Blaze v Aalborg running diary

18:28: And so here we go! We are live in Aalborg, with Geoff Foster, and Andy Buxton, with 120 or so Blaze fans making a nice amount of noise. Including the four who stand down by the front of the plexi at the Skydome. For some reason Aalborg are playing Bob Sinclair as the music...which can see me having the odd dance, were I there.

18:31: We start with the triple C line...Carlson, Cowley and Calder. Apparently Aalborg are going to come straight through the middle of the ice. Weaver comes in for a shot which JUST gets saved. Amusingly, all you can hear are the Blaze fans, as the old "When the Blaze go skating in" kicks into play.

18:34: Would it be a bit unfair to expect Geoff and Andy to learn the names of one or two of the Danish team, just in order to make things a little clearer to us at home? Meanwhile, there's just two or three Blaze fans singing.

18:41: Powerplay. Blaze seem to put out the line of Carlson, Calder, Huppe, Cloutier, and Weaver. Otherwise known as the "no f-ing way" line , as in "no f-ing way are you stopping this line from scoring"

18:45: Penalty gets killed. Cloutier comes close, Moore also comes close, but it seems to be a bit quiet. Aalborg sound like a better version of Hull at the moment-you hardly hear the Danes shooting. It's still noisier than the Metro Radio arena in Newcastle, though, Vipers fans. :)

18:50: "It's going to be a great tactical battle?". Hm. It's not sounding a bad game, and the No F-ing Way line is back on. In the Elite League, you'd be able to smell the fear of the oppositin fans with that five out now...

18:52: The Danes play Van Halen! Yes! Welcome to Denmark, where it's always 1985!

18:55: Geoff's managed to confuse David Vychodil (6'2, 213lbs) with both Neal Martin and Adam Calder in one period, both of whom are a little smaller. This is easy to do. In my first or second season, way back when, I managed to confuse Mike Ware (6'5, 215lbs) and Vezio Sacratini (5'8, 170lbs), much to my embarassment. Hey-I was watching the numbers, and 26 and 28 look similar, particularly on those old London Knights shirts.

18:56: Aalborg score. Bjarke Larsen puts a delayed penalty goal in after Carlson did his hooking thing...

18:57: Has Andy Buxton ever commentated on a game that wasn't a "great spectacle"?

18:59: End of the first period. It's not bad so far, from the sound either on the ice or the commentary off it...Right. Off for a toilet break. Back in twenty minutes with the second period...

19:14: And we're back in Aalborg! They're playing Hermes flipping House Band as we start the period...

19:16: There are two Cockneys in the Danish crowd, by the sounds of things...all you can hear is "KARM AAN ARLBERG!" back and forth...Blaze back on the powerplay...

19:19: We've got a name for one of the opposition! The Aalborg goalie is Peter Hirsch, everybody. He's just made a save from Weaver. Still nowt happening on the powerplay, though.

19:21: Both commentators have called Aalborg "Salzburg" in the past thirty seconds. Is it Saturday already and I've missed it?

19:23: Two Aalborg players have names now-Henrik Blomqvist and the Blaze's Matty Soderstrom have a verbal or two.

19:30: Penalty kill. Huppe goes into the box for High Sticks. Andy comes out with "there's no point arguing, they can't understand you anyway". Forget that most Swedes and Danes speak good English...

19:34: "Watkins tries to rim one for Vychodil" is followed by "Cowley's on his knees and sliding into the crease". The non-ice-hockey watchers in the CWR studio are cringing, thinking that there's reckless innuendos coming out of the sport...:)

19:42: Blaze are now 5-on-3, and Aalborg score just as the 5-on-3 ends. Trouble is, the penalty hadn't yet expired. So Blaze are still a man down. Still-Herning went 2-0 up, and Blaze managed to come back against Danish opposition then, so there is hope...

19:50: "A thousand years ago, they gave us the Vikings. It's taken a while, but we're invading them this time-to win". The CWR ad-writing team, everybody! Loving their work. Blaze are 2-0 down at the end of the second and Rumun (Ndur) sums up the task with "we've got twenty minutes to score twice. We can do that". Now it's rugby-union time, so another toilet break beckons. Back in twenty minutes for period three...

