Flames Players Enjoy National Success

Three players from the Swindon Flames youth roller hockey team, Captain Hannah Archer, Assistant Captain Matthew Baxter and Goalie Adam Rose were selected to represent the Southern Area Skater Hockey (SASH) team at the British Inline Skater Hockey (BISHA) Regional Championship Tournament held at Pitsea, nr Basildon, over the weekend of Saturday 28^th & Sunday 29^th July 2007.

The team, which was selected from players of the six teams which compete in the southern league: Oxford Tornadoes, Swindon Flames, Reading Rhinos, Sutton Vipers, Oxford Whirlwinds, and Ash Avalanche, were defending their national title that they won last year. 

The Southern Area Skater Hockey (SASH) team successfully retained the title of Youth Regional Champions after winning all their round-robin games and taking the close fought final 9-7. 

The round robin tournament saw SASH team outplay their opponents, the scores being as follows:

SASH 5   - London & Eastern 3

SASH 9 – South East 6

SASH 8 – North 2 

SASH went into the final as favourites with 6 points from 3 wins, while the South East team had 3 points from a win and a draw. SASH quickly moved to a 4-1 lead but then appeared to slow the pace. SESHA were not going to hand the game away and battled to a tough 4-4 draw for the first half. SASH re-rallied and came out fired up in the second securing two quick goals and holding off the South East forwards. As goals were swapped for each team SASH ensured their win with a final goal and held on for the last 2 minutes to win 9-7 and retain the championship trophy undefeated. 

Chris Rose (Swindon Youth manager) said, “The tournament was an excellent show-piece for skater hockey, bringing together what are essentially some of the best players in the country. I was impressed with the way SASH played as a team. The coaches showed great faith in the selection of some players who were unknowns in this competition. All players had equal play time and all showed that they were capable of playing at this level. The results show the strength of the SASH league and having Swindon involved in this is great for the club. Adam, Hannah and Matt all played well during the weekend, and I am convinced that without their contributions, the results would have been different”

The attached photograph is of the three players with the Championship trophy. They are from left to right Adam Rose, Matthew Baxter and Hannah Archer.