Scenes from a Season, Part I...

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
"Macbeth"

And so, as the last echo of stick on puck or rattle of plexi fades away into the rafters of arenas across the country, the vapour trails of flights carrying your favourite imports home criss-cross the spring skies, and the hockey shirts go back into the wardrobe in anticipation of the long, burning-bright-blue days of summer, another season fades away to nothing more than a collection of memories.

Which, of course, means it's time for the Breakaway team-by-team review of the season. You know the form by now-five teams today, five teams tomorrow...off we go. And, be warned, a few of the song lyrics have a rude word or two in them...

BASINGSTOKE BISON
"Mayday, Mayday, the captain's lost control again
The f-ing ship is breaking up
We're going down in flames"
Gallows: "Abandon Ship"

Poor Basingstoke. Another season which promised moving on from the troubles of the season before, another season that started with hope anew in Hampshire, but unlike the exploits of the Terrific Ten last season, this season was dead by December as players left one by one, the ones that remained seemed less and less happy and every game saw the Bison comprehensively beaten, with rumours circulating that this would be the team's last season in the Elite League long before it was finally announced the day after their season ended without even a sniff of a playoff place to show for it. In my preseason previw I predicted they could finish anywhere from fourth to tenth depending on how their roster meshed...unfortunately for Bison, the second part of that prediction came true.

Season Highlight: It's hard to find one-but in a nightmarish season for hockey fans in Hampshire, there's one game that stands out high above any other...

Kevin Reiter vs Coventry Blaze, 16.11.08. 66 shots, 65 saves.

Player of the Season: Anyone who stayed with the Bison all season, given all the problems they faced, is in line for this award. However, the winner is Bison captain-Brent Hughes, simply for never, ever quitting on his team...

Final Thought: The Bison leave the EIHL not with a bang, but with the quietest of whimpers...

BELFAST GIANTS
"We fool ourselves in believing anything, anything at all
But this night is ours..."
Ten Second Epic: "Well, That's The Thing..."

The Giants were a team who always promised that they were about to make a run at the league title and never really did, despite being loaded with offensive talent, with the likes of Paul Deniset, Evan Cheverie, Andrew Martin and Bobby Robins all legitimately claiming to be among the best forwards in the league. They were a team who were built perfectly for winning trophies, as I mentioned pre-season-however, once again, the league title eluded them thanks to a mix of lack of consistency and other teams (notably Sheffield) being just that little bit better than them...Both cup competitions ended up across the Irish sea, however, so Steve Thornton, George Awada and co must have been doing something right...at least when it came down to individual nights. With a bit more consistency, though, we could have been talking about the Giants as league champions...

Season Highlights: This one's easy-either cup win. Although the Challenge Cup win just takes it for the way the Giants came back from 4-0 down in the first leg in Manchester in order to leave themselves in with a chance of winning...

Player of the Season: Again, this one's easy. Down purely to the fact that he seemed to score whichever linemate or whichever d-pairing was put on to combat him, as well as becoming arguably the most dangerous sniper in the league behind David Beauregard, the award goes to Winnipeg's finest, Paul Deniset

Final Thought: A bit more consistency, and we could have been talking about this Giants team as proof that you don't necessarily need a tight defence to win everything in British hockey...

CARDIFF DEVILS:
"Everybody thinks that
I’ve done something wrong
I’ll make my own way home"
Fandangle: "Pornstars (Aren't For Everyone)"

Cardiff are fast becoming the "nearly team" of the EIHL era, and to some degree appear quite settled in their role as such-beating Belfast in the playoff quarterfinals, pushing Sheffield all the way in the playoff semis, and consistently pulling out performances that makes people think "wait a second, this team are far more dangerous than they look". With an ambitious new owner in Matt Burge, the Devils have gone through this season leaping from bright-spot to shadow to bright-spot to shadow, laying the foundations off the ice, through clever marketing and slow growth in the crowds at the Bay, of a revival which will bring back the glory days of the late 90's in South Wales.
But despite this, dominating the thoughts of anyone who looks at the Devils 08/09 season is, once again, the fact they came close and ultimately fizzled out come playoff time after a decent league season-a familiar pattern which means that the fruits of Burge's tireless work are still, perhaps, a season or two away.
But does anyone in Cardiff care? Not really...because the Devils fans are an educated bunch, and more than any other fanbase in the league, they know the beginnings of a good thing when they see it...

