HBU Under 13s visit RC de Lichtstad, Eindhoven , Holland

15/16 October 2011

20 years ago, Lichtstad used to be a regular trip for HBU’s young teams and it was good to renew our friendship. Since our last visit the rink now has a roof but was still open to the elements on two bitterly cold days.

The HBU team had players just out of U11 and 3 still in U11 so it was no surprise that there were some teams in the tournament that out-sized and out-gunned HBU. Pass and skate was therefore the motto of the weekend.

The first match was against the home team and HBU had a comfortable 7 – 1 win. A sleepy start in the second match saw HBU 0 – 2 down and despite keeping the pressure on for all of the 2^nd half HBU could not beat the Calenberg goalkeeper (who ended up being voted goalkeeper of the tournament).

HBU won their final Pool A match 11 – 0 against an inexperienced Brussels Stars side. This gave HBU 2^nd place in the pool and a match with a very strong Valkenswaard for 3^rd/4^th place but which avoided playing the Swiss national team (that went on to win the tournament by convincingly beating Calenberg).

HBU put up a strong team effort against Valkenswaard but were man-handled off the ball by the bigger opposition. HBU lost 2 – 8 with one of HBU’s goals coming from a direct free-hit when a Volkenswaard player received a blue card for tripping.

Overall, manager Paul McVey reported a very satisfactory result for this team playing at a higher level than they have been used to. 20 goals scored for 11 conceded. All HBU’s out-players scored and Jamie Leonard in goal put up a fine display in the last match to keep the score down against Valkenswaard who never let up. Josh Branchett was captain for the trip.

HBU team (goals): Josh Branchett (7), George Daly (3), Oli Hudson (3), Luke Huckstepp (3), Jamie McVey (4)

Result:

1. Swiss national selection
2. Calenberg ( Germany )
3. Valkenswaard ( Holland )
4. HBU
5. Wasquehal (France)
6. Brussels Stars ( Belgium )
7. Remscheid ( Germany )
8. RC de Lichtstad ( Holland )