The Connah’s Quay Cobras took part in the prestigious annual Sheffield Recfest tournament at the weekend, finishing in a very creditable second place overall.
This tournament is an impressive feat of planning and logistics and featured 15 different teams taking part in 60 short-format games over the two days.
In the initial group games on the Saturday, the Cobras beat Basingstoke Hyenas 3-1, Cleveland Comets 5-0, Streatham Night Wolves 4-1 and lost 1-2 to Coventry Snipers. This saw them finish the day in second place in their group with 6 points – two behind Coventry, who had a 100% record.
For the Sunday games, all of the teams were put into new groups reflecting their relative finishing positions on the Saturday and the Cobras were put in the top group along with Coventry, Milton Keynes Hurricanes, Grimsby Stormers and Tri-Base Lightning, who are a team that play at Cambridge and originated as a group of US servicemen from nearby airbases (hence the name...) but now include local players as well.
The Cobras went on to beat Milton Keynes 3-0, Tri-Base 2-1, drew 1-1 with Grimsby and lost 3-0 to eventual champions Coventry Snipers.
Finishing second overall in a 15 team tournament that included many long-established and experienced teams is a great achievement for the Cobras team, have only been playing together since the start of this year.
They were the second highest scoring team over the weekend – bettered only by Solihull who played the second day in a lower group – were the only team to beat Milton Keynes Hurricanes in a game all weekend, and were only beaten themselves by the eventual champions Coventry.
The Connah’s Quay netminder Paul Jones also received the award for best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Cobras’ coaches Scott and Emma Dutton said afterwards:
"We are incredibly proud of the team and everyone involved over the weekend, to finish second after only three games together is a massive achievement. We've had an amazing time as a team both on and off the ice and are looking forward to our next challenge."
The Cobras team for the tournament was: Emma Dutton, Scott Dutton, Louie Bailey, Louis Ellwood, Mackenzie Wilkes, Luke Wainwright, Libor Krempasky, Sam Krempasky, Martin Rybka, Radovan Spavelko, Daniel Potter, Jason james, Peter Gazda, Stewart Cutting & Paul Jones (NM).
