Leah Ann Walmsley Pledl in action for Northern Ireland

Leah-Ann Walmsley-Pledl had a dream Northern Ireland debut recently when she got called up to the Northern Ireland Senior ladies inline hockey team. Leah Anne made her debut against the southern Ireland ladies in Belfast, her presence brought the number of ladies on the Northern Ireland team from the Armagh Stars to three.

Despite being a lot younger than the competition, Leah Anne wasn’t phased by the new experience and had a dream debut scoring a hat trick in her first game. Normally a defender at club level Leah-Ann was played up front for the first time in her career and was outstanding from her first shift. The determination and skill which she is known for in her normal defensive responsibilities proved a handful for the visitors who struggled to keep her away from goal.

Leah-Anne will now travel with the Northern Ireland ladies in a return fixture in Cork on February 18^th. The whole Armagh Stars Inline Hockey club wishes to congratulate her on her terrific debut and wishes her good luck in Cork.

Dave Jackson celebrates his fourth goal of the season

The Stars returned to action following the Christmas and New Year festivities on sunday 8th January in second place in the NIIHA. They travelled to Belfast to take on the Belfast Bruins, a familiar face was in goal for the Bruins with both clubs having agreed a transfer for Jody Willamson until the end of the current season.

The Bruins started much brighter and got their first shot on goal less than ten seconds into the game to test rookie Stars goalie Janis Shumanis in his first senior game. With 10 minutes gone in the game the Bruins were 2:0 up and dominating all aspects of the game. The Stars called a time out at the half way mark of the first period and received a stern wake up call from the coaching staff.

Things did improve from this point albeit slowly, with four minutes left in the period Jaroslav Keri got the Stars first goal of the game on the powerplay. A minute later Martin Olas tied the game with his first of four goals to tie the game 2:2 at half time.
HT 2:2
Again the Stars started slowly and conceded an early goal 15 seconds into the second period. Minutes later and the Stars found themselves 2 goals down for the second time in the game. Player coach Stephen Lynch got his 12th goal of the season with fifteen minutes left in the game to draw the score back to within one, only for the Bruins to gain their third two goal lead minutes later.

The Stars seemed to finally find their skates with ten minutes left in the game and piled a lot of pressure on the Bruins goalmouth. Two goals 5 minutes apart tied the game 5:5 with less than five minutes remaining. The Bruins took the lead for the third time in the game after an unlucky bounce off the referee lead to a goal scoring opportunity.

Martin Olas leads the league with 31 goals at the half way point of the season

To their credit the Stars players moved on with the bad break and tied the game with just over three minutes left in the game. With less than two minutes left in the game it seemed all the Stars hard work might go to waste when the Bruins took the lead for the forth time in the game.

But in what had been such a dramatic goal scoring feast for those in attendance, no one was surprised that more was to come. Martin Olas scored his third of the day with 1 minute 30 seconds left, and then got his fourth with 18 seconds remaining in the game. The Bruins pulled there netminder for the extra attacker but the Stars held on to record a massive 2 point victory.

Afterwards the Stars coach spoke of the win:

We were very lucky to come away with this win today, we were lethargic right from the warmup and didn’t play anywhere our potential. The good sign is how we grind-ed out the win, to go behind so many times it would be easy to give up but we stuck at it and found a way to win. We have four weeks now till our next game and then they come thick and fast for the rest of the season, i told the team after if they want to achieve anything this season they will have to do a lot better that today.

Player Coach Stephen Lynch celebrates his second goal vs the Bruins

11 games into the 2011-12 season, and the Stars today moved into joint top of the NIIHA league. Its been a while since our last report, during which time the team has played 1o games, recording 7 wins 2 losses and 1 draw. On Sunday 9th October the Stars played their first home games of the season where the Belfast Bruins and Bangor Chiefs were the opposition. In the first game of the day the Stars recorded a 9:2 victory over the Bruins. This game saw the return of Martin Olas and Kornel Szabo to the Stars linup. Olas offcourse has been the club and leagues top scorer for two years in a row and returned to the lineup having missed the first game of the season. Szabo hadnt played in a Stars jersey since the 2009-10 season after a long standing knee injury, nither looked like they had missed any time from the game with both influencial in an impressive victory.

Game two of the day say the Bangor Chiefs ruffle a few feathers with their high intensity forechecking style. Denis Kurelass was in top form between the pipes for the Chiefs and continually frustrated the Stars attack who had by far the most scoring chances but Kurelass was giving his team a chance to win. The Chiefs played the counter attack well and took advantage of a powerplay oppurtunity and penalty shot to tie the game at 2:2. With minutes left in the game the Stars scored their 3rd of the game, but nither referee could confirm the puck had gone in and it was waved off. Afterwards it was indicated that it was a good goal but it wasnt to be on the day and the team had to settle for a 2:2 draw and 3 points from the days efforts.

