Underwater Hockey make progress at Nationals

Imperial’s Underwater Hockey team played their first ever University Nationals tournament last month in Coventry, finishing 7th out of 18 universities.

The weekend saw the Imperial Underwater Club enter a team in the University Underwater Hockey Nationals. On Saturday morning a team of six, missing two key players due to injury, travelled on the Virgin Pendolino from Euston to Coventry – a city where architectural beauty is unheard of. Arriving at the Coventry Sports & Leisure Centre, the team were brimming with (as much) enthusiasm (as is possible at 8am in Coventry) on their first outing at this great tournament.

The initial group stage saw Imperial in a group with Aberdeen A, Bangor, York B, and Warwick B. Aberdeen A were the favourites to win the group and challenge for the trophy. Our team captain Jeeves Dattani, having previously captained Warwick B, was keen for a strong win over his old side. The first match was against York B, and started in a disastrous fashion with an early goal conceded on the counterattack. The remainder was fairly close however, and goals from Jeeves Dattani, Joe Slade and Jonny Ely saw the team through to a 5-3 win.

The next match saw Imperial face the daunting prospect of Aberdeen A – a strong team who trounced Warwick 7-1 – our closest rivals in the group. Some player recruitment was needed, and as teams are allowed two players from different universities Kerstin Schillinger (University of Kent) and Gordon Proctor (Royal Holloway) – also playing for their respective barbarian teams – joined in. Aberdeen showed much of the same attacking spirit against Imperial as they had against Warwick B, winning 7-0 in a strongly fought but ultimately unsuccessful match.

Next on the cards were Bangor, a previous tournament host (with possibly the worst after-party in living memory), were easily walked over with a 9-1 win with goals coming from nearly all our players. With one match left to play, things were set for a second place decider. Imperial against Warwick B, the winner finishing second with a draw meaning Warwick B would finish on top due to goal difference. The match started badly with Warwick B scoring the first goal, but the team’s determination came through bringing the score to 2-2. With a minute left to play Joe Slade skipped past two Warwick defenders to score the winner.

Imperial finished second in their group; a fantastic result for their first outing at the tournament putting them into a group with all of the other second placed teams from the other groups. These were: Warwick A, Warwick Barbarians, Plymouth Barbarians and Oxford (Barbarian teams are made up of former students). This was a much more experienced group with heavy defeats at the hands of Warwick A, Warwick Barbarians and Plymouth Barbarians. Their only hope remained in beating Oxford. A now tired and worn Imperial team took to the water and conceded the first goal – starting the match on the back foot. This continued and despite scoring two goals past Oxford, courtesy of Jonny Ely and Andy Strang, they lost 6-2.

This was a fantastic experience for a young team who had never played together before, and an overall tournament finish of 7th out of 18 university teams and 10th out of 25 overall was a good result which we will look to improve on next year.