Tuesday Thoughts...

"How'd I get up here? I always thought I'd end up way down there..."

Powder: "Up Here"

I just took a quick look at the EIHL table after this weekend, and it makes interesting reading. Belfast are top, Nottingham are second, and Manchester are third. Of those three, you'd probably only pick Belfast to consistently sit in the top three based on the EIHL era so far.
Which says to me, and I know I keep hinting at this, that changes are at last afoot in British hockey after a stagnant year or two. Sure, there was a Sky TV deal last year but some of the hockey that appeared on it (particularly when Hull were around) was ruddy awful. And the top teams don't exactly get off scot-free-some of the Skydome games were painful to watch thanks to the trap hockey (and Blaze's ability to fall into the trap).

But, three weekends into this season and we have controversy, baying crowds, hate figures (especially if you're a Nottingham fan) and heated debate on forums.

I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying myself so far...

Bubba Ray's One Minute Preview: Don't worry, the mad American sportscaster inside of me won't be making a long visit, but he's been quiet recently and I had to let him out to try the impossible task of "talking-up" an early-season Hull v Edinburgh matchup for Sky Sports tomorrow night-(a fixture that, even allowing for Hull's potential thuggery and Edinburgh's youthful exuberance, screams "quota-filler" at this early stage in the season.) Mainly because, having not yet seen either team, I can't give a x's and o's style breakdown of how I'll think it'll go, but also cause everyone needs to release their inner mad Texan once in a while (try it, a smile is guaranteed). And give the deranged Texan his due-he tried his best...

"Hee-yah, hockey fans! The Humber Bridge'll be shakin' and the fish'll all stay away in fear as the river town of Hull once again hides the sharp objects and releases the deadly Stingrays! And facing them are those rampaging lionhearts from north of the border, the Edinburgh Capitals, in a no-holds-barred, hundred-mile-an-hour England v Scotland match-up. If you want speed and skill, then the Caps are your team. But if you're like me and just like seeing people punched in the face and big tough men going toe-to-toe, then by golly, scream blue murder for the Stingrays. Mark Hurtubise and Doug Christiansen need to stand up to the pounding from Jason Kostadine and co, and the Caps can take two points from their cross-border raid-and this writer isn't betting against them doing it. Lock the kiddies upstairs, Momma, cause this Wednesday in the EIHL there's gonna be nothin' but a Brawl in the Basement!"

And...breathe. It's OK...he's gone now...

"Oh my god...it's HIDEOUS!": Perhaps more one for the puck-bunnies, this one, but is it just me or are there some horrific-looking players in the EIHL this year? Obviously, Marek Ivan takes the biscuit, but Davis Parley looks like he's attended a few practice sessions missing a helmet and Corey LeClair's aesthetic appeal (or lack of such) is now a running joke among the crueller Blaze fans...I shall wait until I've seen all the teams before compiling one, but if you don't see an EIHL All-Ugly team on here by December, then frankly, I'm not doing my job properly...

I know it's a bit short, and a little random tonight, but hey, it's hard producing daily notes when the EIHL won't even have the grace to make a dodgy decision or Sheffield produce (many) inflammatory press releases in a week. Won't someone, please, think of the journalists??!*

*this is tongue-in-cheek, Simmsy. Not a challenge...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Double Overtime, 22nd September

"What a difference a day makes...24 little hours..."

Dinah Washington: "What A Difference (A Day Makes)"


The above song sums up the Elite League this last weekend to perfection, I think...at least in the case of Basingstoke...but this stream-of-consciousness look back at the weekend may be slightly overloaded with superlatives after an absolutely storming game at the Skydome on Sunday night followed a barn-burner in Nottingham. Oh...and the games not involving the Panthers weren't bad either...

So-things we learned this weekend...

Double-headers are fun!: The two double-headers (Newcastle/Belfast and Cardiff/Basingstoke) saw honours even for both teams, and a little bit (read, a lot) of nastiness on the physical side, culminating in Andre Payette being a recipient of a dig to the head from Steve Thornton's stick (no, those names are really the right way round. I know. I'm scared too...) Could be interesting to see what the league do with this one-after all, Thornton is the player coach of one of the biggest teams in the league, a player respected for his skill by all and sundry in British hockey (he's bordering on a legend league-wide, and certainly is in Cardiff) and it could be argued that the Giants just may have a little influence on the league board just to their sheer size club-wise. Plus, Thornton isn't known for this sort of thing.

But, a stick to the head is a stick to the head (you can see it on Vipers TV via the Newcastle website) and if Brad Voth deserves twelve games for a "slash" and sucker punch, then this should be similar.

24 is a lot of hours in hockey: Meanwhile, down south, Basingstoke go from a performance described by their own fans as "the worst they've ever seen a Bison team play" to grinding out a win minus their captain and top d-man. In Cardiff. The spirit of the Bison 10 appears alive and well. As for Cardiff...now there is a bi-polar team, it appears. When they click, it appears they'll be frighteningly good, as witnessed by their demolition comeback against Coventry last weekend and Saturday's result. But there must surely be questions over just how much Voth missing will hurt them...

"And I've got nothing to fear...in this city": Shamelessly nicking the words of Iglu and Hartley is probably unforgivable, even though the song is one of my favourite "chart" songs out at the moment, but it sums up the message from the Coventry/Nottingham barn-burner (Blaze go 4-0 up in the first and then hang on for dear life, with only a HUGE call of interference on Matt Myers which wiped out a Corey Neilson bullet giving the Panthers a 5-4 lead late in the game preventing a total collapse.) Adam Calder firing home three goals by himself probably was the saving grace...if he plays anywhere else, Blaze lose that game. But Nottingham (who let's not forget, also pulled out another barn-burner against Sheffield the night before) are damn good when they click, and are my tip for the title.

What this game showed more than anything, though, along with Cardiff's comeback last week, is that Fortress Skydome is crumbling slowly. It may not be collapsing, but the Blaze no longer have that aura of invincibility which has followed them through the period of recent success. Nottingham, on the other hand, veer between just good with shaky moments (Davis Parley and the defence) and plain frightening (the attack, when they click). This game proved beyond doubt that there really is nothing between the top teams in the EIHL any more, and they're just shaky enough that the wins can (and will) come for any team in the league. We could be at the very early stages of seeing a power-shift in British hockey thanks to the stricter wage-cap rules. And quite frankly, if Sunday's game is the future, then ignore those who worry that their "powerhouse" teams will be less succesful because of it...the future can't come soon enough. The last time I felt as alive and buzzing yet exhausted as I did at the end of that game, there was probably a need to roll over and have a cigarette, so to speak...it really was that good.

Phoenix. Rising: How good is David Beauregard? Good enough, along with his team-mates, that Manchester will win a trophy this season. The win in the Hallam Arena, while a shock for some (maybe especially Sheffield) is further indication this early on of a team who are building themselves up under the radar for a serious go at a trophy. And yet still no-one is taking any of the traditionally mid-table teams seriously, blinded by the star power of the Big Four. As for Edinburgh and Hull-they'll take points off each other and other teams all season long. I can't see how anyone can seriously say that there are only a few teams in with a chance of honours this year-and each weekend only strengthens the case to the contrary so far...any team really can beat any other. Yes, even Hull.

Adam Calder is a bit of a put-down merchant:...paired up with Bruce Richardson in the box after a bit of shoving back and forth, the Blaze sniper displayed flawless comic timing (warning, naughty word). As Richardson sits, Calds moves across to the gap in the plexi and yells...

