Double Overtime, 23rd December

Apologies-I did intend to have this up first thing this morning and then at 2pm, but staying in the Windmill for a "quick drink" until 4am chatting with some fellow Blaze fans, and then going to work four hours later will throw anybody's schedule off. :)

On we go, with one (mildly) naughty word contained within, straight into a weekend where mouths wrote cheques, and deeds made them bounce. But first of all...

Huppe Christmas: The Fire and Ice Blaze Forum (you have to register to view, but it's worth it) has been following ex-Blaze captain Sylvain Cloutier's exploits in Corpus Christi this season, and have recently passed on the news that ex-Blaze and Belfast Giant Curtis Huppe has come out of retirement to sign with his former captain, joining the team on Christmas Day. This is good news for them-it seems that Huppe couldn't keep away from the game after all...

OK, I admit being wrong on this occasion. Sort of: The Blaze Christmas shirts slated so violently on this blog were, in fact, red and not pink, so maybe the pictures didn't do the colour justice-certainly they did look much better in the flesh than in the pictures, however easy that was. However, they were still generally viewed as, well, a bit ugly. Some wag behind me replaced his traditional post-face-off yell of "Come on, Blaze!" with "Come on, Devils!" to general amusement...but quite frankly, on Sunday night a bit of visual miscalculation was the worst of Blaze's problems-we'll get to that now....

Pull a Panther's tail, and you get mauled: Maybe this is a lesson the Blaze will have learned this morning-after much back-and-forth in the press, and instructions from the Blaze hierarchy to push the "Team Hollywood" angle as much as possible in an attempt to wind them up...

Panthers win 4-0, and quite honestly it was at a bit of a canter for the most part-half the Blaze team appeared either not to turn up or just be a bit flat. But saying that, though, there really was only one team going to win last night, and that was Nottingham-they were first to every loose puck, won one fight convincingly (Richardson v Stewart) and didn't really lose the other (Lewis v Bergin). Naturally there is much gloating going on on the Panthers forums at the moment-however Corey Neilson made the best point in his post-match Sky interview, simply saying "we came here to prove a point, and we think we've done that".

Certainly, judging by JF Perras attempting to dismantle the Skydome with his stick on the way down the tunnel at the end of the game, leaving a lovely hole in the ceiling, the point was well and truly taken, too.


Now if only the Cage Forum could learn from their coach too: Speaking of Corey Neilson, fair play to the man-while the Panthers fans were dancing back and forth and firing postings all over the place prediciting physical violence from the Blaze fans in their usual fashion on the Cage, the man himself responded to some good-natured mickey-taking from the North End by skating up to them at the end of the game and touching gloves with the fans there-Panthers fans may find this hard to believe, but he actually got a "well played" from more than one of them too.

Winning with class-you couldn't have blamed him for getting a bit cocky, but he didn't. And respect to the man for doing so.

Speaking of class: Can we put the whole "let's snipe at Nottingham through the press" thing to bed now, please, Blaze? You look a bit stupid, the fans feel very stupid and more than one mentioned afterwards that the whole PR circus was just a bit...well, seedy. You're one of the best-supported clubs in the league anyway, don't stoop to petty insults just to get people through the door-it just looks stupid when you get found out. If I were a very succesful and well-respected coach who'd just been made to look a bit silly thanks to the club pushing a throwaway remark in an attempt to create a rivalrlry purely in pursuit of the almighty dollar, then perhaps I'd have had a few words with people after the said game behind closed doors. But then, that's just me...

Hot n' Cold: Sheffield pulled out another hard-fought win in Manchester on Sunday night-read about it more in depth on the Angry Budgie...however, after a home loss to Newcastle the night before they had to, really...could a certain Midlands coach comments about the "pressure" have got to them, even briefly?

Sometimes, you just have to concede that the hockey gods just plain don't like you: Hull Stingrays score seven against Coventry on Saturday-a game which would have most team's fans turning somersaults with delight. However, as always on Humberside there's a sting in the tail...they let in nine, with Sylvain Deschatelets scoring five by himself. Merry Christmas, Messrs Cruickshank and Jaszczyk...

Miracle on Princes Street: Edinburgh seem to pull out one shock at Murrayfield every year (yes, I know it's nowhere near Princes Street, but the reference was too good to miss), and this time it's Belfast who were the victims of a Christmas miracle, losing on penalties after going three-up. Hockey may be suffering at Murrayfield thanks to the credit crunch, but it seems the spark of hope still burns brightly in Doug Christiansen and his men.

