Thursday Thoughts: Two Team Teaser & Tunes...

Wow. That's the last time I try an alliterative title...:)

Anyway...today we'll look at the first two teams taking part in this weekend's EPL playoffs-Sheffield and Bracknell, before having a gander at the two powerhouses (Guildford and Slough) tomorrow. And of course there's your fix of IceTunes...

But first, a few items of news...

Dave Phillips signs for Belfast: ...and so the exodus from Hull begins. One of the better Brits in the league (and still only twenty) the big Stingray has finally left the club where he's spent his whole career to date to become Steve Thornton's first signing. Not a bad opening to the off-season for Giants-Phillips is big enough and fast enough to play and contribute in this league, and has experience in all situations thanks to the Stingrays throwing him into just about every situation you can have in a hockey game and expecting him to sink or swim...a very good first capture for Steve Thornton-it does, however, raise questions about Paul Moran's future in Northern Ireland-third-line forward or surplus defenceman?

Jonathan Phillips returns to Steelers: No relation to Dave, but a slightly better Brit, Jonathan Phillips will captain Sheffield for another year. This season he's finally made the leap from "great developing player" to "elite Brit" and reached a level as good as if not better than Ash Tait and Jonathan Weaver-I would love to have seen Phillips on my squad. There should be nothing but pleasure in Sheffield at this signing...

GB on the BBC: BBC Coventry will be providing live Internet commentary on all of the games involving GB at the World Championships-the link can be found here along with times. They'll also be covering tonights GB-Sweden game (which annoyingly I'll miss thanks to work) on the same link...

That's the news dealt with...now onto the teaser part with a look at the first two teams in Coventry this weekend...

Sheffield Scimitars
By far the underdogs in this group of four, the "other" Sheffield hockey club have made it to Coventry on the back of Peter Slamiar's and Stephen Wallace's goals and the heroics of Paul Jones and Pasi Raitanen in net, having topped Group A in the qualifying after finishing fifth in the league. This was something of a poisoned chalice as far as the Coventry weekend goes, however, as, thanks to their playoff groupings it now means that their supposed "easier" game is against Bracknell, who finished three places above them. With Slamiar (44+40 last time I checked) potentially missing Coventry, though, all the weight will fall upon the Scim's British talent (Robert Dowd and Stephen Wallace being the most important) if they're to have any chance of beating the Bees, and whoever plays in net will need two stellar games for the Scims to pull off a shock and win it...

Bracknell Bees
One of the powerhouses of the EPL despite their well-documented money troubles earlier in the season, the Berkshire side have the league's top import scorer in Michal Kanka, as well as a crop of very good Brits (many, like Tom Carlon and Matt Foord, with EIHL experience) to back him up and experienced EPL campaigner Greg Rockman in net. Their defence is anchored by Dwight Parrish, a long-time British hockey stalwart who's spent most of his career at the top levels in Britain, and the offensive force is provided by Jan Melichar, who can find the net as well as any forward when he needs to. The Bees will want revenge on their local rivals Guildford and Slough, either of whom they could meet in the final, and so you can guarantee they'll be going all out to avoid being the victims of a shock...

I know that these previews are a little shorter and less detailed than the ones for the Elite teams-this is the problem I have when you mainly watch EIHL hockey...if there are any mistakes in the above, feel free to correct me. Guildford and Slough previews appear tomorrow...

For all you EPL fans who are going to the Coventry weekend, by the way, the Old Windmill Pub on Spon Street usually runs offers for fans in hockey shirts during Blaze games-I believe they're continuing them for the EPL weekend, so nip in and have a pint or two...

And finally, a brief bit of IceTunes: There's only a couple of songs in there today, what with the playoff CD being created last week, and both of them are a bit more poppy than usual, but given that they've been rocking around my head all week I'll hopefully at least be able to share them and know I'm not the only one who has "earworm fever"...

Ashlee Simpson: Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya): I defy you not to have the chorus running round your head after one listen...or sit there and not get an urge to bob your head back and forth as soon as the beat kicks in...And this coming from someone who usually likes his music a lot heavier...Plus, she's by far the better-looking Simpson sister...

The Ting Tings: That's Not My Name: See above...apart from the Simpson part. :)

Tomorrow we review the GB v Sweden game and look at the other two teams taking part in the Coventry weekend...until then, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Midweek Musings...

The trouble with writing a daily blog in the (almost) off-season is that you have to try and avoid repeating yourself-hockey news has almost gone into a kind of limbo despite the Stanley Cup playoffs starting tonight-I did consider doing a preview of them but it's one of those things you can find all but everywhere else with a few seconds' searching (and done far better than I could), so I scotched that idea. However, there are some interesting tidbits floating around the British hockey world....

Scottish rinks in trouble...: According to this BBC News article, the state of hockey in Scotland (currently with only one top-flight team in Edinburgh and a league which is well and truly disconnected from the rest of the UK as far as coverage in prestige goes) could get even worse thanks to the threatened closure of even more rinks. The article states that the vast majority of rinks in Scotland are making a loss, and this situation could only get worse thanks to the need to replace the refrigeration plants in order to comply with EU regulations coming in in the near future. The good news is that Murrayfield has apparently already done so...however, with almost nothing now heard of Fife and Dundee (once great hockey towns) outside of a few diehards who keep an eye on the Scottish league, reports of a collapse in the Scottish league and no chance of the "big" sides returning to the EIHL any time soon, these aren't great times for hockey-fans north of the border...

Devils chasing Mark Smith: According to the South Wales Echo, Cardiff are targeting a return of their top centre (and one of the best of the EIHL era, in my opinion) Mark Smith for next season. The Canadian, who's spent this season in Italy after scoring 35+57 for the Devils in 06/07, is believed to be interested in a return to the Welsh capital-the Devils faithful will be hoping this will rekindle his partnership with Max Birbraer in order to provide a top line which can compete with any in the league, including the famed AC/DC partnership in Coventry...

More Blaze rumours: Although this time Curtis Huppe is the player being replaced, as the ex-Giant is rumoured to be retiring this off-season. Lance Galbraith is a name that's been mentioned as a target-as a fairly prolific scorer in the ECHL he would more than slot in on the top two lines of any EIHL side...

More Wagecap questions: An idea from the Phoenix forum to sort out the clear problems with the current wagecap...make all contracts the responsibility of the EIHL rather than the teams themselves, with the teams paying the wage money into a central account which is then distributed to the players according to the terms of their contract. Not a bad idea at all, this-it would make the cap a hell of a lot harder to break if the people running the league knew what everyone else was being paid-and since all contracts are central, it would allow for trades between teams without breaking the EU employment laws, since players would still be working for the same employer, but just "transferred" to a different department under the same contract...But I'm sure there'll be some reason why this couldn't be applied to UK hockey, so once again we return to the problem of the people running the league also being the people who effectively ignore their own rules in the first place...

There you go-there's the Midweek Musings for this week...tomorrow we will take an in-depth look at the first two teams in the EPL playoff weekend and begin the build-up to Coventry as well as round-up any new rumours...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Tuesday Thoughts: International Special

As promised yesterday, this time out we look at Great Britain's opponents in the forthcoming World Championships, as they stand in the way of GB's attempts to be promoted back to the elite level of international competition and indeed take part in the next Winter Olympics. Despite not being among the top 16 nations in the world (they're all competing at the World Championships proper) there are some good teams in the group, and we start with perhaps the best of them...

Austria: The host nation has long lived in the shadow of its neighbour Germany as far as international competition goes, although they were the team relegated from the top sixteen at the last world championships and thus will be looking for a quick return. The Erste Bank Superliga is one of the better in Europe, and there are several Austrians with NHL experience, including Buffalo's exciting sniper Thomas Vanek, ex NY-Ranger Thomas Pock and ex-St Louis Blue Reinhard Divis. However, only Vanek is currently on the roster, along with ex-Minnesota Wild player Christoph Brandner. The Austrians are by far the favourites to win the group, particularly now Darcy Werenka has accepted dual nationality in order to play internationally for them rather than his native Canada, and with home advantage it's hard to look past them returning to the elite sixteen this time round...

Poland: This time out the Poles are made up entirely of players who play either in their domestic league or, in a few cases, other Eastern European leagues. They'll be GB's first opponents in Innsbruck, and they're a team about whom very little is known outside their native country, so it will be interesting to see just what level they're at compared to GB-as a team who stayed in Div I last time out and have played at this level since 2002, they should be fairly comparable...

Kazakhstan: Now we're right out in the unknown. As a former Soviet satellite state, the Kazakhstanis are a team who haven't really stood out in international competition, although they are the lone team in this group to have played in the 2006 Olympics, finishing in 9th place. Made up of players from the Russian leagues, they should be of a decent standard-however, a solid mid-table finish (or second at best) is probably all they can hope for...

Netherlands: There was a time when, like GB, the Dutch side had a large amount of dual-nationals. Now, they're almost entirely made up of players from the domestic league, with one dual-national in Paul Stanfort. The high point of Dutch hockey history was their participation in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid-since then they've not really made any waves on the International scene, although they too have consistently played at Div 1 level for a number of years...

South Korea: The new boys in the group after winning promotion from Div II last year, the Asian team are a long way from home and possibly some way out of their depth, despite the surprisingly high standard of the Asian leagues. They're the lowest-ranked team in the group, although they do hold the record for the highest-ever ice-hockey score after beating Thailand 92-0 (that's a goal every 45 seconds) in 1998 at the Asian Winter Games.

That's your somewhat brief preview of the opponents who GB will be facing from Sunday-for an analysis of the GB team click here, although it has changed slightly with Danny Meyers being brought in to replace the withdrawing Nathan Rempel, Shane Johnson not being cleared to take part in time (replaced by Luke Boothroyd) and Colin Shields taking an injury on Saturday (replaced by Warren Tait.

