Yep, just when I was wondering how I
was going to cope over the festive period without any NIHL hockey to watch or
report on (we in the lower reaches don’t have Boxing Day games etc like the
“Elite” boys and National Division do...) this latest offering from the fine
stable of Stuart Latham ice hockey club histories has landed on the doormat.
“Gone But Not Forgotten” is an interesting
book as it covers a number of different teams from different eras.
Depending on how old you are and how
much you might have read about past glories in British ice hockey, you may have
heard of a lot of these teams already, but it is nice to see so much
information all gathered up in one place.
And what we have here covers, among others:
- Kensington Corinthians (1930s)
- Richmond Hawks (1930s)
- Earls Court Royals (1930s)
- Grosvenor House Canadians (1930s)
- Wembley Canadians (1930s)
- Wembley Monarchs (1930s & 40s)
- Wembley Vets (1970s)
- London Phoenix Flyers (Richmond – 1970s)
- Richmond Flyers (1980s)
- Earls Court Rangers (1930s & 40s)
- London Lions (1920s & 30s)
- London Lions (1970s - exhibition team)
- Wembley Lions (1930s, 40s & 50s)
- Milton Keynes Kings (1990s & 00s)
- Ashfield Islanders (1980s & 90s)
- Bournemouth Stags (1980s & 90s)
As you’d expect with a Stuart Latham
compilation, the book is packed with league tables, player statistics and
fascinating photos and is bound to be of interest to ice hockey fans of all the
various eras.
Now if I were being picky here,
(picky – moi? shurely not...) - but if I WAS being picky, I would have expected
the 1980s London All Stars team (Dave Richards, Bob Mitura et al) to be worthy
of a page or two in this as well. Ice hockey fans of a particular vintage may well
recall that they won the 1984/85 British League Division 2 South title.
That was quite an achievement for
them because – like Ashfield Islanders - they had to play all of their games
away, as their home ice at the Sobell Centre in Islington wasn’t suitable for
playing league matches. There was, actually, quite a lot of that went on during
those halcyon Heineken-fuelled “expansion” days of the mid 80s – check out
Brighton and Hastings as well...
But I am not being picky today. The last train to Picky-Ville has departed “ohne
mich” - so I won’t mention them...
Anyway, despite that, this book is all
very interesting and represents a very good record of a lot of teams that have
fallen by the wayside over the years.
So, there we have it: “Gone But Not Forgotten. To order
your copy, drop Stuart a line via Facebook HERE
or send him an email HERE - and get him to tell you about his other ice
hockey books as well.
