practice I would see Greg."
He said he doesn't think he can play Monday night against the Coyotes and isn't sure when he can get into anNHL game again.
"There are a few issues that have to be straightened out first," he said. "I'd like to play, but I'm not sure how it's going to go. I'm here, I came here to try and it's going pretty good. I'd like to start playing and see if I'm good enough."
The Avalanche are happy to have him back.
"When he's available to us it will be a big boost for us emotionally and a big boost in our lineup," coach JoeSacco said. "He has a strong history in our organization, but we're not doing it just for that reason. We're doing it because we really believe that he can help us here down the stretch in the last 30 games. We all know how tight the conference is and the importance of these games."
The 37-year-old Forsberg has been practicing with the team for two weeks in hopes of making a comeback. He wanted to determine if his chronically injured right foot could handle the rigors of the NHL. He said he had to get into game shape before he could make a decision.
"The first couple of practices were tough. Guys were flying around you and I felt like I was 47 instead of 37," he said. "It might be the case when I get out playing, I don't know, but it has been feeling better and better, and I came here to try and I want to play hockey. I love playing hockey. I'm not sure I'm going to be good. We'll see when I get going."
He last played for the Avalanche late in the 2007-08 season, appearing in nine regular-season games and seven playoff games before being sidelined by injuries.
He has played for MoDo in his native Sweden the last couple of seasons.
Forsberg was one of the NHL's best players in his prime, helping the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001. He won the Hart Trophy as the league MVP in 2003, when he led the NHL with 106 points in 75 games.
Forsberg has 885 points (249 goals and 636 assists) in 706 regular-season games with Quebec/Colorado, Philadelphia and Nashville.