Tomorrow we run our usual Midweek Musings and start to look forward to the EPL finals taking place in Coventry this weekend...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Game Winner: Season's End Double Overtime

Congratulations to the 2008 EIHL playoff champions-the Sheffield Steelers. Unlike Coventry, they not only turned up for the final in full force but continued the speed and aggression you need to win in playoff hockey (and up until now had been the hallmarks of Blaze play) for the full sixty minutes. Despite the score only being 2-0, there was only ever one winner once Jonathan Phillips had fought his way from the left-hand boards to the crease and jammed the puck through Koenig's legs from all of six inches out-Dan Tessier's instinctive wrister in the second period broke the back of the league champions, but even before then the Steelers were dominant in all aspects of the game. Rather than just running through bog-standard match-reports and reactions (which you can find pretty much anywhere) we'll just run through a few "best ofs"...

Best goal: Even though his team lost, Max Birbraer's spin-and-shot for Cardiff against Sheffield breathed life back into a game which had become...well, a little dead after the early Sheffield goal.

Best save: Jody Lehman in the final's second period-with Sheffield 1-0 up the puck breaks to Adam Calder in front of the net with some space. With the Blaze blocks already rising in anticipation as he wound up, Lehman somehow manages to drop and slide sideways at the same time to get a pad on the shot, and control the rebound well enough that it flew off into the corner rather than coming right back out to a lurking Curtis Huppe...

Best hit: First semi final, Tom Watkins on Todd Jackson. As the puck bobbles across the middle, Jackson stretches with his head down for the loose puck and is absolutely destroyed by an onrushing Watkins with a sweet shoulder-to-chest hit that sends the Viper flying through the air for a good few feet. However, despite the puck being barely a foot away and already having been played, Watkins is called for interference. Runner up is Ryan Finnerty walloping Jonathan Weaver in the final's second period and sending him spinning like a top into the boards down in front of the Steelers fans.

Best fans: Of the teams there, Sheffield. However, Manchester fans did themselves proud throughout the weekend, in company with the Giants fans next to them.

Best chant: The Panthers fans try and get into the act in the final by chanting "show us your trophies" at the Steelers fans, who respond with "show us your mascot" (Paws being absent). Panthers then desperately try and respond with "Where's Steeler Dan?" as the Sheffield mascot has also failed to put in an appearance. They're then shot down in mid flight as Steelers drop the hammer blow, instantly responding with "Where's your team?!". Steelers 1, Panthers zero...It was, however, run very close by the Phoenix fans showing their liking for Stephen Fone by asking where he was during the final after Blaze conceded the first goal.

Best confirmation of a rumour: Todd Kelman spending a large part of the weekend talking to Steve Thornton, followed up by the Belfast fans serenading the Bison player during the final...which has made the announcement that he's joining the Giants as coach almost irrelevant in hockey circles after the rumour broke last week...

Best gossip moments of the PO weekend (judge for yourself whether for rumour value or comedy): Phil Osaer nearly joining Blaze before being tempted away by a team in Norway...John Craighead returning not just to watch the playoffs, but because he's being courted as a replacement for Mike Ellis...Lee Jinman negotiating with Coventry as a replacement for Dan Carlson...Dan Cloutier searching for a house in Coventry because he's being bought out by the LA Kings...Nottingham also chasing Sylvain Deschatelets...

That's your playoff weekend in thirty seconds or so...and so the EIHL season ends for another year. This doesn't mean that the Breakaway will go onto its summer schedule just yet though, as we've still got the end-of-term reports to write for the EIHL (they'll probably appear midweek) and the EPL playoffs to get through...a preview of those will appear later this week. Then there's the Stanley Cup, the DEL playoffs (which are currently in full swing with "my" Cologne team in the semis)...

Perhaps one of the most relevant events to come for British fans in general, however, is the World Championships in Innsbruck later this month. Tomorrow we'll turn our attention to the International scene with a look at each of Great Britain's opponents in Austria, as well as your usual mix of rumours and news which tends to build up this time of year...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Halfway Point...

Just a quick update having just got back from Nottingham, after a highly exciting day of semi-final competition...

Coventry v Newcastle: Blaze sneak through but boy, did the Vipers make them work for it, with some very borderline hits coming in throughout the game and several flashpoints. Jeff Hutchins was thrown out for high-sticking Dan Carlson viciously in the face, a long way away from the play, after earlier being allowed to escape unpunished from a check to Koenig when the Blaze goalie left his crease. Andre Payette was also his usual self. although let it not be said (as many Blaze fans will tell you) that the thuggery was all the one way. Neal Martin somehow managed to escape with only a two-minute minor for a vicious swing of the stick into the back of Payette's legs which was, if not unprovoked (there had just been a melee in front of the net which had seen Soderstrom decked by Longstaff and pushes and shoves flying everywhere) at least unnecessary and at worst a blatantly thuggish act...if that had been some players in the league the reactions would have been far worse than just "oh, he was being wound up". For the record, goals were scored by Huppe, Cloutier, Calder and Weaver for the Blaze, and Jackson and Wilson for the Vipers...

Sheffield v Cardiff: Not the greatest of semis for quality of play (the passing was bloody awful from both sides at times) but not bad at all for tension-the Steelers sneaked through against a Devils side who looked...well, a little less fiery than usual. Moment of the match was, however, the Devil goal-Max Birbraer spinning on the spot and one-timing a puck past Lehman from a tight-ish angle at the edge of the left face-off circle. For their part, Steelers looked pretty ordinary as they huffed and puffed and eventually sneaked a win thanks to two goals from Doug Sheppard...

So, I'm still on course with my predictions...back up the M69/M1 tomorrow for first v second in the league, to determine the PO champions...

Playoff Final Preview: Reasons to Be Optimistic, and Blaze's First Big Signing?

Tomorrow sees the climax of the EIHL season for another year with the showpiece that is the EIHL finals weekend taking place in Nottingham (I'll be there, walking round in a Stephane Julien (#22) white Cologne Sharks top should you fancy saying hello)...and given that the title Round the Rinks is somewhat superfluous with all three matches taking place in one place, we'll simply look at why all four teams attending have a chance to win, and assess their chances. It must be said that this is one of the hardest weekends to pick in a long while, though...

Coventry Blaze
Why they have a chance: Erm...they're the league champions, so that must count for something. Plus, they have arguably the most complete side in the league, with scorers, grinders, d-men and the league's top goalie (at least statistically) in Trevor Koenig backing them up and looking for his second playoff title. With a team in which almost every player is a proven winner at EIHL level (only Matty Soderstrom and Curtis Huppe haven't played on a team that's won an EIHL playoff title, and Huppe won the league with Belfast instead)
What could stop them: Expectation. With many tipping the Blaze to win it this year, the stage is open for them to lose to arguably the least-fancied team in the semis, just like they did to Cardiff last time out. Paul Thompson and his players will be desperate to make sure this doesn't happen again against the one team that have a 100% record against the Blaze in the champions' home rink...

Newcastle Vipers
Why they have a chance: Playing style. The Vipers are the only team at the final four who prefer crash-bang hockey rather than skill (the Devils and Blaze can play it if so desired but it's not their preferred way to win games and all three of the Vipers opponents can be knocked off their game by good old fashioned smash-mouth hockey) As a team with a good mix of scoring talent and pure power the Vipers will be fancying their chances of pulling off a shock tomorrow, especially as they were expected to lose to Belfast in the quarters.
What could stop them: Penalty trouble. The Geordies aren't exactly the calmest of teams and have two of the league's leading penalty-takers in Andre Payette and Derek Campbell, both of whom are also crucial to their teams' style of play. If either or both of these two get riled up, then the minors (and opposition powerplays) tend to mount up as well as blunting the battering-ram by which the Vipers gain the majority of their chances, so the PK unit will need to be prepared to see a lot of ice-time over the weekend...

Cardiff Devils:
Why they have a chance: Put simply, motivation. The Devils have made it to Nottingham every time in the past four seasons, but have always suffered heartbreak each and every time, culminating in last year's penalty-shot loss to Nottingham. After gaining sweet revenge on the Panthers in the quarters this time out, the Welsh faithful will be hoping that this is finally their year, particularly with Brad Voth playing immensely and Sylvain Deschatelets providing the creative spark for Jason Silverthorn and Max Birbraer on offense...
What could stop them: The wobbles. After being the bridesmaids so often, the Devils psyche needs to be strong to cope with the inevitable rollercoaster-ride of playoff weekend-if other teams score early, frustration may set in even among the never-say-die attitude of the Welsh dragons, especially as a large section of the team remain from last season and the pain of losing the playoff final when it was there to win will still be a raw wound for many...

Sheffield Steelers:
Why they have a chance: Because, apart from anything else, the chance to ram a playoff victory in their biggest rivals' building (especially when those rivals will be absent) is a big motivating factor. Follow that with one of the most dangerous offences in the league and a wildly-under-rated (at least by IHUK journalists) defensive corps, and suddenly the team that finished second in the league look very dangerous indeed...
What can stop them: Again, this is one where a mix of indiscipline and the efforts of others mix-if the Steelers can get past the Devils in the semi then many would back them to win the final whoever the opponents, but lure them into penalty trouble and shut down their top forwards and suddenly frustation sets in...

So, going all Mystic Meg...here's how I think the weekend will run...

Semis
Coventry v Newcastle: The Vipers will come out hell-for-leather in this one, but I reckon that, with a final place on the line, the Blaze will have enough to beat them this time round as they look to avoid the poor performance bred from complacency that cost them against a very good Cardiff side last year.

