Round the Rinks 30th November

You know the drill by now-team by team preview for the weekend coming up...

Basingstoke: Cardiff and Newcastle are the opponents for the Bison this week, in what is sure to be a tricky weekend for the Hampshire side. Kyle Peto is still out, but with Mikko Purontakanen and David Vychodil competing for his place the Bison need have no fear of any slacking on defence. Both players will need to play to the limits of their considerable abilities, however, against two attacks who, for different reasons, will be fired up-the Devils as they attempt to stay top and the Vipers as they try to reverse the mini-slump the North-Easterners have been in over the past week or two...

Belfast: Coventry are the visitors to the Odyssey tonight, in a game which will be covered by the Belfast webcast team (details here and here) before the Giants travel to Sheffield on Sunday in two games which will be hotly contested. The Northern Irish faithful will be hopeful of a result in at least one of these games now that the team are finally back at full strength (defenceman Trevor Johnson is the last to come off the injury list and should be in the lineup this weekend), and with one import having to be cut in order to comply with league rules, the players will be giving it their all in one last chance to impress coach Ed Courtenay.

Cardiff: The Devils face Basingstoke and Nottingham as they bid to stay top of the EIHL for a third week, and will be watching tonight's game in Belfast closely in the hope the Giants can do them an early favour. With two opponents who are both desperate for points themselves in the battle for playoff places, the Welsh will need to play somewhere near the level they reached in Coventry last Saturday in order to achieve their goal...

Coventry: The Blaze will be up for this weekend as they face rivals Belfast away tonight before looking to gain revenge for their shock defeat last time they met Edinburgh when the Caps visit the Skydome on Sunday. With a question-mark over just how long Sylvain Cloutier can keep going, the Blaze need every point they can get at the moment in order to keep in touch with Cardiff at the top, despite their games in hand, so expect no let-up no matter how much the players may be hurting..

Edinburgh: Manchester and Coventry beckon for the league's bottom club this time out-the Caps will be hoping for a miracle at the Skydome on Sunday, but their best chance of points comes against the Phoenix at Murrayfield tomorrow night. As we've seen so far this season, however, miracles are few and far between in the Scottish capital, so another lean weekend looks on the cards.

Hull: The Stingrays will be hoping new signing Marlon Joseph provides enough of a boost to see them out of their epic losing streak as they take on Sheffield and Manchester. However, despite all the good intentions in the world, the Stingrays look locked into a losing mentality if their results are anything to go by, and I can't see one player changing things on Humberside...

Manchester: The Phoenix come off a win into games against Edinburgh and Hull, both of which are certainly winnable, particularly now Luke Stauffacher is sharing the goalscoring load with Joe Tallari. This weekend could come at an ideal time to inject some confidence back into the Angry Budgies as they look to gain some ground on the teams above them...

Newcastle: The Challenge Cup is the priority for the Vipers as they take on Nottingham tonight in the second leg of their semi-final before welcoming Basingstoke on Sunday. After a recent loss of form in the league the cup is a welcome distraction-but there is the danger that a loss tonight could set the tone for the rest of their season if it's followed up with a loss to the Bison...

Nottingham: Tom Askey gets thrown into the deep end tonight as the Panthers travel to Newcastle with a one-goal advantage in their Challenge Cup semi final, before they return to league action against Cardiff on Sunday. With Mike Ellis lacing up the skates as a stopgap until the new import arrives, the Panthers aren't short of bodies any more, but will the addition of Askey be the last piece to help them close out the Vipers and do the Blaze a favour in the league?

Sheffield: Another two chances for the Steelers to get their league campaign back on track as they face Hull and Belfast this time out. With no injuries to speak of the game against the Stingrays should yield two points, but the Giants, even away from home, should be a much tougher proposition. Still, there will be high hopes that the Steelers can take four crucial points in the league race...

The fixtures, then.

Friday

Belfast v Coventry

Newcastle v Nottingham (Challenge Cup)

Saturday

Edinburgh v Manchester

Hull v Sheffield

Basingstoke v Cardiff

Sunday

Manchester v Hull

Newcastle v Basingstoke

Sheffield v Belfast

Coventry v Edinburgh

Cardiff v Nottingham

Let's play hockey....:)

Thursday Catch-up...

Once again we go with the regular daily update-apologies there haven't been many longer posts this week but job-search-related events in my own life mean I've been somewhat busy for the majority of it...Anyway...

"On a knife-edge" just about covers it: The Steelers and Devils battled out a tense eight-goal draw in the Big Blue Tent last night in the first leg of their Challenge Cup semi, scoring four each in a see-saw tie which also saw Ashley Tait score his 800th point in British hockey with the Steelers' third goal, which came just eight minutes in (the game saw five goals scored in the first ten minutes before the scoring slowed down a little). The only certainty in this tie is that the second leg is going to be an absolute humdinger as the two sides battle for the right to meet Nottingham or Newcastle in the final (that semi will be decided tomorrow night).

Stingrays add muscle: Hull have beefed up their roster today with the signing of Marlon Joseph, a 22-year old Canadian who, lets just say, isn't the goalscorer the Stingrays need but is more of a replacement for injured enforcer Cole Byers-the press release, as appearing in the Hull Daily Mail, is here. Mean-looking, isn't he?

Rumours that the same person was offering two CD's of unknown origin for sale are, however, unfounded: The Government have involved themselves in the use of hockey forums-specifically The Cage (Nottingham Panthers, which is one of the most respected forums on the net related to British hockey), after it was revealed that a poster (who ironically is a Sheffield Steelers fan and has posted the same information on the Steeltalk forum) was posting the names of new signings before they were released after obtaining them from work-permit applications to the Department of Work and Pensions, which are strictly confidential. The article covering this, and appearing in the Nottingham Evening Post today, is in full here.
Must admit this worried me for a few minutes, as I'd also posted this information on the blog after reading it from the original forum. However, after asking a few people on the Cage, it appears that posting information after it's already appeared in public, whatever the source, is OK...so there'll be no interruptions in posting due to your good writer meeting the gentlemen of the law...:)

That's your lot for now...check back tomorrow afternoon for the traditional weekend preview, and keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Snakes Bitten...

Well, first blood in the Challenge Cup semis goes to the Panthers-the game between Nottingham and Newcastle has just ended, with the home side actually proving one of my predictions right by coming out on top in a 9-goal thriller, thanks to Johan Molin scoring the winner in the 57th minute. Game details are here.

It does look a bit of a tasty game, doesn't it-not least because of this hug-fest fight between Andre Payette and Ryan Shmyr...although you have to wonder about the strength of Panther's goaltending, given that Rastislav Rovnianek managed to let in four goals on 22 shots while Ryan MacDonald let in only one more on nearly double the number of shots. Vipers will definitely fancy their chances in the return leg, particularly as the Slovakian between the pipes for Nottingham is looking more and more like their major Achilles heel-it's probably unfair to say that a large part of his signing this season was due to his shootout heroics in Panthers' playoff victory last time out, but that is looking more and more the case based on this season's form. At 38 he's no spring chicken either.

This tie is still very much in the balance heading up to the Metro Radio Arena-that is the only certainty we can draw from tonight's events...

Tomorrow I am working for most of the day, so there will likely not be an update until around 7pm...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck in the meantime...