Oxford's Vikings take fourth place in pan-university championships
Last weekend saw the Ice Hockey University Championships, a tournament made up of 14 teams from around the country.
The Oxford Vikings were present as ever, attempting to win the trophy for the first time. The senior leg, for which the Vikings qualified by finishing second in their league, consisted of five teams which all competed on the Saturday.
Oxford's first game, against Birmingham, was a 0-0 draw; an impressive persformance by Oxford's Leon Pickering prompted one Birmingham player to ask: "is your goalie a gymnast?"
Indeed Pickering played extremely well until a controversial challenge in front of goal left him with a dislocated shoulder ten minutes into Oxford's second game, against ULU (a combined London universities team).
With Pickering rushed to hospital, Oxford fought on with a selection of borrowed keepers from other teams.
In their most difficult game, against Nottingham Universities, a solid, organised defence led to a defeat of only 3-0, the smallest margin by which Nottingham won any game.
Yet despite a number of strong performances Oxford struggled to compete against such good teams, many of whom have already beaten the Blues this season.
Oxford's fourth and last game of the group stage was against Newcastle, and for the first time they put on some convincing offensive pressure, although they eventually lost 4-2.
Encouraged by these two goals against Newcastle, Oxford entered the play-offs with everything to gain. Unfortunately, too many individual efforts meant the team fell apart tactically, resulting in an 8-0 defeat.
Oxford can be happy with their result, having played with a much weakened team since the Varsity match.
The Vikings worked hard to finish fourth out of the 14 teams in the championships; a very commendable effort in light of the injuries and quality of opposition they faced.
6th May 2004