Sheffield v Cardiff: Could be the best game of the weekend, potentially. Both teams are very good indeed and there's some needle in the game thanks to the Brad Voth/Ashley Tait incident earlier in the season. My heart would like Cardiff to sneak through thanks to the potential of a Blaze/Devils final, but head says that the Steelers may have just enough. This one really is too close to call though...

Final
Coventry v Sheffield: Going with head over heart, this is the logical match-up to pick-one vs two in the league, for the playoff crown. I think that Steelers could well sneak this, as the last thing they'll want is to be beaten by the Blaze again after losing out both in the league and KO Cup. This is the only time I'll allow my Blaze bias to influence things, though, as I reckon the Midlanders could win their twelth trophy in the Coventry era, in order to give Neal Martin the perfect send-off...

However...

Final II
Coventry v Cardiff: This is the final both Blaze and Devils fans want to see-and the final which I can see happening on the way to the Devils finally winning the playoff trophy. With Nottingham v Sheffield not possible, this is unquestionably the final which will be best for the neutral, as anyone who's seen some of the epic battles between the two sides (most notably in the two Challenge Cup finals, one won by each side) will testify. If it happens, I think the Devils could nick it. Certainly, it'll be a game which no-one in the arena (even those supporting the sides not involved) will be able to resist getting involved in-and that's what the sport needs most.

The Picks
Coventry to beat Newcastle
Cardiff to beat Sheffield (OT)

EIHL Playoff Champions 2008: Coventry Blaze (after OT)

Meanwhile, in news outside of the playoffs...

No sooner was it rumoured that Sean Blanchard was Blaze-bound, he's signed a contract with Hamburg Freezers, which means that the Midlanders would appear to be looking elsewhere for Neal Martin's replacement. And they have indeed-see below...

Blaze "signed Martin replacement already": Based on several sources, including that of a Blaze sponsor and, believe it or not, the purchase of his hockey cards by a Blaze employee on Ebay (something which is apparently a surefire indicator according to the source), Coventry fans need not worry too much about their premier offensive defenseman leaving, as his replacement is a player with AHL, DEL, NHL and Swedish Elite League pedigree. His name is David Cullen, and his stats are here. Just cause I like spoiling you lot, here's a picture (on the right, seen playing for DEG Metrostars last season, which means being a Cologne fan I should hate him...:))...
That's my shirt sorted, given that the Irish part of my family are named Cullen...

That's your EIHL playoff preview...all that remains is to wish good luck to all four teams involved (as well as all their fans), invite all you Breakaway readers to come up and say hello if you see me around over the weekend, and finish with the immortal words said before every hockey game in the State of Minnesota...

"LET'S.....PLAY....HOCKEY!"

Thursday Thoughts and IceTunes...

We begin todays Thoughts with a quick look at the latest signing news, a brief look at junior development, and finish by creating the ultimate playoff warm-up CD for your journey to Nottingham (and/or Coventry, for you EPL fans)...

Chubby returns to the Herd: Bison follow up their recent announcement of Brad Cruikshank committing for two years by announcing another key player has committed himself to the Basingstoke cause in top scorer Greg Chambers. There was some speculation over the 24-year-old's future, with Coventry and Sheffield rumoured to be in the market, but by returning to the Bison the winger has already ensured that the Bison have a solid foundation to build upon for next season having signed their two most important players and kept their coach...

Winning isn't everything...possibly: The latest feed of a topic from THF to appear on here involves junior development, after a post on there asked whether it was right that some junior teams, even at U12 and U14 level, give the talented players far more ice-time than others in order to pretty much guarantee winning. Certainly if you keep an eye on the junior results you can't help noticing that there are a lot of scores along the lines of 12-0, 9-1 and even, on one occasion at the Skydome I remember a score of something like 31-0 being announced. I'm not really up on junior hockey, given that I'm not young enough to play in it and not old enough to have kids involved in it, but I do remember just how some people reacted when the policy of "playing to win" was brought in on my rec team-the better players loved it because they got a ton of ice-time but some of the newer players were miffed at paying the same and getting far less ice-time in games-I assume this problem is far worse when it comes to juniors, particularly as you also come into the problems of favouritism and parental pressure. Given that the whole point of junior hockey is to get as many young players developed as possible, surely the concept of "playing to win" is a bit alien in most junior hockey. I accept that by the time you get to U16 or U18 the better players need to be given more chance as they're going to need to get used to the higher levels of competition if they're to progress, but at U10, 12 and 14 it seems a little silly...after all, people play for fun first and foremost..

IceTunes: Now That's What I Call Playoff Hockey!: Given that, if you're anything like me, you'll be off to the playoffs this weekend, and travelling by car, you'll be wanting something to fire you up for a weekend of top-class hockey action on the way there. So, naturally, here we are-the ultimate modern-hockey mix CD-no "hockey standards" allowed...which means no "Hockey Song", no "I Wanna Drive the Zamboni" and definitely no "Chelsea-bloody-Dagger"...some of them will have reasons, and some won't. But they're all great songs...

1. Hans Zimmer: Captain Jack's Theme (from Pirates of the Caribbean): Just because it's an awesome piece of music to wake you up in the morning...
2. ACDC: Thunderstruck: One of the greatest intros of all time...and..well, that's all you need as a reason, really.
3. Led Zeppelin: Immigrant Song
4. Priestess: Talk To Her: They're Canadian, they make great songs, and they like hockey. Job done...
5. Finger Eleven: Paralyzer: See above. :)
6. Heart: Barracuda: I said there wouldn't be any "hockey standards". I didn't say there wouldn't be any classic rock...
7. Saliva: Ladies and Gentlemen: If you've been to Manchester, you've heard this. It's a perfect hockey song...
8. Fightstar: Deathcar: Just because.
9. Senses Fail: Bite To Break Skin
10. New Year's Day: Sunrise/Sunset
11. Incubus: A Certain Shade of Green
12. Bullet For My Valentine: Hearts Burst Into Fire
13. Avenged Sevenfold: Beast and the Harlot
14. Dragonforce: Valley of the Damned
15. Arch Enemy: Revolution Begins
16. Pantera: Walk
17. Rage Against the Machine: Killing in the Name Of
18. Drowning Pool: Bodies
19. Paramore: Emergency
20. Blink 182: Dammit

There you go...proper hockey music. :)

That's your Thursday Thoughts...tomorrow is all Nottingham, all the time as we preview the biggest weekend of the season...it's EIHL playoff finals time...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Midweek Musings...

This time round, in something of a short post thanks to being in the midweek news doldrums, we simply consider a few more rumours and watch a lot of flying teddy bears...

Rumour time again...
The rumour mill hasn't yet got into high gear (although I shall be keeping my ears open now that I'm going to the playoff weekend after all) but there are still a few curious ones floating around, with one of the hottest topics for speculation just who the Blaze are targeting to replace Neal Martin...

Ben Storey to Coventry: This is yet another Martin-related rumour-the 6'0 200lb Canadian, who won Player of the Week for his performance in the playoff quarterfinals yesterday, is the latest player linked with Martin's vacant "offensive defenceman" slot on the Blaze blue-line.

Sean Blanchard to Coventry: This is getting silly. The ex-London Knight is another who has been linked with the Blaze, as well as his ex-Knight team-mate (and Dan Carlson's linemate at Munich) Rich Bronilla-both are fine offensive d-men who would equal if not better Martin's ability at this level...of the two I'd probably prefer Blanchard because he's three years younger (and indeed round about the same age Martin was when he joined) and has an absolute cannon of a slapshot...

Steve Thornton to Belfast: Despite rumbles from Bisonland that he wants to stay down south, there are persistent mutters linking Thornton with the vacant coaches' job at the Giants left by Ed Courtenay's departure. As someone who played at the Odyssey already in his time in the ISL (although his one season in Belfast, like the previous season in London, was cut short by injury after becoming he became a legend in Cardiff in the preceding seasons)...He's the right age to maybe consider a move into coaching, and Belfast isn't a bad opportunity...

Todd Jackson and Colin Shields to Belfast: Two of the Vipers' best players to make the trip across the Irish Sea? Well, Shields has won a title there before...

Jeff Hutchins to Edinburgh: Four teams in four years since coming to Britain? It could happen, as Hutchins is apparently good friends with Caps coach Doug Christensen, and would make a decent second-line forward to complement the skill of some of the young Scots...

Scott Basiuk to Sheffield: A rumour floating around the Phoenix forum and indeed picked up upon on Steeltalk...Basiuk appears to have split the Phoenix faithful in his year as captain, judging by the forums, with some rating him a must-sign for next season and others ambivalent as to whether he stays or goes. He's also yet another one linked with Coventry...

That's the best of the ones floating around today (at least those that are believable)...

And finally...

Heads up!...There's not really any words I can append to this video clip apart to simply say...in the field of being tossers, there is no way any fans of the EIHL can compete with those in Calgary...(and yes, I include the Blaze in that*)

(*view copyright rest of the EIHL, 2005)

Tomorrow we prepare for the playoff weekend with the ultimate hockey music CD (well, at least one of my many versions of it) and have a look at whether development of the few or enjoyment of the many is more important in junior hockey...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Tuesday Thoughts: Crank Up the Rumour Mill...

Nice try...Sheffield and Manchester both posted press releases on their official sites this morning about Tony Hand signing as an emergency replacement for the Steelers which were just plausible enough that the hockey world was bracing itself in anticipation of a Panther-led forum meltdown...however, it was of course one of the many spoof stories which tend to float around round about April 1st. However, doesn't it say something about the way British hockey is run that even such a made-up rule as "if a player in the GB squad gets injured before the playoffs, they can be replaced by another GB player" seems like something the league would come up with?

