Black Cats and Voodoo Dolls...

Before we get to the main thrust of this article, a few nuggets of news...

Cory crocked: Well, not necessarily, but whatever the reason Cory Morgan is not signing for Newcastle after all, citing "personal reasons". This leaves the Vipers three days to find an import forward. The joke flying around is that these personal reasons involve an ex-Newcastle United winger's wife, a few angry Peruvians and a knee injury which came from a combination of these two last time he was in Newcastle...
Either way, Rob Wilson is less than happy...

Clarke to Sheffield...or Nottingham: David Clarke is being linked with a last-minute return to the UK after his Italian Job with Alleghe this season, with Sheffield and Nottingham in the running. Given that Clarke's played with the Panthers before, and ex-team-mate Tom Askey was the last arrival at the NIC, the East Midlanders have a slight lead in my book.

James Archer signs for Blaze: Properly this time-moving from the EPL Sheffield Scimitars until the end of the season, as a replacement for Michael Tasker. I always thought James Cooke was doing a perfectly adequate job on the third line when he was actually given a shift, but there you go.

That's the news out of the way...now on to the main thrust of today, which was inspired by a thread on the Cage Forum...

Superstition. Everyone has them, but hockey players more than most. Just watch the different way players act either in the warm-ups or just before faceoff. The most notable ones I can think of are Ron Shudra having to fire a puck at the other end just before he leaves the ice, Pasi Raitanen doing his own aerobic routine at every faceoff, and any number of goalies going for a wander in breaks in play.
You'd think, being a logical hockey-watching adult, I'd see this as nothing more than a bit of amusing diversion. Trouble is, that as a rec player, I have more than my own fair share, including never standing in the pre-game huddle, skating a figure-of-eight the moment the huddle breaks up before leaving the ice (always turning left first), and of course the old tapping the pads of the goalie...
So far, so samey. After all, everyone knows that hockey players, like any sportspeople, are a superstitious bunch. This is not exactly earth-shattering news.
But fans? Now there's a bit of a new one. I've noticed in my travels round the country that there's seemingly always at least one voice (and it's always the same one at each rink) who will yell some variation on "come on lads!" just before the ending of the national anthem. Go out for a pre-match drink and you can guarantee you'll always see the same faces in the same places. And let's not even get started on the whole shirt-wearing issue...except to say that I know at least ten people from hockey teams all over the UK-rational, logical people-who honestly believe that the replica shirt they wear will influence the result, week after week. If the team lose, they change. If they win, it comes back for the next week.
All this makes me wonder-where does all this come from? Is it some deep-rooted wish to be as much a part of the team as possible? Why do people who don't even cross their fingers for fear of being labelled crazy turn into people who see omens at every street corner the moment they walk through the doors of an ice rink? Are some fan-bases more superstious tan others? And just how superstitious are hockey fans in Britain?

Let's find out...share your superstitions in the comments section-I've got my fingers crossed that there'll be some good ones...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...