Challenge Cup Semi preview and more...

Welcome to this wet Wednesday afternoon in the UK-there's a few interesting stories doing the rounds in the EIHL so let's get right on with it...

One Minute Preview: Cardiff v Sheffield (Challenge Cup Semi)
Why Cardiff will win: The Devils are ridiculously good right now, while their opponents are in something of a slump. With Sylvain Deschatelets and Jason Silverthorn spearheading their attack, there is certainly enough offensively to give Sheffield a real headache, and in their own rink the Welsh side are always a fearsome prospect. They'll need to score early on Jody Lehman in order to bring the shakes to the jitter-prone Sheffield defence-score one past them and you'll often get three or four.
Why Sheffield will win: Cardiff's inspirational captain, Brad Voth, will be missing, and the effect this will have on the Devils shouldn't be underestimated, particularly if the Steelers come out hard and give Jeremy Cornish free reign to play his intimidation role as well as hitting hard and often themselves-if they can have the Devils defence looking over their shoulders constantly, the high-powered skating and shooting of Jeff Legue, Joey Talbot and others will come into play as gaps open up.

Prediction: I can't see past Cardiff in this one. Although, like the other semi, this will definitely not be settled in the first leg-Devils win by the odd goal.

Sylvain Cloutier to make injury decision on Monday: The inspirational Blaze captain has been playing almost the whole season with a torn stomach muscle as revealed here, but now faces the crucial decision of whether or not to have surgery on an injury which, according to this article, could take anything between three weeks and three months to heal. With Clouts being almost a talisman to the Blaze players and fans alike since he joined last season, his loss will be a major blow should he decide to rehab for the playoffs rather than continue putting his body through such torture, but on the plus side...

Dan Tessier looking for a job: The ex-Nottingham and Sheffield centre has been released by Duisburg, and would be an excellent addition to any team in the EIHL-Nottingham and Sheffield are still the front-runners, but if Cloutier does go for three months, this is one Blaze fan who wouldn't mind seeing the little speedster on a line with Curtis Huppe and Danny Stewart...

That's your round up for today...keep keeping your eye on the puck...