And carrying the pride of Great Britain are...at least three Canadians, including one who's said he'll play for his club instead of GB if they make the playoff finals. But at least there are more young players-here's the final squad and a bit of analysis...

Goalies
Stevie Lyle
Stephen Murphy
Steve Fone

Personally, I'd have taken Mark Lee rather than Fone as the third goalie, given that the third-goalie spot in itself is essentially giving someone a free holiday in Austria with the national squad and meant purely to gain experience....and yes, that's even allowing for Fone's performances up in Manchester recently, mainly because the ex-Viper has actually been playing regularly rather than warming the bench, and a 92% save percentage in the EPL isn't anything to be sniffed at...after all, Joe Watkins is still mentioned as among the best British goalies despite disappearing off Elite teams radar. Lee has also actually played in (as opposed to dressed for) more EIHL games in his career, for a save percentage of 91.2. But there we are.

Defencemen

Kyle Horne
Leigh Jamieson
Shane Johnson
James Pease
Dave Phillips
Graeme Walton
Tom Watkins
Jonathan Weaver

Another crop that makes sense-with the possible exception of a player benched by his coach (who also happens to be the GB coach) in the past few weeks-that player being James Pease-particularly when you've got players like Leigh Jamieson and Ben O'Connor missing out. However, we know Pease can play-it just seems that his coach hasn't thought he has been doing so sufficiently well recently.

Forwards

Greg Chambers
David Clarke
Gary Clarke
Russell Cowley
David Longstaff
Matt Myers
Greg Owen
Jonathan Phillips
Nathan Rempel
Colin Shields
Ashley Tait
Matt Towe

Are these the best 12 Brit-eligible forwards currently playing? I think so-with the possible exception of Nathan Rempel. Not because of his skill-level, which is undeniable, but because his commitment seems questionable, given that he's reportedly said he'll play for Peterborough if they make the EPL finals, which start at exactly the same time as the Worlds begin. If this is the case, is he really going to play in the warm-up game against Sweden and risk injury-would his place not be better going to one of the players who narrowly missed out but are fully committed to the cause, such as Bison's Greg Wood?

Verdict: It's a safe squad, full of safe, steady picks, which I suppose is what we should have expected. It'll need a fair few lucky bounces for the team to do more than finish mid-table and actually make the world championship, but hey, it's April Fool's day, so anything is possible, right?

Rumour time!: The silly season has begun, with rumours of teams rising, falling, players travelling left right and centre and all sorts...here are the best thus far:

Tyson Teplitsky to Coventry: Yes, please. As a replacement for Neal Martin you can't get better in this league-the Devil is a superb offensive defenseman. Whether it'll actually happen is questionable, though-Teplitsky reportedly loves playing in Cardiff. However, the Blaze would be foolish if they didn't at least enquire about the Canadian's availability...

Joe Tallari to Sheffield/Nottingham/Coventry: After a 50-goal season it's perhaps inevitable that the Ontarian will be linked with every team going. No-one can deny he's lit up the league this season and would be a great capture for any side...however, any bid will have to fight a Manchester bid which won't be as far off in terms of cash now that the new wage-cap regulations have arrived.

Jake Riddle to Newcastle: Finesse is not Riddle's strong point and he does like to have a ruck....oh, wait, perfect fit...:) Plus, he has managed to pot 22 goals on a frankly awful Hull side, along with 247 penalty minutes-he'd make a good replacement for Andre Payette or Derek Campbell if either of them were to leave. Coincidentally...

Derek Campbell to Coventry: Please. The Viper is very much a Marmite figure in Coventry-but 65 points isn't a bad return for an agitator, and there's no question he could do a job and add a few teeth to the lineup. His EIHL stats, believe it or not, are comparable to Curtis Huppe until this season despite spending more time in the penalty box this season (232 minutes) than Huppe has done in his four seasons here (216 cumulative minutes), so he's not bad at putting goals away in this league either...

Goalie wise, there's not much occurring yet aside from Trevor Koenig supposedly heading for Japan and Wade Flaherty (long-time NHL backup) joining the Giants next season-although at the age of 40 he would seem to be a little advanced in years...

At least Askey's pics are real people...After the Frankengoalie debate yesterday, Peter Budaj's mask was mentioned as another cracker worthy of being used if we extended the mask criteria beyond the EIHL. All I can say is...okilie-dokilie...

That's your Tuesday Thoughts...we'll have more tomorrow...

Until then, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Playoff Double Overtime and more Frankenstein-ness...

In some sports, .500 is considered truly great-it's still better than Hull's record...Two out of four in my playoff predictions isn't too bad, even if one of them is a "safe" pick in putting Coventry through. What did stand out this weekend, looking at the scores, is just how close 1st to 8th in the league were, with three quarter-finals being settled by a single aggregate goal (Newcastle v Belfast only by a penalty shootout) and Coventry going through against Edinburgh by virtue of two single-goal wins, including one in an absolutely storming game at the Skydome last night which was well worthy of the occasion.
Notable facts from the weekend...

This will be only the second playoff finals at the NIC at which the Panthers will not appear, thanks to their loss to the Cardiff Devils.
Cardiff are now the only team to have made every single EIHL playoff weekend.
Edinburgh, Hull and Basingstoke are still the only three teams never to have made an EIHL final weekend, although Hull are the only team never to have made even the quarter finals.
Jason Stone, Neil Francis, Gerard Adams and Dion Darling are the only four players to have made every EIHL playoff weekend-Stone and Francis with the Devils and Adams and Darling with the Devils and Steelers.

Moment of the weekend from the games that I saw was a full-on war of a fight between Adam Calder and Martin Cingel, with the Capital landing the first punch but Calder throwing a few absolute bombs to win the scrap.

So, the playoff semis are set...Coventry face Newcastle and Sheffield face Cardiff-a full preview of the weekend will of course follow later in the week, but at the moment, and based on their respective records this season, could you pick a winner from that bunch?

Frankenhockey II: Nettie's Revenge: After my playing Frankenstein with the EIHL on Friday, Adam in Manchester (he of the epic statistical analysis of my points system and a regular correspondent) asked me two questions-the first one being why I hadn't picked Brett Clouthier as the frame to put everything in rather than Brad Cruikshank. This was one of those moments where you read it and go "oh, (insert rude word here), how did I miss him?"-I'm thus taking a mulligan on the body and transplanting all the abilities from Cruikshank to Clouthier-just because it's my blog and I can. However, since I'm a big fan of the Basingstoke captain's gritty style of play, I'm still trying to work out a way to get him in there somewhere-if there was a "second Frankenhockey team", then a part of him would be on it as backup to the monster we've already created...
The second question Adam asks is "where's the Frankengoalie?" which is such a great idea I've just got to do it now...the criteria will be slightly different and perhaps much more subjective, but so be it...meet the most terrifying thing that ever graced a goalie crease (with the possible exception of Jody Lehman's Fanta-orange pads of a season ago)...

Mask: And so we begin with the most subjective (and purely visual) part-the helmet. This year has been a bit of a poor one for paint-related hi-jinks, with several goalies going with the boring "plain-white". However, there's still been a few gaudy masks out there-in the end it comes down to a straight choice between the big-cat themes of Phil Osaer and Curtis Cruickshank and the sentimental family-ness of Tom Askey. Given that the Devils goalie has somehow managed to combine a leaping panther, a US road sign and palm-trees on his mask and not have it turn into a complete disaster, he should win...although I have a personal preference for Askey's just because I'm amazed that someone would consider painting a picture of your family on something which regularly has objects fired at it at great speed a demonstration of your love for them. But fair play to him nevertheless for doing something a little different...

Head: This is a curious one, as all goalies in the EIHL have at times this season appeared to have been rattled by players either scoring on them or having the odd dig. If Trevor Koenig didn't react like a hysterical mourner at an Arab funeral every time someone made the slightest contact with him, then perhaps he'd lead this one simply through consistency. However, we take Askey's head to fit inside his own mask simply for the way his calmness at the back after the histrionics of Rastislav Rovnianek earlier in the season has had such an effect on the Panthers defence.

Glove: If Jody Lehman could stop anything fired above his waist on the glove-side, then maybe he'd take this one. Since he appears to have a problem doing that, though...this one goes to Phil Osaer, although Askey, Koenig and Ryan MacDonald all run him close...

Pads: Tricky one, this, as every EIHL goalie can give up some horrific rebounds-Scott Fankhouser in particular stood out early in the season as every pad save he made at the Skydome seemed to go straight back out in front and miss a Blaze forward's stick by inches-although he's improved as the season's gone on and it's become less noticeable. Trevor Koenig seems to be pretty adept at getting a pad on a shot without it ricocheting straight back out in front, as does Tom Askey, but the Vipers take this one-if he's on his game Ryan Macdonald seems to almost will his pads onto the puck, and can drop ridiculously quickly to shut his five-hole when needed. The main problem for the Vipers is that, too often, his head seems to wander.

Blocker: It's the usual suspects again-Askey, Koenig, MacDonald, Osaer, Cruickshank. If I had to pick this one it would probably be Koenig, but the EIHL is all much of a muchness on the stick-side, so any one of those five could get in there...

Stick: Puck-moving wise, it's either Koenig or Lehman...I would probably take Jody over Trevor simply because he's scored in the EIHL

Disclaimer: I freely admit that, when it comes to goalies, I'm not the greatest in assessing ability, although I do have the theory that Ryan MacDonald could be a superb goalie in this league now he's had a season...

