Gary Embrie of Kingston Cobras finished top of the assist charts with 18 helpers in 9 games.

Mark Florence (22+15), Andy Ward (21+10), Mike Forbes (12+15) and Liam Sewell (13+13) finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in overall points

Kingston’s semi-final opponent is still unclear with with Whitley Bay, Grimsby and Blackburn all fighting for playoff spots.

Cobras are next in action on Saturday 13th August at home to Cleveland Comets in their final home game of the season.

Cobras finish their Summer Cup campaign with road games at Whitley Bay and Grimsby before the playoffs on 29th August at Ice Sheffield.

The Falcons have proved to be a Jekyll and Hyde side of late. Last season they finished bottom of the Summer Cup without registering a win and this year finishing runners up in the Kingston Tournament beating some strong sides on the way.

Cobras went into the game missing a number of defencemen meaning Andy Dunn dressed for his first game of the season and skated for the first time since 2010. Cobras other defenceman Matt Street took the unorthodox method of breaking in a new pair of skates, by wearing them for the first time in the game.

Kingston got off to a quick start and quickly set up camp in the Falcons zone. As Cobras launched attack after attack, Thirkettle in the Falcons net proved to be the proverbial thorn in Cobras’ side, pulling off a number of outstanding saves. Thirkettle’s resilience was finally broken on 11.52 as Andy “Cheese Grater” Daintith took a feed from Alan Hague and slotted home neatly. However despite peppering the Blackburn net with 22 shots in the first period the score remained 1-0 when the period buzzer sounded.

The second period started in much the same way as the first, with Cobras spending large periods of time in the Blackburn zone, only to be relieved by the odd puck launched down the ice by Blackburn players in the need of respite.
Liam Sewell opened the scoring early in the period with a goal on 21.01 assisted by Florence and Forbes. Andy Ward was soon in on the act with the first of a hattrick on the night assisted by Gary Embrie on 30.05.

Alan Hague was to increase the lead with two goals towards the end of the period. The first a cool deke and backhand finish, with everyone expecting a pass across the crease to an open teammate. The second was more power than finesse as he ripped home a slap shot from just inside the Falcons blue line, assisted by Sewell and Florence.

Late on in the period netminder Staniforth, who had spent most of the game watching the action, made a superb save on Blackburn’s Lord clear breakaway to preserve his shut-out into the 3rd period.

During the 2nd intermission, coach Daintith decided to juggle the lines, switching Florence and Embrie onto different lines. Blackburn made a change in goal with Thirkettle being replaced by Winnard.

Cobras got off to a quick start in the 3rd with Florance and Ward adding quick fire goals on 42.18 and 43.32 respectively. Ward added his hattrick goal on 55.42 after a nonchalant pre-planned move with Florence came off to near perfection. Florence added his second of the game with less than two minutes to go, to cap of a six point night and secure a 9-0 victory for the Cobras.

The victory mathematically secures Cobras place in the Summer Cup Playoffs. Cobras are next at home against local rivals Grimsby Lightning on 30.07.11

Notes:
Staniforth’s shutout was his second of the season.
Gary Embrie was player of the game for Kingston.
Cobras extended their unbeaten run against Blackburn to 12 games (since we started recording games)
Mark Florence notched his 40th point of the season (20+20)

Times will be as follows:

Semi Final 1 – 1st place vs 4th place – 10.00

Semi Final 2 – 2nd place vs 3rd place – 12.15

Plate Final – Loser Semi 1 vs Loser Semi 2 – 15.45

Cup Final – Winner Semi 1 vs Winner Semi 2 – 18.00

Kingston Cobras
Altrincham Blackbears
Blackburn Falcons
Bradford Cannibals
Durham Dragons
Dumfries Demons
Grimsby Lightning
Hamilton Hawks
Newcastle Predators
Solihull Vikings

After the success of the last spiritual medium night I have booked Anita again. For those of you that did attend I think that the majority of people enjoyed it.

Some examples of things that happened.

* Most memorable was the ladies mobile phone that rang even though it was set to silent and then froze until the next morning.
* Anita putting her hand on Mrs Sheps shoulder and asking about a baby!!!
* The teflon pans!!!

As well as many other bits of information some that where very personal that weren’t common knowledge.

Ticket will be available on the door or in advance from any Cobras player.