"Hey, Bruce, nice year in Wichita (Thunder, a CHL team both players played at at different times. With Richardson last year they finished bottom of their division) (pause until Richardson looks round to acknowledge the compliment...and then...) ya fucking bum!"

From that moment, they're off, with Richardson's sole reply being "This is it for you-this league is your career" and Calder replying "You're here with me, shithead!". Richardson then offers a fight, before Calds finishes him with "why would I fight, we're four-nil up. Look at the score!"

Not quite as epic as Danny Stewart destroying Andreij Sporina with a scream of "welcome to the UK, bitch!" after flattening him, but good enough...

Coventry fans are people too: Yes, I know I had a go at them as a fan-base last week, and tend to look more at the negative side of fandom when considering fan's reactions, but my faith in the Skydome crowd and indeed fans in general was restored somewhat when, while buying my ticket just before F/O on Sunday, a nice lady next to me interrupted politely before I paid to offer me a spare one of hers, and try as I might, she would not take face-value for it...she asked me how much I'd pay so, tentatively, I said "£10?" to which she said "too much-have it for £7.50"...and sought me out to give me change later in the game because she didn't have any for the note I gave her at the time... And the nice thing is I'm fairly sure that this could be a scene repeated at all the other rinks in the country. So thank you, madam-your generosity was much, much appreciated, and I hope you and your family enjoyed the game as much as I did...

Hockey fans-you wouldn't believe it reading the forums but they truly are a wonderful bunch of people as a whole...

And on that upbeat note, here ends the review of the weekend-tomorrow night we'll preview the Sky fixture (Hull v Edinburgh) and review all the happenings on and off the ice in the last 24 hours or so of the EIHL world...

We may, just for the hell of it, throw a bit of Breakaway randomness in there as well...

And last word before we go-after the use of terribly bad puns in the last piece, this column has been re-read and approved by the Cliché Police. It won't happen again...:)

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Hot And Cold Round the Rinks...

"You're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out, you're up then you're down
You're wrong when it's right, it's black and it's white"

Katy Perry: "Hot and Cold"

And so I'm back from the wilds of Cheshire and Shropshire, and it would appear that in Coventry at least, the sky is falling...two losses and the Sky Blue City is panicking. Sack Perras! Sack Leclair! Sack Stewart! Sack Moore!

And they say Nottingham fans can turn on their team in a knife-edge...

Meanwhile, back in EIHL Towers there is panic of a different kind as Cardiff, to no-one's surprise, have lodged a vociferous appeal against the stupidity that is Brad Voth's ban. I must admit to being surprised at the warmth of the response to my attack on it just before I left (the post below) but appreciative nevertheless-thanks to those who've commented. However, I doubt the EIHL are as receptive to feedback, as they're now in one hell of a pickle. Uphold the ban, and confirm themselves to be a bunch of puppets of the Sheffield PR machine (and leave open the chance that any less response to similar incidences, such as Scott Basiuk throwing three sucker-punches to the back of Adam Calder's head last Saturday, will raise hell) or reduce the ban (or, as some argue they should, annul it) and admit that, yes, they are, on this occasion, the muppets they are often accused of being.

Or, they can take the option they are currently, which is "hide, say nothing and hope it goes away". None of them are particularly attractive, I grant you, but if Mr French and his friends hadn't cocked up so spectacularly in the first place (while at the same time completely ignoring Andrew Sharp, coincidentally a Sheffield player, licking the blood off his hands the week before) then this wouldn't be an issue. Interesting that there has been no public reaction to the Battle of the Odyssey last Saturday, either, which saw seven players thrown out-doubtless the proper procedures are being followed, though, so we shall see what occurs from that, if anything.
The British hockey world (well, the EIHL part of it, at least) watches with interest...

Anyway...now on to Round the Rinks, back in its tried and trusted format...

Belfast/Newcastle: We'll take these two as a pair, since they're playing each other in a double-header this weekend which could get a little tasty after team toughness met team brutality last weekend in an epic confrontation at the Odyssey. Expect no quarter to be asked or given, and Rob Wilson to spend a fair amount of time in polite conversation with whoever is refereeing...

Basingstoke/Cardiff: The only game of the weekend for both teams, and they meet with one needing to kick-start their season already (Bison) and one looking to keep riding the crest of a wave from last Sunday (Devils). The Devils will have Jay Latulippe finally making his debut, but may or may not have Brad Voth depending on just what the league decides to do. Basingstoke will also be lacking new signing Matt Miller as he simply won't be able to get over in time. Should be an interesting game, especially now Basingstoke have starting goalie Kevin Reiter over and ready to go...

Coventry: DON'T PANIC! DON'T PANIC! Two capitulations last week (Sheffield on Saturday romping to a 5-1 win, and throwing away a three-goal lead at home against Cardiff on Sunday) mean that the Blaze have to rebound, and fast. With the pantomime villains of Hull on Saturday, there's a physical evening in store and Carlyle Lewis may well be busy. Sunday sees Nottingham visit the Skydome, and I don't mind admitting I'm very much looking forward to seeing the Panthers for the first time due to their rave reviews thus far. Four points is a must to stop the natives getting twitchy already...

Nottingham: Big weekend for the Panthers. Sheffield at home on Saturday and Coventry away on Sunday mean that by Sunday night there will either be real and growing confidence in the East Midlands, or a sense of anti-climax after a very good start. Should the Panthers win both, then they'll be firing a big warning shot to the rest of the league regarding their intentions this season...especially as they've performed up til now missing Dan Tessier and Jade Galbraith, who are a frightening addition to any team, especially if you're an opposition goalie...

Hull: No Rick Kozak, but a whole heap of trouble as the Stingrays take their brand of sports entertainment up a notch against Coventry, and then north to Edinburgh. At least two points is possible for the Stingrays, but it's far more likely to come in the Scottish capital, given the problems the Caps have had this week. If they come against Coventry, then it will only intensify the muttering in the Sky Blue City-which the rest of the league will love...

Manchester: The Phoenix need to rise from their mauling by the Panthers last Sunday, and a game against Edinburgh gives them the perfect chance to do so early in the weekend, before the War of the Roses against Sheffield on Sunday...

Edinburgh: Batten down the hatches in the Scottish capital...it's going to be a long weekend. Manchester and Hull are the opponents, and two points is the most the Caps can hope for after a turbulent week which saw two players (John Dolan and Shawn Germain) leave...

Sheffield: Two derbies in a weekend? Dave Simms may just spontaenaeously combust from excitement. Nottingham and Manchester are the opponents which have the Steel City hockey fan contingent working itself into a fever-pitch...and the rest of the league watching with interest in an attempt to measure whether last weekend's 5-1 demolition of Coventry was a fluke or the sign of a team who are already tightly together and ready to make their usual waves on ice as well as off it...

And so there you go...the weekend previewed to within an inch of its life...

Let's play hockey...

Rough Justice

I'm almost lost for words.

I've purposely delayed this post until the combined sage minds of the Elite League disciplinary panel finally decided what punishments to hand out to Rick Kozak (for, let's not forget, doing this damage to Marc Levers by smashing his face into the ice, and then kicking the blood all over the rink with his skates on the way off) and Brad Voth (for slashing Randy Dagenais' legs and then having a fight, which you can see for yourself 39 seconds on into this clip). And they have...

Rick Kozak gets 10 games (+10 should he reoffend)

Brad Voth gets 12 (+12).