That's your review for Monday...tomorrow we'll round up the rumours already flying around the league and perhaps have some more Frankenfun...keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Playoff Round the Rinks and More...

Today we preview the remaining three playoff matchups (Sheffield v Manchester was previewed yesterday) and unleash our inner Mary Shelley as we build the ultimate EIHL player...

Playoff Preview: And so here we go, beginning with the England v Scotland battle that nearly didn't happen...for a preview of the Sheffield/Manchester quarter-final starting tonight, see yesterdays post...

Edinburgh v Coventry
Key players: Colin Hemingway (Edinburgh), JF Perras (Edinburgh) and Dan Carlson (Coventry): If the Capitals are to pull off a shock, every player needs to be on top of their game, but none more so than their talismanic top scorer and their starting goalie. Perras will face a lot of rubber over the two days, Hemingway will not get many chances, and both need to take their chances to shine when they come, whether it be that vital save that could change the tie or that one half-chance which could win it. Meanwhile, Dan Carlson needs to supply the ammunition for the Blaze scorers against a team who will be only too aware of his creative ability and will send out players like Adam Stefishen attempting to check him into next week every time he gets the puck...

Key to the game: Winning the 50/50 pucks. This is a game that pits two fast-skating teams against each other in a fast-paced, intense battle where no player will want to give any quarter and neither team (particularly the Caps) has anything to lose by attempting to go out and win the game rather than sitting back-with the battle for every loose puck a dogfight in itself, the team that holds possession for longer will be able to control the game and dictate the pace and flow-a crucial advantage in hockey

Verdict: Over two legs, I think the Blaze will just about prevail, but don't rule Edinburgh out-the Scots deserve to be in the playoffs and, with all the pressure on their opponents, can go out and play without fear both in front of their partisan Murrayfield crowd and on the trip down south the following day.

Cardiff v Nottingham
Key players: Brad Voth (Cardiff) and Sean McAslan (Nottingham): These two will see a lot of other this weekend as the teams they captain do battle, as the Panthers' top scorer and the Devils' chief physical threat each attempt to impose their style of play on the other. When he's in the mood Voth is possibly the most effective power-forward in British hockey, and can force players out of the game with his physical presence. McAslan, meanwhile, can win games by himself thanks to his lethal goalscoring ability, and is the player who sets the tone for the Panthers' attack.

Key to the game: The goalies. Both Tom Askey and Phil Osaer are game-winners in their own right when on form, and with both teams being about equal in ability when all players are present, they'll both be facing high-powered attacks with several of the top forwards in the league-the one that blinks first will lose.

Verdict: Panthers to nick this one and go through to defend their title on home ice...

Belfast v Newcastle
Key players: Peter Campbell (Belfast) and Derek Campbell (Newcastle); Two players with the same surname, but different styles of play. Peter is the Giants' top goalscorer and sniper who is at home firing lightning one-timers past goalies, Derek is more likely to throw a hit and force a d-man to cough up the puck for someone else to put away or bang home a rebound from six inches at the third attempt, while being cross-checked in the back by a defenceman. However, they're both vitally important to their respective teams style of play, and in a matchup which will be 120 minutes of all-out physical war they'll need to use their strengths to the full to give their sides a chance of prevailing...

Key to the game: Winning the physical battle. Both teams have players who don't exactly shy away from the rough stuff, and with playoff hockey racking up the ante even further, hits, sticks and elbows are sure to be flying every time the puck goes into a corner or someone sets up in front of the net. Whichever team shies away from this will give their opponents a crucial advantage both psychologically and in terms of scoring chances...

Verdict: I reckon the Vipers will prevail in this one, as long as they keep their heads and don't give Belfast any free powerplays, which will give the Northern Irish side a chance to unleash their attacking talent.

Both the Edinburgh/Coventry and Belfast/Newcastle games are being webcast from Murrayfield and the Odyssey respectively on Saturday night-details are available on the Giants and Capitals websites...

Now we depart from the playoffs briefly....

Frankenhockey!: Perhaps this is a topic more suited for Halloween, but I saw a version of it on another site (although done for the NHL) and thought it was simply too good to waste. What we do is imagine you can split each player in the EIHL into parts, and then we put them together, Frankenstein style, to create the ultimate EIHL player. Be warned-he could be an ugly beast...


Legs: Neal Martin (Coventry): The sweetest skater in the league, bar none. It's been said many times that he goes faster backwards than many EIHL players go forwards, with good reason. "Effortless" isn't adequate enough to describe just how easy he makes travelling where he needs to go look-it's more like he simply teleports himself from one end of the rink to the other...


Hands: Dan Tessier (Sheffield): Love him or hate him, the little Steeler can pass through the eye of a needle when the mood takes him. And hit a team-mate's tape in full stride every time. You may hear Blaze fans say Dan Carlson is a better passer, but it's not for nothing that the Blaze were one of many teams that went after him in January, with only wage demands getting in the way of a move to the Midlands...


Wrists: Curtis Huppe (Coventry): Snap, crackle, goal. There are many players with great wristshots in the league, but Huppe has made a livelihood out of his ever since he came to Britain. Barrie Moore runs him very close, as does Ashley Tait, but there's a reason I used to panic whenever I saw the puck heading for a lurking Huppe in front of the Blaze's goal...Now, you see the Skydome rise in anticipation when he receives a pass in front of the net...


Eyes: Dan Carlson (Coventry)/Tony Hand (Manchester) (tie): Tessier may make the flashy passes, but these two see the killer pass even before their intended receiver does, and are still calm enough to put it right on the tape, every single time...


Mouth: Ryan Finnerty (Sheffield): Yap, yap, yap. When the Canadian centre in the teal and orange is on his game, there are no better wind-up merchants in the league, except perhaps Danny Stewart (Coventry version). Playing the game with equal parts nastiness and signalling victory in the psychological war with a wolfish grin or two, he's one of those players who's an absolute nightmare to play against, but a dream to play with...


Arms and shoulders: Tyson Teplitsky (Cardiff): For every wrist-shot, you need a slapshot, and the Devil wearing #18 has an absolute beauty stored in his shoulders. Generally viewed as one of the best offensive d-men in the league (were it not for Neal Martin, he'd probably be the best alongside Corey Neilson)-if he catches a shot just right, then just pray it doesn't hit you, cause you ain't getting out of the way in time...


Head: Luke Stauffacher (Manchester)/Danny Stewart (Coventry) (tie): If you could put pure intensity into human form, than it would probably play like these two the moment it stepped onto a ice-rink. They're both among the smallest in the league (Stewart is 5'9 and 175lbs, Stauffacher even smaller at 5'8 and 168lbs) but if there's dirty work to be done, these two will be the first steaming into harms way as fast as they can go. Both of them have a pretty mean scoring touch when called upon, as well...


Heart: Brad Voth (Cardiff)/Sylvain Cloutier (Coventry) (tie): Both of these players are poster boys for just how a captain should be-they lead by example, back-up their team-mates and play every game at a hundred miles an hour. You want commitment? How about playing three months with a ruptured stomach muscle, as Cloutier did, or being the first player to throw a hit or drop the gloves when needed, as Voth does so often in his role as heart and soul of the Devils?


Temper: Derek Campbell (Newcastle): The Canadian plays every game right on the edge of sanity, throwing hits left right and centre but (rarely) crossing the line into illegality. But if called upon to drop the gloves, he's always willing, and simply gets on with the job when the dust settles, win or lose the fight...


Body: Brad Cruikshank (Basingstoke): You need a frame to put all these parts in, and you could do far worse than the Bison captain-at 5'10 and 207lbs of British Columbian muscle, it's just about the perfect combination of width and height-as anyone who has seen Cruikshank use his body as a ballistic object to rattle the teeth of an opposition defenceman will testify...

That's your Round the Rinks for today...good luck to your team in the playoff quarters, enjoy the weekend and as always, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Thursday Thoughts and IceTunes...

And so here we go again, into a post where I give just another way to tell I'm not a Panthers fan, preview the first playoff tie (I refuse to call it a "series" when it's just two flipping games) and rock your ears with some IceTunes...

In fairness, it's easy to confuse him with any other slow d-man, of which the Panthers have had a few: In my team-by-team scouting mission on Tuesday, I mention one of the main weaknesses of the Panthers being Robert Stancok's pace. Of course, being a muppet I forgot that he has, in fact, been de-registered (pointed out by a reader on Tuesday) and Eric Nelson and Jon Coleman (both upgrades on the Lumberjack Slovak) have shorn up the Big Cats' blue-line in recent weeks. This vexes me a) because it's the kind of error I thought I'd stopped making and b) because I'm still trying to work out how I could have overlooked someone who chooses to wear a small animal on his bottom lip as a fashion statement...Somehow I don't think the puck bunnies will be hanging round Mr Nelson at the playoffs...

Playoff fever...catch it!: In the style of an American movie announcer, let's introduce the Sheffield/Manchester playoff series...
Two counties with a history of war. All season, their hockey teams have fought hard with one weekend in Nottingham in mind. Now, they meet over one weekend, and only one will survive. Starring Dave Matsos, Tony Hand, Joe Tallari, Dan Tessier and an all-star supporting cast in hockey's War of the Roses, this is...Sheffield Steelers vs Manchester Phoenix II: The Playoffs. Opens March 28th...
Phew, that hurt the old throat...Now let's compare them both...

Key players: Jeff MacMillan (Phoenix) and Dan Tessier (Steelers)
On the surface, these two couldn't be more different-one is a big stay-at-home d-man and one a feisty little magician of a forward. When you bear in mind, however, that Dan Tessier will be looking to feed Joey Talbot on one side and Jeff Legue on the other whenever he gets the chance, however, and that MacMillan will be the man tasked with shutting him down, you see just how key the ex-Dallas Star is to Phoenix's success in this quarter-final...and also just how dangerous that Steelers top line is. This is before you factor in the second line of Finnerty, Phillips and Tait.

