A busy weekend started for the Assassins on Saturday in Leicester where 4 Youth players and 5 Peewee players were representing the South East of England in a Regional Tournament against other leagues from the country.

The Youth team narrowly missed out on reaching the final by one point after getting 2 draws and 2 defeats in their group games.

After winning 3 of their 4 group games, the Peewee’s, which consisted of 5 Assassins players and a netminder from Hastings faced the London and Essex team in the final, which saw them run out 4-2 winners and raise the trophy for the South East Skater Hockey Association (SESHA) for the first time in 8 years, which was a massive achievement for all involved.

Peewee D man Jack Middleton was then selected for the Tournament Dream Team, which was a fantastic achievement, but was sadly marred the following day when he broke his arm whilst in league action.

Pee Wee Assassins Capitalise on winning ways! Buoyant from their fantastic Pee Wee result at the Regional tournament, Medway Assassins were eager to continue their winning ways!

Rob and Ryan were lethal at the front never giving the Eastbourne defence a moments rest from setting up Matthew Laming for the first of his two goals to Rob’s own neat shot home to take home a further goal himself.

From the start the team were looking for the goal as Samuel repeatedly won the ball at each face off on his shift and narrowly missed the opening goal himself on a penalty shot. The opening line carried on the work begun yesterday in Lutterworth transferring their positivity and opportunity spotting into this league fixture. They found it catching as the whole team rode the wave, following Luke’s goal, for the full 39 minutes!

The defence played their part equally, not to be out done by the forwards, Josh, Gregor and Jack worked tirelessly throwing themselves into the fray, supporting Owen they made sure it was not going to be Eastbourne’s party today. Owen himself had a cracking game utilising all his skills including headering the ball away and saving a breakaway run to deflect the ball and secure the team’s win, he was on fire!

As Samuel sat out a ‘team’ hooking call, Gregor capitalised on a wrap around goal, bring the goal total at the end of the first period to 4-1. The team worked hard together throughout the game supporting each other and the second period was much the same with Callum Mills getting stuck in hovering to pick up the rebounds, Jack and Luke working the ball forward, taking shots on goal and defending hard while Josh, Ryan and Rob never allowed the opposition time on the ball it was a performance to be proud of!

With 3 min to go, and the scoreline unchanged Gregor found himself sitting out a further ‘team’ penalty for delay of the game as the ball was knocked out of play. The Medway Assassins never took their foot off the gas, taking advantage of their oppositions misfortunes they secured the win with their 5th goal Luke setting up Matthew- job done!

An excellent result and a well deserved win for the young squad! The team now take a well earned rest over the Summer and are looking forward to the second leg which starts 23 September. They have learnt much in these opening games about ‘league’ skater hockey and have integrated their various skill sets here’s hoping the momentum continues ! Well done lads! Solid performance from Medway Assassins Youth!

Following the return from regional duty the day before, the team were pitted against yesterday’s team mates as they faced Eastbourne Cruisers who, clearly from their opening goal, were keen to re-iterate their league dominance.

James was like a runaway train with his relentless attack on Cruiser’s goalie Cam, with his wing man Kieran not to be out done, both of them tried every permutation they could think of to get one past the goalie, from Crossbar near misses to the sneaky wrap around goal! The attack continued as Ben stepped up his game too wanting a piece of the action both shooting on goal, following the rebounds and halting the Cruisers’ forwards as they tried to breakaway with his timely tackles and as Samuel came on to relieve the forwards the pressure continued to mount as he narrowly missed tipping one over Cam for it to land on the net, maybe next time! Unfortunately a clean hit on terrier Jack as he helped defend the score line saw him exit the game prematurely, this proved a catalyst for the team as concern for their team mate was equally measured by resolve to honour his absence with a true end to end exciting fight for goal.

As the team went into the second half coach Barry Smith must have been proud of his team who last week just couldn’t find the right combination, this week was an entirely different story – to be only 1 goal down against a side as strong as the Cruisers deserved respect, Lucy was phenomenal in goal for someone so calm and unassuming in the pre match warm ups she comes alive as soon as the whistle is blown. Time and again she denied Eastbourne as they racked up the pressure trying to increase their lead but Lucy and her defence were not prepared to roll over so easily. Stewart and AJ took the game to Eastbourne’s goalie themselves shooting the ball in the hope that a ball would get through or a rebound could be capitalised on by the forwards while Jake and Luke, in the absence of Jack, dug deep, defended hard, continuing the work they had started with their team mate in the first half and were the main stay of the defence.

It is a testament to this young squad that the Cruisers found themselves, in the true spirit of the game, checking players often half their height because they were proving too much of a nuisance! Each and every Assassin worked tirelessly trying to create the opportunity to score. Cruisers’ goalie was kept busy having to make numerous poke check saves and their forwards were clearly rattled by our defence’s tenacity however the Cruisers’ game experience shone through and they claimed a second goal 12 mins before time. A late ‘team’ penalty for ‘delay of the game’ was sat by Luke which gave the Cruisers the chink in our armour they were looking for as we were down to only 3 players for the last 2 minutes of the game and at 38 : 32 they shored up their win with a late goal.

An absolutely fabulous game to watch with every player contributing, lots of passing and shots on goal that will in time see the team get their just rewards as their experience grows. However it was a concern for all that Pee Wee Jack was injured and both teams’ players, coaches and parents afterwards passed on their sincere wishes for a speedy recovery over the summer break. Get well soon Jack! We hope you will be able to join us for the second leg which starts 9 September when the two teams meet again!