20:05: Mmm, lamb stew....We're back for the third period...two minutes late, but it doesn't sound like owt has happened..

.20:06: I speak too soon. Cowley gets close...I have to admit, I thought I'd have to quickly swallow my lamb stew in order to celebrate a goal, there...

20:07: The Aalborg DJ has heard the dubious reactions of us in the UK-a bit of Metallica's "Whiskey in the Jar" raises a smile...

20:10: Blaze are absolutely murdering Aalborg possession-wise at the moment...several chances go begging. In another upset, the Danish DJ (who we'll call Magnus, for ease's sake) follows up Metallica with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls"...
"whoa, won't you let it all hang out, fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin' world go round"...
Now that song will be in my head all night...and on a night out in Coventry, that is not a song you want, for fear of giggling when you see the dancing in Jumpin Jaks round about 2 am...

20:13: Ouch...we just heard Danny Stewart hit the ice from 400 miles away. Without the radio...

20:14: "Sweet Child O'Mine"?! Magnus the DJ has turned it right around from the first two periods...Meanwhile, Moore rips one just wide...

20:17: Now Magnus has lost it...we've got Danish dance back. Back on the game-erm-what? Where did the last ten minutes go, cause there's only seven minutes left...

20:20: Can you say the phrase "hot goalie"? Hirsch is stopping just about everything...

20:23: It's all gone quiet now. And Hirsch has stopped another one! Stewie could have flicked that one in, by all accounts-a rebound right in front of him.

20:25: Hmm. Make that 3-0. Three on one breakaway and Aalborg sew up the game through Tobias Holm. Apparently there's been a load of "decorative stuff" dumped down the far end. The word is "confetti", I think...

20:27: The Blaze fans finally make some noise again-a bit late at 3-0...and Magnus pulls himself back up again with a bit of AC/DC...which wakes the two Danish Cockneys up...

20:29: The scoreline isn't fair, apparently. A good point-I'd love to see the shot count for this game-Hirsch has absolutely stood on his head in the Aalborg goal.

20:33: Andy channels his inner Jerry Springer as Geoff asks him for his "final thoughts", which add up to "Hirsch was awesome, and the Aalborg players know that. Blaze played well, but the Danes did their job and took their chances"

20:35: And so that's that. Nothing to add from me, really...there is no way I'm hanging around to listen to Steve McClaren, so here ends the first running diary...back tomorrow, I hope.

Hope you enjoyed it, and keep your eye on the puck...

Game time...almost

Almost, anyway. You join me settled on my bed, with a 250g bar of Dairy Milk Double Chocolate, a couple of cans of ginger-beer and a pair of headphones which don't...quite...work. This could be something of a problem. I've decided to split this up period-by-period...and so it shall begin. Keep checking back every couple of minutes. Or even at the end of each period-it'll refresh itself, with the BST time...

Slavija v Salzburg, David v Goliath...

...and it appears David has forgotten his slingshot. Salzburg are 4-0 up already, and their forum are into full "well, this one is over" mode...they've already got the back up in. Something of a running diary will now follow in preparation for later...but then, seven NHLers against a team where the oldest player is 24 is always going to turn out badly...

16:12 BST: Salzburg have five in the box. Hmm. I reckon penalties could be a problem...although there is a classic moment on the Salzburg forum as a poster modifies the sign seen outside German football matches, posting...

"Penalty bench sold out. Standing room, and season ticket holders only."....

16:38 BST: Make that Salzburg seven, Slavija 0 at the end of the second. Hmm. This could be a bit of a nothing third period. We are told there are about ten Austrians and maybe a hundred Blaze fans. Could make tomorrow's game interesting..

16:56: Third period begins. But I'm not fancying following this much-so I'll leave it until the last minute and go and sort myself some chores...

17:24: The game finishes 8-0. Ouch. Now for the important game of the evening...check back in an hour or so...

Almost-live from Denmark...