Key to the game: Defence, defence, and defence. With both teams having players who can step up and score when needed, this is a matchup where the blueliners will need to be alert for every second of the (at least) 120 minutes of play in this series. If the Phoenix can stop the Steelers' snipers, then it takes some of the pressure to keep scoring off Joe Tallari, Luke Stauffacher et al, which is a good thing because they'll have more than enough on their hands finding a way even once or twice through a Steelers defence which has a player who should have been a first-team All-Star in Steve Munn and several other under-rated d-men in itself. Meanwhile, if the Steelers shut down Tallari and company, it gives free creative rein to Tessier and friends at the other end.

Verdict: I can see a shock here...it will require some stellar play from the underdogs but, the longer they keep the Steelers out, the more chance the Phoenix will have...I take them to win (just) over the two legs, but only if they win at the Hallam tomorrow...

Rock the Rink-it's IceTunes!: After a week away, IceTunes is back with some more recommendations and some (possibly) exciting news...I'm currently looking at producing a Breakaway weekly podcast with a mix of some of the tunes recommended here, other music and, in between, hockey-related chat from me, just to keep you going over the summer weekends...it's only in the very early stages so it may not get up and running until June, but if anyone has any ideas for stuff I could include on it or is already sitting there thinking that they might fancy joining in, then let me know on the email address at right, and we'll see if anything comes out of it...Of course, if any team people out there are reading this and would also fancy appearing or setting up a player appearance on such a show, feel free to let me know also...
Anyway...on to the songs this week (now with youtube links if I can find them)...:)

Bullet for My Valentine: Hearts Burst Into Fire: The new single from the Welsh boys-and probably their most general-audience friendly. Stick this on and you'll set a rocking tone...

boysetsfire: After the Eulogy: I couldn't actually find a decent one of this on Youtube, and it does have a fair bit of swearing in (so don't play it if you don't want your kids to hear it) but this song ree-yocks...:)

Turisas: Rasputin: Put it this way...if anyone hears the intro and expects it to be anything like the Boney M original, they're in for a shock. If you like a smile, and you like a bit of rock, thump this up...loudly..:)

Evanescence: Tourniquet: Another one you'll have to search out because it was just an album track on Fallen. It's worth the effort, though.

Nightwish: Amaranth: I might have already recommended this one somewhere, but it's still worth having...

A Day To Remember: Since You Been Gone: Yes, it may originally have been a Kelly Clarkson song...but this is the version you want...

And finally, in the "let's make more money out of fans with another shirt auction" section...
The playoff shirt designs have finally been released and are available here, thanks to the Panthers website. Personally I can't really see how they look much different to the regular season shirts apart from some piping and maybe a different sleeve colour or two, but hey, if people want to pay inflated prices for a shirt that will be worn a maximum of twice, then so be it...I understand the battle for game-worn season shirts, but not for the whole playoff-shirt thing...after all, it doesn't happen in the NHL...

And there you go...Thursday Thoughts is over for another week. Tomorrow we go Round the Rinks, only in far more detail than usual as we preview the three remaining playoff quarter-finals, and there's a few extra little tidbits in there as well...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Midweek Musings, or Points of Contention...

Be warned...long post coming up as we round up the news floating around British hockey, but first of all (and this is the bulk of the post...:))

It appears my "points" system suggested yesterday needs something of a rethink in order to work properly, to put it mildly...it's one of those things that seemed fine to me but independent eyes have noticed several (well, actually far more) flaws with it, and haven't exactly been shy in telling me so. :) Rather than send out a similar email twice, I'll post what these people have said here and attempt to answer the problems-trouble is that some of them I will likely find tricky without a major overhaul of the system...the quoted bits are in italics...

Firstly, Craig writes from here in Coventry...
What if say for example Barrie Moore had been scoring at a consistent rate of 30+ a season (which isnt impossible) he'd have started on 7 points (NHLer) and could now be on 11 for next season which if the cumulative for a roster was 100 thats over 10% so not likely that he will be offered a contract, even if he wanted to return.
It's a format that could force players out of clubs and even the country against their will and we'd never see another Steve Chartrand like story.. Is it a moral format? In terms of the small teams having a chance yes, in terms of guys being able to live and work for the employers they want to I dont think so...

All very good points-and they could be easily remedied (on the surface at least) by simply scrapping the "add a point based on performance" section of the system...so unlike my original idea players aren't actually getting penalised for playing well, which will hopefully make it a more moral system and allow for players to stay in the country.

However...when you combine this with the flaws found by Adam up in Manchester, you get a really, really flawed system...He's worked out that at the moment, the top ten points scorers in the league (based on number of points per ranking point) work out thus... (name, points scored, point value under my system, points per ranking point)

Adam Calder 121 5 24.2
Dan Carlson 107 5 21.4
Greg Chambers 95 5 19
Sean McAslan 93 6 15.5
Joe Tallari 92 5 18.4
Ed Courtenay 88 5 17.6
Tony Hand 85 4 21.25
Sylvain Deschatelets 83 5 16.6
Peter Campbell 81 5 16.2
Colin Hemingway 80 6 13.33

Interestingly (but perhaps inevitably given the trend of where players come into the league from) all come into the "5 point" category as ex-ECHLers, with the exception of Colin Hemingway and Sean McAslan (6) and Tony Hand (4). He argues (and I can see his point) that the money spent could actually increase due to players like Tony Hand being able to demand far more money thanks to being a relatively low point consumer whatever their production on the ice, while the current top players and arguably those who've forced the standard of the league up (like McAslan and Hemingway this season) won't be signed because they're simply not worth taking a risk on The system works in the sense that Brits do suddenly become a more valuable part of the roster-however, if they're being paid more then we'll still see the best Brits going to the biggest teams-a point which I was trying to change with the ranking system and I've managed to fail to do so spectacularly...:)

But wait...there's more...

Also, signing someone good from abroad suddenly seems like a very stupid idea. Who would want to sign a 7-rated player (25+ NHL games) unless they were guaranteed about 150 points? (still a worse ranking than the top 2 there - 21.4)

When you look at it like that, you realise that players like Hemingway and Hand, while possibly comparable in ability, would be light-years apart in terms of worth under this system, and Brit wages would be artificially driven upwards, whereas they're likely being paid similar money (proportionate to their respective club's budget) under the system we have now...I suppose you could remedy it by making the categories much broader...make Brits exempt (although that would still lead to money issues) or set the points system simply for imports, divided thus...

College/UHL/CHL: One point
ECHL/Europe: Two points
AHL/NHL: Three points

Then, you set a limit of, say, 20 points for the ten imports, which means that you can either go with a few AHL/NHLers mixed in with ECHL, or ten ECHL/European players, or a load of AHLers mixed with a few lower-level imports. This way, there's not as much of an issue over where players come from compared to productivity (although I accept it's still there) but since you could reasonably expect a player who has played mostly at AHL level to be of a higher standard than an ECHLer, I think it's a little fairer on the ratings side. No doubt there are still flaws, so that system should probably still be put on the back burner...:)

Whilst everyone in the league hates the wage cap situation, I think it is a necessary evil to keep the standard of hockey good enough to keep it going at all. If the big teams are neutered by stopping them spending so much, the smaller teams won't get those big crowds when those teams come to town, and that may force them out of business.

Hold on...someone supporting the wage cap?! But in all seriousness, that argument holds up pretty well-but only assuming that all the wage-cap loopholes are closed by the league-one of the major reasons, in my view, that there is such a disparity in a league where everyone should be spending similar amounts is because the bigger teams simply hand over more money to their stars but don't declare most of it under the cap-e.g
Player A wage: £250 a week (counts towards cap)
Player A's wife receives a position at a sponsor, all worked out through the club and guaranteed for the season: £300 a week (doesn't count under cap, but the income for player A and his family is now £550 a week guaranteed)
Player A uni course paid for by the club: £3000 a year (more incentives in there)
Then you have bonuses etc...which many teams simply can't afford. In my eyes the only way to sort things out is, as people have been screaming for for years, to have an independently audited wage-cap. Trouble is, the owners (who after all run the league) are never going to vote for that because half of them would then be exposed as breaking the agreement they came up with in the first place...

However-he does finish with a point I disagree with...:)

Artificially creating a situation where Brit's are necessary lowers the standard of the league and jeopardises it's future. That's the problem with it how it is isn't it?

Yes...however, I would argue that the example of the Superleague shows just what can happen, in Britain at least, when you allow teams a free market, wage-cap or no wage-cap...the league standard may rise but teams drop like flies as the bigger-budget sides simply throw money at imports. At least imposing a limit on this means that young British players (who will cost far less than an equivalent third-line import) are involved and the wages are just about workable. The main reason I think there are such problems in British hockey at the moment isn't so much because of the import limit as the fact that the one thing intended to ensure a level playing-field has so many holes in it it's untrue-and the teams with the bigger reserves of cash are still simply throwing it at the best players. Given that there is no way you can artificially restrict the wages spent on any one single player without falling foul of employment laws (this was an option I considered for a nanosecond as an answer to Brits being able to demand more money under the import limits).

Although...having just slated the ISL...If the wagecap were enforced properly (yes, I know it's a dream, but bear with me), a return to the no-import-limit days could work-simply because at the moment one of the major reasons for costs rising is British players being able to demand money out of all proportion to their ability. In a "free" market, given the ability to sign an import for £100 a week less of comparable ability to, say, Ashley Tait, wouldn't most teams take it?

