This is already a fun week after a weekend that went back, forth and then back again in terms of momentum, arguments and an absolute hammering for at least one team...let's jump straight in...
Things We Learned This Week:
Feelings of injustice = backlash from hell: You have to pity the Edinburgh Capitals. They cruise along, playing the "plucky small team that could" role perfectly all season, and then run into a Coventry team still stinging from a hotly-disputed loss to Belfast last week, and get completely and utterly steamrollered. Michel Robinson's star has faded just a little after conceding seven goals on 17 shots (Blaze scored eleven in total, letting in one) and the Caps will have to go back to the drawing board for the next time they face the Blaze. Oh, and just for good measure, the Midlanders went on and scored seven more while conceding just two against Hull on Sunday. The message is "don't pee the Blaze off, EIHL".
Someone has to lose. But do it often enough and people start getting worried: Basingstoke Bison. Twelve games, twelve losses. And now more rumours of trouble behind the scenes.
And we thought that this was all over...
One win doesn't get fans back on your side. But it's a start: Rob Wilson is no longer getting eggs thrown at him in the streets of Newcastle, thanks to winning down in Basingstoke, and against Edinburgh back at home. And one of the causes of this? Playing Marek Ivan as a d-man. I never thought I'd see the day...
Sheffield really don't like to lose to Nottingham: 30 minutes gone in Sheffield on Sunday night, and Nottingham lead 3-1. 30 minutes later, the Steelers have scored five, the Cage Forum has had a collective heart attack, and the game ends 6-3 Steelers. Cue wildly differing reactions at opposite ends of the M1 (well, Junction 24 and 32, anyway), and much boasting about what, when all's said and done, is just another league game.
Still, no-one rates Manchester: The Phoenix are now fifth in the league with three games in hand, in a strong position in the Challenge Cup, and have a player who is second in scoring in the league for goals, despite having played three games less than the only player above him (David Beauregard with 11 in 11-Paul Deniset has 14 in 14 for Belfast). So why is no-one talking about them as a potential silverware-winner?
Paul Deniset is very, very good: 14+12 in 14 games means that, so far, the new Belfast sniper is scoring at the rate of almost two points a game. I can't remember a player ever starting this quickly in the EIHL, short of Adam Calder last season. If the injury fairy stays away, then Adam Calder's EIHL points record of 125 (58+67) could already be under threat...
Cardiff will battle. And battle, and battle: Of twelve games, the Devils have already been involved in three overtime losses-that's 25%, and one more than any of the rest of the league have been involced in. They've only lost three games by more than one goal (and two of those involced empty-netters). Certainly, winning is better than losing, but the fact that no team apart from Nottingham (once) has been able to put daylight between them and the men from South Wales bodes well for the Devils faithful if the team should manage to start scoring a few more...
Rick Kozak is more than just "that Stingrays bloke who skated through the blood": He returns after a long layoff through suspension, and immediately scores twice against Sheffield. Admittedly, he was fairly anonymous against Coventry the following night (Steve Slonina and Matt Reynolds were far more effective than. the hyped wind-up duo of Kozak and Kostadine) but even so, there clearly is some talent there if he wants to use it.
"We shall inherit the earth-our foot's in the door": This is the only time you'll find a Sylvia Plath poem referenced in a hockey blog for...well, ever. But it has a point when you think about the fact that more and more hockey fans are actually producing their own media from content, such as the blog you're reading now.
This post from Becky at the Breakaway's good "friends-in-blogging" at Five Minute Major sums this up rather nicely. And has some very good links in it too...
And finally for this week...
You can have the best intro in the world, but...one player can ruin it for you. A random EPL tangent, I know, but watch the Bracknell Bees player intro video, and just try not to laugh-however well produced it is (and it is) the players posing is priceless. I actually managed to watch with a straight face until Andrew Hemmings (number 21) and then I utterly lost it...
There we go-another double OT over with. Check back tomorrow, as the Breakaway gets in touch with the feminine side of hockey...
