Non-hockey post: ENGLAND IN THE RUGBY WORLD CUP

I said that this was a hockey blog, and that was all I was going to post on, but...It's just one of those days, isn't it?

England beat France 14-9, so you're no doubt watching all the coverage of the English crowd and media going absolutely mental. But I'm listening to the French coverage, just to see what the view is like on the other side of La Manche. And listening to Radio France, the reaction is absolute shock. From TF1, the French equivalent of the BBC, is the simple headline "It's over for the Blues", which they follow up with "the beautiful story of the French team comes to an end in Paris". L'Équipe, the biggest French paper, is coming up with "The shattered dream" as their headline over a picture of the English players celebrating behind a beaten French player...and praise "the extraordinary, unbreakable defence of the England XV"
Then there was the classic shot of the Stade de France audio crew playing "Je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf as their exit song...and this was repeated on French radio, along with audio highlights of the French tries throughout the tournament-almost as some sort of memorial . The atmosphere in France is as if someone very near and very dear to the entire country has died. They were so, so sure that this was their year...
On a random note, it's a bit strange that ITV are using a song called "Living is a Problem Cause Everything Dies" as their exit song...I'd have stuck with Edith Piaf, myself...Anyway-back to France.
Chabal has just been interviewed, and said "some of the English players tackled harder than I ever thought possible"
One thing is for sure-the French nation is going to be a very quiet place tonight...

A picture can say a thousand words...

Ladies and gents (And I promise this is the last posting for this evening)
One of the sweetest pictures I've ever seen, courtesy of Mark Tredgold...(link to his superb Blaze picture site is marked on the list of links)

Jonny Weaver celebrating his OT winner against Red Bulls Salzburg, in traditional hockey style...on the night when, after only two months on the team, he became a Blaze legend.

Thanks to Mark for getting it up on the Web so quickly (it was taken...oh, about an hour ago)

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sigmund Freud, Mozart, Kurt Waldheim, Jorg Halder...

Your boys just took a hell of a beating. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Blaze have just pulled off something truly special. And I miss it-the first big Coventry Blaze moment in history I've not been present at. Bloody redundancies.

But my god-I've had about ten texts in the past five minutes from people going absolutely mental, and I feel the need to go out and have a drink or two just in order to celebrate this evening...Apologies the diary just cut off, but this really deserves some sort of commerative post. And a moment of silence for Salzburg...

(deep breath-back on topic)....

Meanwhile, in the EIHL, could Belfast be back on a roll after their 7-0 victory? Nottingham are currently beating Shuff 2-0 as well, so that could be an interesting game to follow....

Actually-since it's my blog, I'm signing off early now, and will post reaction to the EIHL games tomorrow-time to go out and celebrate what is an absolutely MASSIVE shock win in the world of ice-hockey...someone ring the BBC!

Blaze v Salzburg running diary

We're back for game two! This time I'll just be using the one post, so if you come along and it looks like it's not been updated for a while, just click refresh. All times are BST-let's get it going....

18:25: Hmm. Listening to the pre-match talk, it's very much "we're just happy to be here against this team" if you listen to Andy Buxton...

18:30: The good news is that good old Cloutier has just won the opening face-off...

18:32: Third line already...and we've actually got a name or two from the Salzburg players already. Surely they can't have been reading.
Oh, and Ash Tait has just been called the "second best player in British ice-hockey" with Weaver being the best...Strangely, it was the reverse last year...

18:33: Salzburg score. Daniel Welzer. It appears that there's absolutely no-one there, aside from the hundred or so Blaze fans. They'll be even quieter now...

18:35: Blaze are on the powerplay. Just noted that, although it seems a long way away at the moment, that were Blaze to win this, they can still qualify. I'm not sure they can, though. Unless they beat Salzburg and Slavija, and Salzburg beat Aalborg tomorrow, which will put three teams on six points. It will then come down to how many goals Blaze score against Slavija. Blaze fans now making a bit more noise...

18:40: Make that two nil. Against the run of play, after Blaze spend five minutes in the opposition end. We're only seven minutes or so into the game, and already it's not the greatest hope in the world. Rick Jackman (who's getting paid more in a year than the Blaze team, apparently) takes a penalty...

18:45: Cowley floors Jackman. "He'll have enjoyed that" says Andy. The bad news is, that gives Salzburg a powerplay. Geoff has just asked where Frank Banham is-I was wondering that so have just checked the Salzburg website-apparently he's not playing tonight as a precaution, being slightly injured-so I shall try and let them know through the internet and what have you...