Meanwhile, on Tyneside, something awakes: The Vipers beat Sheffield 4-1 away from home on Saturday off the back of a fine performance from Andrew Verner, and then calmly take Hull to the cleaners at home on Sunday for a total of ten goals scored, two conceded. Now, one weekend does not make a season, but could there finally be a bit of life on Tyneside yet?

Mandatory Basingstoke Reference: 4-1 losers to Cardiff away from home on Sunday-there is work to do over the festive period down south, either on the signing front or on making the best of what they have...

Calamity Goalie to Celebrated Stopper in just two weeks!: Thanks to the Nottingham Panthers diet! I'm not sure exactly what they've been feeding Michel Robinson at the NIC, but he's certainly been proving his doubters wrong (and winding up fans in Edinburgh) with solid displays a world apart from his shakiness in a Caps shirt. Last night, however, he seemed to take his game to another level as he stopped 40 shots-thus giving rise to the brilliant theory that he didn't actually fancy Scotland after all and just got his brother to travel in his place-now we're actually seeing the CHL All-Star the Caps thought they were getting. Pull out a decent performance on the 26th/27th, Michel, and suddenly you'll have gone from zero to hero...

And finally...: Be warned. A slight rant coming up-if you're not interested in off-ice stuff to do with the British leagues, or something which is occasionally in danger of getting a bit preachy, then skip this bit...

During the course of a conversation in the pub last night with some fellow hockey fans, the topic of the Elite Forum and its removal came up. The whisper being passed around was that "certain Elite League figures" had asked for it to be removed, mainly due to the fact that players and teams were being criticized on there. What really amuses me is that myself and some of the other blogs on t'Internet were apparently mentioned by name as being some of the worst offenders, mainly due to the fact that sometimes we put negative stuff about our teams, other teams, the marketing or anything else on there, and apparently do our best to destroy rather than support stuff.

I find this hilarious for several reasons...

a) I've never set myself up as some sort of hockey expert, and nor do most other blogs-indeed, if you look back through the postings here there have been many occasionts where I've been called on something I said wrong or believed to be true that wasn't-and thus, things were duly corrected if I could. There's an example of such at the top of this very posting with the Blaze Christmas shirts.

b) I've never claimed that this blog is anything other than my personal view on British hockey-and indeed fully expect people to come on here and probably think "this guy knows nothing-he's spouting rubbish". I'm still amazed that as many people read it as do, in fact...To claim that I or any other blog has an agenda against a team, league or even some bloke who once sharpened the skates for Edinburgh is, quite frankly, bollocks of the biggest, hairiest kind.

c) The Elite League is a business, and those running and playing in it are, for want of a better word, the "celebrities" of the league. And, for this reason, people will have an opinion on their efforts. And, sports being the way it is and everyone wanting success, there may be grumbling if people think there's something wrong...and if myself, other bloggers or some hockey-watching kid with a keyboard has an opinion, they'll write about it. By setting up a forum or choosing to read what people are saying about a team, you're going to have to accept there are negative views as well as positive-to try and filter them or take your ball away because someone says something you don't like is neither professional or, really, adult. But then, given the history of British hockey and some of the infighting that has gone on, is going on and will continue to go on, are you surprised? There is some extremely good work going on at all clubs in the league, and some people putting their heart and soul into it. However, I try hard and crafting postings for this and put some serious hard work in keeping up to date with gossip etc through the Internet, and so do the other bloggers. Doesn't mean that we expect everyone to agree with everything we write...

Perhaps it's time for some of the egos in the Elite League to rein themselves in a little, grow a pair and realise that fans will talk, read and devour anything they can about our sport, take any opportunity to discuss it, and those in power won't like everything that gets said. After all, otherwise we'd be living in a world where those in power in British hockey could run the game like their own personal police state without worrying about the lifeblood of their sport-i.e the people who come through the doors each week. At the moment, it seems that this is slowly becoming the case...luckily there are a growing number of people on the forums/blogs or God knows where else who are willing to try and spread the word about this great sport of ours. And if that means that a few egos become slightly less important and thus bruised in the grand scheme of things, then so be it.

*removes himself from Che Guevara impression*
There you go-that's your weekend reviewed. Tomorrow morning will see Round the Rinks part two as we preview all the post-Christmas/pre New-Year action...and maybe have a bit of festive fun too.

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...