Here's the official EIHL press release, via the Panthers site, just so you can see I'm not making this up.

So let's get this straight.

According to the EIHL, driving a defenceless player's head into the ice, from behind, and then kicking bodily fluids from that same fallen opponent over the ice, on purpose, is worth LESS than the kind of offence which occurs in every game (a slash to the back of the legs) followed by a rough (as in, punches thrown by both sides, but one being clearly on top) fight in which both players are willing or at least semi-willing participants? Does anyone seriously believe that?

Clearly, the minds that run British hockey do.

Devils fans have lost it completely-and you can't blame them. Hull fans are "wow...but that's not unexpected". The rest of the league reaction appears to be "thank you, Sheffield and friends...you've just well and truly lost all credibility for the league".

I very much doubt anyone in EIHL power reads this blog. I doubt even more that, if they did, they would take a blind bit of notice over what's said on it. But on the one-in-a-million chance they do...

Explain yourselves. Now. Properly. How on earth was this decision arrived at? Who drove it? Why were Sheffield allowed to release inflammatory press release after press release about an incident that was still being considered by league disciplinary officials? And can you honestly stand in front of Marc Levers (or Steve Moore, since the incident was British hockey's version of it) and say that his neck potentially being broken, a scar that will need plastic surgery to rectify, a possible civil prosecution, and his bodily fluids being sprayed at people, is worse than two things that happen in rinks all around the country, most weekends-i.e a nasty slash to the legs and a heated scrap in which one player comes off worse?

If you don't respond now, properly, then questions will begin to be asked about impartiality. And they'll only get louder. The British hockey community is waiting. And its blood is up.

Round the Rinks is something of a fallacy tonight...especially given that there will be no Double Overtime this week thanks to the Breakaway taking a week off-so it too is taking a holiday. I shall be keeping up with British hockey news from a distance in the next week, but for now, a correction.

Adam, a Phoenix fan who has contributed many an idea to this blog through his thoughtful emails and responses to topics, has pointed out a basic flaw in my rubbishing of the end of the world from Wednesday. It seems it would never have happened then since a) nothing has actually hit anything else yet and b) the combined energy released had anything done so within the LHC would have added up to...well, about the pop of a soft-drink can. I stand duly corrected...and thank him for informing me of this fact and that I now know a little more about why, despite all the doomsday predicitions, I've still got a canal to go on holiday on...

That's all until next Friday, folks...enjoy your weekend of hockey (yes, even you, Steelers fans) and we shall be back with a proper review of the week just gone next Friday.

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Midweek Musings...

Hello all…still here then?

Given that, depending on who you believe (BBC radio say the black-hole machine mentioned yesterday was switched on at 8:30, Internet sources (the ones I use) say 3pm and some reports today say the scientists couldn’t even start the thing up-well, not so it ran well enough to potentially destroy the planet, anyway) we’ve survived the apocalypse unscathed, let’s first of all look at someone who, sadly for him, didn’t manage to survive the weekend of hockey in the same fashion...

Ouch...Marc Levers has spoken out in the Nottingham Evening Post about his “scrap” with/assault by Rick Kozak, and credit to the man, has avoided fuelling the forum fires with any quotes of the “I couldn’t believe his actions-what a scumbag!” variety, sticking simply to his view of the facts of the actual incident-Sheffield PR machine please take note. He does mention that he may seek plastic surgery to repair the damage, though, which you can see for yourselves in a fetching photo above…and you can’t blame him-it looks like he’s had the bonnet badge of a Mercedes embedded in his forehead…The man is also a master of understatement and clearly has a bit of a sense of humour too, as witness his reaction on realising the severity of the injury...

"I lay still and didn't know what was happening until I opened my eyes, saw all the blood on the ice and thought I'd better get off quickly."

Marc Levers, I salute you.

And from class to...well, you decide: Speaking of the Sheffield PR machine, all hell has now broken loose-to the point where the Cardiff fans are accusing Bob Phillips (Sheffield and ex-Cardiff owner) of extending his influence to close down the Cardiff Elite forum. As for the war of words, the Steelers just will not shut up. Here's the latest shot from Ryan Finnerty at Brad Voth. Strangely, the Star makes no mention of the fact that Finnerty (who, by the way, is one of my favourite players when he just gets on with the business of playing-but still a complete pillock at times on the ice) isn't exactly averse to sticking in the odd elbow/late hit himself...

Meanwhile, Randy Dagenais has stuck his two pennyworth in...ably aided by the flapping pen of Steelers' mouthpiece Bob Westerdale. This is the same man who, barely a week ago, cost his team the Charity Shield by getting physically involved in a nothing altercation at the end of normal time, putting his team on the PK, and seeing them concede the OT winner 30 seconds later, so for him to take the moral high-ground, especially after putting in a knee-to-knee hit on Jason Silverthorn, is just a bit amusing...The best bit is this contradiction-within-a-sentence...

""The whole thing was unprovoked, The Cardiff players were upset about an earlier hit I made on Jason Silverthorn".

So, Randy, it's an unprovoked attack, even though you know why the Cardiff players were angry? All right then...and just for your info, from Webster's English Dictionary....

pro·voked, pro·vok·ing, pro·vokes (v):
1.To incite to anger or resentment.
2.To stir to action or feeling.
3.To give rise to; evoke: provoke laughter.
4. To bring about deliberately; induce: provoke a fight.

I'd say that, intended or not, a hit on the knee would "incite to anger or resentment", and "stir the action or feeling" of wanting to punch the person who delivered it in both the hit player and his teammates, friend or otherwise. As a player myself, it certainly would wind me up...

But then, this is Dave Simms and friends we're dealing with. The man may know his hockey (don't laugh at the back) but trying to get them to admit that maybe the Steelers aren't the most wronged team on the planet gives you an insight into the frustration not felt since Zeus gave Sisyphus a rock and said "just put that over there"...

And as for the disciplinary panel...well, that's worth watching. The decision due today has been delayed by 24 hours-given the amount of hot air that will no doubt come out of the Steel City in that time perhaps hockey fans will begin to wish that ruddy machine had worked after all...

Hockey, physics, Armageddon and a random Greek myth reference in the one post...where else in the hockey universe could you get that? :)

Happy holidays: Oh, and by the way...you'll have to do without my musings for a week-I am off around the canals of Great Britain this week, from Friday 12 until Friday 19th, with no Internet, so there will be no posts after Friday morning until Round The Rinks next Friday. Check back tomorrow for more reaction (especially if the disciplinary panel do their thing) and, of course, Round the Rinks...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Apocalypse Now!

"It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it,
and I feel fine."

REM: It's the End of the World As We Know It

No, really. At 3pm British time tomorrow, according to some, we shall all be sucked into a man-made black hole thanks to the switching on of the Large Hadron Collider, a bloody great 17 mile-long tube beneath the Alps that through clever science stuff will recreate the Big Bang...and people are even placing bets on it (read the terms of the bet for a few seconds of hysterical laughter).

Why do I mention this? Because, if you've been reading any of the forums this week pertaining to UK hockey, you'd have thought it had already been switched on. With Sheffield and Cardiff locked in bitter arguments over Andrew Sharp and the events at the end of their game (basically, Sharpy got one shift all game, and went out looking for someone to kill), Hull and Nottingham arguing over whether Rick Kozak is the Antichrist (he's not the nicest of individuals, it seems, but if you read some of the posts on the Cage Forum you'd think he had cloven hooves and could kill people with a single touch) and everyone else just sitting back and watching the wailing and gnashing of teeth, there's already enough forum fodder to feed us all season long.