Keep keeping your eye on the puck...
Things We Learned This Week:
Feelings of injustice = backlash from hell: You have to pity the Edinburgh Capitals. They cruise along, playing the "plucky small team that could" role perfectly all season, and then run into a Coventry team still stinging from a hotly-disputed loss to Belfast last week, and get completely and utterly steamrollered. Michel Robinson's star has faded just a little after conceding seven goals on 17 shots (Blaze scored eleven in total, letting in one) and the Caps will have to go back to the drawing board for the next time they face the Blaze. Oh, and just for good measure, the Midlanders went on and scored seven more while conceding just two against Hull on Sunday. The message is "don't pee the Blaze off, EIHL".
Someone has to lose. But do it often enough and people start getting worried: Basingstoke Bison. Twelve games, twelve losses. And now more rumours of trouble behind the scenes.
And we thought that this was all over...
One win doesn't get fans back on your side. But it's a start: Rob Wilson is no longer getting eggs thrown at him in the streets of Newcastle, thanks to winning down in Basingstoke, and against Edinburgh back at home. And one of the causes of this? Playing Marek Ivan as a d-man. I never thought I'd see the day...
Sheffield really don't like to lose to Nottingham: 30 minutes gone in Sheffield on Sunday night, and Nottingham lead 3-1. 30 minutes later, the Steelers have scored five, the Cage Forum has had a collective heart attack, and the game ends 6-3 Steelers. Cue wildly differing reactions at opposite ends of the M1 (well, Junction 24 and 32, anyway), and much boasting about what, when all's said and done, is just another league game.
Still, no-one rates Manchester: The Phoenix are now fifth in the league with three games in hand, in a strong position in the Challenge Cup, and have a player who is second in scoring in the league for goals, despite having played three games less than the only player above him (David Beauregard with 11 in 11-Paul Deniset has 14 in 14 for Belfast). So why is no-one talking about them as a potential silverware-winner?
Paul Deniset is very, very good: 14+12 in 14 games means that, so far, the new Belfast sniper is scoring at the rate of almost two points a game. I can't remember a player ever starting this quickly in the EIHL, short of Adam Calder last season. If the injury fairy stays away, then Adam Calder's EIHL points record of 125 (58+67) could already be under threat...
Cardiff will battle. And battle, and battle: Of twelve games, the Devils have already been involved in three overtime losses-that's 25%, and one more than any of the rest of the league have been involced in. They've only lost three games by more than one goal (and two of those involced empty-netters). Certainly, winning is better than losing, but the fact that no team apart from Nottingham (once) has been able to put daylight between them and the men from South Wales bodes well for the Devils faithful if the team should manage to start scoring a few more...
Rick Kozak is more than just "that Stingrays bloke who skated through the blood": He returns after a long layoff through suspension, and immediately scores twice against Sheffield. Admittedly, he was fairly anonymous against Coventry the following night (Steve Slonina and Matt Reynolds were far more effective than. the hyped wind-up duo of Kozak and Kostadine) but even so, there clearly is some talent there if he wants to use it.
"We shall inherit the earth-our foot's in the door": This is the only time you'll find a Sylvia Plath poem referenced in a hockey blog for...well, ever. But it has a point when you think about the fact that more and more hockey fans are actually producing their own media from content, such as the blog you're reading now.
This post from Becky at the Breakaway's good "friends-in-blogging" at Five Minute Major sums this up rather nicely. And has some very good links in it too...
And finally for this week...
You can have the best intro in the world, but...one player can ruin it for you. A random EPL tangent, I know, but watch the Bracknell Bees player intro video, and just try not to laugh-however well produced it is (and it is) the players posing is priceless. I actually managed to watch with a straight face until Andrew Hemmings (number 21) and then I utterly lost it...
There we go-another double OT over with. Check back tomorrow, as the Breakaway gets in touch with the feminine side of hockey...
Keep keeping your eye on the puck...
