Double Overtime, 29th September

I am, as I've said before on here, fairly easy to please. My great loves in life are hockey, cloudy lemonade, the company of friends, and perhaps the odd drink or two in a rock pub on a Friday night. After this weekend I might have to add another one-that little buzz you get from seeing a big team lose to a team they expected to beat. Thank you, Sheffield, for providing that buzz on a consistent basis so far...(and, to a lesser extent, my own Coventry.)


Right...on we go with a review of the weekend...


Things we learned this weekend...


Even Supergoalies can only do so much: The stats prove it. Saturday-Kevin Reiter plays out of his skin at the Skydome, letting in five goals on a barrage of sixty shots (for comparison, JF Perras at the other end let in two from 23) and singlehandedly keeping his team in with a chance of winning. However, this appears to have worn him down just slightly, as on Sunday he let in eight from "just" 39 shots against Belfast. Message to the Bison, imports missing or otherwise, is "hey, guys-play some defence occasionally-he's damn good, but your goalie ain't immortal"...


The Phoenix are the real thing: Doing the double over Sheffield within a week, and only letting in three goals despite facing Newcastle away and Sheffield at home? Three points from four for yet another weekend keeps Manchester up with the title chasers-and bear in mind they're doing this without one of their top four d-men in Josh Garbutt, and suddenly, for me at least, the alarm bells start to ring for the rest of the league. Just how far can this team go?

The threat of losing your job does wonders: Corey Leclair and Sylvain Deschatelets are both mentioned on Saturday night as possible candidates for the chop from Coventry. Also on Saturday, there's a growing realisation that Tyson Teplitsky (who was the second-best d-man, at least offensively, after the mercurial Neal Martin last season) is still available-and supposedly already being lined up as a replacement...

Sunday, Blaze go 3-0 down in the first, and then who steps up to score? Leclair, Deschatelets, Lewis, Kelman and Moore, in that order. All of whom have been coming in for some serious stick...

Amazing what can happen when people start saying "...maybe we could get better"...

Doug Christensen has a magic touch:...for finding players from nowhere. People rave about Tony Hand (his roll of honour discoveries as a coach: Molin, Tallari, Stauffacher and now Beauregard) but Doug Christensen, after losing Colin Hemingway, appears to have found yet another gem in Mark Hurtubise-the Caps have scored 20 goals so far this season, and the Montreal native has been involved in fourteen of them. That's just over two thirds. He's been involved in setting up 60% of them as either first or second assists...as well as scoring two himself. Now that deserves some serious praise-as well as the rave reviews...

...Rob Wilson, on the other hand...: hasn't. Big-name signings like Marek Ivan, Chris McAllister and even Rob Rankin have attracted serious criticism from Vipers fans-particularly after their capitulation to Edinburgh on Sunday night, and there is talk of the axe already being wielded on Tyneside...

Hull can actually play!: Holding Nottingham to a two-all draw despite missing an import d-man and their top forward (due to departure and a ban respectively), on their own ice or otherwise, as well as consistently running teams close, shows that maybe the Stingrays aren't just about brawn this season. And yes, I know I'm praising a Rick Strachan team-I will now set fire to myself in penance...

If the EIHL had a fantasy league, Brendan Cook would be its hottest property...The Panther can't stop scoring-people rave at the threat of Dan Tessier, Johan Molin et al, but the unheralded CHLer from Reston, Manitoba already has seven goals in eight, while the much-heralded Tessier, Jade Galbraith and Molin have...five between them. Of those, Galbraith alone has four.

...closely followed by Mike Prpich: Who needs Max Birbraer? Mike Prpich, who had last season cut short by injury, is carrying the Devils along with Jason Silverthorn at the moment, leading the team in scoring and second in points to his illustrious counterpart. Not bad for a "second line energy player"...

There's your reflections on the weekend, such as they were...tomorrow we'll consider the rumbling club-vs-country argument which has divided EIHL fans up and down the country...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...