After an iconic victory away last weekend on The Isle of Wight, Redskins have maintained their hard-earned place at the top of The National Ice Hockey League South, tying for points with rivals The Chelmsford Chieftains.
Captain Joe Johnston maintains that the team are taking nothing for granted and are concentrating on honing their play to stay dominant when playing away as well at home.
He said: “We are not getting carried away with ourselves, at home we can pretty much beat anyone – it’s our away form we need to work on but I feel like last weekend’s huge win over Wightlink Raiders was definitely a step in the right direction.”
Johnston feels that his team have been lucky to get the two away games, firstly with Wightlink and this weekend with Solent in such close succession as they have been able to work on similar tactics in training.
“Although Solent aren’t as high up in the table as Wightlink they play on the same smaller style of rink so it’s a similar challenge for us,” he said.
“We have been really working on our close-range passing and drilling as if we’re playing on a much smaller scale.”
Johnston also spoke highly of new signing David Oliver who played his first game last weekend and took some of the pressure off the Streatham defence.
“I’ve known David for years and he has fitted straight in, both on the ice and in the changing room,” said Johnston.
“I’ve ended up playing defence a bit this season which isn’t my natural forte, I’ve always been a forward so it’s great to have more confidence in our defensive numbers.”
At 6ft4 Oliver will make a big difference in the Streatham line and may be eligible to join the illustrious ranks of Streatham’s Three Towers, the trio of Adam Wood, Dominic Hopkins and Casimir Madren-Britton who are all over 6ft5.
Star Man: Adam Wood
Image courtesy of Rick Webb1, with thanks
