Weekend Thoughts and Round the Rinks, 7th November

A slightly different format to Round the Rinks this week...mainly because it'll go all stream-of-consciousness on you before the weekend preview:

Blaze Legend to Return?: Coventry are making much of the fact that, with GB nicking many of their defence this weekend, a Blaze legend is returning to play his final two games for the club against Newcastle before retiring. In other news, they've also announced that James Pease is lacing up his skates again to help out with the lack of bodies on D.

OK, OK, you can stop wincing now. I didn't mean it.

It will be nice to see the Blaze #2, or #4, or #22 (depending on how long you've been part of his Blaze career) play one more time in his second-skin of a Blaze shirt. Although I advise anyone coming to the Skydome on Saturday to brace themselves for the inevitable moronic yell from some Blaze fans of "shoot!" every time he gets the puck, including behind the goal at his own end. He doesn't score often, people. No need to make him a national hero because of it...just let the bloke do his job.

Having said that, if he does score, then I'll be going mad with the rest of 'em.

GB Pay the Penalty: Bad headline, I know. The game tonight wasn't bad though (I'm already hunting the internet for a Tomasz Proskiewicz Poland shirt, as he was superb for the home team) and if it hadn't been for a superb performance from Rafal Radzisziewski in goal (yes, I just like typing it) then we could be celebrating a GB penalty win. However, one point will do nicely going into the game against Japan, especially after Poland were leading with three minutes to go.

For the record, the scorers were:
David Clarke (GB, with a bolt from the blue-line)
Maciej Urbanowicz (Poland, with another beauty of a slapshot)
Kryszstof Zapala (Poland, with a huge assist from the skate of Dave Phillips to put it in)
Danny Meyers (GB-skated in from the blue and roofed it over Radzisziewski's left shoulder)

Penalties:
Phillips (GB) missed
Slabon (Poland) scored
Clarke (GB) missed
Proskiewicz (Poland) missed
Chambers (GB) missed

Poland win 3-2.

And now, with that out of the way, shall we consider the domestic action?

Double-header heaven!: Well, not quite, but there are two of them, involving first and third. Oh, and Sheffield too. Let's consider them individually...(italics are home team on Saturday)...

Manchester v Sheffield (Sheffield): There's been a bit of a hoo-ha this week, with Tony Hand bemoaning the loss of his starting goalie to GB duty and also the fact he can't bring in a replacement. Although, given that last time the replacement was Stephen Fone, who will be sat, no doubt, on the Coventry bench, you wonder just why this time it hasn't been allowed, especially as Belfast have got their games cancelled at short notice, which leaves a perfectly capable potential loanee in Nathan Craze sat kicking his heels in Northern Ireland. Still, Adam Summerfield will play against a Sheffield team missing several stars of their own on the forward lines. Does this even itself out? Maybe, maybe not. Certainly Sheffield are claiming it does. The War of the Roses could be even harder-fought than usual this weekend, but you have to pick Sheffield to win. Just...

Coventry v Newcastle (Coventry): Meanwhile, down south, it's outskaters that are the issue. The Blaze are missing three of their six d-men, and the Vipers are missing their captain in Dave Longstaff, as well as a few others...However, there's a few decent players left on both sides-the question is, can Andrew Verner hold off the Blaze attack long enough for the crashing and banging to have some effect? I reckon this could be a split, with both teams winning their home games.
I just hope Marek Ivan doesn't score...

Now for the other three games. For the record, I'm not considering Nottingham v Geneva as, basically, it's a friendly arranged so that Panthers can still get the money from a home game without losing any points, or an attempt to have your cake (ie Panthers play and thus get income) and eat it (while at the same time not having to ice a weakened team in league play). And thus not really of interest to the league as a whole. Sorry, Panthers fans, but that's the way I see it.

Basingstoke face Cardiff in what is shaping up to be a nice little rivalry this season, while the final Saturday game sees the battle of the improving basement-dwellers as Hull face Edinburgh. This could be a very good example out of making a silk purse out of a game involving two teams who've made a right pig's ear of things up until now. Will Pasi Raitanen (in a return to one of his old stomping-grounds) be enough to lift the Caps past a Hull team who, since Konstantin Kalmikov has arrived, appear to have learned how to score (Matt Reynolds being the main beneficiary of the Russian's arrival).

Sunday sees just the one game outside of the two double-headers, as Cardiff make one of the longest trips in British hockey-from Hampshire to Midlothian, and face Edinburgh. This should be arguably the least-anticipated game of the weekend (although Saturday in Hull will run it close), and thus the Devils will hope to complete a quietly efficient four-point weekend. With Pasi in goal, though, the Caps may have exactly the same ambition...either way, it could be a hidden gem of a game.

There you are, then...that's your weekend previewed to within an inch of its life...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...