When it gets to the point where Sheffield are releasing press releases about not being given a DVD , it all gets just a little sad, doesn't it? And as for this quote, freely available on the front page....relating to the incident which sparked the melee in Cardiff-Brad Voth maybe or maybe not putting in a knee-on-knee hit on Randy Dagenais (hardly one to pull his leg out of the way unless absolutely necessary himself).

""We all like our toughness and our tough guys they are part of the sport but this is now getting daft, if the league doesn't stamp this out someone is going to get seriously hurt. We will see what the video shows and make our point well known. My view is that there is no place in hockey for this kind of action"

Matsos, you have signed Andrew Sharp-a player who you iced for 25 seconds at the end of a game, and whose sole shift consisted of him leaping onto the ice, dropping his gloves and punching Mike Hartwick. And you talk about "no place in hockey for this kind of action".

Please, just shut up before you embarrass yourself. And whoever writes the Steelers press releases-it may be an idea to check they punctuate your quotes properly.

Rant over...:)

Just to clear up any confusion-I'm not a Man Utd fan either-Cole and Yorke just happened to be the best sporting double-act I could think of...

That's it from me today-short and sweet. Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Double Overtime, 8th September

Before I start, I'm amazed that no-one managed to spot the deliberate (honest) loss of a month in Friday's Round the Rinks-how on earth I managed to get away with putting the date as 5th October is almost as unexplainable as how Rick Strachan still had a coaching job at Hull at the end of last season. And, in true "seamless link" fashion, that brings us to the main thrust of the post...


Team-by-team is still, at this stage of the season, a bit pointless in my eyes-mainly due to the fact that you can't really judge anything from the first competitive weekend of the season, aside from who has actually had all their players turn up and avoid the Zoom catastrophe. So let's just have a grasshopper-style look and jump around the Elite League's first weekend of play...


Dude....that's just wrong: Two games into the EIHL season, and unless (God forbid) someone suffers a triple-compound fracture or actually commits murder on EIHL ice, we have the sickest moment of the year already. Step forward Rick Kozak, who endears himself to the Panthers crowd by punching Marc Levers to the ice. Given that Levers is an annoying little sod of a player (although very good at his job), a clean fight may have raised a smile from me. However, if the reports of Levers' head being driven from behind into the ice Todd Bertuzzi-style to leave a huge pool of blood, followed by the Hull forward...and I can't believe I'm actually about to write this...skating through the pool of blood and kicking it over the ice in a spray are true, it just makes my dinner rise in my throat. And for someone who saw Andre Payette allegedly end Kim Ahlroos's career by driving his head into the boards from behind for a concussion, and Brad Voth running over Martin Klempa so hard that some people in the Skydome crowd were heard to gasp "jesus-he's broken his neck", that is some going.


Oh yes...and the game's on Sky...you can guarantee that'll get a viewer or two, even if they just stick to showing some of the other incidents leading to the 105 Hull and 48 Nottingham PiM's...

Warning: information may not be 100% accurate: Here's what I wrote regarding Edinburgh's chances against Sheffield this weekend, before the weekend began...

Edinburgh can expect nothing more than a shooting gallery in their opening two games-they're still missing half a roster as they take on (Sheffield and Belfast)
And so now we come to Saturday night at the House of Steel...final score Sheffield 1, Edinburgh...three. Some shooting gallery that was. Pasi Raitanen pulled on a Caps jersey and promptly had one of the games of his life. Not bad going, really.

To call it a "good" start is to call Usain Bolt "a bit nippy": The Jeff Ulmer Memorial Best Debut award goes to Andrew Martin of Belfast...first game in his new home arena against Cardiff, and he scores 3+1, while Bobby Robins has a shocker with a "mere" 2+2 on the same line. It would appear that Adam Calder and Dan Carlson have competition in the "most-feared forward double-act since these two" stakes...

Snapper's Challenge: I know there are a bunch of photographers around the rinks of the EIHL, including Blaze's own Mark Tredgold. This bit's for you. When your team plays Basingstoke, can someone please, please try and get an action shot of Brent Hughes and Jason Goulet in the same picture-words can't describe how funny a 5'7 angry midget and a 6'5 hunchback of a d-man (if Goulet had a neck, which on first sight at least he appears to be lacking, he'd be 6'7-8, easy) look following each other out of the box-with Hughes following Goulet it looked just like a hockey-player version of a duck and duckling. You even had the waddle in Hughes' case...it certainly brightened up a bit of a dull game for me. In fairness to the Bison, though, with their starting goalie and several imports missing they still put up a decent fight, even if they went down 4-2 at home and 8-2 away...

Human Sunburn: It seems that EIHL goalies, however good they are, may have to put sun lotion on their necks when facing the Phoenix, just to avoid getting a tan from the goal-lamp. Why? Here's the reason in two sentences. David Beauregard: four games, seven goals. Adam Walker: four games, six goals. Can you say "snipers ahoy"?

Next, more ice hockey, live from the frozen lakes of hell...Panthers fans have played two EIHL games, and not a single person on the Cage Forum is moaning about either performance. It's amazing what happens when your team wins...

Random Marek Ivan mention: Fair play to the bloke, even if he hasn't yet done the decent thing and officially changed his name to Marek "bloody" Ivan-scoring twice on your debut isn't a bad way to endear yourself to your new fans. However, at this point the whole of the Panthers fraternity is wincing...they thought he was a good signing to begin with, too. Then his mouth warmed up...

However-and putting the whole "money where my mouth is" thing. In order to give him something of a chance as well as having a comedy wager (which is always good) I'll put something of a bet down. If either of the following should happen...

Marek Ivan ends the season leading the league in goals, assists OR points

or

Vipers win the league

I shall admit I'm wrong, and should one be obtained, wear a Marek Ivan jersey (of any team, and let's face it, he's had a few of them) to the Saturday of the playoff weekend. If nothing else that should give you a reason to cheer him on...

And on that philosophical thought, here ends the first DOT of the season proper. Check back tomorrow for more silliness and maybe even some proper hockey chat for a change...

Fasten Your Seatbelts...

I know, I know. This "posting about posting" lark could get pretty tiresome. Just to warn you, though, this weekend was well, well worth a Double Overtime, especially if you're a Hull or Nottingham fan. You may want to check back here around 7-ish as we try to unravel, amongst other things, how tall Jason Goulet would be if he actually stood up straight and whether Rick Kozak has committed one of the sickest acts ever seen in UK hockey (I say yes, personally, if half the reports from either side are true)...

Double OT to come later today when I get back from work, though...and I shall do my best to make sure it's a good 'un...

Round the Rinks: 5th September

Season opener time! Some would say it's pointless trying to do a team-by-team preview when you haven't seen seven of the ten teams yet, and I agree. So rather than doing team-by-team for this time out, let's look at the weekend as a whole...

Miracle Men: And we start with the Basingstoke Bison v Coventry Blaze double-header. Few know that it is now actually written into the EIHL constitution that the first two weekends of the league season must involve Coventry playing Basingstoke, ideally at the Silverdome but sometimes in Coventry too, just to add a bit of variety. Two teams equally blessed with size and speed should make for a pair of intriguing games, especially as they are two of the few teams actually at full strength. And Jason Goulet meeting Carlyle Lewis should make for some pitched battles in front of Kevin Reiter, too...

