"Your last words to me: "tonight's the night..." But redemption is harder than it looks" Aiden: "Die Romantic"
Here we are for another Monday evening, after a weekend that saw distressing rumours, some high calibre hockey, a bit of McMorrow Muppetry and...oh yes, a Steelers-Panthers game too, just in case you missed it (which was considerably easier to do than previous years-both teams have appeared to work out that British hockey as a whole isn't THAT interested in what these two have to snipe at each other after all)...
Let's dive straight in. And, for the first time this season, we'll try and get the Cardiff scores right.
"It's a tragedy, the like of which we've never seen. You must mourn, sir. Don't you see? You must mourn!": That Red Dwarf quote was referring to the end of a few thousand boxes of curry, but this weekend saw the end of something else seemingly inconsequential until you actually notice it's not there any more: Vipers Eastern European star Matej Kralj's scoring streak against British hockey teams is over, after a ten-game run, as he was held pointless in both their 6-3 loss to Coventry and their 2-0 win over Sheffield.
In fairness, though, even the win was somewhat overshadowed...: by a horrific-sounding incident involving Jeff Hutchins. The Steelers player was hit (cleanly, by all accounts) by Ryan Mahrle on Sunday night, and cracked his head hard off the ice as he went down. Reports had him suffering everything from a "mere" concussion to swallowing his tongue and needing an emergency tracheotomy...it appears that these were exagerrated and the Steelers centre, while bruised and reportedly severely concussed after spending 15 minutes unconscious, has now been given the all clear by doctors to leave hospital. Even though Hutchins is not popular with opposition fans as a hockey player, you never want to wish that on a fellow human being. The Breakaway sends best wishes for his recovery...
The reaction is fair enough-but you'd think SOMEONE would have noticed: Somewhat more impressive/worrying is the fact that all four of the other Steelers players on the ice were so keen to go after Mahrle that they reportedly skated straight past the unconscious body of their team-mate in order to do so. Righteous anger or a slight lack of team bonding...you decide.
See-saw goes up..: Four more points for the surging Nottingham Panthers mean that they're giving their fans more than the usual potentially-false hope this season with their 5-2 win in the Hallam Arena on Saturday night and pulling out a gritty win in Hull on Sunday...
See-saw goes down:...conversely, the gloom only deepens for their Sheffield rivals, as dropping attendances and a lacklustre start to the season mean that it's grim up north at the moment...
And, while we're on the subject:...you'd be forgiven, if you're a Blaze fan, for not knowing which team is going to turn up, as the perennial title-chasers from the Skydome once again won one away before losing one at home...
And, in the War of the Muppets: it seems that Sean McMorrow can take the moral high-ground-his Belfast team won 6-2 against Andrew Sharp's Edinburgh, with McMorrow himself reportedly dismantling Sharp in a scrap-there must be footage of this somewhere...
Sheffield and Nottingham-take note: In more Gardiner Cup action, the reports of the Toronto Marlies-Hamilton Bulldogs final are glowing-apparently this is a rivalry built more on hatred than hype thanks to the Toronto/Montreal rivalry of their "affiliated" NHL clubs-and the game well and truly reflected this. And we didn't have to suffer ten days of posturing in the build-up, either.
"They don't give points for artistic impression": One of the quotes of the weekend is at left, in response to a Blaze fan friend of mine bemoaning Cardiff's physical play and classic exhibition of shutdown hockey which saw them beat Coventry 6-4 on Sunday night-it perfectly sums up the way Cardiff won. Ugly, but, judging by the reactions of Devils fans, oh-so-sweet.
Maybe it did calm down a bit after all:: Finally, a quick look at the Cardiff-Hull game on Saturday-a 4-1 win for the Devils which was considerably quieter than the same fixture two weeks ago. Whether it'll stay that way is something we'll see throughout the coming season...
Very simple tonight cause I know it's late...the Gardiner Cup will be dealt with in a seperate post, probably on Sunday. Here's your weekend in two minutes:
SATURDAY
Newcastle v Coventry: This one is interesting-mainly because, up until now, the new-look Vipers have proved themselves the equal of most of the traditional powers in the league, while Coventry, one of those powers, have, whatever their fans may tell you, looked somewhat less than convincing-a team of great individual skill who just aren't quite moulding to the level that, perhaps, previous teams have. The Vipers, meanwhile, have bonded like chewing-gum to the sole of your best shoes-quickly and strongly. This game will be a game which, depending on the result, will send several different messages out to the league-and for that reason, it's worth keeping an eye on.
Cardiff v Hull:And so the rivalry resumes with the dust barely settled from the last time these two met at the bay, and more bad blood than you'll ever see in the whole Twilight saga. And unlike the uncannily-popular fantasy series, there'll be no pussy-footing around and long soulful stares at each other from these two characters-they'll just leap straight for each others' throats and hang on tight.
Sheffield v Nottingham: Oh, look, it's the second instalment of "the biggest rivalry in Europe". But stifle your yawns if you're not a fan of either team, because this is an intriguing meeting which may show more than ever if the balance between these two has shifted in the other direction this season, with Nottingham setting the early pace and Sheffield having what, for them, has been a seriously lacklustre season opening. With bragging rights well and truly on the line, let's see which team wants it more this time out...
SUNDAY
Edinburgh v Belfast: Time was, you could predict this result as a Giants win with no real problems. However, this season...not a chance. This one could genuinely go either way-the Caps, even missing Doug Christiansen, look like they could be a match for a Giants side that gave a five-goal headstart to the Blaze last weekend in their own rink, before disposing of Hull with minimal fuss in midweek-which Giants will turn up this time?
Coventry v Cardiff: The second-biggest rivalry in the EIHL starts again, as the Devils make their second trip to the Skydome looking to avenge the defeat in pre-season. This time, points are on the line, after all, and the Devils are back to near-full strength, only missing the suspended Brad Voth, although they may possibly be missing a few through injury. It'll be a hard-fought game, however, and if the Devils can nick a win, then they'll be up on cloud-nine, while the Blaze will plunge down again as their fans get restless...
Hull v Nottingham: The Stingrays won this one last time out. The Panthers will fancy their chances at revenge, however, thanks to suspensions and injuries-it could be a long night for Tommy Sandahl in the Stingrays net...
Newcastle v Sheffield:Another home-game for the Vipers, who'll be facing either a euphoric and fired-up Steelers side fresh off a victory against their rivals, or a team thirsty for revenge and wanting to get back on track. Either way, they'll be a tough and willing opponent against a team who will (hopefully) have been pushed hard against Coventry the night before. These are the kind of games, even in September, where you start to see the emerging character of a team-if the Vipers take a four-point weekend this weekend, then the MRA can rightly begin to gain the tag "Geordie Fortress". We shall see...
There you go-a lightning weekend preview...
AND FINALLY....
For those of you who follow the EPL, but can't make your team's game, there's now a live-score service at www.eplupdates.co.uk, which launched last week to hardly any fanfare but great success (over 200 people becoming fans on facebook in the first week). It's well worth a look...so have a nosey by clicking here.
"You know, a heart of gold won't take you all the way"
Papa Roach: "Lifeline"
And so, in we go for another review of a weekend which had some fun, rivalries renewed, and a statement of intent from north of the border...
So, that one hasn't calmed down some after all, then: Sheffield and Cardiff shared the honours in a fiery double-header, roughing penalties a-plenty and a scrap between Matt Towe and Jeff Hutchins on Saturday in Cardiff's win being followed by a niggly game on Sunday which saw the Steelers come out on top, although with somewhat more ease than the 5-4 penalty shot win the Devils came away with on the Saturday, mainly thanks to a superb Jeff Legue hat-trick in their 6-3 victory.
Meanwhile, in Coventry, Thommo is on his bench, and all's right with the world again:...thanks to a two-win weekend for the Blaze, although they did their level best to let Belfast back into the game on Saturday, much to the chagrin of the crowd watching the live stream in Crosby's back at the Skydome-Pat Bateman scoring a hat-trick in a losing effort has to be one of the efforts of the weekend. That was followed on Sunday by a hard-fought 4-2 win against Hull on Sunday which saw the Blaze huff, puff and eventually blow the Stingrays house down, although as we'll see, that came with a bit of luck...
The scoreboard only says that you score, not how you score them..: a fact which Blaze forward Joe Henry will be more than grateful for this morning, after his man-of-the-match performance (an award which would have been well deserved even without his score) was capped off by probably the easiest goal he or any Blaze forward ever score, as a shot from Weaver hit Tommy Sandahl's pads, then Henry's skate as he was already turning away looking for the rebound, and dribbled in without either player knowing a huge amount about it. It was also the game-winning goal, which means that, somewhere, the hockey gods have a sense of humour sometimes...
As far as season openers go, that's one of the better ones they've ever had: Edinburgh finally entered the fray this weekend, and started off with a two--hatrick performance (Scott McKenzie and Simon Lambert the men having dream debuts) and three more for good measure as they tanked Hull 9-2. Owen Fussey and Chris Allen also opened their accounts, while Darius Pliskauskas hit the other. However...
