Burning Down The House...

Yes, I know I never normally post on a weekend, but every so often something comes along that makes me break that habit...and last nights Coventry-Cardiff game, which I admittedly hyped all week, was one of those things.

Let's start simply...calling this game a barn-burner is like saying the Great Fire of London made things in the capital "a little warmer". This was one of the greatest games seen at the Skydome, ever. Bar none. And may be one of the greatest games I've seen anywhere live in eight years and many hundreds of games, with only one game beating it (Cologne vs Dusseldorf in game four of the DEL playoffs in 2006, which deserves its own column sometime in the summer). I will not argue about this.

The statistics say Blaze won five-four on penalties, thanks to goals from Russ Cowley (2), Danny Stewart, and Adam Calder, who also scored the only goal in the penalty shootout. The statistics say the Devils goalscorers were Sylvain Deschatelets (twice), Mike Garrow and Jason Silverthorn. The statistics say the goalies faced a combined total of eighty shots on target in sixty minutes-that's over one goalscoring chance a minute, and doesn't take into account shots that went wide or blocked shots. Clearly, this was a game for which the description "end-to-end" is and forever will be woefully inadequate.

But what the statistics don't capture are the roars of the crowd every time either side went forward, and the explosion of noise which greeted every goal. Numbers don't capture the sight of Mike Garrow horribly mis-hitting a slapshot and somehow seeing the puck turn end-over-end into the top corner to bring the Devils back into a game the Blaze had dominated up until then, nor do they capture the sight of the 3,500 crowd rising as one at Adam Calder's short-handed breakaway and his yell of joy as the puck slipped under Phil Osaer and brought the Blaze back level with five minutes to go, nor the sight of Russ Cowley leaping high in the air, arms aloft, after pinging a laser of a wrist-shot across the Devils goalie and high glove-side thirty seconds later in what most of the arena thought was the winner. And they don't even come close to capturing the desolation in the home stands as Sylvain Deschatelets (who let's not forget was nearly released by the Devils for underperforming barely a month ago) came from nowhere to blast home a centering pass over Koenig's shoulder to tie the game just a minute later.

"Emotional rollercoaster" is a term often used to describe games where the momentum shifts back and forth, but it's yet another cliche that just isn't adequate for the events of last night-the emotional state of both sets of fans shifted between elation and despair faster than the gear-changes of a drag-racer in that final period-when Trevor Koenig finally saved Deschatelet's penalty-shot in order to win the game after sixty-eight minutes of pulsating action, it felt like someone upstairs had finally released your mind and soul after squeezing them ceaselessly in a vice of tension for three hours.

But this is why people like me watch hockey-for moments like last night. I have no doubt that each and every reader of this space will have their own games which they will remember for a long time, but Blaze v Devils on the 24th November 2007 will be engraved in the minds of everyone fortunate enough to be there...and that's the way it should be.

Tomorrow comes the usual weekend review for every team-I just thought that this game deserved its own, small commemoration...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...