Meanwhile: The rest of the teams are more difficult to preview, and it will be difficult to assess this early on just how they match up, since Nottingham and Newcastle, two of the pre-season strong teams, are both missing some of their top imports. Manchester and Nottingham can make an early physical mark as they meet two of the "power" teams in the league in Newcastle and Hull-the Phoenix in that order and Nottingham in reverse order. Cardiff have the toughest opening weekend with games against the mercurial-looking Belfast Giants and the known excellence of the Sheffield Steelers. Edinburgh can expect nothing more than a shooting gallery in their opening two games-they're still missing half a roster as they take on the same two teams in reverse order. to round out the fixtures.

I know that's a relatively short post, but the Double Overtime on Monday will be a bit longer...and there may be apost earlier in the weekend if anything particularly notable happens...

Oh yes, and just to make it perfectly clear...

Yes, I do hate Marek Ivan. With a burning passion...:)

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Sweet Charity...

Charity is something of a theme of today's bumper post-beginning with the news that the Cardiff Devils were a part of the massive fundraising effort to save Bison this week, in the persona of owner Matt Burge. Here's part of the press release:

The Cardiff Devils are proud to have provided substantial, immediate five figure cash injection that will enable the Basingstoke Bison to compete in the BMI Baby Elite League next season.Cardiff Devils owner Matt Burge commented: “I am delighted to be able to help Basingstoke out in this way. We need to look at the bigger picture and the impact of no Bison team in the Elite League would have been severe; it would have not only been terrible news for Bison fans, but the league as a whole.”


There's not really much else you can say other than "fair play to the man"...

Following that, Coventry are due to play the Telford Tigers in a fundraising game later this month...I'm feeling quite warm and fuzzy now...

Charity Shield: Thirty Second Review: Cracking game, this, although the somewhat sparse crowd may be a worry at the Skydome if it continues (1300 or so by my estimate is very low for a curtain-raiser)...

Belfast Webcast is back: Starting this weekend, the much-praised Belfast webcast team will be broadcasting all Giants games at the Odyssey-this Saturday against Cardiff is free to listen to, so give 'em a try, you won't regret it. The new address is here: http://www.giantslive.tv

Round the Rinks to (hopefully) appear later tonight (around 9pm), assuming the Internet problems at my house are fixed (bloody lightning)...

If not, it'll be tomorrow afternoon. Which I appreciate is a bit late, but I'm doing my best with a rubbish BT phoneline...:)

Tuesday Thoughts...

Let's begin with the feel-good news...

Bison will hit the ice: From today's Daily Star:

Basingstoke have gone from doom to zoom in just three days. Swedish owner Tomas Enerston last night confirmed that Bison will be on the ice for this weekend's opening of the Elite League season after fans throughout the country chipped in to keep the club afloat. Enerston had warned he would have to pull out after losing nearly £25,000 following the collapse of Zoom airline.Ten North-American based imports were booked on sponsored flights to the UK, but Bison now have to foot the bill for their players and their equipment. Enerston said "We've raised £20,000 in three days. It would not happen anywhere else, the pure dedication of the fans is unbelievable. And it's not only our fans, we've had supporters from all the other clubs helping and now we can look forward to the new season"

So there you go. £20,000 in three days. It seems lightning can strike not once, but twice in the same few days, thanks to fans of UK hockey...

On dark nights, stay away from the Bay...or the Skydome...or you may have the pleasure of meeting Doug MacIver-an early nomination for "scariest-looking player in the EIHL". Although many in Coventry have already nominated Corey Leclair (how did he let that photo get past the censors?), memorably described by someone next to me as looking like a "zombie version of Moby". Poor sod-I think he's got a bit of a bad rap myself. Here he is as he is now...is it me or does he have a touch of Joel Poirier about him?

"Hate is a strong word, but I really, really, really don't like you...":
I am a reasonable man. I stuck up for Theo Fleury when he was hated for the rest of the league. I think Derek Campbell (Newcastle variety) is a very useful player when he can be. I prefer to call Rob Wilson "experienced" rather than just plain "old". I even think Payette has his uses on occasion...but sometimes, there comes a time when reason just goes out the window for me, and this is one of them.
I now have a new reason to hate the Vipers...they have signed my all-time most-despised player. Those of you who think Andre Payette is an object worthy of hatred have clearly not been exposed sufficiently to Marek Ivan, the ex-Panther who is now the Vipers' first line centre. There is no swearword vile enough to sum up my opinion of this white-gloved, chicken-hearted zombie lookalike from the Czech Republic-a man who celebrated a last minute game-winner in front of possibly the hardest team bench in the EIHL (London Racers, 04/05) and then ran like hell when they attempted to take physical retribution in a scrap which has become legendary in British hockey. A man who considered white gloves and a yellow shirt a fashion statement. A man who will never pass when he can shoot, and never check cleanly when he can swing a stick. A man so unpopular that even Steve McKenna turned away from a fight because it involved sticking up for him. Many people who have heard me talk about him are convinced his name is actually "Marek bloody Ivan!" and can only be said in a tone of utter disgust. I really don't like him much, no matter that he can actually play when he's not hiding under a bench...
(Oh, and by the way, if you think I'm not looking forward to "welcoming" him to the Skydome with a volley of family-friendly mickey-taking and generally getting on his back every time he makes his mistake, you're wrong. Very, very wrong...Within the limits of good taste and fair language, fishing season just well and truly opened...)

One Minute Preview: Charity Shield:
And so we're off into the season proper tomorrow night with the curtain-raiser/PR bonanza that is the Charity Shield. Sadly there may not be as much money raised as last time due to it being held at the 2,500 seat Skydome rather than the 7,000 seat NIC, but Coventry v Sheffield is always a game worth watching.

Why Sheffield will win: Their players know each other, and most of Coventry's, very well indeed. And thus, as they proved in the PO final last season, they know how to stop them. Joey Talbot is lethal even without Dan Tessier, Steve Munn is simply a machine on defence (no human can be that good, that often) and Nathan Gillies is a promising addition. Combine wind-up merchants par excellence (Ryan Finnerty), top Brits (Ashley Tait, Jonathan Phillips) and steel and skill on d (Mark Thomas and Rod Sarich) and the Steelers are more than capable of repeating their result in Nottingham tomorrow night.

Why Coventry will win: As always, they can flat-out play from top to the bottom of the team. And now they have size to add to their skill in the shape of Scott Kelman (both), Corey Leclair (both in one) and Carlyle Lewis (size and...well, he can play damn well where necessary, even if Belfast fans would have you believe otherwise). You will simply have to score four or five goals to beat this team for certain, and even then, you may find getting them a lot less easy than you think.

Key match-up: Scott Kelman v Ryan Finnerty. Two centres who can both play, and one who will do his best to be winding up the other, these players need to be firing for their line to score-this is obvious even this early in the season. Finnerty can get under people's skin like no-one else, and should he knock Kelman off his game and force Lewis to take penalties at the same time, that is a lot of Coventry's attacking size neutralised. With four goals in three games already this off-season, Kelman is fast becoming a fan favourite. Shut his line down and all the pressure moves to the AC/DC line-and they too can be stopped if you hustle hard enough...

Prediction: Maybe no goal-fest here, but a storming game which the Blaze will just (and I mean "by a gnat's wing" just...edge, purely due to being able to cope with the sometimes-unpredictable Skydome ice slightly better.

That's your lot for today...keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Double Overtime: Preseason Edition...

Rather than a considered team-by-team run through the pre-season, this will be more of a jump-about stream-of-consciousness post, although I'll try and at least keep the games in some sort of order...

