Double Overtime, December 15th

And so, off we go for another skate round the rinks...

And yet, somehow...: It really wasn't fun being a Newcastle fan on Friday, as Belfast went straight through the Vipers defence like a hot knife through butter on Friday, winning eleven-three. Only two players failed to get a point, and Evan Cheverie got six by himself...however, of those eleven goals and after I've been talking him up recently, Jeff Szwez merely finished the scoring off...but then, when you win eleven-three, it doesn't matter who scores...

The score is almost incidental, really:...All hell broke loose on Saturday in Cardiff as Derek Campbell and Brad Voth exchanged punches in a vicious scrap after Voth collided with Coventry goalie Peter Hirsch-the highlights are now available on the Devils' website for you to draw your own conclusions on who won, but the game itself was a stormer:

...but, in case you're curious: Blaze won 4-3 with the game-winner coming from Greg Chambers, who is slowly becoming something of a talisman himself for the Blaze just as he was for Basingstoke-his strike for the winner saw him travel half the length of the ice before firing past Stevie Lyle...Oh, and Hirsch had the last laugh, stopping 42 of 45 shots in the victory compared to Lyle's 18 from 22

It's a bit early in the season, but it's still a four-pointer: Saturday saw Edinburgh beat Sheffield 4-2 up in Murrayfield despite both teams having the exact same number of shots (28)-which probably gave Kevin Reiter some consolation over in Newcastle after his replacement, Andrew Verner, continued to suffer the odd wobble in net. Notably, Neil Hay scored the Caps' third...a Hay goal is a rare event but couldn't have been timed better in this case as it made sure the Caps kept their lead and ahead of the Steelers in the league table to boot, at least for 24 hours...

Not a redemption, but at least a regaining of pride: Newcastle, meanwhile, returned to the North-East to take on Nottingham at Whitley Bay, and went some way to regaining pride with a 3-2 loss to high-flying Nottingham, Kevin Reiter stopping 35 shots...

It's not a win, but any point will do: Hull, in their only game of the weekend, once again failed to win away from home as they travelled to Nottingham, but at least they pushed the Panthers all the way to penalties, with the game ending 3-3 before Johan Molin netted the winning penalty for the home side with the only goal in the shootout:

After feast, comes famine: Well, relatively speaking, anyway, as Belfast found Edinburgh much harder to break down before winning 3-1 on Sunday night in Murrayfield...more proof that, while the Giants may be offensive powerhouses, they, like any other team, will struggle against a determined defensive effort...something which they know a lot about in Scotland...

Three for Legue:...and six for the Steelers as they took advantage of a tiring Coventry at the Skydome on Sunday night in clinical fashion, refusing to panic when falling behind and never really looking troubled after coming back from 1-0 down to 3-1 up in the second, finally winning six-four. Star of the night was Jeff Legue with a hat-trick, although Peter Hirsch still managed to produce one of those "Oh my God!" moments even in defeat with an amazing last-ditch glove-save from Doug Sheppard-the Steelers forward had earlier shown his skills weren't too shabby either with a beautiful stop-and-go move on a breakaway which would have resulted in a goal but for a last-ditch desparation dive from Hirsch across his crease. Something for everyone in Coventry, then, and all in front of Sky, too...

That's your weekend reviewed-sorry it's a little late...