Quick note-just found out that the Blaze photographer Mark Tredgold, whose excellent shots of Blaze games from the past few years can be found at his website (http://www.tredders.com) is running a photo blog from the Blaze trip to Aalborg, which he is updating regularly to give those stuck in the UK a "feel" for the trip-it is an excellent idea and can be found here:

http://web.mac.com/marktredgold/Site/Blog/Blog.html

For some reason, it's not running hyperlinks today, so you'll need to cut and paste the addresses into the address bar on your browser.

Is it me, or is there snow in Denmark already?

I shall keep checking that as well as doing my own diary...

The "Biggest Game" Debate, part I...

Morning all-another day-another few posts...I'm using a break in job hunting to reply to my first comment (and comments from readers, ideas for new features, etc are of course welcomed at any time, cause apart from anything else they give me ideas for future posts, and hopefully build up some sort of head of steam)...



Anyway-the first comment to come in takes issue with my little pop at the Steelers/Panthers hype machine in this week's Round the Rinks, and reads thus...

"Surely, the fact that this Saturdays Panthers Steelers game will sell 6000 tickets, at the same time of the Rugby World Cup Semi-Final, makes it the biggest game in UK hockey?"

Fair point. It can't be denied that fans in both Notts and Shuff always look for the games against "them up t'road" first when the fixture list comes out. And based purely on attendance, you could make the same argument. And the rivalry was huge once-as shown by this little disagreement between the two teams. Rumour has it it was started not just by the cross-check, but when someone mentioned that Scott Allison wasn't the greatest use of a week's wages...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioyQi-rb1DM

When this happened, there was no debate. Notts/Shuff was the "one game everyone in British hockey had to see once"

However, (to break a rule of mine and bring football into the argument), the Merseyside derby (Liverpool-Everton) will attract 45,000 this weekend, also at the same time as the WC semi-yet no-one outside of Liverpool is calling it "the biggest game in British football". The hype machine (well, Dave Simms, who is the closest thing to one in British hockey) always seems to give the impression that thousands of British hockey fans will be hanging on the edge of their seats waiting for the updates from the NIC or Hallam Arena, and that the team that loses will suffer some huge heartbreak, or lose bragging rights for the year-and that there is no other game in the UK hockey scene which excites such passion. This just isn't the case. I remember going to a Steelers/Panthers game in the old ISL at the Hallam, being all excited on the way up to finally see the "biggest rivalry in British hockey" and then spending sixty minutes sitting in a echoing half-silent arena watching a game which, although good, just didn't have that life-or-death fire which you get in truly great rivalry games. For example (and keeping Nottingham as one of the teams) the Challenge Cup semi-final of the 04/05 season, particularly the NIC leg, with Coventry as the other team, FELT like a rivalry game-both sets of fans were well and truly yelling themselves hoarse, the teams were playing like the losers would be killed and eaten by the winners, and the banter was flying back and forth. Every goal meant something, every hit was cheered, and so on.

And then you have Coventry-Cardiff. If you'd ever gone to the old and much-missed Wales National Ice Rink for a Devils-Blaze game and NOT been swept up by the atmosphere, even as a neutral, then you're clinically dead. Ask any Coventry or Cardiff fan about the games they look forward to the most, and it's a safe bet that Blaze/Devils, especially in Cardiff, will come top of the list. And Coventry/Belfast and Sheffield/Manchester have seen some pretty intense games in the past too-moving down to the EPL the rivalry between Chelmsford and Romford has half the numbers of most EIHL rivalries yet at least as much intensity...yet still people are told that Steelers/Panthers is the big one......

It seems to me that, while it's still a HUGE game for both sets of fans, the Steelers/Panthers rivalry is living somewhat on past glories-and every year, particularly as the teams play each other three or four times a season, the hype machine grinds into action a little more slowly and a little less convincingly...the fact is, there are newer rivalries that are just as intense as this one, and the sooner the leagues realise this and starts marketing them as well, instead of relying on this fading giant of a rivalry, the better.

Feel free to comment, either way-this is a debate that can run and run.

Check back later today for the running diary of Blaze's first game in this year's Conti Cup....and keep your eye on the puck. :)