Fight!: Getting the rough stuff out of the way first of all with a pic that speaks louder than words...

This is why it's a bad idea to wind up a 6'3, 215lb centre, skill player or not...(thanks to Mark Tredgold for the pictures as per usual). For the record, the fight was a clear Scott Kelman win...

"Team toughness" isn't about size, it's about state of mind: Hull and Sheffield have six scraps in two games...let no-one say the Steelers don't stick up for themselves on this showing...

Twist and (probably) shout: Cardiff have signed a contortionist for a d-man in Mike Hartwick-is it me or does his body look like it's going completely the opposite way to his legs? I've seen many slapshot pictures but that is just plain wrong...(picture from Helen Fryer)

Goal, after goal, after goal... So, all the pre-season weekend results...

Saturday 30th August

Dundalk Bulls/Hawks Select 0 Belfast Giants 10
Cardiff Devils 4 Manchester Phoenix 3
Hull Stingrays 4 Sheffield Steelers 10
Newcastle Vipers 2 Coventry Blaze 3

Sunday 31st August

Dundalk Bulls/Hawks Select 1 Belfast Giants 9
Manchester Phoenix 7 Nottingham Panthers 5
Sheffield Steelers 5 Hull Stingrays 2
Coventry Blaze 10 Newcastle Vipers 2

With 36 goals in four games on Saturday and 41 in four on Sunday (for you maths whizzes, that's 77, or nearly eight goals a game over the weekend) can we safely assume that that's the highest scoring (on average) weekend of the season already out of the way?

And the "FMTWABI" Award goes to: Shamelessly nicking the "silly acronym" award from Five Minute Major with the "(sounds like puck) Me, That Was A Bad Idea" award, David Longstaff wins it after attempting to wind up Scott Kelman. You can see the consequences in the first bit of this post, but seeing Longstaff's greasy builder's mullet fly back as his head was thumped extremely hard and repeatedly was one of the highlights of Sunday night for many. closely followed by the fact that Kelman then proceeded to score twice (and beauties they were, too). The Vipers didn't exactly cover themselves in glory, lack of imports or otherwise, as Rob Wilson and Derek Campbell spent more time trying (and failing) to hit shadows then use their experience and gritty skill respectively. Meanwhile Andrew Verner went from sublime (46 saves from 49 shots) to ridiculous (3 goals in 10 minutes, including a shot from Lewis that hit both pads before dribbling over the line) between Saturday and Sunday. Tyler Willis looked like the kind of player everyone not from Newcastle will quickly grow to despise and admire at the same time, capping his night with a well-taken goal, and Todd Griffith was the standout player of a pretty poor bunch-not least as he demolished Leigh Jamieson in a fight at the MRA. Meanwhile (and I may have to find something negative to say about him already as I sense that I'm beginning to develop something of a favouritism for him) Scott Kelman shone, Carlyle Lewis concentrated on scoring rather than physical presence and the rest of the Blaze team looked like last year's side. Which is really not a bad thing, unless you support one of the nine other teams in the league, I suppose.

And in the "pic equals thousand words" file: This is why the chaveree suits are a bad idea. The Viper is on the left, but on the right is not a team-mate coming in to help but one of the linespeople (the comely Alice Stanley, I think) keeping a watchful eye on things. Just for a half-second you weren't sure, though, were you? Now imagine playing the Vipers and just how many times you'll catch yourself starting to yell "too many men!" before realising...

In the interests of balance: Apologies that this preseason review is a bit Blaze-centric...for other perspectives, take a gander at Five Minute Major (including a nice bit of textbook controlled ranting from Becky regarding people predicting shutouts), the Pyre and the Podcast for Manchester, The Cat's Whiskers for Nottingham and F Block for the Stingrays, all which can be accessed via the Recommended Reading panel. There's even a Belfast blog popped up now...

And some good news: Basingstoke, as of yesterday, are 19k towards their 30k target to compete this season. With 11k to raise and an extended deadline until Wednesday to do it by, there is hope anew in Hampshire.

Coming up next: Tomorrow will see a Breakaway-trademark One Minute Preview of the "official" curtain-raiser to the season-the Charity Shield, between Coventry and Sheffield, as well as all the randomness you've come to expect of the Breakaway. There will likely as not not be a post on Wednesday thanks to my evening routine looking like "home from work. shower, change, pint in the Old Windmill, watch Blaze/Steelers, out on the lash". However, there will be a match report up on Thursday evening, followed by Round the Rinks on Friday morning (all being well)...

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

Stay tuned..

I appreciate I said that there'd be a post this morning. Work's a bit busy though, so it should be on this evening by around 7pm at the latest...apologies for the delay...

Preseason Round the Rinks...

Hi all.

This was going to be a straight weekend preview with a brief look at each team playing and their matches, but events, as seems to be usual in British hockey, have overtaken us.

Basingstoke Bison need 30k by Sunday, or they're out of business. This is thanks to a snowball effect from the Zoom Airlines bankruptcy-the ins and outs of this are covered elsewhere but the maths are simple. Ways to donate, should you wish to, are on the main Bison site. The Breakaway has banged £20 in...let's hope that the Bison get the same miracle that Telford did just a few days ago.

On to the quick One-Minute Preseason Preview

Preseason action sees Coventry take on Newcastle in their traditional pair of (un) friendlies, which gives Carlyle Lewis and Andre Payette an early chance to get re-acquainted-and also, should they make it over in time, Tyler Willis and Chris McAllister the chance to impress. Although it's pre-season, given past meetings we can expect neither team to be holding back on the physical side of things...

Meanwhile, Hull take on Sheffield in the Yorkshire Cup. This gives the Steelers the chance to prove early that all the talk about "team toughness" is not just empty promise as they take on the team who many see as inheriting Newcastle's "toughest in the league" mantle-and Hull the chance to prove that there's skill to go along with the undoubted brawn. The rest of the league will certainly be watching both teams closely...

Belfast tune up with a pair of games against the Irish Hockey League Dundalk Bulls as they look to hit the ground running, while Manchester are giving themselves an early sight of two opponents as opposed to one, taking on Cardiff and Nottingham in the latter two teams' only games of the weekend.

Obviously these games, in the grand scheme of things, are little more than tune-ups, but with the league being what it is this is the time for messages to be sent, stalls to be laid out and new imports looking to impress their new fans, they'll still be worth watching-and teams and fans all around the league will surely be keeping a close eye on all the events of the weekend. I certainly will, as well as the situation in Hampshire...Monday will see a review of events and maybe even a match report of Blaze v Vipers if things get particularly tasty...

Good luck Bison, and keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Game On...

And so we're now officially off and running in the new season...and here is a brief stream-of-consciousness reflection on the events of last night at the Skydome.

Goal of the night: Sylvain Deschatelets: And it took the epic time of...seventeen seconds. Opening face-off, puck back to Ben O'Connor, skate, pass to Calder, dumped round the boards after a bit of passing back and forth, Carlson to Deschatelets on the left circle, followed by a nonchanlant flick (well, that was the impression, even though the puck was travelling as it went over Euan King's shoulder) and there you go-the Blaze Skydome account 08/09 is opened...

Applause-worthy moment: Stephen Lee firing a beauty of a slapshot past Steve Fone from the blue-line-not quite goal of the night but a fine strike in its own right.

God, the referee's new suits are ugly...there's no photos as yet but just have a gander over the weekend. Kappa tracksuits for the EIHL era...

