Thursday Thoughts...

In we go, with arumination on the events of last night to begin, followed by a recounting of a 3am conversation. Stick with me here...

hope (n): the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best

hope against hope (idiom): to continue to hope, although the outlook does not warrant it.

On the face of it, last night at the Skydome was the last place you'd expect to find hope. Nine seconds in, Bobby Robins takes advantage of a Jon Weaver mistake, beats Perras and scores, effectively making the following 59 minutes and 50 seconds an irrelevance. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth on the forums.

Ordinarily, I'd have been a part of that. However, even in as the KO Cup was drifting away and the Blaze players were staring dispiritedly at each other as Belfast eased to a 4-1 victory through the simple expedient of working harder as a team (a fact acknowledged by at least one Blaze player afterward), if you looked hard enough, you could see that, contrary to the current swell of opinion, there was still a sign or two of the Blaze the Coventry crowd love so much.

Maybe it came in the snarl of Carlyle Lewis as he decided that he wasn't going to let Belfast leave without a mark on them and pummelled Bobby Robins with a few hammer blows late in the third. Maybe, a little later, in the flying gloves of Ben O'Connor (not a noted fighter) as he tried to do the same (and took a beating), or the tireless skating of Danny Stewart. Or, maybe, if you're the type of fan obsessed by stats, it came in the nice backhand drag-and-roof shot as Barrie Moore scored the Blaze's second when you could have perfectly forgiven them for playing out the clock.

Or perhaps it came much later, in the shape of a quiet conversation in the corner of a pub lounge. Speaking with several of the Blaze team who had been receiving a fair bit of stick (some of the harshest, I admit, from me) thess phrases stood out in the midst of much discussion of whether blogs, forums etc and the stuff written on it affects the players stood out).

"You know what? We read some of that stuff, and we laugh."

"They may think they're being harsh, but far worse is said in the locker room every single week. Why should we care-most of them know nothing about the game anyway"

"We know what we're doing wrong-why should we get pissed off by people who don't know the game thinking they do too?"

Doubtless those fans of the "we pay your wages" brigade will now be spitting feathers in disbelief. However, to my eyes, it shows the kind of spirit which everyone thinks has been lacking...maybe these players believe that they are doing the right thing, and eventually it'll come good.

And if this is a reflection of the attitude of hockey teams everywhere, then maybe, just maybe, there's never as much to worry about as people think. And maybe, contrary to what some are saying, and the evidence of our own eyes last night the title race isn't over yet...

Keep looking over your shoulders, Sheffield...there's four teams who don't believe you've won the title yet...