One thing I have learned from this exercise is that (shock) a wage-cap, properly enforced, is a far more likely way of ensuring parity in the league than my idea of attempting to regulate the spread of ability throughout the teams-and also a far easier way to encourage a rise in the popularity of hockey thanks to higher standards than artificially regulating it by making more Brits play...and thanks to the hugely impressive efforts of readers like Adam and Craig, you even have the irrefutable proof...:)

Phew...I have a feeling that this discussion may not be over yet, but for now let's finish with the other major news item so far this week...

Bye bye Marty: The EIHL is losing possibly its best defenceman (and British hockey possibly one of its best players ever) as Neal Martin has signed for Aalborg in the Danish league for next season, marking the end of four years in Coventry in which the Canadian has won everything. There's not much more to say than this...

"Neal, you've been a class act both on (and by all accounts off) the ice, it's been a pleasure watching you, and good luck to you and your family"

If British hockey as a whole could speak, then that would be the message...

That epic post (nearly 1,700 words-almost worthy of a uni essay) has just about exhausted me talking about hockey for today...tomorrow we see some Thursday Thoughts, as well as a in-depth preview of the first playoff match-up to get underway in Sheffield v Manchester...

Many thanks to those who've provided the impetus for today's post with their comments, and as always, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Tuesday Thoughts: Strengths, Weaknesses and Speedway

I know what you're thinking. Speedway? We'll come to that later on. First, however...



Know your enemy(ies): With the playoffs beginning this weekend, it's about time for an assessment of each team, I reckon...unleash your inner scout as we size up each contender for the playoff trophy as individuals, and assess just why, at this time of year, every team has a chance...



Coventry: The strengths are obvious...goalscoring, a goalie who stops anything when he's in the mood and a tight defensive unit. The weaknesses, however, are not so, but contrary to what Paul Thompson and friends would like to have you believe, they are there. Give the Blaze the space to play and they'll murder you with speed and slick passing. Sit back and play the trap and they'll find a way around. But go out and hit, check, and bump relentlessly while turning Trevor Koenig's crease into a crowd scene worthy of Piccadilly Circus at rush-hour, and suddenly the gears of the Blaze machine slip just a little-frustrate them and they slip even more. This is why Newcastle have a hundred percent record at the Skydome, and why Edinburgh have a chance with players like Adam Stefishen and Doug Christiansen licking their lips at the thought of a battle which will be won in the dirty war of the low slot and the corners rather than the open spaces of the rink.



Sheffield: Another team with offensive talent to burn, but unlike the Blaze this isn't a team that can be beaten with the sledgehammer approach, thanks to players like Steve Munn and Mark Thomas regularly making the area in front of Jody Lehman's net their own. If anything, the Steeler's main failing is that, if you sit back a little and wait for them to make a mistake, they often will misplace their fifteenth successive pass. However, like the Blaze there are some suspect tempraments-If you can wind up Ryan Finnerty or Steve Munn, then powerplay opportunities will follow-and that's where the goals can come, especially if someone is prepared to take the punishment in front of the Steelers' goal...



Nottingham: The Panthers can score. Often. They come forward relentlessly and zing the puck around looking for that smallest chink in the armour. However, going the other way there are more than a few gaps for the opposition to exploit, particularly if Steve Pelletier has gone on a charge up ice or you can blow past the funereally slow Robert Stancok-and good as Tom Askey is, he can't stop everything...



Belfast: The Giants are a team who should, on paper, be everyone's nightmare opponent. They've got size, smarts, grit and goalscorers to waste. However, reality isn't like that. While the Giants are still a fearsome offensive team when firing, they can often be exploited at the back, particularly if you can get into Stevie Lyle's head with an early goal or shooting high (watch him "duck" at every glove-save if you don't believe me).



Newcastle: The Vipers will hit anything that moves, hard and repeatedly. Their high-pressure game doesn't really have any stand-out offensive or defensive stars (with the possible exception of Ryan Macdonald in goal), but relies on more of a team effort from several very good players-the likes of Todd Jackson, Colin Shields and David Longstaff. Then you have Derek Campbell, who is just as likely to drop the gloves as roof a laser shot from the circles or supply a beautiful pass to a linemate, and the human sandpaper that is Andre Payette. Trouble is, with all of this combustibility, they're easy to frustrate, and if you manage to light the fuses and don't back down, suddenly the powerplay goals start coming...



Cardiff: The Devils are my dark-horse tip for playoff glory. They have equal parts creative skill (Sylvain Deschatelets and Matt Towe), size (Max Birbraer and Phil Hill), scoring (Jason Silverthorn and Matus Petricko) and pure animal intensity (Brad Voth and Neil Francis) on attack. Combine that with the unflappable Jason Stone and the rapier passer that is Tyson Teplitsky providing goals from the blue, and suddenly the Devils look like a seriously tricky opponent. However, this season has very much been a case of "what might have been" for the Devils, with half the team still returning from injury. Rough the Welsh side up a little and, even with Brad Voth ready to dish out some instant justice, they may blanch just a little. Phil Osaer is a goalie who relies very much on confidence, so scoring early may be another way to rattle the Cardiff cage, particularly if you can get a couple and get into his head...

Manchester: The Phoenix are still, for my money, not given the respect they deserve by other fans. Joe Tallari may be grabbing all the headlines but players like Brian Passmore and Luke Stauffacher on offence, Simon Mangos driving forward from the back, and on defence the superb pair of Jeff MacMillan and Scott Basiuk are what make this team tick. Sparkplug Sean Starke may be missing after the recent tragic death of his father from illness (for which the Breakaway sends its condolences), but this will only give his team-mates another reason to go deep into the post-season. However, like Cardiff, they can be rattled when scored on early-peppering Scott Fankhouser and driving the net can cause the odd wobble in the otherwise tight Phoenix defence, particularly if Omar Ennaffati and Simon Mangos have given in to their more attacking impulses...

Edinburgh: And so we come to the Capitals as the last playoff team. Their desire is not in question-you only have to look at the way they fought their way into contention and overhauled Basingstoke to know that. With the power of Adam Stefishen and the goalscoring ability of Colin Hemingway they can play any style, but prefer to play fast and hard, which means that no opposition side will get a chance to rest for a second. Ryan Crane can shoot a mean puck, as can Patrik Luza, while both are good defensively. However, match them hit for hit or shot for shot and they need to rely on JF Perras to keep them in games long enough for Hemingway and co to work their magic at the other end...something which he hasn't always done this season.

So there you go...scouting reports on each of the eight playoff sides. Pick your team's opponent and read up on them...:)

It may not be as easy to get around as a wage cap, but it'll sure as hell make things more interesting...:
Much has been made recently of the new EIHL wage-cap rules, which are expected to be announced shortly. However, the same old complaints keep coming up:

1. It's easy to get around if you know how.
2. The bigger budget teams can still pay for the better players, they'll just have to be more creative to do it under the cap.
3. The owners are never going to enforce it anyway.

So, how do you ensure a competitive league when the owners seem to be sabotaging their own attempts to regulate it based on how much teams are allowed to pay?

I've been following a debate on THF about this, and someone mentioned a "points" system, which set me thinking as it just happens to be used (and used successfully for several years now) in one of my other passions...speedway. (see the link to the title now? :)) Basically, I worked out a way it could be applied to make hockey more competitive and also offset the "budget" advantage which appears to be so prevalent for some teams at the moment, giving the smaller teams more chance to compete. It would work thus...

The EIHL sets a framework of points valuescould rate every player to be signed into say, three to five broad categories of quality, with a points value assigned to each category. My suggestion for the system works like this...

It's actually a very simple system if the league are willing to work out a framework (perhaps based on where the player has spent the majority of their time playing before coming to the UK). Once in the UK you can use performance in that league as a marker.

Every potential signing is given a points value by the league based on the following framework...

• Young player with lower-league/junior experience in Britain: 1 point
• Majority of time in CHL/UHL/college: 2 points
• Experienced Brit (majority of time in lower-league) or young (under 25) Brit with EIHL experience: 3 points
• Experienced Brit (+25) with EIHL experience: 4 points
• Majority of time in ECHL/lower to mid European league (or lower divisions in top European countries): 5 points
• AHL/Top European league: 6 points
• NHL Experience (+25 games): 7 points

In order to make the system fluid and take account of performance, should a player gets +30 goals, +60 points or +91% save percentage in a season, a point gets added to their original rating, and this rating stays with them-if they do it again, another point goes on. If nothing ele it means that EPL players will become more sought after/in with a chance of stepping up in order to make up the rosters, which means more Brits in with a chance of playing at the top level.

Then all you do is set a league-sanctioned limit of, say, 100 cumulative points for a roster (ballpark figure-may be slightly lower), and off you go. It puts more emphasis on recruiting as coaches only have a set amount to play with and thus can't just go out and pay top whack (getting around the cap in whatever way possible) and load up on top talent thanks to a higher budget.

Certainly it would make for a far more interesting and transparent off-season, as all the league has to do is make the point categories publicly available each season, along with players whose rating has changed, and the fans can see exactly where players fit and how close teams are to the maximum...cheating is pretty damn hard to get around when all the information is in the public domain. If it works for speedway, why not hockey?

That's your Tuesday Thoughts dealt with...check back tomorrow for some Midweek Musings and keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Double Overtime, 24th March

And so we bid goodbye to the 2007/08 league season, not with a bang but, in the vast majority of cases, a whimper. There were, however, a few notable results in amongst the end-of-season easing-off that habitually occurs when a team has nothing left to play for...so we'll look at them individually rather than running through the teams...

