Redskins give Streatham Ice Arena the perfect send off (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Redskins give Streatham Ice Arena the perfect send off

10:26am Wednesday 21st December 2011 in Round-up

The curtain came down on Streatham Redskins' spiritual home - the Streatham Ice Arena - on Saturday and Barry Spours' side made sure they gave it a stunning send off.

The 81-year-old Arena is being knocked down and replaced, with Redskins temporarily moving to Brixton for two years, but the English National Hockey South League strugglers rose to the occasion and produced a stunning 10-3 win over Milton Keynes Thunder.

Stevie Balmer scored four times, including the last ever goal at the Arena, Liam Rasmussen twice, Gennadi Yufit twice and Peter Molnar and Jerry Pavlus once each for the team's first win in six matches.

New signing Stewart Tait made his home debut and slotted straight in on the first line alongside Russ Stevens and Peter Molnar.

Milton Keynes travelled without former Redskin Simon Howard, however Darryl Morvan, another former Streatham player was on their bench.

Streatham skated out on to the ice to a heroes reception from their supporters and the emotion of the occasion was added too by the fact that Head Coach Barry Spours sent veteran forward Pete Quiney out to take the opening face-off.

Given the Redskins poor form and run of six games without a win, it was surprising that they started the game so strong and assured.

Any early nerves were eased as Liam Rasmussen latched onto a pass from Jerry Pavlus and opened the scoring with a good finish past David Cassidy in the Milton Keynes goal.

Soon afterwards it was 2-0 as Stevens combined with Tait to make space for Peter Molnar and the Slovak fired low past Cassidy from the top of the circle.

Streatham were now all over the ice chasing and hitting in a way that the home support have not seen so far this season.

The fans responded with more noise and this spurred the Redskins on further as they made it 3-0 on the powerplay. Molnar picked the puck up from Mahoney deep in the zone and his pass in front of goal was converted by the waiting Balmer.

Streatham continued to pressure but Milton Keynes looked dangerous on the break. Redskins goalie Will Sanderson had to be at his best to deny Steve Maile and then Connor Goode from close range as Streatham showed signs of the fragility that has dogged them all season.

This was not helped by the withdrawal of defenseman Casimir Madren-Britton as he took a slapshot to the knee and had to be helpedoff the ice, increasing nerves amongst the Redskins faithful.

Sure enough, a spell of Redskins pressure sucked the home side into the Milton Keynes zone and when Maile broke on the blue with Phillips in support it looked like Streatham were about to be caught, until the sprawling frame of Dave Carr dove across the ice to block the puck and then lay it off to Pavlus, who in turn passed to Gennadi Yufit and his shot deflected off a MK defenseman’s skate to make it 4-0. The home bench celebrated wildly and the belief flooding back to the Redskins was palpable.

Despite this, the Thunder still pressed and Sanderson had to be on form again to keep out the visitors as they pressured the Redskins for the remaining minutes of the period. An altercation between Thunder skipper Matt Roberts and Redskins veteran Warren Rost continued after the buzzer and both players had to be separated outside the changing rooms as tempers flared.

Thankfully the second period started with both sides looking to play hockey and it was the Redskins yet again who came out hardest. Balmer hit his second of the night with a close range effort on the powerplay and then Liam Rasmussen skated on to a long pass from Carr before firing the puck high into the net to make it 6-0.

Streatham made it seven as their third line combined with sharp passing from Pavlus and Chris Rasmussen releasing a diving Yufit to steer the puck into the net. It was not all good news though as Stevens tangled with a Thunder player and was given a match penalty for spearing.

This combined with a two minute minor for slashing meant that the Redskins had to kill a seven minute MK powerplay. When Adam Mahoney was given a two minute delay the game penalty it made matters worse but Streatham managed to hold off for the remainder of the period leading 7-0.

With the game all but won, Streatham’s shorthanded unit finally succumbed and Maros Stefanco rounded the back of the goal before pulling the puck back to Connor Goode who fired home first time past Sanderson.

With Streatham and Sanderson now without their shut out, MK pushed on and got a second thanks to Martyn Snape, whose wrist shot flew into the goal after he picked up a smart pass from Harrison Goode.

The Redskins managed to hold off more Thunder pressure despite further penalty trouble, but eased the pressure thanks to an excellent solo goal from Pavlus, as he slotted past replacement MK goalie Rob McGregor.

With the clock ticking down, all eyes were on who would score the last ever goal in the old arena and MK’s forward Steve Maile gave himself a good chance of writing his name in the history books as he finished well from a Nidal Phillips pass.

Streatham, and in particular Balmer had other ideas however, and the Northern Irish player picked up the puck from a face off in the MK zone before firing a bullet of a snap shot into the far top corner of McGregor’s net to make it 9-3 Streatham.

With the crowd in full voice, Liam Rasmussen received another long pass, this time from Mahoney, but was called offside and made his thoughts clear to the referee, earning himself a ten minute misconduct in the process.

The last word however, came from Balmer, as he scored his fourth of the night and Streatham’s tenth to seal the game in style, with the assists going to Tait and Pavlus.

The final shifts were an emotional affair with Quiney taking the last face off and Head Coach Barry Spours ensuring that local boys like Koral, England, Madren-Britton and the Rasmussen’s were given the closing ice, on a pad that they grew up on.

The final buzzer went with the score 10-3 in the Redskins favour and Streatham’s man of the match was awarded to David Carr, who was mobbed by his team mates when announced.

The team did two laps of honour to applaud the supporters who had played their part in ensuring a memorable victory that will live long in the memory. Team pictures were then taken to capture the event for the history books.

Players and fans had to be literally dragged off the ice at the end as the reality of the rink closure began to sink in. Faces red with shed tears and sweat, the team left the ice to applause and banging drums as the curtain fell on competitive Streatham hockey in the famous arena for the very last time.