Slough Tornadoes Come 2nd in International Ice Hockey Tournament
This week Alpe d'Huez held it's 13th annual international ice hockey tournament. It's a friendly competition in which the resort's home side – the Yetis take on teams from as far away as Canada and America.
Representing Great Britain were the Slough Tornadoes, who made it to an exciting final against Montreal's Flying Devils today. The match got off to a bad start for the Brits, with the first goal conceded within five minutes of puck-off. Shortly afterwards, a Tornadoes player hit the referee following a disagreement over whether he should have been sent to ‘prison' for a foul.
This incident really set the tone of the game and the Tornadoes seemed to lose any sense of cohesion in their tactics. They'd been spooked by the Devils and struggled to regain composure. To those not used to ice hockey, it seemed like a pretty violent match with a few scuffles and more sendings-off. But apparently it was a fairly tame game, as all the players were keen to respect the ‘friendly' ethos of the tournament.
The Tornadoes were 2-0 down at the end of the first half and looked to be suffering from the 30° heat of the midday mountain sun. The Devils, in their black strips, remained calm and seemed confident of a win. Four goals later and with just minutes to go, it looked like the British team were about to throw-in the towel on a 6-0 final score but the Tornadoes pulled it out of the bag and managed to notch-up a goal, leaving the tournament with second place and a 6-1 scoreline.
The game for third and fourth position was even more exciting, with the Alpe d'Huez Yetis facing the Trashers of Canam (a team made of players from Canada, the US and Russia). The teams were evenly matched and the score was 5 all after both 20-minute halves had been played. Next came penalties and after six superb saves, the home side finally got the puck into the net, to the delight of Alpe d'Huez's local supporters.
After the final horn, the players tumbled into the dressing rooms, obviously shattered from the match but elated to have reached the final stages of a tough week's competition. The prize-giving was held at the Sporting, the premier venue for Alpe d'Huez's resident nouveau riche. A great buffet and barbeque was put-on for the players and I'm sure I wasn't the only person to be disconcerted to be in the Sporting in daylight hours. The croonings of Antoine Costillo – complete with backing-track and drum machine – helped us fit-in with the crème of Alpe d'Huez society, including organiser Bruno Catelin and the resort's new mayor, Jean-Yves NOYREY. Even the dismal cheerleaders – the Nice Angels – looked mildly impressed and managed to crack a smile for the photographers.
This week's tournament was my first experience of ice hockey and I really enjoyed the whole week. It's a fast paced game and luckily the rules seem fairly simple to an amateur: skate; score; try not to get sent off for fighting! I'm looking forward to next year's competition already.
You can catch all the action in Vickie's Video Report, later this week
