The Edinburgh Eagles traveled down south to Sheffield for the annual BUIHA Tier 1 Nationals. With last year's Nationals performance behind them, the Eagles looked to show their strength as one of the top teams in the country.
Group Stage:
Day 1 saw the Eagles take on the London Dragons and Cambridge Blues. Despite poor records against the teams in the past, the Eagles dominated these teams - winning 5-2 against London and 4-0 against Cambridge - with Canadian and M.Sc student Vince Amodeo recording the shutout.
Day 2 included match-ups against Oxford University Blues and Nottingham Mavericks. With Oxford having posted strong performances in their previous games, a win would give bragging rights for a 1st place finish in the group. Oxford scored on the power-play in the first period. The Eagles, after numerous scoring chances hitting the post, tied the game in the second period, and would eventually take the lead. Goaltender Berke Ricketti put forth a stellar performance, shutting down the Oxford's offensive onslaught, such as Oxford's Kevin Deagle, ex-CIS player and University of Toronto alumni. However, late into the third, Oxford would tie the game - resulting in a 2-2 tie.
The Eagles would close out the group stage with a 6-3 win over the Nottingham Mavericks, thus finishing 1st place in their group.
For summaries and video for each stage, click below.
Game video:
Semi-Finals:
Having finished 1st, the Eagles would play Scottish rivals, the St Andrews Typhoons, in a rematch of the recent Jonny Wookey Memorial game. However, the game would not end in the Eagles favour as they were handed a 5-2 loss - thus ending the Edinburgh Eagles' 2016-17 campaign.
All-Star Team:
Despite the loss, the Eagles lead the BUIHA with the most players selected to the Tier 1 All Star Team. Congratulations to Alyn Nanji, Aaron Robertson, Calvin Eng and Berke Ricketti for a standout performance!
Forwards: Deagle (Oxford) - van Blitterswyk (Southampton) - Hauger (St Andrews)
Johnson-Brown (Nottingham) - Robertson (Edinburgh) - Eng (Edinburgh)
Defense:
Mogg (Southampton) - Nanji (Edinburgh)
Glasby (Northumbria) - Roth (Oxford) Netminders:
Brooks (Northumbria) - Ricketti (Edinburgh)