Wince of the Week: Doug Christiansen-one game, one slightly misjudged check, one shattered kneecap and a damaged pelvis to boot. Ouch. Best wishes to one of the more likeable big, nasty power forwards of the British game as well as a fast-improving coach-let's hope that this doesn't derail a promising Caps season...
But then, they didn't do badly without him: On Sunday night, however, the Caps very nearly pulled off a win that would have really put the Cap amongst the pigeons, losing 4-3 to Nottingham in overtime thanks to Jade Galbraith, after Owen Fussey had pulled it back from 3-1 to 3-3 with two unanswered third-period strikes. Murrayfield will not be a nice place to go this year if you're playing for the opposition, it seems.
He's still going, people: Matej Kralj continues his scoring run-he didn't hit the net himself against Belfast after scoring the night before, but he did get himself an assist to extend his point-streak another weekend...and his run against British teams too...However, the Vipers themselves only earned themselves two points from a possible four, after another hot player, Jade Galbraith, led Nottingham to a 4-3 win in Saturday's top-of-the-table clash.
Well, it seems he's trying so far: Jade Galbraith, points-scoring leader with 6+6 from six games...not a bad way to convince your crowd that you're making an effort this time...
And, just for those who thought he was losing his touch: A quick drop to the EPL shows a Manchester result of 7-4 against Basingstoke. A close, but fairly unremarkable scoreline in the course of the season-until you bear in mind that four of the Phoenix's goals were scored by one man, that man had had one training session and been in the country 24 hours, and barely knew what his new team-mates looked like, with the possible exception of two...
And people said that Ed Courtenay would take a while to adjust to playing hockey again. Be afraid, EPL goalies. Be very afraid.
That's your weekend reviewed...apologies it's a little late...
"To the game and getting out of this hick town! Thank God there's a sport for middle-sized white boys..."
Patrick Swayze as Derek Sutton, in "Youngblood"
It would, frankly, be remiss of me not to start this column without mentioning the death of Patrick Swayze, not because I'm a closet Dirty Dancing fan or anything like that, but because one of his finest moments is in one of the best bad films ever, and naturally, it's about hockey. "Youngblood" is one of those films every hockey player has seen, every fan has probably seen, and every one of them can fire a quote off where necessary (the only hockey film which comes close to the original Slap Shot for this.) It's interesting, though, that it's held in such high esteem that people forget how horrific it is if you're watching it with any semblance of having your brain engaged.
Why? It has Rob Loweas a superstar junior forward, Swayze as the "mentor who gets viciously taken out for the big emotional/serious/provide a villain" bit, Keanu Reeves as a French-Canadian nettie (that sentence is in italics, just because it's hands-down funny to think about). Oh, and the plot runs something like:
superstar American hockey junior goes to play in Canada, gets beaten the crap out of at camp but makes it due to his skills, making an enemy of the headcase who beats him up (who by the way, will return later). Then there's much "normal" season stuff, sex etc, before the team make the finals and superstar's best mate gets his career ended by the headcase (costing him an NHL draft place in the process), who just happens to have signed for the team that Lowe meets in the finals. Lowe runs off, finds it inside himself to fight and somehow becomes a snarling power-forward in two days, comes back for the final game, scores twice (including one slow-motion goal to equalise in the final ten seconds of the final game, in which he goes twice around the net without being hit once, even though he's been being abused the rest of the game), and then, five seconds later, is tripped by the headcase on a breakaway, and scores a penalty shot to win the title. Oh, and just to top it off, rather than celebrate the win of a national championship, he instead has a stick-fight with said head-case, and beats the crap out of him, before disappearing with the girlfriend. Who's the coach's daughter.
And Swayze was a massive part of it. As well as Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Point Break, Roadhouse and the best movie of the Cold War era, Red Dawn.
His death after a long fight with cancer is far too soon. R.I.P, Derek Sutton.
And, seamlessly linking to the weekend preview-let's use the best-known Youngblood quote to get things going...if you don't know which bit this is from, you need to broaden your knowledge of the culture of this great game, cause it's been shouted at rinks all over the world ever since the movie came out in 1986, and any true hockey fan knows exactly in which situation to use it...
"Ya wanna go, pretty boy?"
Hell yeah. It's preview time...here's your EIHL weekend...
DOUBLE HEADERS
Cardiff v Sheffield: Am I the only one thinking these two games could get a little feisty? After all, we all know what happened last season between these two teams, and the dust has barely settled from last weeks Battle of the Big Blue Tent in South Wales...you can bet that neither side will back down, so it wouldn't surprise me if on Monday morning we're speaking about a fair bit of controversy as Sheffield try to get themselves up and running and Cardiff try to keep the momentum ticking over...
SATURDAY
Hull v Edinburgh: Hey, the Capitals are here! Thanks for turning up, lads...fashionably late as always...but seriously, this game will be an interesting one for the entire league, being the first sight of Phase 3 of the Christensen Revolution. With players like Owen Fussey, nettie Cody Rudkowsky and Chris Allen all new to the UK and all highly-touted due to their pedigree, it'll be interesting to see just what happens against another team going through something of a revolution in the Stingrays...
Belfast v Coventry: Live on Giants TV if you can't make it over there, this is a game which the Blaze need to win, not only to get themselves going but also to calm their jittery fanbase down a little-Blaze fans as a whole panic early and are always llooking for ways to run their team down amongst themselves on forums, so the last thing you want to do is give them any ammunition...
Nottingham v Newcastle: Revenge is the key for the Panthers in this one, after losing up in Newcastle last week. But far more than that, a win will keep their excellent start to the season going, while one for the Vipers will make even more people sit up and take notice of the North-Easterners. Of course, if you're a neutral there's always the sub-plot of "can Matej Kralj keep his scoring run going" to keep you amused also...
SUNDAY
Coventry v Hull: Sylvain Cloutier returns to his old stomping ground, but if he leads his Stingrays team to a win, then the welcome will never be quite as warm again-particularly if the Pissed-Off Plaice have the same approach to winning friends and influencing people as they did in Cardiff. If the Blaze win, meanwhile, then even a loss against Belfast may be, if not forgiven, at least temporarily forgotten...
Edinburgh v Nottingham: The Caps open at home against the Panthers...two free-wheeling teams meet in a game which will show, even this early in the season, if the Scots have made another leap forward from last season, or whether they still have some work to do...
Newcastle v Belfast: The Vipers keep having to prove themselves too...Nottingham last weekend is followed by the Giants this weekend, with the Metro Radio Arena crowd hoping for the Vipers to be on the winning side again. Another four point weekend and we may have to start taking all Rob Wilson's pre-season rhetoric about a more skilful approach much more seriously. Meanwhile, if the Giants don't take at least two points from the weekend, it'll be something of a surprise-especially as their defensive unit is looking like it could be one of the better ones this season...
There's your weekend set out in full...now roll on Saturday and let's get on with the best two days of the hockey week...
To never tell the truth But the reality is, I'm getting away with murder"
Papa Roach: "Getting Away With Murder"
In we go on some midweek musings...starting with Cardiff v Hull:
And so, for those of us who wondered what all the fuss is about:...and with thanks to the F-Block Blog for the original posting (I don't think it's footage they took due to the Welsh accents close by, but fair play to GS for finding it), here is the Battle of the Big Blue Tent, in (almost) full...it starts just as the scrap between Brad Voth and Adam Knight that kicked the whole thing off is ending:
Several interesting points about this...
Firstly, Adam Knight heads directly for Brad Voth after getting off the ice (1:00 or so in) and they go for each other behind the benches (although that fight's screen by the Cardiff players hopping up onto their bench)...although given that there were travesty penalties handed out left right and centre, we can consider that one dealt with...
However, more interestingly, you can clearly see Curtis Huppe (Hull's #93) launch a stick into the Devils bench with some considerable force, hitting Tylor Michel, before hopping down off the bench (1:19 into the clip)...and somehow, he gets away with it...
Sylvain Cloutier then tries to get through both doors, being held on the ice on one side and blocked by Mark Richardson on the other. Max Birbraer is throwing punches over the plexi (left hand side, next to Devils #25, Phil Hill, around 1:54), and several Devils players nip round the back of the plexi to back Voth up...Adam Knight, meanwhile, has disappeared, as has half the Hull bench...eventually, though, it all calms down...
To my eyes...Huppe is gone for a while, as are Knight and Voth. The scrum on the ice isn't helped by Adam Knight challenging the Cardiff bench at the start of the clip too...however, given that Voth has a 12-game suspended ban handed over him after Sheffield screamed that he was a big, evil nasty man who can sucker-punch a player (Randy Dagenais) while the player being punched is staring at him, it'll be interesting to see how bad things get...
Meanwhile, in the more "legal" side of physical play: It's interesting how, this season, there appears to be a more of an edge to games...roughing penalties seem to be more and more frequent, and yet we're not seeing such "legal" epic moments as a perfectly-executed hip-check as often...indeed, there's currently a thread on THF asking if the hip-check is dead...
So, is hitting down, or are the referees just calling hits that are perfectly clean, I wonder?