Season Highlight: What do you pick from a season with no cup finals, no trophies and a so-close-but-so-far ending? Perhaps, regrettable though it was at the time, you choose the moment for which this Cardiff Devils season will be remembered...their long-running rivalry with Sheffield...

Final Thought: This season, as with so many, the Devils were the nearly men...but their time is coming closer...

COVENTRY BLAZE
"There is an art, to falling apart
Just follow steps 1 through 10 and you're done"
Kittie: "Everything That Could Have Been"

The Blaze finished second in the league, but this was not a season to remember for many in Coventry, especially in a town used to success. A team which seemed to be lacking the assurance which had become a trademark of Paul Thompson teams, despite a fine showing in the Continental Cup, and question-marks over the performances of much-trumpeted new signings Scott Kelman and Corey Leclair (both players were released by early January) meant that the Skydome was not the confident place it has been for several years-and PR disasters such as the "Team Hollywood" fiasco with Nottingham meant that somehow, the team from the West Midlands just wasn't anywhere near the standard their fans have come to know and expect-work-rate was patchy with only Danny Stewart, Carlyle Lewis, Barrie Moore and Dan Carlson turning up night after night and shift after shift-with predictable reactions from the fanbase. A growing dissatisfaction with the noticeable shift in priorities from a "family club" atmosphere to one of commercial exploitation also began to alienate many longer-term supporters. Thompson himself has admitted that the second-place finish was possibly far higher than the Blaze deserved, owing more to the failiures of other teams than the assets of Coventry, and promised that there will be major changes ahead...but it will be an interesting off-season in Warwickshire...

Season Highlight: Sorry, Phoenix fans...it's this game. Scoring once while the goalie is pulled is impressive. Twice is borderline miraculous. Winning the game in OT-well, that's just the icing on the cake...

Player of the Season: Loved by some for his intelligent play on and quiet, dry humour off the ice, reviled by others for his restrained enforcing style on it, Carlyle Lewis polarised opinion like few other players on the Blaze roster. However, following Kipling's advice in "keeping his head while many around him were losing theirs" as well as chipping in valuable points and being able to calm the yapping of other teams dogs of war, Ryan Finnerty and Bruce Richardson among them, with a trademark cold-eyed stare across the benches and a humourless smile, "Lewie" was one of the most valuable players on the Blaze roster-sometimes, it's the quietest deeds which speak the loudest in people's memories...

Final Thought: This season, the Blaze proved that there are lies, damned lies, and, occasionally, statistics...if your coach is saying you didn't deserve to finish where you did, then there are some problems.

EDINBURGH CAPITALS
"I’ll start this broken heart
I’ll fix it up so it will work again
Better than before"
Motion City Soundtrack: "Broken Heart"

The Capitals were once again a team who improved by inches this season, overcoming import problems, a revolving door of players who joined and then decided against their decision, and the horrific early-season form of Michel Robinson in net to make the playoffs once again, before being steam-rollered by the unstoppable machine that was Sheffield. For many teams this would be seen as a bad season, but Doug Christiansen and Scott Neil can look back on this season with a quiet sense of satisfaction-like Cardiff, they are slowly building back towards the top in Edinburgh and every so often, there are signs it's working.

Season Highlight: Making the playoffs, again. Yes, it's not as obvious or glamorous as some of the other teams, but the very fact that the Caps are now considered a genuine playoff team by many is progress from the previous few seasons...

Player of the Season: Pasi Raitanen runs him very, very close indeed, but you really can't look past Mark Hurtubise-not only one of the best players on the Capitals but one of the best in the league...surely due for higher things next season unless the Caps management can convince him that he'll have more support than just linemate Martin Cingel...

Final Thought: An ancient Chinese proverb says that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step...the Caps have taken that step over the past two seasons-and now the hard work starts.

That's your first five teams reviewed...check back tomorrow for the other five.

By the way, I am aware of continuing events in Poland-I intend to look at the GB team and their exploits or otherwise in Torun later on this week...