Comedy moment: Puck crosses the GB zone, is received by the defenceman (who wore number 22-annoyingly there were no names on the back of the majority of the GB shirts so I couldn't remember who was who). As he curls round to receive the puck he's met by the sight of 6'3 and 235lbs of Canadian in the shape of Carlyle Lewis, moving at great speed towards him and about ten feet away, yelling "heads up!". Reason prevailed as Lewis both eased off and pulled out of the hit so no contact was made, but the yell of "go and change your pants, 22" as he left the ice for a line change seconds later pretty much summed up the youngster's reaction-if the look on his face was any judge then the boards narrowly missed being jet-washed with the contents of his rapidly-evacuating bowels...


Bravery Award: Bowns (again, I didn't catch his first name thanks to being in a bit late and not having a game sheet) marking his arrival in the game by taking a stinging Kelman slapshot full (as in "nosebreakingly full") on the mask, before doing it again from Weaver seconds later, and smiling ruefully each time. Well, they say goalies are a little "different" to the rest of us...Or Sam Oakford for a cheeky (and quite nasty) slash on Lewis' legs in the third period. He'd managed to somehow melt into the ice when Lewis took a casual look over his shoulder and grinned, though.

For the record, the final score was 6-2. As for judging the Blaze team-let's save the "first impressions" thing until after the weekend-the Blaze looked like they were playing well, well within themselves-and the U20's, while playing hard and no disrespect to them, were brushed aside with very little fuss.

More pluggery: The British hockey web community has two new additions...both Manchester way. The Phoenix Podcast and the Pyre look like two more excellent sources of opinion, debate and general hockey writing..particularly the Pyre's latest post on the wagecap issue, .so feel free to visit them now they're duly linked on the sidebar...

That's the quickie done for now...tomorrow morning it'll be time for Preseason Round the Rinks...

Last Night...

Well, technically the hockey season has already started with Sheffield Steelers losing 7-5 to Bietigheim-Bissingen in the LUK Cup, but this is the last day of the off-season in Coventry...there will be at least one Blaze game every week until April now. And at this time, it's even more saddening to learn of the troubles in Telford caused by Eurologix pulling out of their sponsorship. There's a bitter row going on down there at the moment-you'd have to look at the Tigers forum or THF in order to see the ins and outs, but let's just say it doesn't look good despite the heroic efforts of hockey fans across the country attempting to raise 20,000 pounds just so the Tigers can start the season, never mind finish it...

This is a very quick post, but there are some considerably longer (and better quality) ones out there you ought to be reading this week-the links are below......

Five Minute Major's superb season preview...

The Cat's Whiskers goes team-by-team for the season...

Four Point Four Seconds takes a look at events across the pond...

And, for all you amateur scouts...

The F Block ponders the Stingray lines...

While the Snow Plough considers the 4-ref system, which quite frankly I'm not going near just now because you can guarantee that, whatever prediction I make, the complete opposite will turn out to be the case. Actually, bearing that in mind...

IT'S A COMPLETE DISASTER! EGOS WILL RULE AND GAMES WILL DESCEND INTO FARCE, AND BONIFACE AND CARSON ON THE SAME ICE WILL LEAD TO THE END OF THE HOCKEY WORLD AS WE KNOW IT! DEATH, DESTRUCTION AND ANDREW SHARP WILL REIGN AND BRAD VOTH WILL UNLEASH HIS EVIL ON THE WORLD! AYEEE! WE'RE DOOMED! Particularly if the Steelers and/or Panthers are involved...

That's the system guaranteed to work now, then...:)

I know this is a short one, but that's about it...apart from the little number down in the corner of the sidebar, which has now passed 10,000, and made me very happy indeed, since I wasn't thinking I'd get that far until at least next season, if at all. So thank you, readers...

Next post on here will be a report of GB U20's v the Blaze, followed by the first Round the Rinks of 2008/2009 as we consider the pre-season match-ups... It's been far too long...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

PW's Spanking New Season Preview!

As promised, and following a tradition of...oh, three years from the EIHL forum and the Dragon's Den Blaze forum, here is the only season preview you'll ever need...every EIHL team dissected, rated and even having a song lyric applied to them. And you may even get Bubba Ray the Texan weighing in on one or two this time. And one rude word, kiddies...What more could you ask for? :)

Off and running, then...

Basingstoke Bison:
"Every single day what you say makes no sense to me
Even though I try I can't get my head around you"
The Offspring: Can't Get My Head Around You

I've been trying to work this team out all summer. Last season the exploits of theTerrific Ten became EIHL legend, but losing Steve Thornton over the summer along with half of their key players (Greg Owen being the most notable one as he left for France) spelled trouble for the Hampshire side. And then their recruitment policy over the summer-it's confusing because, apart from the returning Brad Cruikshank, Eric Braff and Greg Chambers, the team consists of players that provoke the reaction "he could be awesome, or he could be awful". Nowhere is this more true than in the case of Jeremy Cornish-the ex-Steelers and Racer forward who can do a job but isn't exactly overly blessed in the skills department. However, the backline looks intimidating, with every player being six-foot plus and the monster pairing of Eric Braff and Jason Goulet to ensure that Kevin Reiter will always see the puck-and by all accounts this means he WILL stop it. This team could finish anywhere from fourth to tenth depending on their new imports and just how well they mesh-but the signs, like last season, are promising. Unlike last season, however, they have proper owners this time. And that's yet another reason to be optimistic down south...
Most Valuable Player: Greg Chambers
Player to watch: Austin Sutter/Jason Goulet
Unsung Hero: Eric Braff

Belfast Giants:

"There is only one thing on our minds
Don't try running away 'cause you're the one we will find....
Searching...seek and destroy..."
Metallica: "Seek And Destroy"

The Giants want the title. Such is clear from new coach Steve Thornton's recruitment over the summer, with imports like the scarily good Mike Burgoyne and Taylor Howells on d feeding the goalscoring skill of Evan Cheverie, Paul Deniset, and Thornton himself. Grit and power is provided by Bobby Robins, George Awada and Malcolm McMillan, while Stevie Lyle, Dave Phillips and Colin Shields form possibly the best Brit-pack in the league. Let's be honest-they're way up in the title race reckoning. If they had a quality import goalie, then I'd have no hesitation in tipping them for the title. Thing is, Lyle is beatable, especially by the calibre of forwards the other top teams have, and the Giants have a history of imploding when favourites and starting slowly sometimes in the past few years. Can they win a trophy this season? Yes, easily. Will they win the league one? That is not so sure...
Player to watch: Taylor Howells
Unsung Hero: George Awada
Most Valuable Player: Mike Burgoyne

Cardiff Devils:
"Don't wait, don't wait
The lights will flash and fade away
The days will pass you by
Don't wait"
Dashboard Confessional: "Don't Wait"

This is the season the Devils need to play hard and win something. The pieces are in place-they have size, skill and ability despite losing Deschatelets and Birbraer to name but two. Brad Voth is the best captain in the EIHL for leading by example, and the expectation on the Devils may be a little lower than in previous years due to these losses and the players they've signed mostly being new and unknown to the country. Peter Aubry is a decent goalie, the defence is HUGE, with only one player (Jason Stone) being under 6' and the lightest weighing 198lbs, and the forward lines have grit aplenty in Voth, Derek Campbell and Mike Prpich and skill in Rod Hinks and Jason Silverthorn. A trophy is a definite possibility, particularly if the Devils can take advantage of their small rink...
Key Player: Rod Hinks
Player to Watch: Mike Prpich
Unsung Hero: Jason Stone

