EPL Round the Rinks: Finals Preview

"It's all or nothing now,
And I'm doing my best
To make it all fall
Right into place."
Sarah's Redemption: "All or Nothing"

It's time for the EPL to get its season in the sun now, as the second top division of British ice hockey (or first, depending on which side of the fence you're on) converges on Coventry for its own season-ending jamboree. Naturally, the Breakaway will be there watching, although Twitter updates may be difficult as, in their infinite wisdom, someone's decided to ask me to be a goal judge. However, given that I'm likely not to be the only EIHL fan travelling for a hockey fix, and many EPL fans also have a read of this blog, let's have a look at the four teams vying for playoff glory in the Midlands this weekend...

PETERBOROUGH PHANTOMS

The team from the east of England are this year's EPL league champions, and come into the weekend as slight favourites, much in the same way that Sheffield did for the EIHL tournament. Generally agreed to be more than worthy of their title by EPL fans, the Phantoms contain the skills of Brent Gough, the Eastern European flair of Latvian international Maris Ziedins, and a resolute core of young British talent, forward Craig Peacock being the standout among them.

Key player: #16, Nathan Rempel: Familiar to EIHL and ex-BNL fans alike from his stints at Cardiff, London and Bracknell, the Canadian centre is among, if not the best player in the EPL, bar none, and is a key component to the Phantoms both for his goalscoring and willingness to get stuck in...

GUILDFORD FLAMES

It wouldn't be an EPL finals without the Surrey club. Second behind Peterborough in the league this season, the Flames are one of the longest-running clubs in the EPL, and contain two of the top British defencemen of the past ten years in player-coach Paul Dixon and Neil Liddiard, along with one of their potential successors in Stevie Lee, who they poached from Hull last season. In the forward ranks, Lukas Smital, who is a legend just down the road in Bracknell, resident head-case Vaclav Zavoral and young Swiss-British star Ollie Bronnimann provide a distinctly European flavour of skill to the imports, alongside club stalwarts Nick Cross and Rob Lamey. In Joe Watkins in net they have arguably the best netminder outside the EIHL, also...

Key player: #76, Taras Foremsky: The Canadian was poached from Peterborough halfway through last season and is one of the top forwards in the EPL, capable of both scoring goals himself and setting them up for his linemates. He's not played every game this season due to the Flames having five imports on their roster and only being able to ice four on a given game-night, but has still managed to be the Flames' top scorer this season with thirty-three goals, two ahead of Smital...

SLOUGH JETS

The team from the Hangar, led by the ageless British hockey legend that is Steve Moria, still scoring 46+42 in the league season at the age of forty-nine (!), and backed up by the finishing of Joe Ciccarello and the grit and leadership of captain Nicky Chinn, enter this weekend as one of the outsiders for the title, composed of a mixture of experience and youth which has served them well throughout the past few seasons. With ex-Nottingham Panther Blaz Emersic also on the roster, along with highly-regarded defencemen Paddy Ward and Kevin Phillips (brother of Belfast's David), the Jets are a workmanlike team who are perhaps a decent outside bet but will have trouble against the steamroller that is Peterborough this season...

Key Player: #27, Nicky Chinn: The Welshman is well known around British hockey for being the most effective agitator/enforcer/power-forwards ever produced by the UK, and even at the age of thirty-seven (a relative spring chicken compared to his player-coach Moria), he's still a highly effective EPL player...if he can get into the heads of the Phantoms defence, then the offensive opportunities may just open up as the Phantoms lose a little of their polish in frustration...

MILTON KEYNES LIGHTNING

One of the most successful teams when travelling to Coventry, winning twice in as many years and beating Peterborough both times, the Lightning have gone from strength to strength since forming out of the wreckage left when the Kings moved to Solihull back in the BNL days. This season they have the talents of ex-Phantom James Archer and a whole host of other young or young-ish British players who have spent time at the highest level of British hockey, among them Michael Wales, Adam Radmall and Lewis Christie. Player-coach Nick Poole is an MK legend after spending many years with the Kings and Lightning and one more against them in the shirt of bitter rivals Peterborough, while Gary Clarke is on his way to similar status after consistently outscoring the other British players in the EPL by a long way. As for imports-Andre Smulter is Clarke's foil on the top line, and has had a career season of 40+ goals to show for it, while Lukas Zatopek, Joakim Wiklander and Ales Parez take the other forward slots, although Parez is injured at the moment...

Key Player: #14, Gary Clarke:It has to be arguably the best British player not playing in the EIHL. Clarke can win games by himself and needs to be the first player opposition teams focus on when they're looking to shut down the Lightning danger-men...

That's your four teams...the semi fixtures are thus:

Peterborough v Slough
Guildford v MKL

Not having seen a huge amount of EPL hockey this year, I wouldn't like to make a prediction, but given that it's expected...Peterborough/Guildford final after two close semis, and the Flames to nick it. Just...

That's your EPL finals previewed...