On the 30th October the Stars travelled to Bangor to take on the Bangor Chiefs and East Coast Blaze. First up was East Coast Blaze who were the league leaders at the time and high on confidence. ECB were 2:0 up within the first few minutes while the Stars struggled to put passes together. The team didnt panic and by the half way mark of the first period had tied the game. The rest of the game was a back and forth afair with both teams leading at various times. ECB got momentum with 7 minutes remaining and notched two quick goals to take an extended lead. Much to the annoyance of the Stars management the team seemed to accept defeat and allowed ECB to dominate the remaing minutes of the game to eventually win 9:6.

David Vakler scoring on his penalty shot attempt

Having recieved a stern talking to at the end of the ECB game the Stars were a very different team in the Chiefs game later that day. Again the chiefs proved tough competition but the Stars competed harder than any other game so far this season and recorded a very good 5:3 win.

Jaroslav Keri celebrates his hattrick goal

On the 6th November the Stars travelled for their first round of games at the Valley Leisure centre this season. The first game of the day saw the team take on the Bruins. Jody Williamson started between the pipes for the Stars and had one of his best ever games, frustrating the Bruins throughout the whole game. This was a total team effort by the Stars with some excellent hockey played throughout the game. Final score 8:6.

Later that day the Stars took on the league leading Northern Cyclones for the second time this season. The team had been struggling with consistancy since the start of the season and the performance vs the Cyclones could not have been more different from the earlier game of the day. From the start of the game the Cyclones dominated all aspects of the game and found themselves several goals infront by the half way mark of the first half. The Stars did manage to get a couple of goals back but never managed to claw the scoreline back with the Cyclones well worth their 7:3 victory.

Dave Jackson back checks to kill ECB attack

Sunday the 20th November could potentially have been a devastating day for the teams aspirations this season, at one stage it looked as if the team would have to forfeit the two games scheduled for the day due to a fundraising walk organised on that day for teammate Sean Eoghan Mc Caffrey who had just got home after 7 months in hospital following his bad car accident. The league didn’t allow the clubs games to be raarranged but they did allow the time of the games to be altered to allow time for the club to get back to Armagh for the walk. As a result the Stars travelled to Bangor for an 8:45am start vs the Bangor Chiefs followed by a game straight away vs East Coast Blaze. The first game of the day for the Stars was a relatively comfortable encounter for the team, with the Chiefs missing their star netminder. A 3:1 scoreline at halftime showed the energy and effort the underpar Chiefs put into the game, but the Stars stepped up a gear in the second period to record a comfortable 10:2 victory.

Dispite only getting 5 minutes rest between games the team managed to record their first double wins of the season with an impressive hard fought win over East Coast Blaze. Indiscipline on the Blaze team allowed the Stars a large number of powerplay oppurtunities which they capitalised on a number of times. The team earned a 6:3 final score and a valuable 4 points from the day in what was by far the teams best games of the season to date.

Today (20th November) saw the teams second round of home games when they welcomed the Belfast Bruins and East Coast Blaze to Dungannon Leisure Centre. The Stars came up against a much improved Bruins team who dominated large portions of the game. Kornel Szabo was in good form in the Stars nets, while the top line was leading the teams productivity. The Bruins where two goals up early in the game which forced the Stars to alter their lines slightly. The changes seemed to help with the Stars getting back into the game by the half way mark. The game was wide open the whole 40 minutes with both teams making use of the bigger court and playing some good hockey. A five minute period of pressure proved to be the turning point for the Stars early in the second half when they started to pull away and dug deep to record a 9:7 victory.

Kornel Szabo takes a break during timeout

In the second game of the day the Stars took on ECB for the second weekend in a row. ECB were under strength only fielding 6 skaters in the game. It the Stars thought they were going to have it easy due to the numbers they were wrong. ECB showed great desire and team effort to cause problems from start to finish. This certainly wasnt the teams best game of the season, but again the team responded positively to the managements concerns from the earlier game of the day and were fairly comfortable for most of the game. A 10-6 scoreline wrapped up a good days work for the team and extended their winning streak to 4 games, while also taking them joint top of the table for the first time this season.

