Round the Rinks Crazy Eighth Special...

"So here I go is my shot.
Feet fail me not
Cause may be the only opportunity that I got"
Eminem: "Lose Yourself"


This Round the Rinks, the last of the regular season, will be somewhat shorter than normal. This isn't meant as disrespect to the other teams playing, or because I'm lazy. It's because that, with the league over and the playoff quarters all but decided (Belfast, Nottingham and Coventry are still scrapping for second place but, unless Nottingham lose and the other two teams both win both their games (which is impossible as Coventry and Belfast play each other), the positions at the start of the weekend will be the positions at the end of it in the EIHL-and so the vast majority of games have little more riding on them than pride, and quite frankly I feel that both you and I would be bored by reading pretty much the same preview with only the team-names changed for six of the nine games this weekend...

However, there are three games (Hull v Cardiff and Edinburgh and Edinburgh v Manchester on Saturday) which are far from meaningless...they will decide which team out of the Caps and Stingrays goes into the playoffs.

The situation is simple. Hull have to win both games in regulation and hope that Edinburgh lose on Saturday in order to qualify outright. If Edinburgh beat Manchester tomorrow, or even, potentially, lose in OT, they're playing on this season. If Hull lose to Cardiff, they go home.

Assuming Hull beat Cardiff and Edinburgh lose to Manchester in regulation, the Crazy Eighth race will come down to a "cup final" between the two teams on Sunday night in Hull. A regulation win for either side means that team are in the playoffs. An OT win for Edinburgh means they're in. An OT win for Hull may still not be enough. However, it'll mean that both teams have won three of their meetings with each other this season, which means that the EIHL then go to some hidden formula which changes every year (I believe it's wins in total this year, in which case the Caps qualify-just).

If you assume that Hull need a four-point weekend, you can't go wrong.

However, all attention is already turning to Sunday on Humberside, which may be the best game in the EIHL this year if results on Saturday give it the chance to be...if things happen to do so on Saturday then I for one will be keeping a close eye on Sunday night's events...if you're in the area, then go. You can be almost certain you won't regret it...

And there is your Crazy Eighth Special...