Round the Rinks, February 13th...

Simple...all the games, one by one...in a tasty bite-size (i.e short) format...

Friday

Belfast v Nottingham
It's the battle of the Last Chance Saloon! The team that loses this game may as well start focusing on the playoffs, because their chances of the title will be well and truly gone. And with Belfast hit by the injury bug, the Panthers will fancy their chances...

And, with either a live feed from Five Minute Major (see left) or the Belfast webcast, you're spoilt for ways to watch it...

Saturday

Hull v Manchester. Given that there are two perspectives already out there on this game, I'm not going to add a third, but simply point you to the other two and let you judge for yourself...

For the Stingrays view, have a gander at the view from F Block

And for Manchester, there's the tweetings of The Angry Budgie , which is also the place to go if you want an in-depth preview of Manchester's welcoming of Basingstoke on Sunday...a game for which the PR machine is in high (and very well-running) gear...have a look at Five Minute Major for the story...

Newcastle v Cardiff

A quick referral back to Tuesday's post...Devils fan Stanley comments disputing my rejection of Phil Hill's all-star credentials, pointing out that he has a return of 16+17 on the season so far. Much as this amazes me, I have to give credit to him...perhaps my rejection of him as a "third-line plodder" was harsh. Although personally I'd consider Matt Towe the real British star on the Devils and (on skill level at least, which is what the All-Star game is supposed to be about)ahead of Hill. However, this is based purely on his performances against Coventry in a Devils and Steelers shirt this season...Towe and even Ben Davies have really caught my eye while, impressive figures or not, Phil Hill is just not a player I can ever imagine fans getting excited about seeing...

In that respect, with the exception of Devils and Vipers fans, he's similar to this game-they're always a good standard of play, but with Rob Wilson and friends suffocating the life out of inventive hockey and the Devils a team who are always enjoyable to watch but seeming to save their best hockey for games against Coventry, this game is a perfectly good watch, but just seems to be one that'll pass in relative anonymity despite the characters on both sides...

Basingstoke v Coventry..
I can sum up my predictions for this game in three words and a gratuitous reference to arguably one of the the most infamous shootings in American history...those words are: "Valentine's Day Massacre."

Continuing the tenuous link...

Sheffield v Nottingham
Love is in the air? My backside it is...this will likely turn out to be a typical Steelers/Panthers derby...all sound and fury...and that's just Ryan Finnerty.

Sunday

For Manchester v Basingstoke, have a gander at the Angry Budgie as mentioned earlier...there's a semi-final place resting on it too...

Coventry v Belfast
Always worth watching, this is perhaps the best chance Coventry will have to get a big win over the Giants thanks to their injury issues...for the Giants' part, they'll be hoping to send a message that their wins over the Blaze in both the Challenge Cup semi and KO Cup were a sign that, this season at least, they well and truly have the Blaze's number...

The other two games can be dispensed with fairly quickly...

Sheffield v Newcastle
Brains v brawn at its finest. Expect Andrew Verner to have a busy night and the Steelers to take another two-point-sized step towards the league title...

Meanwhile, at the other end, there's Edinburgh v Cardiff-can the Capitals finally get their late-season charge going or will the Devils just make their job harder?

I know it's a bit sketchy this week...I do apologise if you feel this post is a bit..well, rushed...but there's your weekend previewed. Eventually. :)