Midweek Musings...

This one's very, very simple. It's me, firing off random thoughts about the week so far in hockey. That's it. No complicated disciplinary processes here-let's jump in....

Trade fever!: Rod Hinks has been released by Cardiff. Interestingly, the rumour mill hasn't exactly been slow in linking him with none other than Basingstoke, perhaps to replace Brad Cruikshank, who is on his way up north to Sheffield by all accounts. Or, slightly more left-field...

Danny Stewart becomes a Devil, Rod Hinks to Bison, Cruikshank to Steelers.

This makes sense, since Stewart is said to be on the verge of leaving Bison anyway and would fit in nicely as a second-line centre behind Mike Prpich. It would also add a bit of creativity to a Devils side which, in all honesty, drops off a little in it after the top line (but then, when you've got the league's dominant power forward in Brad Voth, that's perhaps not so much of an issue). The merry-go-round in Cardiff continues as (and I know I'm a bit late in mentioning this) Tyson Teplitsky returns to Cardiff for the injured Likit Andersson also...

Gallows humour is alive and well in the EIHL:...especially in Nottingham, it seems. Our fellow blogger Jono over at The Cat's Whiskers has responded to the rumours of Brad Cruikshank heading for Sheffield with this short-but-sweet beauty...

...and over at Five Minute Major...photographic proof, it seems, that Brett Clouthier is, in fact, a giant among men. Either that or the ceiling in Altrincham, at least in the foyer, is somewhat lower than intended...

And by the way...Cardiff have gone up in my estimation from mid-table to suddenly looking like they could be in the running for a trophy again. Yes, Voth and Teplitsky are that good.

Down in the basement, something stirs...but it could just be the last twitches of life in a dying team. Basingstoke beat Edinburgh 5-4 last night to leave the Capitals floundering in the mire and provide a spark of hope for their beleaguered fans. With rumours of players leaving the ship faster than Panthers fans leave Sheffield after a loss, though, you get the feeling that all someone needs to do to doom this team of Titanic battlers now is to deem them "unsinkable"...

Sometimes, even a 15-0 loss is a cause for pride: Remember my blog last week about women's hockey? I went to watch the Coventry Phoenix again this week (some unwise soul even gave me a microphone to announce with) and saw one of those performances you can't quite believe. The home side played pretty damn well, winning 15-0 (two players scoring hat-tricks) but their opposition, Oxford Uni, won the hearts of the (small but enthusiastic) crowd-mainly because they had just eight players. That's a goalie, a line and two over, for those of you who aren't that good at maths. Some evidence of how hard they worked can be gained from the fact that the second period break had to be extended "in case an Oxford player collapsed"
Needless to say, the shot count was something like 57 to 2 in favour of the Phoenix. But it was one of the gutsiest team displays I've seen, anywhere.
And no, contrary to earlier comments, I'm not even remotely connected to any of the Oxford players...:)

If this had happened in the EIHL, Dave Simms would have gone nuclear and wiped out half of South Yorkshire: And those EPL diehard fans say that the EIHL is a league where sportsmanship goes by the wayside?

My lord, I present as evidence Swindon vs Wightlink from two weeks ago. Watch the third fight (from 1:16) for something I still can't quite believe happens...then remember it's Gareth Endicott, Wightlink's coach. Classy, ain't it?

And people say Brad Voth is a thug...

There you go. I know it's short, but short things are, as the saying goes, very sweet...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...