Sheffield 1, Edinburgh 2: The Capitals made sure that they didn't go down to the last game with this fine win at the Hallam Arena to seal their playoff place a day early, and make a few people in Coventry a little less sure of their chances of making the final weekend while they were at it. Colin Hemingway (who else) was the hero for the Caps, scoring both goals to finish the season on 38, and make Sunday's game against Basingstoke irrelevant. However, irrelevant or not...

Edinburgh 11, Basingstoke 7: Eighteen goals in a game is still notable, especially when two of them are scored by a starting netminder. Curtis Cruickshank ventured forward and played as an outskater in this game, much like Jason Cugnet for the Devils in the playoff third-place game a few seasons ago...by all accounts the game was played in good spirit as the Bison had some fun to finish their season...

Nottingham 2, Manchester 4: In amongst all the end-of-season easing-off, it's refreshing to see a team who genuinely wanted to state their playoff intentions early, and the Phoenix certainly did that with this win at the NIC...

Hull 6, Manchester 2: ...trouble is, it appears that Hull also wanted to prove a point in their last game of the season-it's amazing what you can get out of players when they realise they might be playing for a contract.

Slough 3, Milton Keynes 2: What? An EPL score on what is traditionally an EIHL-centred blog? Yup-but this game was notable not so much for the score but for events that occurred even before the game began. According to reports from those who were at the game, MK's Kurt Irvine went for Slough's Paddy Ward with a stick in the warm-up...and all hell then broke loose, with the police being called and questioning Irvine, Ward and Slough's Nicky Chinn (who had jumped in to defend his team-mate). The incident is currently being investigated, so that's about all the info there is out there at the moment...

Coventry 2, Newcastle 4: Not so much notable for the game itself, which was a typical end-of-season affair, but simply for the fact that this win gives the Vipers a 100% record at the Skydome this season (three league, one exhibition) when playing at full strength, which is a pretty impressive achievement...

That's pretty much all the interest from this weekend, at least as far as the EIHL goes. The EPL playoffs are in full swing, though, and the road to Coventry looks like a tricky one for most teams-there will of course be a preview of the finals weekend in two week's time. First, however, the EIHL playoffs begin, with the quarter-finals all now set thus...

Coventry v Edinburgh
Sheffield v Manchester
Nottingham v Cardiff
Belfast v Newcastle

There will be a preview of each playoff matchup (you can't really call it a "series" when there's only two games) later on in the week. Tomorrow, however, we consider the reaction to the Irvine incident detailed above, assess each EIHL teams' strengths and weaknesses going into the playoffs, and look at the rumours floating around already as the whispers begin to fly around the league...

Until then, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Round the Rinks, March 21st...

And so, the last Round the Rinks of the season begins. And, since all the issues in the EIHL league season are decided apart from the playoff battle, we'll be concentrating heavily on that this time round, not least to avoid me repeating myself eight times when it comes to the team-by-team preview. I know that this concentration on two teams may mildly miff those who don't support either the Bison or the Capitals, but I reckon reading the same thing eight times might annoy them a little more...So, this Round the Rinks is a "playoff battle special"...Two games left. Level on points. Facing each other on Sunday in a game which could well be winner takes all. Which team will prevail?

Before getting down to the nitty-gritty of the Sunday game, let's not forget that both teams have a game on the Saturday-and they're both absolute stinkers at face value, with the Bison facing Coventry at home (and the same opponents for the third time in six days) and Edinburgh travelling to Sheffield. With both the Steelers and Blaze having nothing more to play for than pride, both teams will fancy their chances of getting something out of the games, although as Bison have the advantage of their rabid crowd behind them, facing a team who they've proved they can beat twice before recently, you have to give them the slight edge when it comes to the two teams' chances of gaining an advantage coming into the epic game at Murrayfield the following day...

So, down to the Big One. Scotland vs England, Lothian v Hampshire, Christiansen vs Aldridge...look at it any way you want but the facts don't change. These are the scenarios going into the game depending on the results on Saturday...

Edinburgh win, Basingstoke lose: It comes down to this-Basingstoke have to win in regulation in Murrayfield, with the games between the two teams then being 4-2 in the Bison's favour. Otherwise, the Caps qualify.

Basingstoke win, Edinburgh lose: Capitals need to win in regulation.

Both teams lose/win: Simple. Winner of the game on the Sunday night takes all, no matter whether the win comes in regulation or overtime.

So, who will take the honours?

Why Basingstoke will win: Passion, passion, passion. The players want this, the fans want it, the ownership wants it, and the destiny of their season is in their own hands. Plus. they have some superb players in Danny Stewart, Brad Cruikshank, Greg Chambers and Mikko Purontakanen, who can change a game by themselves if need be. The Bison Ten just keep coming through, so even after their loss in Belfast last night, who's to say they won't again?

Trouble is...

Why Edinburgh will win: The Caps are so, so close. Two months ago a playoff spot was a distant dream-now all they need to do is win on Sunday. Colin Hemingway, Doug Christiansen and Martin Cingel are the major goal threats, with Mike Stutzel and Ryan Crane able to consistently provide the ammunition, and a whole host of young Scots, protected by Adam Stefishen, able to bring the energy which'll ensure the Bison Ten don't get a second to rest.

This battle really could go either way...but I'm going to err on the side of Edinburgh as victors...

Meanwhile, the other teams in the league pan out thus...

Belfast's league season is over, so they have a weekend off.

Cardiff face Newcastle in their only league game of the weekend.

Coventry face Basingstoke and also Newcastle.

Hull play just once, against Manchester.

Nottingham also face the Phoenix in their only game of the weekend.

Sheffield face Edinburgh in their final league game of the season.

On Sunday, Cardiff play Sheffield in a Best of British (read "friendly" game at the WNIR...

The only games really worth keeping your eye on this weekend are the ones involving the playoff battle, with all the other games sure to have something of a "last day at school" feel about them before competition resumes in earnest for the playoffs next weekend...

That's your weekend preview...keep keeping your eye on the puck...



Nottingham face

Value For Money...

Believe it or not, this post has absolutely nothing to do with ticket prices...I've been there and done that to death over the past two days...

Today we return back to events on the ice. With the last weekend of the (league) season this weekend, and no real storylines left apart from the Basingstoke-Edinburgh playoff battle (which looks like a final-day thriller), I've been scratching around somewhat for things to put in that weren't anything to do with ticket prices, how bad Hull are or whatever. And, honestly? I was struggling slightly. Then, like a gift from the blogging gods, came an email from a friend pointing me to this article...and from that came the question...if the Elite League had a Hart Trophy (perhaps we could call it something stupid and made-up-by-a-marketing-panel like Man of Ice MVP award, or something equally sponsored and cringeworthy)-one which fans could actually nominate for as opposed to "let's pick the top-scorers/personal favourites", then what would be the Elite League's equivalent of Alex Ovechkin v Evgeni Malkin, and who would you pick? Indeed, who would you pick in Ovie v Malks?

I have to declare bias here...at least in the NHL battle. I've loved watching Malkin play ever since I was lucky enough to see him play live for Russia just before the Olympics-and when he ended up being drafted by my NHL team...well, that was my favourite NHLer sorted for the next fifteen years or so. However, ask a lot of casual fans and they will find it hard to look past the otherworldly scoring ability of Ovechkin when naming the best NHL player currently out there, with Malkin playing second-fiddle to the phenomenon that is Sidney Crosby, even on his own team. However, I still think the article makes a pretty good MVP case for the Penguin over the Capital...

In the UK, meanwhile, the nominees for the MVP award are...

Adam Calder (Coventry)
Colin Hemingway (Edinburgh)
Joe Tallari (Manchester)

Leaving aside the fact that I think the MVP award should have more than three candidates (maybe five) and that I really can't work out how on earth Sylvain Deschatelets and/or Joey Talbot didn't get nominated, never mind Steve Munn or Sean McAslan...surely there's no way the panel just looked at the top scorer's list in the league and ended up picking the three they like best, is there?...

Candidate by candidate...

Adam Calder: 100+points, title-winning team...top scorer, etc, etc. But MVP of the league? He isn't even MVP of his team. Maybe being fed by one of the top five centres in the league helps a little when it comes to scoring, as does playing on a team loaded with offensive talent, being on the ice whatever the situation on all the top lines, and being in the team solely as a goalscorer...In fact, Calds is the Ovechkin of the Elite League...everything on the team is geared towards utilising his (admittedly huge) goalscoring talent as often as humanly possible. And for those reasons, the MVP award, while easy to justify, probably wouldn't be fair in this situation...

Joe Tallari: Now I love watching this guy. If he were on the Blaze roster you could probably add another ten goals to his already huge total...he's absolutely superb and has been the standout player in Manchester this season by a fair distance.
Trouble is, you can use the same arguments against an MVP award for the Phoenix player as you can for his Blaze rival (except for the "team loaded with offensive talent" one). Even allowing for the fact that in Britain players can't be one-dimensional (and neither Tallari or Calder are-both are damn good hockey players), the fact that they're both the focal point of their team's offence means that, although Tallari finishes just ahead of Calder in the voting thanks to the Phoenix suffering more if he were out of the line-up than the Blaze missing Calder, they both lose out by the width of a gnat's wing to the player who should be your league MVP based on the available choices...

Colin Hemingway: Without Hemingway in their side, the Caps finish bottom. No question. 36+36 on a team who've been last-but-one in the league all season (15 more goals than the next-nearest Cap) is an awesome performance. Plus, he's great to watch, standing out with moments like this in the Capital's chase for the playoffs. The Caps will face a real fight to keep him at season's end...

So, there you go...tomorrow we have the last Round the Rinks of the 07/08 league season...check back and keep keeping your eye on the puck...