Live from Tumbleweed Central...

"This is Radio Nowhere...
Is there anyone alive out there?"
Bruce Springsteen: "Radio Nowhere"

God, it's quiet. After a burst of news and rumours last week, and much discussion over the Giants which is still going on over on KOTG but appears to have died down everywhere else, the news of signings is becoming less and less frequent as rosters become more complete and offices shut down for the summer break before the run-in to the season begins in early August. However, there are still a few crumbs to pick over...

It's nice when your sources prove reliable: Andre Payette is now officially confirmed as joining the Manchester Phoenix as their second import (Ed Courtenay for the third, anyone?...). A great entertainer and pantomime villain has left the EIHL-and you get the feeling most EPL fans, those from Manchester excepted, really don't know what's coming. Payette's one of those players who has had all sorts of myth, legend and half-truth build up around him during his time in the UK, but watching him play in the flesh when he's entered the "Payette Zone" of complete and total insanity combined with no small amount of skill is something few who've seen him play will soon forget. Fans of the EPL, and Phoenix in particular, you've got an experience akin to riding down a grassy bank in a shopping trolley coming-it will be wild, there'll be bumps in the road, you won't know exactly where it'll end up once it's started and outside influences will have no control whatsoever over what happens.

Oh, and there's a chance it could all go wrong very quickly, very loudly, and with much violence.

Buckle up. :)

Who got the talent in the Phillips house? We shall see: Back when the Blaze were winning trebles and Joe Watkins was still considered the top British goalie, he played against his brother Tom a few times while in net for London, and the Blaze's Watkins brother seemed to revel in scoring past him, and without fail triggering a cheerful little ditty from the Blaze crowd which went something along the lines of (to the Sunderland FC song "Super Kevin Phillips")...

"Who got the talent in the Watkins house? (x3)
Super Tommy Watkins".

Not exactly comedy gold, but it seemed to work in getting the point across as to which brother was having the better game, even provoking the goalie Watkins into what may have been a repeated horizontal wave of the glove every time it started up, to acknowledge the wit of the travelling Blaze support throughout one game in Lee Valley. Although it was strange that he performed the gesture at crotch level, thus preventing half the Blaze crowd from seeing it, it was still greeted with a cheer if I remember correctly...;)

Anyway-this reminiscence does have a point. Belfast have now provided another ripe opportunity for sibling-related taunting, by replacing Dave Phillips, who as mentioned earlier on this month is AHL-bound, with his older, slightly-less-illustrious brother Kevin, who joins after a career mainly spent in his home team of Hull alongside his brother. However, recently the younger Dave has risen to something approaching stardom, while Kevin's career has, if not exactly stalled at EPL level, certainly not progressed with the same rapidity...it will be interesting to see how he performs now he's being given a chance as a d-man expected to consistently produce at EIHL level...

Facebook. It's the future, apparently: From the "important, if true" file comes the mention that Tylor Michel (stats here) is the final import in Cardiff, after being befriended on Facebook by a Devils fan and supposedly confirming in an online chat that he was on the way. He looks like another example of a young, hungry player coming to Britain to prove himself after a decent start in the ECHL...but let's see the official announcement before we comment any further...

Matt Myers. Now there's some average-sized skates to fill: Nottingham have signed Ross Dalgliesh away from Edinburgh, meaning that Mark Garside is the only remaining member of the trio-nicknamed-by-me-and-probably-no-one-else as the "Top Scots" from last year to remain in Edinburgh. Dalgliesh will slot into the gap left by Matt Myers, who is trying his luck in the ECHL this season.

Believe it or not, there is hockey out there:..summer is traditionally a time for recreational teams to be the most active, but here in Coventry the Chaos are turning that activity into a bid to help charity, holding a charity match on the 2nd August which, were it a golf game, would probably be the equivalent of a pro-am tournament, as rec players (me included) line up side-by-side with such well-known names in British hockey as Luc Chabot, Paul Thompson, James Pease, and others in a game between two mixed pro-am teams. It's all in aid of the NSPCC, doors are open from 6:15pm on the day at the Skydome, with f.o around 7:15, and details can be found on facebook here...

I told you it was a quiet time...but there is a Falla-esque post in the works which should appear in the next few days...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...