And, in today's commercial/linky spot: You should know by now that, if the Breakaway finds a blog it likes, it'll plug it. The latest one, and yet another from Manchester, is The Triple Deke...more of a factual stop for EPL news than a "giggle in your lunch hour at bad British hockey jokes" one, perhaps unsurprising given that the writer, Kyle, is an aspiring journalist, it provides the Nine O'Clock News counterpart to Five Minute Major's "Mock The Week" take on the Phoenix scene (FMJ's "Idiot's Guide to the EPL" is a fine series all by itself, whatever league you're in, by the way)...if you're the kind who likes attempting to shoehorn Manchester hockey blogs into a category, that is.
Also...The Angry Budgie now does college football too, although sadly, it's the Florida Gators...but don't let that stop you...it's worth a read if you like the American version of football too...
Slightly further north and west, we have The Outpost, which is already legendary thanks to Kez setting Belfast fan forums into an apocalyptic rage with some forthright views on the Elite League...have a read. I'm not saying I support either side in the argument, but it's kind of like watching a bear fight a pack of dogs...the dogs keep coming, and still the bear keeps fighting them off with a style and wit all of its own...
The Giants Webcast is back!: Also, if you can't make the trip to Belfast...Giants TV is back! And now with an all-new look, broadcasting Giants games live over the web for those who can't travel. You can find all the info here-shiny, isn't it? First game is this weekend's clash with, coincidentally, Coventry...
I know this post is a bit, well, chaotic, but this is mainly due to waiting for the EIHL to sort itself out over the Battle of the Blue Tent so we can have some real news to report...
Luckily, they have some sort of time limit on doing so thanks to games continuing this weekend, so I await news with bated breath, especially as the Stingrays (or Pissed-Off-Plaice as someone up here nicknamed them the other day) are in Coventry this Sunday...
If you're very lucky, there will be a new Frozen Dreams in the next few days...otherwise, its Round the Rinks time on Friday...and possibly reaction to the EIHL disciplinary board decisions, if we're lucky enough to get them publicised...
"When there's no-one left to fight Boys like him don't shine so bright Soon as i see the dusk settle He's out on the town trying to find trouble" Jamie T: "Sticks and Stones"
Well, that was a weekend and a half, wasn't it? Especially if you were in Hull or Cardiff. Saying that, though, there were a couple of tasty games outside of those England-Wales hostilities, the like of which probably haven't been seen in Cardiff since two quite important men by the name of Henry IV and Owain Glyndŵr, and their respective mates, had a mild disagreement over who ruled the country in the 1400's...
However, that all comes later-let's look at the other games first. The calm before the storm, if you will...
It's the end of the world as we know it!...:...well, at least you'd believe it that way if you have a gander at the Blaze forums-the Coventrians have (shock) started the season with two losses, both against Nottingham...the win against Sheffield has been all but forgotten and if you believe the forums, Corey Neilson, dressed in full hockey kit, has already gone galloping through the city centre on a pale horse with three of his mates.
God only knows how bad it'll get if Blaze lose, say, three in a row. I'm already getting in the tinned food and preparing for the widespread panic in the streets outside the Skydome. RUN FOR THE HILLS!*
(*note to those Coventry fans, and there are a lot of them, who take every word said about their team literally. I may or may not have been exaggerating the upcoming apocalypse. No, really.)
Just imagine...if you'd stayed awake for ninety more seconds, Steelers...: The Sheffield v Belfast double-header produced some of the best actual hockey of the weekend, at least in terms of closeness, with both teams nicking two points in each others' barns. Saturday saw the Steelers win on penalty-shots after a 2-2 draw after sixty-five minutes, and Sunday looked to see them cruising the same way, 2-1 up thanks to goals from Joe Talbot and Randy Dagenais, with ninety seconds to go...
If you're a Steelers fan, or Kevin Reiter, or indeed any other Steelers player, look away now.
Belfast proceeded to score three goals within a minute, including an empty-netter, in order to take the game 4-2, and they did it with the same line. Surely three goals for the same line (or four-fifths of the same line) in one shift, within the space of sixty seconds is a feat which hasn't been done often, if ever. The Hot Line in question was Tim Cook-Mike Jacobsen-Evan Cheverie-George Awada-Craig Peacock, with Colin Shields also getting in on the act for the empty-netter...I assume he got lucky on a line-change or something...
Either way, that's a hell of a feat, and if you're a Giants fan you must have just about come back down to earth now. If you're a Steelers fan, you're probably still wondering where your two points went, because that is a bona-fide smash-and-grab raid, right there...and ensures that the Giants take a three-point weekend when the Steelers should have taken four...
What's that crash? Oh...it's just the Panthers fans coming back to earth: The Panthers bandwagon hit its first jolt on the way up North on Sunday, meanwhile, as Newcastle, a team many have tipped to finish last, did them over, 5-3. All the scoring by the Vipers was done by two players, with Mike Berry scoring a hat-trick...
We're now officially into "how long can he keep this going" territory:...and Matej Kralj continuing his "score at least once in every game he plays against another British team" (if you'd kept up, you'd know why I'd highlighted "British") run going with another two. That makes Coventry, Cardiff, and Nottingham so far...not a bad first three...
In fairness, they probably just sneaked him in in Dominic D'Amour's underpants bag: Meanwhile, back onto Nottingham, they've raised something of a furore by signing Johan Molin to cover for the injured Kevin Bergin and, well, not telling anyone until he stepped onto the ice for warm-up on Saturday night. It's amusing to read the "how dare they" comments when you bear in mind that a) any other team, including the Blaze, would do the same thing if they could, especially if a player as skilful as the little Swede were the player in question, and b) it's not that easy to do anyway, so everyone must have collectively been looking the other way.
Nottingham, for re-signing one of your biggest stars and also managing to keep the return of one of the most skilful players in the league a complete secret, the Breakaway salutes you. Good work.
(now don't do it again or people from Coventry and probably Sheffield will be upset and throw their dummies out the pram, conveniently forgetting that the rules allow them to do it to, should they wish, and that's not nice).
And now...the main attraction of the evening...
"Wow, that escalated quickly"...: With apologies to fans of Anchorman, it seems that the Hull-Cardiff games were the place to be if you wanted to see anything out of the ordinary (who whispered "what, Hull winning a game?" at the back there? Behave yourselves-Rick Strachan's gone now) this weekend. Saturday night in Hull, a game the Stingrays won 4-2, was tasty enough, with lots of chippy little moments, but on Sunday...well...
What does 284 combined penalty minutes, including four players thrown out (Adam Knight for Hull, Scott Romfo, Brad Voth and Mike Hartwick for Cardiff) and a whole lorryload of Devils fans condemning Hull as "thugs" on forums tell you?
It must have been "interesting".
According to match reports, Brad Voth and Adam Knight went at it behind the benches (Knight trying to tear out plexi to use as a weapon if you believe the more hysterical ones) after being thrown out, Curtis Huppe fired his stick javelin-style into the Devils bench, which was apparently unprovoked* *(by anything other than the minor fact that Max Birbraer was waving his stick around the benches at head height, but not with any intent, obviously) and Scott Romfo and Mike Hartwick, for their part, went bat-doo-doo crazy, as did Sylvain Cloutier. And it was all sparked due to a vicious hit on Jeff Glowa earlier in the game, an act which apparently wasn't settled in sufficiently violent fashion at the time...
We'll have to keep an eye on this to see what penalties are handed out, but it appears that the Devils don't half like stoking up rivalries with teams up Yorkshire way early in a season, they've got form for this, after all. Remember Randy Dagenais, Jay Latulippe and Andrew Sharp?
"Well, I don't know where I'm going, but I sure am getting there..." Five For Fighting: "Easy Tonight"
It's still early in the season, but the EIHL is now properly off and running, and with the other leagues starting this weekend, it's not just EIHL fans that can finally say that hockey is, officially, back...the doors are closed, the seat-belt signs are off and we're settled in for the long ride to either Nottingham or Coventry in April.
It seems I've still got a bit of summer rust to get rid of, though, as the errors keep continuing...Cardiff v Newcastle was in fact a double-header at the Metro Radio/Telewest/whoever the sponsor is this week Arena, rather than one at each rink...
Let's hope that I get this preview a bit better, shall we? Checked, re-checked and then checked again for luck (much like a player meeting Jason Robinson in front of the opposition net) it's time for this week's lightning skate Round the Rinks...
DOUBLE-HEADERS
Hull v Cardiff: Two teams who both hope to reach the next level this season meet in an early battle for position on the greasy pole which teams have to climb to the top of the EIHL-with the Stingrays starting with a loss and the Devils splitting a pair of one-goal games up in Newcastle, both need that little extra boost, even this early in the season, that a win will give. People say that early-season results aren't a barometer of success as a whole, with many a side starting well and dropping off (or starting badly and roaring back into contention late on) but try telling the players that-this pair of games could be looked back on as making the difference in position between the two sides come April, and so you can bet that two evenly-matched teams will go at it hammer and tongs on both nights...
Sheffield v Belfast: For fear of being compared to Dave Simms, I'm not going to use the "clash of the titans" angle on this double-header...however, it can't be denied that these two teams will expect to be challenging for the title come April. For that reason, games like this take on a special importance this early in the season-no matter what the competition, the psychological boost that can be gained by beating one of your major rivals is valuable whatever point in the season it comes-a four-point weekend for either of these teams will go a long way to reducing any apprehension they may feel playing the other, as well as putting doubt into the minds of their vanquished opponents...
