Halfway Point...

Just a quick update having just got back from Nottingham, after a highly exciting day of semi-final competition...

Coventry v Newcastle: Blaze sneak through but boy, did the Vipers make them work for it, with some very borderline hits coming in throughout the game and several flashpoints. Jeff Hutchins was thrown out for high-sticking Dan Carlson viciously in the face, a long way away from the play, after earlier being allowed to escape unpunished from a check to Koenig when the Blaze goalie left his crease. Andre Payette was also his usual self. although let it not be said (as many Blaze fans will tell you) that the thuggery was all the one way. Neal Martin somehow managed to escape with only a two-minute minor for a vicious swing of the stick into the back of Payette's legs which was, if not unprovoked (there had just been a melee in front of the net which had seen Soderstrom decked by Longstaff and pushes and shoves flying everywhere) at least unnecessary and at worst a blatantly thuggish act...if that had been some players in the league the reactions would have been far worse than just "oh, he was being wound up". For the record, goals were scored by Huppe, Cloutier, Calder and Weaver for the Blaze, and Jackson and Wilson for the Vipers...

Sheffield v Cardiff: Not the greatest of semis for quality of play (the passing was bloody awful from both sides at times) but not bad at all for tension-the Steelers sneaked through against a Devils side who looked...well, a little less fiery than usual. Moment of the match was, however, the Devil goal-Max Birbraer spinning on the spot and one-timing a puck past Lehman from a tight-ish angle at the edge of the left face-off circle. For their part, Steelers looked pretty ordinary as they huffed and puffed and eventually sneaked a win thanks to two goals from Doug Sheppard...

So, I'm still on course with my predictions...back up the M69/M1 tomorrow for first v second in the league, to determine the PO champions...