18:49: Side note here-I'm not sure whether they've actually been reading this or have had other people tell them, but we're now getting the names of both sides from both commentators. Fair play to both Geoff and Andy-it's the little things that move the coverage from good to great, sometimes...

18:53: Still searching for the email or text address...

18:59: Bingo. Found it and sent the information. Also we've just heard Russ Cowley get well and truly nailed by Jackman...who gets called for roughing. Powerplay with a minute to run as we end the first period. Worryingly, we now haven't seen Jonny Weaver on the ice for fifteen minutes, apparently. Oh, excellent...Conti Cup curse, anyone?

19:04: During the period break, we have an interview with Rumun again-who is mentioning that the team only need one goal to get going. "Keep the faith" is the way it gets summed up-which gets a big laugh from Rumun so deep it almost makes the bass on my headphones pop. He also repeats the mention of the Weaver injury. Let's hope it's nothing serious. Now we're back on the rugby union, cause there's apparently a fairly important game happening in Paris tonight...

19:15: As the rugby interview goes on and on, we hear the coverage from Aalborg. The good news is, the song playing is Burning Heart, by Survivor. Could it be an omen?

19:16: Weaver hasn't come back out. Oh, pants. Please let it just be a minor thing...

19:18: Blaze getting PP after PP here. Meanwhile, back in the UK, Belfast are 5-0 up against Hull after two periods...maybe the myriad kicks up the rear end the Giants have been getting are bearing some sort of fruit. Carlyle Lewis has even scored twice for them...

19:21: Stewart goes down, and has to have the Salzburg physio treat him because neither the team doctor OR Nikki Sherlock, the physio, are actually on the bench...Although as I write this, they've returned to the bench, so maybe the worrying can stop. Or at least calm down.

19:24: Weaves is back and ready to ice! The worrying can definitely stop...Calder goes close despite being shorthanded, and then takes a silly penalty.

19:26: And Weaver is back on the ice! Thank heaven. I know these last couple of posts aren't strictly neutral, but if Blaze lost Weaver you can guarantee there'd be 2,500 British hockey fans who wouldn't be happy...

19:36: Blaze have had a fair few pp's, and not scored. Calder puts one just over, causing a kind of mixed groan/whimper/whistle to come from Andy-one of the weirdest noises I've ever heard. And then Carlson gets very, very close. It's a repeat of the Aalborg game at the moment...Weaver heads to the box.

19:40: Two-on-one breaks, Carlson and Calder. Gets saved though...Calder's away again...and Weaver's been stopped. Every single shot is just wide, just over or into the pads...this is getting silly. Even only hearing it, I'm wincing every time it sounds like Blaze'll score.

19:42: Blaze are 5-on-3 after Doug Lynch gets called for slashing. And the NFW line is out...ninety seconds worth of 5 on 3...

19:46: Ouch. Belfast have beaten Hull 7-0 away from home...maybe something has finally worked in one of Courtenay's team-talks...

19;49: The goal didn't happen. Somehow, every shot is going everywhere but in. The Blaze are dominating, but the period ended about a minute ago, still the same score...2-0 down.

20:03: We're off again...one of the Salzburg fans has just posted on their forum "If you want to hear how commentators can suffer with their team, have a listen to the British radio from Coventry". How true-you can tell where the puck is on the ice just by listening to Andy Buxton, sometimes...

20:06: I can barely type through laughter. Geoff Foster has just compared watching James Pease skate to watching Liam Daish (former Coventry City and Birmingham footy defender) run. Anyone who had seen Daish and/or Peasey play will know how unfair that is. However, whether it's unfair to Peasey or Daish, I'm not quite sure yet...

(random tangent-I remember watching Daish play once in my many trips to the much-lamented Highfield Road, and as he was skinned for pace by yet another opposition forward, the shout comes from the crowd "Run, Daish! You look like you're moving through treacle!" to which the reply was one of the classic lines "He ain't just moving through treacle, he's stopping to eat every f-ing drop!" I remember laughing myself hoarse-aged about eight years old at the time)

20:17: All you can hear from the crowd are Coventry accents roaring them on...all 120 of them...I've got no idea how long is left, but it can't be that long...

20:20: This is getting silly. Shots are raining in on Divis's net...and there are ten minutes left.

20:26: No Blaze fan ever thought they'd hear the phrase "come on Peasey, we need that goal" on radio commentary. But we just have...And now the Blaze fans are chanting Divis's name...

20:28: Superb work in the background, as one Blaze fan (and I think I know who it is-JP, who is quite well-known in the Skydome crowd) has chanted Divis's name in an attempt to put him off for three solid minutes and counting...