SATURDAY
Nottingham v Coventry: Speaking of doubt-the Blaze will be heading to Nottingham in a combative frame of mind, looking to avenge the loss at the Skydome last Sunday-they need to bounce back quickly otherwise, even this early in the season, the whispers will begin among the Skydome crowd. Nottingham, meanwhile, are on something of a run at the moment and will be hoping that their four-pointer last weekend can be built on in front of their home crowd-beating two of your major rivals, one of them twice, in the space of a week has to be a good way to start the season and stop the butterflies...
SUNDAY
Newcastle v Nottingham: This game, meanwhile, is one that has traditionally been exactly the type of game the Panthers will stumble in. The Vipers are a different team to any that have previously come out of the Geordie homeland in the past few years, and the question is whether Nottingham (who somehow rehabilitated Michel Robinson's career last season) can win these games as well as the big ones-something which has held them back in recent seasons. This game won't go a long way to finding out, but if they win it may allay a few more of the doubts among the more cynical of the Nottingham faithful...
"But if it wasn't for you, We wouldn't have all these multiple crowds. How am I supposed to choose, which one I belong to?" I Set My Friends on Fire: "Things That Rhyme With Orange" I have something of a problem at the moment. I'm contemplating one of the (supposedly) most unforgivable sins in sports fandom, which is supporting two sports teams, playing the same sport, in the same country. Perhaps my only saving grace is that they're not in the same league.
You may have noticed, reading back over the past two seasons (yes, there must be one of you out there who's followed it that long-believe it or not the Breakaway is now into its third full season) that I have something of a soft-spot for the Manchester Phoenix. This is partly due to the fact that the Breakaway is good friends with several Manchester blogs, not least Five Minute Major, and partly due to the fact that, as I've written several times, the Phoenix seem like the ideal template for running a hockey club, and partly because...well, I just like them.
Obviously, with Manchester and Coventry both being in the same league, there is no way up until now that I could have been a fan of both, and Coventry won for fairly obvious reasons...but now, unless you've been under a rock for the past few months, you'll have noticed that the Phoenix have moved to the EPL. And signed a former Blaze player, none other than Andre Payette, while the Blaze have signed ex-Phoenix Luke Fulghum (personally, I reckon we in Coventry got by far the better end of the deal, but there we are)...
And so, as of now, I'm declaring myself openly...coming out, if you will.
My teams in Britain are Coventry Blaze and, as of now, officially at least, Manchester Phoenix. And thus, expect to see a bit more EPL content, or at least links to it, on here as I keep an eye on them from afar...
A perfect season was never an option, but to fail at the first weekend just smacks of carelessness: In other news, I have to apologise to the whole of Wales. Especially the portion of South Wales that watches hockey.
After Monday's post I received a very polite email from Gareth Jenkins, a regular reader and Devils fan who, after saying some very nice things about the blog in general (which I won't reproduce here as modesty forbids, but thank him for), points out that I made several errors in both Friday's and Monday's posts...not least completely forgetting that Cardiff was in Wales.
The full list of errors I'd somehow managed to make and now will correct are:
a) Getting the day wrong of Newcastle's 5-4 win against Cardiff (this occurred on Sunday, not Saturday) b) Completely omitting any mention in either Round the Rinks or Double Overtime of Cardiff facing Newcastle at the Big Blue Tent on Saturday night (a game which, by the way, the Devils won 4-3 on penalties, so you'd have thought it was a pretty difficult game to miss)
and finally, in possibly the only EIHL error more horrific this weekend then Kevin St.Pierre letting in a goal from the opposite blue against Coventry, in the Sky game...
c) I said that Matej Kralj had scored against every "English" team he ever played against (the word should, of course, have been "British" or, avoiding offending national pride at all, "from the EIHL".
Many thanks to Gareth for not immediately organising a Welsh lynch-mob in order to come raging up to Coventry and show me the error of my ways (in fairness, it would have probably been deserved if he had done), but instead very nicely and calmly pointing out that I'd relocated the Welsh capital on the other side of the Severn Estuary as well as completely ignored the opening game of one of the Blaze's biggest rivals in my preview...I apologise to the Devils and their crowd and shall attempt to avoid making such amateur errors in future...:)
And that, short but sweet, is your Midweek Musings...
"we are, we are the shaken (shaken) we are the monsters (monsters) underneath your bed"
Matchbook Romance: "Monsters"
Now the regular season has officially begun, a few home truths have landed already as all the foibles that are hidden during the bright, glittery performances of the pre-season-and several of the teams haven't even played yet...so let's have a few reflections on the opening season as we look back at the opening weekend of the 2009/10 season proper...it might be a bit shorter than usual due to there only being six-games...
Chicken Little is a Coventry native: Saturday night's win against the Steelers thanks to a Greg Owen hat-trick saw the pre-season optimism in the West Midlands rise to ever greater heights, and going two-nil up against Nottingham inside ten minutes (including an absolutely horrific error from Kevin St Pierre for the second, in front of the Sky cameras as well-watch the coverage on Friday night for just how bad) only fuelled it even more. The four unanswered goals from Nottingham, on the other hand, punctured it like the last forlorn beach-ball of summer being popped with a pin. Even Adam Calder's crisp finish with two minutes to go didn't really help things much, and as the Panthers fans, travelling in some force due to the fact that they haven't become ridiculously bitter and disillusioned with their team yet this season, celebrated wildly at the sight of an empy netter, the moans were already beginning. "No defence. Toothless third line. Lack of effort...Help! The sky is falling. THE SKY IS FALLING!"
Even milk left out in the desert heat doesn't turn as quickly as some in the Skydome crowd. You get the sense that this team may be the kind that has Blaze fans doing so many U-turns they'll make themselves dizzy...
How to (apparently) win friends and influence people, Sean McMorrow style: Much has been written over the summer over Sean McMorrow, the Giants' new enforcer-but surely he must be the first player to actually (or hopefully, otherwise he really is stupider than even his most violent critics would give him credit for) attract an imposter on Facebook. A Sean McMorrow facebook page bearing his picture reportedly bore a status this morning of "Belfast suck ass, Nottingham are going to own the league this season" and continued with derogatory references to team-mate Mark Morrison. Given both the poor grammar and the poor spelling on this, it appears this is a (very, very) bad attempt to discredit him...although nice to see that the Panthers fans are, seemingly, not all the highly moral, upstanding bunch who can be found complaining at length on the Cage Forum about the behaviour of opposition fans. Usually after they've lost, or visited Coventry, for whom they reserve hatred even beyond that of Sheffield...
Meanwhile, on the ice: The Giants won one, lost one, being brushed aside by Nottingham on Saturday before squeaking past Hull on Sunday night...and have provoked Dave Simms, who saw neither game, to pipe up already that they have no chance of winning anything due to having a British goalie. I'm not sure the Giants should be written off just yet...
Snake-bite. Now not just a way to ruin Guinness:...but a headline that may be used more than once to describe a Vipers game. They beat Cardiff 5-4 on Saturday night, with Jason Tejchma having a dream debut and scoring twice, David Longstaff getting two more and Matej Kralj also getting off to a fine start in Vipers colours, continuing his run of scoring against every English team he's ever played against. The Devils contributed fully to the game themselves, but were just squeezed out...We'll see whether this one is a false dawn or not as the season progresses.
Panthers...well, they've started well at least...: No-one can deny that Nottingham looked very good indeed this weekend...against Coventry they took the early punches, blinked, and then went throught the Blaze time and again like a hot knife through butter. Many, many times. Marty Gascon in particular quietly stood out amongst the bells and whistles of his more illustrious team-mates, and could be one to watch throughout the rest of the season...
There you go...that's a streamlined view of the streamline opening weekend...
"Over the top, over the top... Right now it's killing time..." Bullet For My Valentine: "Scream, Aim, Fire"
"And here we go, life's waiting to begin Life's waiting to begin" Angels and Airwaves: "The Adventure"
I couldn't choose between an optimistic and menacing tone to set for the opening weekend of the season with the song lyrics at the beginning, as I liked them both...so in the end I thought you might as well have both...
It's a slightly fragmented start to the season, as only five games are taking place over the weekend (only two on Sunday), but three of them are stormers-let's look at the fixtures:
SATURDAY
Newcastle v Cardiff: The Vipers open against the Devils in what will be a tricky test for their opening game of the season-the two teams look to be playing a similar hard-working, gritty style this season, and you can bet that any Rob Wilson team, however widespread the denials, will never be far away if there's any rough-stuff taking place. Obviously, this early in the season, results are perhaps not a true barometer of teams' pedigree, but with the Vipers fanbase jaded from several seasons of mediocrity, their home team need to make a splash early, and given that the Devils will be one of their major competitors in the rush to break into the upper reaches of the table, both teams will be aware of the need to set a marker down as quickly as possible.