The team now has no more games until January 8th when they take on fellow league leaders the Northern Cyclones and the Belfast Bruins in what is sure to be another exciting day of hockey. Player coach Stephen Lynch said:

11 games into the season im very happy to be sitting where we are right now. We didnt set an specific targets this season as we knew we were in a rebuilding phase with some new faces coming into the lineup. The most pleasing thing right now is how the team is grinding out results. We didnt play well today, and dispite being down a few goals at times we never panicked. With 13 games left in the season there is a long way to go and there will be ups and downs to come.

This is a very interesting season with all teams capable of beating each other on any given day. Right now ourselves and the Cyclones have a few points on the rest but its only a couple of wins away from flipping the tables so we just take each game as it comes and be happy where we are for now.

Stephen Lynch

200 pucks will be shot from 10 feet by a mixture of senior and junior players at a fixed training goalie similar to that shown in main image, tickets cost £2 each and the buyer must guess how many goals they think will be scored from the 200 shots. There is a prize jackpot of £100 for anyone who guesses the correct number!

If multiple people guess right, then the £100 prize money will be divided equally. If there is no winner, the person who guessed the closest number will receive £25 with the remaining £75 transferred to the next home game when the jackpot will then be £175!

Tickets can be purchased at the hall tomorrow, by any of the stars players.

Click Image for photo gallery

The 2011-12 season is officially underway for the Stars, who travelled to Bangor today to take on the Northern Cyclones. With just 7 skaters and 4 new players from last season in the lineup this was always going to be a tough task for the team in their first game. The Cyclones created the better scoring chances throughout the game, and were in a comfortable 4:1 lead at the half way mark. David Vakler opening the scoring for the Stars.

The Stars made some line alterations early in the second which allowed them to create more scoring oppurtunities than in the 1st period and in doing so managed to keep the puck in the offensive end for longer periods of time, giving the 3 man defence a well earned rest.

The Cyclones scored three goals in the first 8 minutes of the second, with two of these goals coming in the space of 2 minutes. The Stars called a timeout to settle things down and finished the last 11 minutes strongly with three goals coming from, David Vakler, Stephen Lynch and Oleg Boroda.

The game finished 7:4 to the cyclones.

“I am very pleased with the performance the team put in today, we battled hard for the whole 40minutes and we showed real character to fight back when we went 7:1 down with 11 minutes left in the game. We have a lot of work to do but we can go away with lots of positives from this game.” Stephen Lynch

Long term player coach Stephen lynch reaccepted the role having decided to step down as head coach during the summer. On preparing for the first game of the new season Stephen remarked:

The start of a new season is always an exciting time, and we are all looking forward to getting back to competitive action this weekend. This year’s squad is vastly different from last season’s league winning team. Over the summer we have lost 5 players from last year’s team for a wide range of reasons. One of the biggest losses was that of Martin Olas, who has been the top point scorer in the league for the last two years in a row and has been voted club forward of the year for 4 years in a row.
We were aware half way through last season that we would be losing these players in the summer and we set the target of lifting our first title with a rebuilding season in front of us. Thankfully we were able to achieve our goal and are now fully focused on the future of our team and club.

There is a different type of excitement around the team this year, with 5 players making the step up from the clubs development team, all eager to pull on the Stars jersey for the first time.  The team know this will be a challenging season, but with the mix of experience and youthful enthusiasm the team has their sights on making the playoffs this coming season.

These are exciting times for the club as we are starting to see junior players coming up to the senior ranks for the first time, and it will be fun watching them improve as the season progresses. In short i believe we will have a competitive team this season, which will cause plenty of upsets throughout the year, and we definitely have the playoffs in our sights.

The Stars will be hosting 5 rounds of games this season in Dungannon with the first round of games on Sunday 9TH October starting at 2pm.

Current player coach Stephen Lynch approached Vytas about taking on the role for the coming season in early June and the pair have been in talks every since about the teams aims and objectives for the new season. On the confirmation of Vytas new role Stephen said:

I am delighted that Vytas has agreed to take on the head coach role for the coming season. We have had three very successful seasons since entering the Northern Irish league, and having won the senior title at the end of last season, i felt it was a good time to change things around a bit. The core of our team has been there for three years now, and i think there are times when changes have to be made to bring players out of their comfort zones. Vytas is a quality hockey player and one of the best team players i have ever played with.

His hockey and coaching experience will be a great asset to the club and i think that this announcement will excite all the players returning in early August, knowing they have a new head coach to impress.
I will be filling an assistant coach and general manager role for the coming season, having been the head coach for three years now; i am excited about the challenge of having a coach above me to take myself out of my own comfort zone and strive to improve my own game for the coming season.

