Sticks and Stones...

Yes, I know this was going to be the breakdown of each team up until now (if you're interested, I think the Blaze look pretty much as strong as last year, they'll need padded boards around the Stingrays bench if they keep going the way they are thanks to Rick Strachan's "give a mentalist a job" policy, and Giants look very threatening. As for the others-much of a muchness, although the signing of Grant Jacobsen for the Phoenix stands out-this guy is a BIG lad pounding up the middle and means that Scott Kelman may have some competition for "battering-ram centre" honours in the league this seaosn.

Rounding up the best of the hockey blogs postings first of all: the Firestorm does what many have tried and failed to do and explains yet another EIHA change to the format of one of their leagues, and Five Minute Major goes down memory lane and also provides a decent scouting resource if you're curious about any of their new signings. I'm looking forward to the Mika Skytta reminiscence, though, because someone down here who claimed to know Finnish told me his name was pronounced "scutter"-which is a not-very-nice Coventry word for a, shall we say, "woman of ill repute". Oh, hilarity ensued every time we faced the Phoenix in that season-and because of the above not all of it was caused by Jayme Platt's goaltending...

Anyway-on to the story which has taken my eye the most this week-the frankly spectacular cat-fight taking place between Dan Tessier and the Sheffield Steelers, and being gleefully reported in the Sheffield Star-for your edification, a brief summary with links to the articles-which all started when it was announced that the speedy little centre with an ego the size of Winnipeg (if you believe his detractors) was released a month or so ago by Sheffield.

Meow!: Tessier lets rip to open hostilities. And then comes back for more.

"Knifed in the back"? Isn't that a similar term to the one Panthers fans use when describing his departure for Geneva the first time around? Perhaps if he'd asked slightly less wages from the Blaze in January, the two-quid-a-week extra ticket prices at the Skydome could be used to help heal the wound, funnelled into his pockets.

Hiss!: Steelers reply. Also known as "a fifth defenceman seixing the chance to get himself an article to himself in the local rag and let frustrations out on a better player". Hand me the popcorn...:)

Panic!: Damage control begins as the fans of Sheffield slowly begin to realise that their team has let one of the top-five players of the Elite League era go for a song only months after praising him to the heavens.

You really couldn't make it up, could you?

Here's the funniest part, however-look at the forums and observe all the "holier than thou" postings from fans of other teams (notably Panthers and Blaze, who as rivals will be revelling in this), with the main theme being "we'd never sign a player like that-he's good but now he's gone, and we'd never want him at our club".

I'm sorry, people...but that's an example of grade A, 100% pure male cow faeces from every single one of you.

I'm going to go against the sermonising crowd here and say that, were I a coach, I would take someone like Dan Tessier in a heartbeat. He saved the Steelers season last time out (in fact, he's done it twice) plus he, when all's said and done, is the best purely offensive centre (with the possible exception of Mark Smith) the Elite League has ever seen. If you'd asked anybody who watched British hockey regularly which player was the Steelers' biggest threat to their team, they'd have said Tess-he can create, he can score, and he can win games by himself. Sure, he may be aware of it, but what sportsman isn't?

I really do hope Tess stays in the EIHL-just to watch the U-turn by whichever teams' fans sign him as the points start racking up. It'll make a hairpin look like a sweeping bend, and will bring a smile to my face with every "well, we didn't like him, but now he plays for us so he's fantastic" post I read...

And on that note...keep keeping your eye on the puck...