Sheffield v Coventry: Stormer number one of the weekend-last season's top two renew early acquaintances after sharing the honours in preseason play. The Blaze have looked impressive so far, but the Steelers are a team known for coming together as soon as things start to become important, and now have defensive rock Kevin Bolibruck in the country, a player who they lacked visibly in the preseason meetings. They more than any other team know that a Blaze win will send a message to the rest of the league that the champions aren't invincible this time round, while the Blaze know that if they win in the Hallam tonight and then beat Nottingham tomorrow (more of which game shortly) that will fire a very loud and very accurate warning shot across the bows of the good ship Elite League...
Nottingham v Belfast: Stormer number two. The league's two self-proclaimed offensive powerhouses meet in the NIC, in the Elite League equivalent of a pissing contest-full of sound, fury and boasting about firepower. However, there is a serious side to it-because both teams need to prove that their defences are up to keeping the offences of the rivals out-and taking on a huge offensive test in their first competetive games aren't a bad way to send comforting messages...
SUNDAY
Coventry v Nottingham: Stormer number three. There is no love lost between these two clubs after the "Team Hollywood" furore of last season, and the fanbases share what is, shall we say, a cordial dislike of each other. The pair of them are two of the most powerful teams in the EIHL, and, every time they meet, sparks fly. With both teams having possibly the toughest possible opening weekends they could (or at least the second-toughest), they will both know that this game, even early in the season, can go a long way to ensuring their Challenge Cup qualification...
Hull v Belfast: This one, meanwhile, is important for completely different reasons. With the Stingrays fanbase buzzing with a new hope after Sylvain Cloutier's summer recruitment drive has left his team looking stronger than it has done for several season, they will be looking at games like this one as games to savour rather than games to simply survive-especially as two points are looking far more of a possibility than for the Stingrays of yesteryear...the Giants, depending on the result of the game the night before, will either want to bounce back from a nasty loss or continue the momentum of a morale-boosting win in the NIC...
"And this is the smile, that I've never shown before
Somebody shake me
Cause I, I must be sleeping"
Staind: "So FarAway"
As you may be able to tell if you've kept up with the story up until now, most of the major hockey moments in my life have happened in front of only a few thousand people, and pretty much all of them have involved the Blaze. However, we're going to step away from them now-in fact, they will play absolutely no part in this story beyond this point, except perhaps a brief background reference.
There have been some great moments in my hockey-watching life which haven't involved the Blaze or, in some cases, British teams-watching Evgeni Malkin playing live for Russia before he joined Pittsburgh, as the Russians warmed up for the Turin Olympics with a match against Germany at the Kolnarena while I was over there, supporting Germany and then taking part in an unofficial Germany-Russia street hockey game as (probably) the lone British import on the German side, through the concourses of Cologne-Deutz station, over a main road and back, streaming over the pedestrian footpath on the main Hohenzollern railway bridge (basically, the equivalent of a few players taking over Tower Bridge to shoot a puck or two) and out onto the banks of the Rhine, with the teams at about 300-a-side, anything from beer-cans to tennis balls being used as pucks and seeing a paralytically drunk Russian hurl himself full-length to stop a flying beer-can shot by one of his mates going through the window of a moving tram, for example (he stopped the shot and the traffic). Playing another game during the World Cup in Cologne main square which turned into a weird hybrid of football and hockey with a bunch of chanting Swedes, Poles, and Portugese was another one.
Or, closer to home, jamming home a loose puck from all of about six inches out in an empty Skydome to finally score a goal in a competitive game at my home rink-even though the place was empty, it was a rec game and only the players saw it, I still went ballistic in an outpouring of joy which included a weird "up on one leg, cocking a shotgun and firing" hybrid of a celebration (one I still use in the unlikely event of scoring) and had to be held up by a linemate as I nearly went over backwards.
All not bad nominees for "greatest moment", but surely my greatest hockey memory has to involve the Blaze, right?
Does it hell.
The greatest moment of my hockey life was this: Bill Lindsay scoring the overtime winner for Cologne against Dusseldorf in game 4 of the 2005/06 DEL playoff semi-finals.
A bit of background here: I'd moved to Germany at the beginning of that season, and Cologne were my nearest team. Being alone abroad, and having not really found that many friends at uni, the weekly train-journey from Aachen to Cologne, then the underground from Hauptbahnhof to Deutz, followed by the walk up the steps to purchase a ticket at the ticket window, became something of a ritual...it was bringing something of home with me, even if the colours and language were different. It helped that I made friends with a fair few Haie fans thanks to being able to speak fluent German, and given that I was becoming seriously disillusioned with British hockey (a process which just got worse when I came back, as you saw in part III), the Haie became more and more important to me.
I started watching games over there as a neutral, but got sucked in as the Haie (or Sharks, if you prefer English) began to band behind the killer instinct of Slovak sniper extraordinaire Ivan Ciernik, the blossoming young goalie Thomas Greiss (who is now in the San Jose Sharks system) and the crafty veterans Dave Mcllwain, Brad Schlegel and Alex Hicks (to the point where, when they came over to Coventry to play the Blaze as part of the Ahearne Cup, I supported the Sharks for that game just because it felt right due to various issues I had with the Blaze's treatment of me over certain things) and then came my first KEC-DEG game.
DEG are Dusseldorf Metro Stars, and anyone who's been anywhere near Germany knows that the rivalry between the two great Rheinland cities of Cologne and Dusseldorf, standing half-an-hour's journey from each other on the banks of the Rhein, is possibly one of the fiercest city-to-city battles in Europe. Think Manchester and Liverpool, only tripled...Dusseldorf is the capital of the state of Rheinland-Westfalen, while Cologne is the economic powerhouse and one of the culture capitals of Germany-it's the beautiful classical maiden to Dusseldorf's rugby-playing powerhouse of a modern businessman. Hatred of the other city isn't learned in the inhabitants of these two towns-it's fed to babies with their mother's milk. The Haie-Metrostars games are known as the "Rheinderby" and if you think the hype over each Sheffield-Nottingham game is bad, then look away-these games are bloodless wars on and off the ice-you get the sense that, as long as these games are won, any poor season can be forgiven.
It was the most unbelievable atmosphere I've ever experienced...words simply can't do it justice. Imagine the atmosphere at the EIHL Playoff Finals just before the first game, then multiply it by 17,000, and you've got the Koelnarena on derby day.
Now imagine that in playoff time (German playoff series are "best-of-five"), with the Haie 2-1 down and having to win to keep their season alive, and 17,000 people, including a thousand or so from just up the Rhein, holding their breath as the puck drops and hoping for the result to go their way.
What followed was 70 minutes of the greatest hockey I've ever seen. Bar none.
Cologne scored first through Alex Hicks, who had already announced his retirement at the end of the season.-every shift could now be his last, and boy, could you tell by the way he leapt high into the air in celebration as the puck hit the net. The first period ended 1-0 Cologne, before the momentum went back the other way as DEG pressure told, Chris Ferraro scored and the game was once again balanced on a knife edge. A blast from Stephane Julien moments later restored the home advantage, before the script went badly, badly wrong.
First, Hicks earned himself a game misconduct for a viciously hard hit on DEG's Alex Sulzer, which was not noticeably harder than any of the others flying in (every collision was a board-rattler that night), but was judged to be from behind-and so from now on, the continuation of his career rested on his team-mates. And they seemed to wilt under the pressure-Klaus Kathan and Andy Schneider, both German internationals, scoring in quick succesion with a bullet wrister and a rebound respectively to leave the Haie 20 minutes from elimination.
The third period was horrifically tense. First, elation as Eduard Lewandowski tipped in a Mcllwain pass to equalise. Then, despair as DEG were awarded a penalty shot thanks to a Metrostar being hauled down on a breakaway-the silence when Craig Johnson scored was bottomless-the celebrating DEG fans one tier above my place in the terracing behind the goal he scored it sounded like the laughter of ghosts in a deserted mansion.
The clock ticked, with the roaring of the Haie crowd ceaseless, like the thundering of a hurricane-tossed sea, but becoming tinted with more and more desperation...the clock ticked past 59 minutes, and people were praying in the stands...
Then, the puck went into the DEG zone yet again as the waves of red charged forward one last time, bounced, found the stick of Brad Schlegel, and was propelled like a rocket into Trefilov's pads-it came out and the hopes of a city sat on the stick of Bill Lindsay as he found himself with an inch of space and got to the puck just as goalie Andrei Trefilov dived...and poked it home.
Bedlam. Utter, total, complete bedlam. The ghosts across the river in the cathedral must have stirred in their sleep at the roar of complete, mindless joy which nearly lifted the roof off the Koelnarena. We were going to overtime...
A season resting on every pass, every shot, every check. You don't know the tension until you've lived it, and I did that night...when Lewandowski broke away, the air seemed to be sucked out of the rink as the crowd held their breath, only to be expelled in a primal roar of anger as he, too was pulled down from behind.
Oh. My. God. Penalty shot. In overtime. For Cologne.
Jan Alinc was the man chosen to take it. And, unbelievably, he fanned on the shot. This game had more twists and turns than the Stelvio Pass...