20:30: SCOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEE BLAZE! Danny Stewart finally beats Divis! And there's an explosion of noise from the Blaze crowd now...and they just won't shut up...Divis is getting it big style, with "dodgy keeper" and all...

20:33: Salzburg pressuring...keep it out, lads...

20:34: Blaze powerplay! And time out called...Koenig is waiting to come off as we think about pulling the goalie...

20:35: SCOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEE! ADAM CALDER! Get Reach Up playing! Blaze have come from 2-0 down against Salzburg, one of the best team in Europe, with a minute left...and I'm convinced you could have heard the yell I just let loose in Denmark...

20:40: Blaze go on the powerplay...with overtime to come...the cheers were loud enough at the end of that but now we're going into overtime, so God only knows what'll happen if Blaze score again. Oh, and in a side note, Blaze's qualification is still open at the moment...

20:45: We're in OT. Dear God. I don't remember having my heart feel like this while watching a hockey game since the playoff final two years ago...sudden death...

20:48: SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEE BLAZE! JONNY WEAVER! The Blaze have only gone and flipping done it! The crowd have gone absolutely ballistic, and so have I-That yell was definitely heard in Denmark....

20:52: Over the radio, one of the sweetest chants in hockey when it's your fans singing, courtesy of the Blaze crowd...
"two niiiillll, and you cocked it up"....

20:55: YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS! Did we mention the Blaze just beat one of the top teams in Europe? I'm getting texts left right and centre...the phone-lines will be red-hot right about now...

Updated again at 21:19
Sorry about that cutting off...just had a joyous phone-call with a few friends, all of us not quite believing what just happened...Quite frankly, I still can't...there is a small but vibrant section of Coventry which is in party mode this evening, whereever they might be. And Aalborg rink has probably turned into a Danish Jumpin' Jaks nightclub right about now. Or maybe the Old Orleans.
Anyway...I am drained, so I am now signing off...Will be back for the Slavija game tomorrow...

Catching up with the EIHL

In the frenzy of yesterday's Aalborg diary (I've now moved them all into one post in order to make it easier to read and the blog more streamlined), I forgot to check the scores back home in the UK-Sheffield Steelers beat the Manchester Phoenix 2-1, in a game that looks a bit tight judging by both IH-Update and the reports of the two teams' forums. Although there is a ridiculous disparity in the shot count-Lehman gets forty-three fired on him for the Steelers, letting in just one, and Fankhouser (he of the slightly dodgy moustache) gets just seventeen! And the two he did let in came early in the game (two and eight minutes, respectively). This begs two questions in my mind...

Does Fankhouser take a bit of time to get into the game, and thus, is it worth peppering him early?
Having not much else to do on a Saturday afternoon, I had a look at the times when Manchester conceded their twenty-seven goals so far this season, and only five were scored in the first fifteen minutes-which makes me think otherwise. However, this fails to take into account the fact that the Phoenix are a very good defensive team and thus don't usually allow many shots early-they didn't against the Blaze and even took the lead before a middle-period explosion by the home side. The fact that when goals against Fank do come, they tend to come in bunches makes me think it can't hurt to pepper him-beat the guy once and there's a chance you could be three or four up very quickly indeed if you keep the pressure on. Sure, this means that there's a slightly increased chance of conceding, but then, you don't win hockey games without scoring goals...

How on earth did Sheffield only get off seventeen shots? Particularly with names like Ash Tait, Legue, Talbot and Sheppard firing them in. Having seen Fankhouser play, and also seen that his rebound control seemed slightly off (it was almost surreal how many times he'd make a save, and have the puck sat a few feet in front of him or sneak JUST past the stick of the Blaze forwards waiting in the slot)-either his defence had an absolutely stellar game, or the much-vaunted Sheffield attack were just trying to pass around before firing the puck into his body, pads, glove-anywhere but the net. I'm prepared to give Fankhouser the credit for now, but at some point it would be interesting to compare the teams goals-to-shots ratio in order to see which team has the most efficient attack (which may not necessarily be the highest scoring).

Anyway-can you feel the excitement for the Steelers-Panthers game tonight yet? :)

I shall be back later on for the running diary of Blaze v Salzburg...it'll either be the greatest night in Blaze's european history or (more likely) a bit of a damp squib. I'll also be keeping an eye on the EIHL scores...

Until then, keep your eye on the puck...
duly edited, after cocking up the shot-count for the Phoenix-Steelers game-see above.