Scenes from a Season

Yes, that's a very pretentious title, and yes, this is very late on Thursday evening...but the Breakaway, like the British leagues, is now going onto its summer schedule thanks to other stuff (like earning money) grabbing its four-month window to be more important than hockey with both hands-don't despair though. You'll still be getting the same Breakaway you've come to know and (in probably no cases) love-the difference is you'll now only be getting two or three doses a week as opposed to one a day-at least until the run-up to the new season-and the postings may be somewhat shorter at times, starting with this somewhat rushed one- And, naturally, we shall finish the daily posts with a two-part look back at the season that was, team by team-using my signature style of carefully-chosen song-lyrics for each one...

Basingstoke Bison:
"The worst is over...You can have the best of me"
The Starting Line: "Best Of Me"
After a season which started so badly and nearly ended with a trophy, you can forgive the Bison fans for needing an off-season break. Money troubles nearly killed the Herd in September, before Tomas Enerston rode in on his white horse and saved the day. Real progress has been made both on and off the ice in Hampshire this season, with the heroics of the famous Bison Ten going down in British hockey lore, and crowds going up and up ever since Christmas. Now, with Ryan Aldridge, top scorer Greg Chambers and club captain Brad Cruikshank already signed for the new season (Chambers turning down Coventry among others in order to do so) the summer can be a restful one for fans of hockey down south, as they look forward to a promising autumn...

Belfast Giants
"Everythings all right up here...When I come down...Ill be coming home next year"
Foo Fighters: "Next Year"
It could be said the Giants took a year off this season, as their roster promised so much but ultimately fell short when the pressure was really on. Losing top player and their coach in the same man (Ed Courtenay) won't have helped, but already new coach Steve Thornton has made a splash in the transfer market, re-signing Colin Shields and tempting Dave Phillips away from his hometown Hull team to ensure that whatever happens, the Odyssey will have two of the top British players calling it home ice. The Giants, as the song lyric suggests, will be back...

Cardiff Devils
"I could've been a contender I could've been a someone...I could've been the heavyweight champion of the world..."
Reverend and the Makers: "Heavyweight Champion of the World"
But for injuries, the Devils would have won several trophies this season. That's something I firmly believe-their 16-game winning streak before the injuries hit shows that they had the quality. And so the 2007/08 season can be summed up in two words for the South Wales side, and they are, as you might have expected, "what if....?"

Coventry Blaze
"Summertime...and the living is easy..."
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald: "Summertime" (from "Porgy and Bess")
Two trophies will take the sting out of losing a third. Not that much-but they will. And, let's be honest, the Blaze never really looked like losing the title from around about the time they returned from the Continental Cup. Hiccups in the Challenge Cup were brushed aside as they romped to the league title and ensured another lazy, contented summer for Warwickshire hockey fans. However, with the squad rumoured to be decimated this off-season, and linchpin of the team Neal Martin already gone, both Blaze fans and the opposition alike will be watching Paul Thompson hard this off-season to see whether he can work his magic yet again...

Edinburgh Capitals
"Just when I thought our chance had passed...You go and save the best for last"
Vanessa Williams: "Save the Best For Last"
A cheesy song, yes, but it sums up the Caps' season beautifully. After bumping along in ninth place for the majority of the season, pulling off a shock result here and there but never sustaining form long enough to mount a serious charge up the table, the Scots, led by the mercurial Colin Hemingway, sneaked into the playoffs by the back door with a beautifully-timed run of form which caught the Basingstoke Bison just as they lost theirs at the end of a tiring season. Pushing the Blaze all the way in the playoff quarters is an indication that top-flight hockey at Murrayfield is well and truly back under Scott Neil and Doug Christiansen, and fans north of the border will be getting just a scent of the old Racers' glory days in their nostrils as they hope the Caps can improve over this off-season...

There you go. I know it's short, but with my time being well and truly at a premium at the moment I'm grateful I could get that much on. Part II will be coming on Saturday afternoon, as well as a look at the GB-Netherlands game, which will be taking place on Friday evening with the British Lions still in the hunt for at least a silver medal...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...