Tickets are £8.00 each, doors open at 7.30pm for 8.00pm, the last event ended about 10.30, but this is flexible depending on the number of messages

Sammi only started to play hockey 4 years ago which is relatively new as playing hockey goes in the rec league. She started playing for the Kingston Diamonds, which is Hull’s woman’s team.

As she progressed on the ice she decided she would make the move to Hull’s rivals the Sheffield Shadows. After a brief spell with the Shadows she moved back to the Diamonds and played a few seasons with them. During this time the Diamonds got promoted to the Women’s Premier league. Again, always looking to improve she moved back to the Shadows in a bid to play some good hockey.

After guesting on the Cobras training sessions a few times she has found the level of hockey she has been searching for. Sammi say’s “Playing hockey with the Cobras is a lot tougher than the woman’s league. There are some fantastic players in the league and the Cobras have some of the best”

Although Sammi has only been playing hockey for 4 years she has been selected for England trials twice. Sammi said “The England trials where good and they did help me but sadly I got cut in the last round of selections”

Sammi’s best moment came when she was playing women’s hockey and had a friendly against a ‘lad’s team’ beating them in a penalty shoot out after regulation time found the game at a draw. Although she has had some good times she has also had some bad times having 17 goals put past her in her first game. She said “I was devastated at the score but it made me a more determined player. I was not going to let that happen again” she goes on to say “it was my first ever game so I didn’t know what to expect. From that moment on I have been improving all the time and now often have shut outs”

Welcome to the team Sammi.

Our “new” players are not all so new to the game as we take a look at our first signing Mark “Flo” Florence.

Mark started playing at the age of 6 for Medway. After finding his feet he soon moved to The Kingston Junior Development teams where he progressed through the ages and up the point’s tables.

Mark showed a natural talent for the game and was very quickly regarded as one to watch for the future. Mark didn’t disappoint, he often played for the older teams in the junior program and sometimes playing 2 age groups above his own. As you would expect, Mark soon found his way to the Kingston Jets who at that time played in the English Division 1 league which then changed to the English National League.

Sadly for the Jets Mark didn’t stay long, he was soon jetting off to pastures new with ample opportunities across the water in Canada. It was here he played for the Creston Valley Thunder, a junior A team he then moved onto junior B team The Rossland Warriors.

Once Mark decided to come home he wasn’t short of offers from teams who wanted to sign him but Mark was true and loyal to his ‘home in Hull’ and decided to play for the Kingston Jets whilst also playing up for the Kingston Hawks. Mark was a goal machine soon reaching 37 points in 13 games. Very impressive, so impressive he was selected for the GB team where he earned 5 points in 4 games.

Mark continued his career in the top league with the Hull Thunder and eventually the Hull Stingrays along with a brief spell for the Sheffield Steelers.

After deciding to give something back to the juniors, he decided to become a PE teacher where he remains today. After a few years out to have a family he has decided to return to the game and decided to join the Cobras for the new season.

The Cobras welcome Mark to the team and look forward to playing hockey with him.

We are please to say that the Medium night held at the Hull Arena was a complete success, raising funds for the clubs upcoming season. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped and who attended.

The Medium started off by tuning into the “spirit plane” and confusing everyone when she started talking about pans! Yes Pans!! She thought it was strange that NO ONE used them and no one had used them for cooking their teas. More will be revealed.

After her tuning in period she began to walk around the room, coming out with facts about people who have passed on. Everyone kept looking at each other until a little voice said “I can take that”. The medium swooped in and continued to tell the person about how the person had passed on and that they were ok and they said hi.

After a few more messages people started to believe that the Medium did actually know some things which she shouldn’t have known including, certain old cars, silver clocks on the mantel and a homemade sledge. Even the most sceptical (Nigel) had a message read out.

By far the strangest part of the night was when a woman’s phone started to ring out very loud, when she took her phone out of her bag she took a look at who was calling and to everyone’s surprise her phone was on silent and shouldn’t have been heard. Things got a little stranger when she noticed that the clock on her phone had frozen and was not ticking!! Spooky.

By the end of the night everyone had had a good time and some people were a little less sceptical about the “spirit plane”.
Remember the pans? Then the women who’s phone rang when it was on silent, got home, she found out that one of her family (who had recently passed away) had left her a full set of new pans!! Her husband didn’t understand why she looked very shocked.