Round the Rinks, 23rd November

It's your weekly skate round the EIHL as we preview a weekend which, even this early in the season, is going to have a major influence on the standings at the end of the season...

Team-by-team...

Basingstoke: The Bison play twice at home this weekend, in tricky ties against Newcastle followed by Belfast at the Silverdome. The Southerners are finally building something substantial after their early-season problems, but this weekend will be a big measure of the new imports-the Vipers are a very good team indeed despite their recent stutters in form-something which can also be said for the Giants. But then, the Bison themselves went 3-0 up in eight minutes away in Coventry last week, so they're not too bad themselves...it could be a very close pair of games that could go either way in the South...

Belfast: The Giants have two games they will consider eminently winnable, with Hull visiting on Saturday before the trip to Basingstoke on Sunday. With players coming back from injury the Giants should be too powerful for the sorry Stingrays, but will not be looking forward to the Basingstoke tie, especially as every point is precious as they seek to get back into the race for the top tier of the league...

Cardiff: If the Devils had to choose the biggest threat to their winning run, then facing Coventry away followed by Newcastle at home would probably be the nightmare weekend-the trouble is that this weekend contains those exact fixtures for the South Wales side. The message Gerard Adams will be giving to his team is simple: "Every player must turn up, every player must play to their absolute best-these games are ours to win". With Mike Prpich missing, the Devils are slightly weakenend-but you can guarantee there'll be little evidence of that as they come out determined to gain a huge psychological victory over both of their rivals. If you're anywhere near the Skydome tomorrow night, then get in any way you can-Saturday's game in particular has the potential to be an absolute classic.

Coventry: The Blaze make a trip to Hull on Sunday to face the stuttering Stingrays aiming to get themselves back into the winning groove for good after bouncing back last weekend...but that game is hardly getting a mention on the forums-to many this weekend is all about the most passionate rivalry in British hockey as Cardiff come intending to raise hell at the Skydome tomorrow night. I know I've been hyping this game for the past week, but anyone who's seen some of the near-legendary meetings between these two teams in the past will know that such treatment is justified. Barrie Moore is back in the line-up, so Blaze are only missing Michael Tasker in a game both the players and the fans would simply love to win-if it puts Blaze back on top that will just be an additional bonus.

Edinburgh: Sheffield and Nottingham will be hoping to pile on the misery for the luckless Scots after their 8-3 tanking at the hands of Cardiff on Wednesday...new signing Mark Wires will be after a good home debut, but one player does not make a team, and if I'm honest I can see it being yet another pointless weekend for the Caps as the Panthers and Steelers brush them aside in the chase for points.

Hull: Belfast and Coventry promise another lean weekend for the Stingrays faithful-with crowds dropping and increasing pressure on Rick Strachan, these are tense times on Humberside, with nothing seeming to go right-even the PR reports seem to be formulaic and predictable now. Sorry, Hull-but this is going to be another long weekend...

Manchester: Just the one game for the Phoenix this weekend, and it's a War of the Roses as Sheffield visit Altrincham on Sunday. The major question for the Phoenix is, as always, goals...Joe Tallari has scored double the amount of his closest team-mate (Tony Hand), and they're the only two players in double figures after 22 league games as the team as a whole has only scored 50 goals. Sheffield are another team who tend to rely more on one area than another to win games-however, unlike the Phoenix it's their high-powered attack. scoring 57 while conceding only 48. The Phoenix will be hoping that the Steelers can't shut down Tallari (assuming he plays) otherwise they'll start to look a very one-dimensional team..

Newcastle: Basingstoke and Cardiff are the opponents as the Vipers spend the weekend away from home hoping to bounce back from the nightmarish weekend they had last time out-but any slack play will definitely be punished by both opponents. With Rob Wilson's "we deserve to be where we are" comment coming under question based on last week's performances, this is a vital weekend for the Vipers as they look to prove that last weekend was not them finally being found out...

Nottingham: The Panthers have another one-game weekend, and it's the one they would have picked as they face the league's basement side in Edinburgh. Even one import down, the East Midlanders will be expecting a victory, and the Capitals will have to work very hard indeed in the hope of running them close. But with Nottingham determined to copy Cardiff and rise up the table quickly, they too will be taking no prisoners...

Sheffield: The Steelers face Edinburgh and Manchester this weekend, in one of those weekends short on glamour but long on importance. The Yorkshiremen have lost a little ground on the top three recently, and these two eminently winnable games will be seen as major opportunities to muscle their way back into contention after being slightly forgotten in the talk of honours as the attention fell on Cardiff's charge up the table.

So, the fixtures this weekend...

Saturday

Basingstoke v Newcastle

Belfast v Hull

Sheffield v Edinburgh

Coventry v Cardiff

Sunday

Manchester v Sheffield

Hull v Coventry

Cardiff v Newcastle

Edinburgh v Nottingham

Basingstoke v Belfast

Let's play hockey...