The club plans to host an open try-out day in early August for any players interested in joining our two teams for the coming 2011-12 season. More information on this trial date will be announced closer to the time. Any players interested in attending a try-out should contact either Stephen or Vytas before the end of July. (Stephen: 07779297414, Vytas: 00353 86 220 7543)

Returning club players are reminded about the team fitness testing day on Saturday 23rd July in Armagh which is being run by new club sponsor Certified PT.

Click Image for celebrations photos

The Armagh Stars Inline Hockey team celebrated their first ever Northern Ireland senior championship title last week. The Stars travelled to Bangor last Wednesday 18^th to face last year’s champions the Belfast Bruins. The teams 7 game winning streak put them in pole position to claim their first title, in their last game of the season. The team knew 1 point was enough to win the league outright, and even a low scoring defeat would see them crowned champions on goal difference.

The game promised to be an entertaining encounter but a number of delays throughout the game really affected its rhythm and led to a scrappy affair. The game couldn’t have started worse for the Stars who conceded inside the first minute of the game after an unlucky bounce gifted the Bruins an early present. Richie Grace brought the score level 3 minutes later with his second goal of the season.
Vytas Lukosevicius  then gave the Stars a 2:1 lead half way through the first period.  Moments later Martin Olas got his 40^th goal of the season to extend the lead to 3:1, however, a body check delivered to Olas as he shot the puck lead to a ten minute stoppage in play as part of the rink boards broke under the pressure of the hit.

The delay was an unwelcome stoppage for the Stars who had built up good momentum. Minutes after the restart however, that momentum was returned when David Vakler scored his 21^st goal of the season.  With 4 minutes left in the period the Bruins capitalised on a powerplay opportunity to make the score 4:2 at the half time break.

The stars came out strong in the second with Martin Olas scoring to give the Stars a 5:2 lead. Penalty problems then plagued the team for the rest of the game, the Bruins capitalised on their second powerplay of the night to make it 5:3. 20 seconds after the restart the Stars scored to regain their three goal lead however, this goal was disallowed under controversial circumstances. At this stage the Bruins had all the momentum and made it a 5:4 game with less than five minutes left. David Vakler then scored again for Stars only to be disallowed due to an injured player on the court despite the puck entering the net before the whistle was blown.

To add further insult to the team the bruins tied the game on the next shift and then took the lead with less than two minutes left to spoil the party somewhat for the Stars. The team’s disappointment in defeat was quickly overcome when they were officially crowned league champions on goal difference and presented the Northern Ireland league trophy.

This wasn’t the storybook finish the team had dreamed of but once the gold medals were around each players necks they realised they had accomplished their goal and ended the four year reign of the Bruins.

However, since January 29^th the team has gone on a 7 game winning streak including an 11:6 victory over the Bruins to move into top position in the league. Going into the final game of the season the Stars are very much in the driving seat, with a win or draw enough to clinch their first ever senior Northern Ireland Inline Hockey title.

The team is full of confidence in what has been a superb end of season surge and are focused on what is sure to be a hard fought final game. Player coach Stephen Lynch commented “any game vs the Bruins is a hard game they have been the best team in the country for the last four years, but having finally defeated them earlier in the season, we believe this is our year and are determined to clinch our first title  by beating the current holders in their home rink.”

Anyone interested in coming to watch the biggest game in the club history is encouraged to do so face off is at 8:30pm, full directions to the Bangor rink here:

Armagh UK

Kidz Club 118 Clandeboye Road Bangor, County Down BT20 3JP

Click Image for photo gallery of tonights games

The Stars biggest game of the season, couldnt have had a happier outcome, the team travelled to Bangor for a crunch game vs the league leading Northern Cyclones. The Cyclones have lead the league for most of the season, but with two games left inhand the Stars knew that they had to get all 2 points to stand a chance of winning the league title, while a point would be enough for the Cyclones to clinch their first league trophy.

Tensions were high among both teams who realised the importance of the game. The Stars started brightly and limited the Cyclones to shots whilst creating plenty of chances deep in the Cyclones defensive zone, their pressure helped gain them a 5:0 lead before halftime. but With twenty minutes still to go this game was far from over.

The Cyclones started the second half with a bang getting their first goal of the game. Both teams then traded goals, before the Cyclones scored 3 in a row to increase the tension for those watching with less than five minutes left in the game. A well timed Stars timeout seemed to settle the ship for the Stars who absorbed the rest of the game to claim a huge victory and record an 8:5 win.

The Stars now sit 2 points behind the Cyclones in the table, but with two games reamining, the clubs first league trophy is in our hands. The title race is far from over however, and the team won’t be celebrating anything until the job is done!

Final Score Stars 8:5 Cyclones