The oldest rivalry in UK hockey

 Photograph of Dark Blues captain Ruben Leavitt with the Varsity Cup.

The oldest rivalry in UK hockey took centre stage for the 90th time last weekend as the Dark Blues of Oxford played hosts to their Light Blue Cambridge rivals in front of a packed Oxford Ice Rink.

For those unfamiliar with the unique nature of the Varsity game, it would be best described as full-on, passion filled, old-skool North American hockey at its best with sixty minutes of brutal hits the likes of which are so often lacking from the increasingly sanitised UK game of today. Each team varies from season to season as students come and go but the majority of the players are of North American origin with the standard of player varying across the rosters from EPL standard through ENL to REC level but for every player, this is THE game of the season and absolutely nothing is left in the locker room.

Oxford started the game as strong favourites having won the last five varsity games with some ease and their 7-0-1 record in the season's University League compared favourably to Cambridge's 6-0-3 record and the Dark Blues had already beaten the Light Blues in an early season fixture too. As ever, both sides were spearheaded by a potent top-line on which they were going to be hugely reliant for points. Oxford went with American William Bruce, Canadian Parker Carney and standout Canadian Landis Stankievech while Cambridge opened with Canadian Thomas Whillier, Belgian Adrian Camacho-Fielding and American pocket dynamo Daniel Tavana.

A typically lively opening saw both netminders stepping up to the plate with some neat saves but it was Oxford who opened the scoring on 3:27 with Bruce finishing in close from a Stankievech feed but any thoughts of yet another landslide victory were soon wiped out as Tavana pounced on a loose puck to tie the game just 32 seconds later. Backstopped by netminder Carl Mazurek's hot glove, the Light Blues looked increasingly confident and thoroughly deserved to take the first period thanks to another close range effort from Tavana on 11:52.

Early in the second, Cambridge found themselves a man down after Czech forward Tomas Jurik was called 2+10 cross checking from behind and Oxford took advantage with Bruce notching his second of the game. With the pace remaining fast and furious and with big hits still raining in, Cambridge were in no mood to roll over and regained the lead on 23:37 with Daniel Tavana completing a straight hat-trick. The game's big controversial moment came minutes later as Cambridge pinned the hosts back in their zone and scrambled home for 2-4 only to see the officials wash the goal out for a man in the crease which appeared to be a harsh call. Oxford took advantage of their good fortune to tie the game once more via a neat 1on1 from Stankievech on 26:58 but, again, Cambridge proved up to the challenge as Whillier squeezed the puck home on 30:08 to restore the Light Blues lead at least until 38:44 when Oxford once again benefitted from a quality solo effort from Stankievech to send the game into the final twenty tied at 4-4.

The big go-ahead goal in the third came from Oxford's Parker Carney on 44:18 and with both teams not surprisingly starting to tire, it looked highly likely to be the game winning goal as the clock raced into the final five minutes but this season's Cambridge side were still refusing to play to the pre-game script and a period of pressure on the Oxford goal paid off on 55:29 as Whillier floated a backhander across goal and into the top corner. The goal visibly rocked the home side as much as it lifted the visitors and the very next shift saw Canadian Peter Morelli scramble home to spark off wild celebrations amongst the travelling Cambridge fans - it was also the only goal on the night scored away from the top lines.

Cambridge packed their zone for the final minutes leaving Oxford to pull their netminder for the extra skater and, to cap off a remarkable sixty minutes, Carney lashed home a loose puck through the crowd to tie the game with just 30 seconds left on the clock. In stark contrast to the previous sixty minutes, sudden death overtime was all Oxford as the Light Blues looked both mentally and physically spent. An Oxford match winning goal was always coming and it was Canadian Carney who found himself in space in front to end the game and deliver six straight Varsity wins for the Dark Blues. Oxford's American captain Ruben Leavitt lifted the trophy but the true winners on the day were the 600 plus fans who witnessed a fantastic game of pure Varsity hockey.

The following day saw the girls take to the ice in what may be a less brutal "non-checking" match up but a game that still means the world to every player dressing for the event. Unlike their male counterparts, it was Cambridge who had the upper hand going into this one with victories in the last two Varsity games and a roster that was twice the size of the two lines offered by the hosts. As with the mens game, both sides were going to be hugely reliant on standout players to light the lamp with Oxford looking to American center Joyce Meng and Cambridge to Varsity veteran Canadian center Sarah Creber.

A tight opening saw little to choose between the two sides and it took until 12:24 for the deadlock to be broken when Oxford's Canadian captain Chana Hoffmitz opened the scoring but Cambridge's standout Creber tied the game at 15:33 before the diminutive Joyce Meng restored Oxford's lead just 13 seconds later. Canadian Stacey Hickson closed the first period scoring for Cambridge to tie the game at 2-2.

Period two saw the home side secure a two goal advantage with a brace of goals to complete a straight Joyce Meng hat-trick but Cambridge grabbed a crucial marker late in the period when Creber finished unassisted to take the game into the final period 4-3 in Oxford's favour.

Four minutes into the final period saw captain Hoffmitz restore Oxford's two goal margin which they held until late in the game when we at last had a British varsity goal courtesy of Cambridge's London born Paddi Benson who pounced on the back stick at 58:43. The Light Blues pulled Singapore born netminder and captain Christina Yek for a frantic final minute but Oxford hung tough to take the game 5-4.

The final round of the varsity trilogy came Sunday evening with the Oxford Vikings playing hosts to their rivals the Cambridge Eskimos. This is, in effect, the men's "B" game featuring students and staff from the colleges but it also features several Varsity veterans and it is traditionally the most brutal of all the match-ups - picking up where the men's "A" game leaves off and taking it onto another level !

The Eskimos have dominated this one in recent seasons but the Vikings came into the game on the back of a strong season that had already seen them inflict an earlier defeat on their Varsity opponents. Two very full rosters took to the ice and an attritional opening period saw the Light Blues boss the physical battle to lay the foundation for what turned out to be a relatively comfortable, if bruising, 6-1 victory leaving their Varsity domination of the Vikings intact.

Look out for the 2011 Varsity weekend which will take place late February/early March in either Milton Keynes or Peterborough ..... if this year's weekend is anything to go by, it is an event not to be missed ! 

• EL
• PL
• NL1N
• NL1S
• NL2N
• NL2S

• Oxford withdraw from ENL South
• Mixed weekend for City Stars
• Oxford run Wightlink close
• Chelmsford gain revenge on Oxford
• Oxford crash back down to the ground

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