Legends turn out to honour Johnson

Feb 28 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

FORMER Durham Wasps star and Vipers owner Paddy O’Connor has warned the North East franchise they cannot possibly hope to find a British replacement for Shaun Johnson.

Johnson, the Durham-born 34-year-old, retires at the end of this season and local ice hockey fans will get the chance to say their goodbyes in his testimonial at Newcastle Arena tonight.

O’Connor will be just one of the former North East favourites on show for Shuggy’s All-Stars against the Vipers and, as a close friend and former boss of the long-serving centre, he believes Johnson will be a tough act to follow. “In all honesty I’ve played with a lot of hockey players over the last 25 years and in my eyes he’s one of the best defensive British forwards during that time,” says O’Connor, a former Great Britain international, who has been watching from the stands this season. “Not only that, he’s a great person. In my short time as owner of the club he was an absolute pleasure to have in the side.

“To be honest, I don’t think they can possibly replace him with a British forward. There’s some good young players out there but none of them are as good defensively or as disciplined as Shaun.

“I watched him play at the weekend and he’s such a smart player. He’s not the biggest in the world and he’s built like my eight-year-old daughter but he makes up for it in terms of energy.”

O’Connor is just one of a host of former Durham, Whitley and Newcastle players on show tonight. Hilton Ruggles, Stephen Foster, Frankie Killen, Kevin Conway, and Simon Leach will also play some part tonight and O’Connor sees the calibre of the roster as a tribute in itself.

He said: “There’ll be people there like Mario Belanger, who I haven’t seen since we were team-mates at Telford in 1995. It’s all the players I’ve looked up to since I was a kid. It says a lot for Shaun he’s been able to get so many of them to play.”

TICKETS for tonight are priced £8 for adults; £6 concessions and £4 children. Face-off is 7.30pm.

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Newcastle ENL Vipers 6, Whitley Braves 2

A MARTYN Davies hat-trick, his first ever at ENL level, helped his side to victory over Whitley Braves in the ENIHL North Cup. Vipers led 3-0 after two periods but two goals in the opening minute of the final period kept Braves in with a shout. Three minutes later, Davies tucked away his second. Andrew Wile increased the lead in the 50th minute and Davies hit his hat-trick goal with two minutes to go.

NEWCASTLE ENL VIPERS: Martyn Davies 3+0, Callum Pattison and Jeremy Lundin 1+1, Andrew Wile 1+0, Nathan Taylor and Ben Campbell 0+2, Dean Holland, Marcus Hinckley and Kevin Foster 0+1.

WHITLEY BRAVES: Martin Crammond 1+1, Daniel Ord 1+0, Ali Brummitt 0+1.