Back and forth the game went, before it ended in a single, glorious second right in front of me, when this happened. I was stood at ice-level, right behind where Mike Pellegrins loses the puck, and as Lindsay scored I thought the roof had come off the Koelnarena, as I joined in with and was lost without trace in a hurricane of noise which the tape simply doesn't do justice to. Sometimes, in quiet moments, I can replay the whole scene in my mind as it unfolded in front of me. And I am certain that, this time, the ghosts in the cathedral woke up and roared with us.
Unfortunately, time has dulled my ability to summon back anything close to the emotion of how I felt at that precise moment, but it's not an exaggeration to say that (and I remember the words I used even if I can't remember the feeling itself) I felt like I was lifted up on the shoulders of the hockey gods. Nothing before or since has come close to the extremes of emotion I felt in that game. Nothing. And I don't think anything in hockey ever will.
And, in some ways, that's sad. But I look at it this way as I travel to every Blaze game with part of me in a ceaseless hoping to get a feeling close to it, and respond the same way to those who say "once you've felt something like that, everything else is a disappointment"...even if you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll land among the stars..."
So keep searching...and one day, it might be your turn for a piggyback on the shoulders of the Gods...in the meantime, I'll keep looking, hoping to get my chance at another ride, however brief. Although this time, I hope it's my home-town team that gets me there...
Keep keeping your eye on the puck...Round the Rinks to come later...
"My knuckles have turned to white There's no turning back tonight (so hold on tight)" Underoath: "It's a Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door"
Pre-season is done. The teams are back on the ice, the imports are arriving, and the acquaintances have been made and re-made in the stands. With Hull winning the P+O Cup up on Humberside, beating Nottingham and Tilburg to do so, Coventry coming through their pre-season unbeaten and looking very impressive indeed (particularly new signings Peter Hirsch, Luke Fulghum and, believe it or not, Derek Campbell, looking more like the skilled power-forward who made such an impression at Manchester rather than one-half of the carnival-sideshow act he became at Newcastle alongside Andre Payette), and Sheffield taking on Nottingham this evening in the official Elite League curtain-raiser, the Charity Shield, the time for mucking around, half-measures and still getting to know your team-mates is over. Admittedly, I've not seen half the teams in the EIHL, having been limited to what's gone on in Coventry, Cardiff and Sheffield (although, if you want a finely-written insight into Hull and Nottingham's pre-season preparations, then have a gander at the F-Block Blog). So, some (limited) first impressions of the teams seen so far:
Cardiff's big line is shaping up to be more of an anticlimax then expected. So far: MarkSmith looks somewhat off the pace, Max Birbraer is big and ugly as ever, but not quite fit, and Matt Miller is committed but a bit rusty. I hope for the Devils' sake this is little more than pre-season cobwebs, otherwise the pre-season foreshadows a much bleaker season than many in Cardiff are hoping for.
Brad Voth is...well, still Brad Voth: And this, whether you're a Cardiff fan looking for someone to drive your team forward or an opposition fan looking for a hate-figure, is no bad thing.
Brian Lee, defenceman of the year. You heard it here first: Yes, I may be a little biased, but Blaze's big American blue-liner, instantly recognisable thanks to hair that would be more at home in a mosh-pit than on the ice, is a hard-skating, positionally-sound d-man who can go both ways with equal ease. And if he keeps hitting the way he has been so far, expect him to become one of the most hated d-men in the league if you're an opposition fan-the man goes through opposition forwards like a runaway freight train through a collection of Ming vases. Seriously. It would appear his dial is set not so much to "check" as "attempt to wipe from existence". Watching him battle with the likes of Dominic D'Amour, Cameron Mann et al is one of the tastiest sub-plots of Sunday's meeting with the Panthers...and any time you feel the air in a rink begin to crackle when a player steps onto the ice, as is already the case when #5 crosses the boards at the Skydome, you think "hang on a minute...this could be fun"...
If you're a betting fan, then here's a dark-horse: Luke Fulghum, Elite League top scorer, 2009/10.
Be afraid, Sheffield: The Steelers appear to have stood still this off-season...they're still a very good team, but there will be more than one better than them if all teams play to their potential this season...although, as I write this, they have just beaten Nottingham 7-6, after a ridiculous number of penalty shots...defence clearly not considered important by either team on this early showing.
It's a very, very different Hull this season: For a start, they've won something already. Granted, it's only a pre-season trophy, but even so...there is a real, real buzz on Humberside
Greg Chambers will only be popular as long as the Blaze are winning: Wonderful, wonderful passer, and when he's interested, you can see just why he's one of the premier players in the league...the man has skill and vision to burn. But, like Sylvain Deschatelets, inclined to disappear for periods at a time compared to his linemates-and given that Deschatelets was roundly disliked for such a tendency last season, it'll be interesting to see what happens if he or the Blaze hit a slump in form...When they're Greg Owen and Luke Fulghum, though, you only need to make one or two crucial passes a period, and you have a good chance of a multi-point game.
Jason Robinson can read minds: OK, that's pushing it, but based on the pre-season the big Canadian has reached an even higher level than that which made him one of the stand-out d-men in London and popular wherever he's played-people have been claiming he's slow but, when your positioning is as good as his is, being beaten for speed is much less of a worry than it might have otherwise been.
Nottingham just might have something this year: Demolishing Tilburg 11-3 in the first game many of their players have played together? The talent is clearly there...can Corey Neilson finally mould it into a team, and will the "concede five but score six" approach finally work this year?
Nothing gets more of a welcome than a former enemy becoming a friend: The roar that Derek Campbell got when introduced on his Skydome debut is testimony to that...compared to that, the albeit-still-enthuastic reception given to the other players was about the same size, relatively, as a fart to a tornado...
There you go...a few pre-season reflections...Limited they may be, somewhat biased towards Coventry they may also be, but the appetite for the beginning of the serious stuff on Saturday is now well and truly whetted.
Tomorrow will see part IV of Frozen Dreams appear in the evening, while Friday afternoon/early evening sees the return of Round the Rinks as the season starts in earnest...
"I've been watching I've been waiting In the shadows For my time" The Rasmus: "In The Shadows"
I haven't gone away. The silence is simply due to the fact that I'm keeping an eye on the whole pre-season (Coventry's ends against Cardiff at the Skydome this evening) before commenting on it.
Expect (finally) something new around Wednesday evening. And apologies to those few of you who've been waiting...
"I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good night That tonight's gonna be a good, good night" Black Eyed Peas: "I Gotta Feeling" Here we go then. Last night, the 2009/10 hockey season officially began, as Coventry took on Sheffield up north in the first game of the pre-season, drawing 4-all. From now until April, the pain of hockey withdrawal will be but a memory, as it slowly feeds back into the weekend routine all over the country.
It's been a long, hot, summer, but, at last, autumn is no longer a few flips of the calendar away.
And so, naturally, it's time for a late-summer tradition on the Breakaway...PW's team-by-team EIHL Season Preview. Now into its fourth year, you know the drill by now...every team gets a song, and we break them down.
Buckle up, and let's hop on for season six in EIHL City...
Belfast Giants "It's all you wanted to know, that I'm as fragile as you" Racing Kites: "Hands Against the Sky" The Giants are an enigma this time out. Their offensive power looks, quite frankly, terrifying on paper, and their defence looks like a solid-but-effective unit which will give more than enough protection to Stephen Murphy, a goalie who won game after game by himself for Manchester last season.
So, they're going to be the champions. End of preview...
Except it isn't. Normally, when writing this I have a fairly clear idea of what I think about each team-and a fairly clear idea of what type of song lyric I'm looking for. But when I look at the Giants team, so many questions and voices fill my head, a doctor would probably have legitimate grounds for suspecting schizophrenia...
"Can Stephen Murphy lead the Giants to a title, and disprove the "Brit Goalie Postulate" that you need an import to win the EIHL? How will the Giants cope with his absence?"
"Is Tom Walsh all he's cracked up to be, since one review called him "the worst player ever to play in the (Finnish) SM-Liiga?"
"Sean McMorrow-useful third-line winger or hired thug on skates?"
"Pat Bateman and Brandon Benedict...are they tough enough?"
"That defence...is it seriously weakened without Dave Phillips?"
"Will the money hold?"
We can speculate all we like (and doubtless Giants fans have answers prepared for each and every one of these questions already). However, I don't. And anywhere there are more questions then answers lies suspicion that something, somewhere, just isn't quite right. Or, alternatively...if you think it's too good to be true, it probably is.
It's going to be an interesting season in Belfast...
Key Player: Tom Walsh: Heralded as arguably the top defensive signing in the league this season by his PR, Walsh looks like the kind of defensive leader the Giants will need to keep Stephen Murphy protected. Along with Michael Jacobsen, he's the player Steve Thornton hopes will be the defensive rock to build his team on. If he isn't, and the doubters are right, then Murphy could face more rubber than he (and the Giants) have bargained for.
Player to Watch: Pierre-Luc Faubert: The speedy French-Canadian has already had the label "best forward in the league" pinned on him by some Giants fans. However, given that he has similar stats to Dan Carlson in Coventry, one thinks that the Blaze centre (and quite a few others) will have something to say about that. Faubert will have to prove himself. And quickly.
