Double Overtime, 17th November

And so into another weekend review we go, where one team ended up on cloud nine, another crashed to earth and the goal-light bulbs burned out across the country on Saturday night. Stream-of-consciousness, here we come...

"Well, thanks for coming anyway...": Doug MacIver's game on Sunday for Cardiff against Sheffield lasted the sum total of...two seconds, as he dropped the gloves with Brad Cruikshank after two seconds, apparently (depending on who you believe) lost, and was then thrown out. Not bad for an import d-man. You sense this is a game he'll want to forget.

"Shutout" isn't in our vocabulary...: I said Nottingham v Belfast would be worth watching-and thirteen goals in sixty minutes, with the Giants winning it with the odd one, says I was right. Not a game for goalie or defence fans, but for the rest of us...wow. That's two teams with the offences right on the top of their respective games...

Reiter is German for "brick wall". 66 shots, 65 saves. A 4-1 win away at the reigning champions' rink. And a performance that was well and truly out of this world. Ignore all the Blaze fans saying that most of the shots were straight at him...on Sunday night, Basingstoke's Kevin Reiter produced possibly the best single-game netminding display ever seen in Britain. Bar none.

If you don't believe me, then simply watch this. And count them.

Kevin Reiter, we salute you.

In other news, the same people also applauded Beckham's red card because "the other guy deserved it": Staying with the Blaze, Saturday night in Sheffield saw a surreal moment. Blaze are 3-1 down and pushing hard with a few minutes to go, before Danny Stewart is called for a fairly blatant holding-the-stick penalty on Rod Sarich. He disputes this, and earns a ten-minute. He continues to dispute it, and is given a game misconduct. As he leaves the ice, leaving his team a man-down and conceding a powerplay, large sections of the Blaze crowd give him a standing ovation. And not sarcastically either.

Not the Midlanders' proudest moment, that.

Oh yes, and Rob Dowd made it 4-1 from the resulting powerplay.

Sometimes, admitting you're wrong is the only thing you do right: Finally in this weekend of woe in Coventry, there's the saga of the faceoff change that never was. At the Skydome last night, it was announced that the Blaze would be moving their Sunday faceoffs to 5.15 "to be more child-friendly." This despite the fact that their faceoff time has been 6pm for eight years, and it never seemed to be an issue before. Until, that is, you decide you want your rink turned into a creche.

I'm not going to launch into an essay about how this went down, simply refer you to this thread.

Anyway, after a universal reaction of "yeah, right, that's us gone" from the fans, the Blaze hastily back-tracked at 10.20 this morning. And fair play to them. About the only thing they've managed to do right in the whole mess...

Fan power works. Occasionally...

Belfast Giants games-now with free medication!: Stevie Lyle won the battle of the GB goalies...barely, as Belfast beat Manchester 4-3 on Sunday. This after they'd beat Nottingham 7-6 in the NIC the night before. They may not be able to defend hugely well at the moment, but as long as the Giants keep scoring, they could be right back in the title chase very quickly indeed after two huge wins, both by one goal. Rumours that heart-trouble has risen sharply in Northern Ireland as a result of this are, however, unconfirmed.

Well, at least the football team are doing well: A quick comment on the basement battle...Edinburgh Capitals seven, Hull Stingrays 3. Curtis Cruickshank must be scouring the "goalie wanted" ads like a man possessed right about now. And Rick Strachan must be wondering just what he has to do to win himself a game. Again.

And that's your lot...I know it's a bit short but real-life has intruded today...