Double Overtime, Janiuary 12th...

You know the drill by now, so let's get on with it, shall we? Starting with a nice, juicy rumour...

His name fits. But whether the Coventry crowd will love him remains to be seen: After all, Dominic D'Amour hasn't even signed yet. Rumours floating around the Skydome on Saturday, however, have him as a target to replace the departing Jon Coleman next week. Certainly, he's a big lad who's played at a high level despite being only 24...but is another steady defensive d-man really an upgrade on what Blaze currently have, or will it be much more of the same? We shall see. After all, one thing this season has proved is that previous stats mean very little. How do I reckon this? Well, this guy is fifth top-scoring d-man in the league, and look at his form at Basingstoke last season and before that. I rest my case.

This is getting silly now...: Andrei Rajcak is the latest player to leave Edinburgh, joining an illustrious list this season (Iain Bowie, David Nimmo, Jeff Hutchins, Shawn Germain, Michel Robinson, and John Dolan). The Capitals appear to be seeing if it's possible to end a season having completely replaced at least one whole line, perhaps more than once. However, up until now their stand-out player by some distance, Mark Hurtubise (who has been involved in over half of the Caps goals this season, and is third in the league in points, ahead of far more heralded players like Carlson, Calder, Tessier et al) has stayed loyal. If he leaves or suffers a season-ending injury, then I reckon that to all intents and purposes, the Caps are done...I'd be surprised if he isn't one of the hot properties this coming summer...

There you go...that's the off-ice news out of the way...

Aye well, Ryan, at least you can point to the scoreboa...oh, bugger: Sheffield finally faced Cardiff for Steelers v Devils III: Finnerty's Revenge on Saturday...a game that had been building for months after his infamous threats to Jay Latulippe after a bad-tempered meeting in South Wales. This was the first time Cardiff had returned to Sheffield since then, so naturally everyone was waiting for Finnerty to go out there and do his thing as he promised...

Nothing. Not even a minor penalty. In fact, Finnerty was quiet for a lot of the game.

OK, you say-clearly he'd been ordered to. It shows on the scoreboard cause the Steelers won, right?

Final score-Sheffield 3, Cardiff 4, after penalties. And, just to twist the knife, Sheffield's favourite Devil, Brad Voth, put home the winning shot.

Sorry, Finner...

In fairness, though, the Steelers always play hard for the full sixty minutes: Trouble was, this weekend both games went into overtime at the Hallam Arena. And, after there overtime win in Coventry last weekend, it was thus something of a surprise to see both Cardiff and Belfast take the hnours in sudden death. Although much welcomed by the rest of the league, given that the Steelers have looked unstoppable in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, down in the doldrums: Basingstoke can't buy themselves a win at the moment. After going down by the odd goal at home to Edinburgh to leave themselves firmly rooted to the bottom, they were taken out to the woodshed and given an 8-0 beating by a resurgent Cardiff in South Wales, effectively ensuring there will be no return to the KO Cup final for them this season. Some would say that the mere continuing existence of a team in Basingstoke is cause for celebration, but many more weekends like this and the rumours of a drop to the EPL which have been floating around for at least the last two seasons will just get louder and louder.

And one rung up the ladder: Hull had another weekend to forget. After being summarily disposed of by Coventry at the Skydome (yes, the game was as one-sided as the 7-1 score suggests) they managed to throw away a 3-1 lead in eight minutes at home as Newcastle came back to force overtime, with David Longstaff sealing the win.

Of course, it would help if they had a (living) coach on the bench: Come on, Stingrays. Admit it. You just stick a mannequin dressed as Rick Strachan on the bench as some sort of joke no-one else understands....ha-ruddy-h...

What? You mean that unmoving lump in a brown jacket behind your bench is the REAL Rick Strachan? Is there some sort of "Weekend at Bernie's" thing going on here? Cause on Saturday, I didn't see him move a muscle, even when the Stingrays called a timeout...

Terror comes to Hull...it's "Night of the Living Dead Hockey Coach"!

A little is fast becoming a lot of trouble....: Manchester lost twice this weekend, by a goal each time...something which seems to be becoming a habit. Of the seventeen games they've now lost this season, ten have been lost by one, or two-thirds. You get the feeling that, had even two or three of those gone the other way, we'd be talking about the Phoenix as legitimate title challengers rather than a team that is perhaps one more piece short of being a genuine powerhouse in this league. That said, a cup or even a playoff victory is still very much a possibility, what with the Phoenix still being in the Challenge Cup (and having arguably the easier semi against Basingstoke) and one of the stingiest defences in the league.

Job done: That's all you can really say about Nottingham this weekend. They went up to Edinburgh on Sunday and seemingly brushed the Capitals aside with ease, only allowing 16 shots as they won 6-0 in a game which was effectively over after ten minutes as the Panthers went 3-0 up.
Oh yes, and Michel Robinson would likely have taken immense pleasure in the win after his nightmare experience up in Scotland, too.

Back in the game!: Belfast, meanwhile, have been quietly making some serious progress in the past week or two, and are now settled in third after pulling out two excellent wins against Sheffield in the past five days, despite still missing Andrew Martin. Given that their next two games are against another resurgent side in Coventry this week, the top two clubs (Nottingham and Sheffield) will doubtless be watching the battle with interest as they attempt to gauge which one is likely to be the bigger threat to their positions at the top of the heap.

How soon they forget: Coventry win twice, and suddenly all is well at the Skydome again. Now, in fairness, the Hull performance was very calm, very professional, and there wasn't a player that played badly. Sunday in Manchester was the same. However, given the fact that most in Coventry now accept that there are still some "issues" with the Blaze this season, it's surprising that suddenly all appears to be sweetness and light again...

Meanwhile, in the frozen North: Newcastle Vipers, four more points. There appears to be no sign of the Hutchins/Courtenay effect slacking off. Most interesting tidbit out of Newcastle in the past few days though, has been this from Chris McAllister.

First off, anyone who plays with a broken bone in his foot is a braver man than most. And McAllister is a big lad, to put it mildly. However, given that this season he's been conspicuously absent whenever the rough-stuff has kicked off in games against the Blaze...which it has a few times, I remain somewhat sceptical of his claim. Maybe he could make it if he was in there when things got a bit testy and everyone avoided his eye, but it must be said I haven't really seen him asserting himself either with hits or rough stuff..and it's not like he hasn't been given the chance.

Still-I await Saturday with interest now...

And that's your weekend reviewed...