Unsung Hero: Graeme Walton: A strange pick, you might think. But Walton has quickly developed into one of the premier British defencemen not just in the EIHL, but anywhere...his steadying influence on the blue means that Jacobsen and Walsh will not be expected to carry the defence single-handed. Walton does the simple things defensively, and little more (he'll never burn up the points charts). However, he does them as well as any other defenceman, import or Brit, in the league. And that's what makes him so valuable.
Prediction: 3rd
Cardiff Devils "I’ll start this broken heart I’ll fix it up so it will work again Better than before" Motion City Soundtrack: "Broken Heart"
Poor Devils. Again and again they look promising early season, and again and again their season is ruined by injuries. However, last time out saw genuine progress off-ice, with the acquisition of the Devils by Comms Direct owner Matt Burge and his subsequent efforts off the ice turning the Devils into arguably the most professional organisation in British hockey. This off-season has begun to bear the fruits, as the Devils have signed an exciting-looking roster based on a mix of continuity on defence (Scott Romfo and Mark Richardson join Wes Jarvis, Jason Stone and Mike Hartwick to form a unit with both size and skill-Richardson in particular appears to be fast progressing towards challenging Jon Weaver as the best British offensive defenceman, while Romfo is a proven winner at his former clubs), finding the right blend of speed and power on the forward lines and bringing back some proven quality in Max Birbraer and the mercurial playmaking skills of Mark Smith. Pairing them with the speedy Matt Miller on the top line, who impressed last season in his brief spell with Basingstoke, has created arguably one of the most dangerous lines in the league. Although there are questions about the Devils' scoring below the top line, and also whether Stevie Lyle in net is good enough for a title challenge, players of the calibre of Jay Latulippe and Brad Voth can't be discounted in the points column either, while Ben Davies is an exciting youngster and Tylor Michel providing the import grit on line three-and with the passionate Welsh crowd roaring them on and the club going from strength to strength off-ice, the future looks brighter than it has for a while in South Wales.
Key Player: Brad Voth: You could have picked any one of five or six for this slot, but in the end you have to go with the Devils captain, who is as close to a genuine franchise player as this league has. Where he leads, the Devils follow-usually full-tilt into battle...he is the heart-and-soul of his team...and, often forgotten, can play a bit too...
Player to Watch: Mark Smith: Arguably the best pure playmaking centre of the EIHL era (although Dan Tessier and Dan Carlson may have something to say about that) the slightly-built Canadian, when he's on his game, is an absolute dream to watch-skilful, fast and utterly, utterly clinical in front of goal.
Unsung Hero: Tylor Michel: New to the UK, Michel is described as the perfect pest-a grinding winger who will be expected to get into the opposition's heads almost as fast as he chases down opposition d-men. If he plays this role effectively, particularly on home ice, then he and Brad Voth will make the space and time for Smith, Birbraer and Miller to do their work...
Prediction: 5th Coventry Blaze
"This time, baby, I'll be bullet-proof..."
La Roux: "Bulletproof"
Here we go then...the Breakaway's (unbiased) view of the 2009/10 Coventry Blaze. This, for obvious reasons, was a tricky one to write...
After a season considered disappointing by many in the West Midlands last season, this Blaze roster, at first glance, is one that will definitely excite the demanding (although I'm not sure "demanding" is a strong enough word for a fan-base that can consider finishing second in the Elite League a "disappointment") Skydome crowd. After the problems experienced last season in replacing the likes of Martin, Koenig and Cloutier, Paul Thompson has stuck with proven Elite League players in the main as he looks to correct the frailties in last season's roster, even though the roster has a significant number of new-to-Coventry names on it. Luke Fulghum and Greg Chambers join from the departing Basingstoke and Manchester squads, with Chambers' ex-team-mate Greg Owen's return from France boosting the GB contingent. An interesting storyline in the early-season will be that of Derek Campbell-as one of the players the Skydome crowd used to, shall we say, "welcome the most heartily" when he appeared for Newcastle and Manchester, he may have a job to win over certain sections of the Blaze crowd-but if he does, it'll be in spectacular fashion. At the back, the emphasis has markedly shifted toward the physical, with the big and immensely popular (except with opposition forwards and fans) Jason Robinson returning to the UK and looking like the defensive leader already, alongside new American d-man Brian Lee (no shrinking violet himself at 6'2 and 210lbs), and returnees Jon Weaver and Matty Soderstrom.
The signing that caused the most buzz, however, was that in net, as Danish international Peter Hirsch joins from Aalborg, probably about eight months later than he should have in the opinion of many Blaze fans. Financial issues meant JF Perras was temporarily reprieved from being replaced by the Dane in January, but Thompson has now got his man, and with a pedigree of the highest order Hirsch (who gave an extremely enjoyable interview to the Breakaway back in May outlining his aims for the season) should be the potential title-winning goalie all teams need...
Key Man: Peter Hirsch: Like Cardiff, a few players could have filled this slot, but after the struggles of JF Perras last season and the excitement caused by his signing this time round, few would argue that many see the Danish goalie as the key to the team this year. Goalies win you games, and games win you championships, after all.
Player to Watch:Luke Fulghum: Unforgivably, in last season's preview I picked Kyle Bruce ahead of the right winger from Colorado. Rave reviews from every Manchester fan I've spoken to, a shedload of points and being the crucial cog in the Beauregard/Hand/Fulghum line which gave the Phoenix arguably the most complete top line in the league proved how wrong I was. Fulghum is little short of a big, fast-skating, skilful beast-from-dman's-nightmare of a right-winger, who can do it all, and, last year in Manchester, frequently did.
Unsung Hero: Danny Stewart: I know this section is somewhat forward-heavy, but the little winger with the huge heart from Fort McMurray, Alberta will never, ever stop skating, harrying or puck-chasing until you pry the shaft of his Warrior Mac Daddy stick from his cold, dead hands. He will play on both forward and defence where necessary, and in his time at the Blaze, he's been involved in the vast majority of "big" goals and scored quite a few himself-the overtime winner against Manchester last season in the epic 7-6 game was just the latest in a long line.
Prediction: It may be biased, it may rebound horribly, but 1st.
Edinburgh Capitals "We'll start a fire And burn some bridges And make it out of here tonight" Funeral For a Friend: "Escape Artists Never Die"
What's going on in Edinburgh? The Capitals (although, at the point I write this, they’re still lacking a starting goalie and a few signings) have made huge strides this off-season, seemingly deciding that if they can’t beat the Elite League big-boys in the politics, they may as well join them. Signings such as Simon Lambert, Chris Allen on defence and latest acquisition Owen Fussey have well and truly put them on the map. Unfortunately, due to their roster being incomplete I can’t consider them in the same way I have all the other teams…so let’s look at what they do have.
In defence, with the likes of Ben O’Connor and the aforementioned Allen, as well as Scotland’s own “face only a mother could love” winner in Kyle Horne, the Caps look tighter, more organised and just plain better than they have in a long while-Michael Beynon will never win any scoring awards but he and Horne will allow O’Connor and Allen to flex their offensive muscle.
Up front is where things get interesting, though, with Fussey and Lambert competing for the title of “this year’s Cap who makes a massive impact on the scoring charts”, won previously by Colin Hemingway and Mark Hurtubise, while Martin Cingel, Darius Pliskauskas and Mark Garside provide useful scoring depth, and not forgetting the giant Doug Christiansen, who can pop more than a few in himself if the need arises…
And then there’s the carnival sideshow that is Andrew Sharp, which, if nothing else, guarantees Caps games will be entertaining…
With more signings to come, it’s difficult to work out just where the Caps will finish, but assuming they’re at a similar standard…I think they’ll occupy their usual mid-to-lower-playoff birth, but improvement all the time could see that made a mockery of. For the purposes of this though, and only because they lack a starting goalie, they occupy bottom. That could change very quickly.
Prediction: 8th
Hull Stingrays
"I don't blame you for walking away
I'd do the same if I saw me I swear it's not contagious In four short steps we can erase this"
Alkaline Trio: "This Could Be Love"
Step one: fire Rick Strachan. Two seasons two late, but better late than never, always.
Step two: bring in a proven winner and Coventry Blaze legend as player-coach, who just happens to be one of the best two-way centres ever seen in this country, including the ISL era.
Step three: let him recruit one of the most lethal snipers of the EIHL era, retain the best of last year and build a roster that has people well and truly raising their eyebrows.
Step four: simmer, allow the sheer force of Sylvain Cloutier's will to win to mould the disparate ingredients into an exciting-looking Stingrays side, built on hard work, grit and one very, very good top line, and serve.
The Stingrays could surprise a few people this season, including their own fans, with just how far such a recipe could take them:
Key Man: Tommy Sandahl: The young Scandinavian, in his first starting job, simply has to be a good ‘un, and hit the ground running right out of the blocks. The Stingrays now have scoring power and a decent defence, but they don’t have the offensive punch to outscore the top teams, and so that’s where Sandahl comes in. Keep ‘em out, and the Stingrays, if they follow the lead of their player-coach Cloutier, will always, always have a chance.
Player to Watch: Konstantin Kalmikov: The Russian now has the perfect complement to his passing skills on the top line in sniper extraordinaire Curtis Huppe, and a centre who will win the puck time and again in Cloutier. He’ll have to create the chances for these two, though-if Huppe has no ammo, he can’t fire off those deadly quick shots of his. All that and contribute goals too? If that top line are to be successful, a lot rests on Kalmikov’s shoulders…
Unsung Hero: Jeff Glowa: A Stingrays institution now, Glowa will work hard all night, and then, if necessary, through the following day to give his team a chance to win. If no-one else does, though, he’s been known to score more than a couple himself as well…
Prediction: 7th
Newcastle Vipers
"Staring at my own reflection
when suddenly, it changes
Violently, it changes ..."
Disturbed: "Down With The Sickness"
It’s been an off-season of huge change in the North-East. With Rob Wilson stating his intention to move away from the Slapshot hockey we’ve come to know and…well, know from the Vipers, this year’s roster sports a very different look to the previous ones, built on speed and grit rather than just brute force. The defence, in particular, will need to be good with Michel Robinson behind them-a goalie who splits opinion between “good” and “absolutely bloody awful” solidly in half. With players like Mike Berry, Tyler Kindle and Ryan Mahrle coming in, and very few players remaining from last season’s team, the next bit is hard to predict-but I shall try:
Key Man: Matus Petricko: As a proven scorer in the EIHL, the Slovak will be expected to contribute hugely to the Vipers goal column, potentially alongside Slovenian Matej Kralj-if the two Eastern Europeans can form an understanding then it will take pressure off the likes of Mike Berry and Jason Tejchma, as well as perennial talisman David Longstaff.
Player to Watch: Jerramie Domish: 5’9 and 200lbs, this pocket-battleship will be expected to lead the Vipers defence, hitting, blocking shots and contributing at both ends. An AHL pedigree suggests he can do that-with Ryan Mahrle, Mark Gouett and Tyler Kindle also joining him, the Vipers’ import D, and their ability to stop shots going in on Michel Robinson in net, could be the key to their season.
Unsung Hero: Ben Campbell: The young Geordie is progressing in leaps and bounds-and boundless is a fine way to describe his energy on the ice. Scared of nothing and possessed of no little skill, he’s an often-un-noticed but valuable asset to his team.
Prediction: 6th
Nottingham Panthers
"I know I’m not
The best decision
(the best decision)
But take a chance now..."
Handshakes and High-Fives: "Maybe Next Time"
The Panthers are impossible to write a preview for, every single year. One wonders how a team that looks pretty damn good every season can be so, well, average. Their problem last time out, and a common one under Corey Neilson, was that once again they appeared to be a loosely-connected group of talented individuals who just happened to be wearing the same shirt, rather than..well, an actual team. The latest incarnation of the GMB Panthers, however, appears, once again, to be similar, although they do have the massive benefit of Bruce Richardson, who like him or despise him is a pint-sized version of Sylvain Cloutier in his drive and will to win. The big news of the off-season was the signing of Cameron Mann from the DEL, but in all the excitement over this, the return of Richardson and Kevin Bergin, and some pretty solid D signings, the dodgy bits of trivia that keep popping up whenever you look at the roster get forgotten. For example:
Kevin St.Pierre lost his job in Tulsa last season to...erm...Davis Parley. Yes, that's ex-Panthers, cut-by-them-for-being-rubbish-mid-season Davis Parley.
Danny Meyers is expected to be one of their offensive forces on D. Yes, Danny Meyers, who even some Panthers fans think is way over-rated.
If Kevin St.Pierre gets injured, their back-up is Mark Hartley, who was considered a bit dodgy at ENL level. Pray he doesn't, Panthers fans.
Of course, there are many positives about this Panthers roster, not least the return of Sean McAslan from Denmark, giving the East Midlanders a genuine one-two punch, especially if Marty Gascon is a (very) poor-man's Dan Tessier, as he appears to be, Dominc D'Amour is as good as reported on defence, and Jade Galbraith actually puts the effort in this time round as he's promised (he wasn't too shabby a sniper even not trying). But the questions are still there...
Key Man: Bruce Richardson: The Panthers centre won a lot of friends in Nottingham last season for his ability to seemingly carry the team on his back and drag them up to the level of play expected of them through sheer force of will last time out. This time round, he's got players around him who are used to expectation, and have dealt with crowds far more demanding than those in Nottingham. Can the little centre lead the Panthers to a title?
Player to Watch: Jade Galbraith: WHAT? No Cameron Mann or Sean McAslan?! You must be out of your mind, I hear you cry.
Then you remember that, just occasionally, despite being roundly derided for being fat, lazy and slow, Galbraith looked like a very, very good sniper indeed. In fact, despite being relentlessly mocked for having more meat on him than a barbequed elephant, he scored 74 points, and has since openly admitted that he...well, could have tried a little harder than he did. Which, if true, is a frightening prospect, especially as he'll be alongside the aforementioned Mann and McAslan, who are pretty damn good themselves.
Just how good can this guy get? We shall see.
Unsung Hero: Nick Toneys: Last season Toneys was all but unnoticeable, unless you were an opposition forward. Then, his calm defensive play and superb sense of positioning were very noticeable indeed, mainly because it stopped you scoring yet again.
With players like Dominic D'Amour and Corey Neilson around him again, expect Toneys to keep on keeping on in his usual quiet, effective fashion this season.
Prediction: 2nd
Sheffield Steelers "And I know that we've still got time
But I do not think we're invincible"
Enter Shikari:"Juggernauts"
The big signing news from Sheffield this summer is...well, that there's been no big signing news. The Steelers roster only contains a few new faces, as Ben Morgan steps up from the Scimitars to replace Steve Munn, Rod Sarich moves to forward, and Jeff Hutchins comes in from Newcastle. Even their big import signing was a familiar face, as Kevin Bolibruck returns on defence. Their biggest signing, in fact, was in net, as Kevin Reiter makes the trip up from Basingstoke based on his rave reviews last season...however, it remains to be seen how he'll cope in following in the footsteps of one of, if not the best goalie of the EIHL era in Jody Lehman...Rob Dowd will be hoping for another banner season to cement his place as the heir-apparent to Tony Hand, especially now Ashley Tait has disappeared off to foreign (Italian) shores. But it's very much a case of evolution not revolution again in Yorkshire-time will tell if it's as effective as last season...especially with the improvement across the league
Key Man: Kevin Bolibruck: With Steve Munn gone, the defensive unit needs a leader, and Bolibruck is it. He was possibly the best defenceman in the EIHL's first season last time he was here, and with a career that's gone from strength to strength in Europe since then, "Boli" will have the hopes of Dave Matsos pinned on him to help mould the defensive unit into the same stingy and remorselessly effective template as that which served him so well last season
Player To Watch: Rod Sarich: Already viewed as one of the best offensive d-men of the EIHL era, Sarich now moves forward full-time to provide the Steelers with a genuine power-forward-sized winger. The question is-is he a genuine forward?
If this experiment works, Sarich could quickly become a very effective forward indeed. If it doesn't, then the Steelers will need to move him back to his accustomed position quickly, before the hole he's left on defence impacts their title challenge significantly.
Unsung Hero: Doug Sheppard: Often forgotten in the blare of publicity focused on super-snipers Joey Talbot and Jeff Legue, Sheppard is a very effective, hard working winger who provides the Steelers with a genuine threat in all situations-he'll very rarely be out-worked and makes valuable contributions in the points column despite rarely receiving the fanfare of his more illustrious colleagues.
Prediction: 5th
So, the final table reads thus...
Blaze
Panthers
Giants
Devils
Steelers
Stingrays
Vipers
Capitals
Cup Winners: Any of the top five.
Playoff Winners: Pick one from eight...it's simply too early to tell.
I admit that the bias may seem blinding in putting the Blaze at the top, but I genuinely believe they have ever so slightly more than the Panthers thanks to Peter Hirsch. Giants will push hard for the top two places but losing Stephen Murphy for the early part of the season could hurt them, while Kevin Reiter may be Steelers' Achilles heel behind the offensive power and defensive solidity of the Devils. The bottom three, quite frankly, are a lottery...I put Stingrays over Vipers purely based on the Vipers having Michel "rebound-king" Robinson in net, while the Caps are bottom for no other reason than them currently lacking a starting goalie.
I do predict, however, that this league will be very close indeed, with first and eighth separated by no more than twenty points.
The 09/10 EIHL season...it's going to be the best yet. Let's drop the puck...
Aged 23, and bitten by the hockey bug when the Blaze moved to Coventry from Solihull in 2000, I now watch and play my hockey at the Skydome, (although I'll travel all over the UK to follow it-and have visited every rink in the EIHL apart from the new one in Manchester, and most of the EPL ones (missing Romford, IoW, and Slough) Watched hockey unbroken since 2000, with a year's break from the British league while living in Germany (and watching DEL hockey in Cologne). Teams are Coventry Blaze, Cologne Sharks, GB, Germany and Pittsburgh Penguins. You can usually find me at the North End of the Skydome on match-nights, usually passing comment on something. Come and say hi-there's pics of me on facebook if you're wondering just what I look like...
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