Tuesday Thoughts: Sparks of Inspiration

"my capillaries scream, there's nothing left to feed on
my body needs a reason to cross that line
will you carry me there one more time?"
Dashboard Confessional: "Reason to Believe"


The astute among you (including Mark from the Angry Budgie) may have noticed that, during my Double Overtime column yesterday, there was the somewhat glaring omission of Sunday's first leg of the Challenge Cup final, involving Manchester and Belfast. As you will see from the excellent match report on The Angry Budgie, this was something of a large, almost Chris McAllister-sized omission given the circumstances, and clearly shows me up as a somewhat lax blogger...

Or does it?

Regular readers of the blog should know by now that I am something of a closet fan of the team from Altrincham-in fact I'd give them legitimate second-team status-and given that I've been plugging them as winners of a title pretty much all season, there was no way I was leaving their first genuine crack at an Elite League trophy to fall by the wayside in the middle of a weekly review of the weekend...Mainly because I really, really hope that Manchester hold their nerve after their 4-3 win on Sunday night, despite the prospect of Belfast's high-octane attack charging at them full bore...

But you're a Coventry fan-it means you lose another title! I hear you cry. Why? In the name of Brad Voth's hair extensions, why would you care who wins it now?


The reason is simple-Manchester deserve it. Over the past few seasons the Phoenix have been a model example of how to build a franchise from the ground up, and after being one piece away from being title winners last season, this season, everything appears to have clicked-with the sniper skills of David Beauregard allied to the defensive skills of Josh Garbutt, Alex Dunn and company and of course the ageless Tony Hand, the Phoenix this season are the team that most others, particularly those considered of a similar size, desperately want to be.

But why should that make any difference to me?

It's simple. Watching Coventry this season has made me lose just a little of my passion for hockey in Britain. Not for the game itself-I still get just as excited by moments like this as I used to (yes, he does play it off the boards to himself while skating backwards and then breaks away) but for the whole experience of it...this has been covered ad nauseam by me in many postings, so I'll leave that one well alone. Watching the Phoenix this season when they've come to Coventry has provided me with some of my best moments watching hockey from an opposition team, as well as one of the greatest finishes to a game I've ever seen (sorry, Manchester fans, for opening old wounds). And, with this season slowly petering out for Coventry (well, the playoffs are still an option, but they're a month away)-the Phoenix are now a team through which, vicariously at least, I can still experience the pure joy of a first title with.

And for that reason, I'm rooting for them relentlessly for the rest of the regular season...because they remind me of the Blaze five or six years ago, from the well-run organisation off-ice to the passionate family of a fanbase to the (more-or-less) unheralded team just starting their climb to the top. If history repeats itself for Manchester as it did for Coventry fans, then the Phoenix have one hell of a fun ride coming over the next few seasons...

And all the above was far too much to just slip into the middle of a league round-up...which, Mark and others, is why the barn-burner from Altrincham on Sunday barely got a mention yesterday...it gets a post all to itself...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck....