All Star Running Diary

19:45: It's just before faceoff in a barely half-full Skydome, and the players are on the ice...And we're on...keep refreshing the page every few minutes to see the latest update...

19:48: Starting anthems, as announced by our guest announcer from Basingstoke (who I'm informed "sounds like a porn-star"...:

North: Verner, Sarich, Horne, Beauregard, Deniset, Phillips
South: Reiter, O'Connor, Neilson, Carlson, Calder, Chambers.

And we're off...

19:50: Goal South: Verner is beaten as Brendan Cook simply slides a pass across the crease at half-speed and Bruce Richardson taps it in at the back post for the opener. Barely any of the players look interested, however...

19:52: Two goals in quick succession, one at either end. Slava Koulikov pokes in a rebound for the South off a Neilson shot and seconds later, Rob Dowd puts the North on the board.

19:55: A Blaze chant is modified to "Oh When The South Go Skating In"...I'd forgotten there was a crowd here until then...

19:58: Corey Neilson fans on a shot quite spectacularly, setting off a chorus of donkey noises from the North fans. Sheffield Steelers fans: possibly the only fans on the planet who'll heckle at an All-Star game...

19:59: However, revenge is sweet as Phil Hill makes Andrew Verner look a little silly from close range, and at the same time attempts some sort of justiication for being here.

20:01: Andrew Verner may be here in body, but his mind is clearly somewhere else. Like already in the pub...

20:03: Verner's definitely in the pub. Chambers has just fired one top-shelf, and he didn't even move. Nice goal though...

20:05: Believe it or not, despite the 4-1 score, the game is fairly even. The main difference is that Andrew Verner is bloody awful, and as yet, Kevin Reiter isn't.

20:07: And now I look silly. Verner makes a very good save from Chambers, but ruins it by kicking the net off.

20:09: Someone near me has said "the players are here simply because they were told to be. Only to be met with "...nope, they were told there's free cake"...

Northern wit at its finest...

20:10: Goal North...Awada tap-in. It's 4-2 after 15 minutes....

20:12: Northern Wit Part II: Overheard in the crowd..."We know a North v South game that would have sold this place out...Sheffield v Nottingham"

Ouch.

20:14: Cook zings one off Verner's bar...

20:17: Goal for the North. Mark Hurtubise with a beauty of a wrister high past Reiter. I like Hurtubise a lot, not least because (random fact) he plays the same position, wears the same number and was born on exactly the same day as me...

20:20: The North equalise through Mark Garside-Is this a good time to mention that the South All-Star goalies are from the two worst teams in the league?

20:22: Just as I type that, Reiter stacks the pads to deny Awada on a breakaway...

END OF PERIOD 1

We're now preparing for the Fastest Skater part of the evening...It's basically a slalom relay, people....

Dan Carlson leads Rob Dowd into the first change...

Tyson Teplitsky beats Paul Deniset...

And Mark Hurtubise falls to allow Russ Cowley to skate home for the South to win.

And yes, it really was that boring...

So, as we take a brief break for the first intermission...I have this thought...

It may be boring, but it's still considered more important to win by the players than the KO Cup...

PERIOD 2:

Apologies...battery issues mean that I'm having fun rushng around for a power-point. However, you're not missing much beyond a few run-of-the-mill tap-ins that have now made it 7-5 to the South.

And, judging by the comments, it appears a little light mickey-taking of the players annoys a few people...I wasn't seriously suggesting Andrew Verner was in the pub...it's called gentle mockery...:)

For the record, Verner improved immensely in the second period, and received a warm round of applause when changed for Lehman...Cruickshank is now in goal at the other end...

A more comprehensive look-back to appear, along with the return to the proper running diary format, when I get power back...try again around 9:15 or so...

PERIOD 3:

And we're back, 4 minutes into the final period...thanks to the gentlemen from SteelersTV...

The Fastest Shot was something of a disappointment-Brad Voth winning with a blast of 93 miles an hour-but the radar gun may well have been spectacularly faulty thanks to crediting Rod Sarich with a 31mph shot that seriously bulged the net...

Score is now 9-6 South, with the highlight goal being a blast from the blue-line from Corey Neilson which Jody Lehman barely saw....and as I type that, they make it 9-6...

There has been some confusion when David Beauregard scored for the North...due to the players being allowed to wear their own numbers and there being three number tens on the North squad...the announcer seems unable to pronounce it, causing a frustrated Welsh voice to yell "Who the hell is BOO-GARD?!"

21:23: Now 10-7 South, as first Paul Deniset and then Brendan Cook score, Brad Voth assisting. There still hasn't been a single hit.

21:24: 11-7. Bruce Richardson from Corey Neilson and Brendan Cook. Thankfully, unlike at the NIC, we don't have to suffer Chelsea Dagger as a result, the DJ knowing his audience and, as Richardson celebrates, YMCA rings out to delight the Steelers fans.

21:26: Just to clarify, Andrew Verner is better than Kevin Reiter. Just not tonight. However, he does appear to be posting comments from the bench...

21:28: Did I mention that this game has the atmosphere well and truly appropriate to the league which contains the "greatest spectacle of European hockey?"

21:30: Block 2 are waving at Dave Matsos, having spent the previous three periods trying to get a wave out of every different team's fan in the arena. Highlight of the night "Frolunda, give us a wave!"

21:31: Goal North: Jez Lundin. Assisted by David Beauregard (the announcer gets the name right this time...)

21:33: The North are making a game of this-it's 11-9 now. Paul Deniset. You can safely say that ten appears to be a lucky shirt number for the North...

21:35: Just as I post that, Adam Walker scores the North's tenth, and his second...

21:37: 12-10 as the South score an empty-netter. Cruickshank makes a superb triple-save to deny Paul Deniset...

21:39: Game ends 12-10 to the South. It was never going to be a classic of British hockey, but the players seemed to enjoy themselves...those few that weren't playing in their sleep, that is.

21:40: Just in case you missed it, the announcer is running through the teams again in a desperate attempt to remind us all how much fun it is to see the All-Stars play. He's failing. At least "spoonerdude" didn't do the same when it came to understanding a bit of humour...

21:42: And that's your lot, since I've had to borrow the Steelers TV laptop and they want it back to conduct the post-match interviews...Thanks to them for ensuring this diary didn't end prematurely, and thank you for reading...

Weekend preview to come tomorrow...keep keeping your eye on the puck...