Coventry Blaze:
"I've heard this all before, and I've seen this over and over again. Don't let me wake."
Bleeding Through: "On Wings of Lead"

The Blaze fans have been spoiled the past few seasons, there's no doubt about that. Players like Martin, Huppe and Cloutier have scored the goals while players like Trevor Koenig and Jody Lehman have stopped them, and the trophies have rolled in.
Trouble is, what goes up must come down, and this could be the season that the dreams finally end. Koenig is gone. Cloutier is gone. Martin is gone, Huppe is gone, and the players that have replaced them have massive skates to fill. Sylvain Deschatelets is a superb signing to replace Cloutier, but the jury is not so sure about JF Perras or Corey Leclair just yet. Scott Kelman has a reputation from the ECHL of having all the talent but little of the work-rate, and this will have to change or be proved dramatically wrong, especially as the whole league is now aware of the danger of AC/DC and so others will have to share the scoring load as teams actively look to shut the "Electric Twins" down...As for Corey Leclair-well, we know he can skate...Perras is a good goalie as he proved with Edinburgh last season, but with Leigh Jamieson (questions about his ego) and Ben O'Connor (very good, but inexperienced) in front of him, once again there are a few niggling worries about the back line. But then, there were last season too, and look how that turned out...
Key Player: Sylvain Deschatelets
Player to Watch: Corey LeClair
Unsung Hero: Tom Watkins

Edinburgh Capitals:
"Don’t hold me up now,
I can stand my own ground,
I don’t need your help now..."
Rise Against: "Prayer of the Refugee"

The Capitals, once again, are a tricky team to preview because half their team isn't yet known. What they have so far, though, is promising. From the league whipping-boys along with Hull to a deserved playoff place last season is a very good start, and already this off-season Doug Christiansen has made some intriguing signings, mainly on defence in the shape of Taylor Christie and attack in the form of my new EIHL favourite player, Mark Hurtubise. Andrej Rajcak returns to provide some Eastern European flair to the side, but quite frankly it's impossible to say much more about them due to the lack of a starting goalie or a genuine first line. This is the only reason I'm predicting they finish bottom at the moment. However, in Doug Christiansen they have a coach and power-forward who knows his business and has already returned pride back to the Capitals after a rocky start to their EIHL life-and this season should see further improvement. Certainly no-one can laugh at the Caps any more...
Key player: Doug Christiansen
Player to watch: Taylor Christie
Unsung Hero: Shawn Germain

Hull Stingrays
"Prepare to hate me, fall when I may
This night will hurt you like never before"
Nightwish: "Wish I Had An Angel"

Game on on Humberside. After the abject capitulation of last season, the Stingrays have gone for raw, unadulterated power sprinkled with a hint of violence for their squad this season. Jonathan Bernier, Stuart Kerr and Rick Kozak can all throw a mean punch, and human irritant Jake Riddle is still around, free to do his thing as he tries to take the mantle of most-hated player in the league off Andre Payette. Steve Slonina, Pavel Gomenyuk and Matt Reynolds make token nods towards skill as well as Kozak's undoubted ability to play (have you sussed yet that I think Rick Kozak will be the star on this team by a fair distance?), while Troy Neumeier provides a calm, experienced head at the back to rein in the hotheads, but this team doesn't care who they roll over along the way, as long as the puck hits the net at the right end more often than the wrong one. A poor-mans Newcastle, if you will. Well, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
Key Player: Rick Kozak
Player to Watch: Jonathan Bernier
Unsung Hero: Troy Neumeier

Manchester Phoenix
"We are, we are, intriguing. We are, we are, desirable."
Dashboard Confessional: "Several Ways To Die Trying"

I like the Phoenix. I make no secret of this, even if their ticket prices are probably a little too high. Tony Hand has made this another interesting off-season, making one huge signing in proven scorer David Beauregard to replace Joe Tallari (and it will be a "beautiful view" for Phoenix fans if he keeps scoring at the same rate he has done), and many interesting ones, such as Dwight Parrish to play the "old-head" role and Kyle Bruce to be around along with Brett Clouthier when any gloves need to be dropped, as well as Stephen Murphy in goal. I do think this is a team which will surprise many, and can hope to be towards the higher reaches of the table. How high depends on just how well the defence protect Murphy in goal, because he looks a little weak when compared to most other EIHL netties. The high prices may well be worth it if a trophy comes to Altrincham, though...
Key Player: David Beauregard
Player to watch: Kyle Bruce
Unsung Hero: Brett Clouthier

Newcastle Vipers
"Raise a flag of hope, that there is a brilliant tomorrow."
Small Towns Burn a Little Slower: "A Tune of Panic"

Every year, there's one team that no-one seriously counts for honours at the beginning of the season that I look at and think "why is no-one mentioning this team as title-contenders?!" Usually, it's Nottingham, or Cardiff, but this time out they take a back seat to our Northern friends from Newcastle. This time out there is real hope on Tyneside-they appear to have already signed the league's best goalie by some distance in Andrew Verner, who, with Chris McAllister and Tyler Willis in front of him could play a huge part in deciding where the title ends up. That's not forgetting that the Vipers, who have always been a team built more on power than finesse, still have Derek Campbell, Dave Longstaff and Andre Payette already signed for a mix of grit and skill, and a first-line centre still to add. They're looking good already so things can only get better for them...The Vipers are my tip for at least one honour this season...
Key Player: Andrew Verner
Player to Watch: Tyler Willis
Unsung Hero: Derek Campbell

Nottingham Panthers:
"It's 7 o'clock on a Saturday night and I'm so fucking bored
Okay, steady, get ready
everybody gets to shoot"
Dropkick Murphys: 21-Guitar Salute

Panthers fans are tired. Tired of being second-best, tired of endlessly reflecting on cup wins that get further away every year, and tired of watching teams promise much and under-achieve. And so, this season, they've finally, finally signed a team that look like it could challenge for the title. But the similarities between the Panthers and the Blaze this season are scary. Two teams with defensive question-marks, two teams with two outright star player in their ranks (Coventry with Adam Calder and Dan Carlson, Nottingham with Dan Tessier and Bruce Richardson) and two sets of fans who expect the best, night in, night out. Quite frankly, the Panthers could come anywhere between second and seventh this time out...But put it this way. You know a team is loaded with forward talent when Dave Clarke can only find a spot as "Unsung Hero" in a season preview...
Key Player: Dan Tessier
Player to Watch: Bruce Richardson
Unsung Hero: David Clarke

Sheffield Steelers:
"I don't care how things were and I won't apologize."
Alexisonfire: "Pulmonary Archery"

The Steelers are a team who are already settled-"evolution, not revolution" has been Dave Matsos' mantra. Adding Nathan Gillies, Andrew Sharp and Scott Basiuk as the only newbies means that we know exactly what the Steelers are about. Losing Dan Tessier to Nottingham could be a blow, but the Steelers aren't looking worried, at least in public. They will need Steve Munn to repeat his epic season of last time out, Joey Talbot to do the same, and everyone to stand up for each other, but there's nothing saying that the playoff-winners last time out can't repeat their success, especially if Gillies slots into the team and provides the same kick that Tessier did...
Key Player: Joey Talbot/Steve Munn
Player to Watch: Nathan Gillies
Unsung Hero: Ryan Finnerty.

That's it. Every team previewed, rated and slated. I've held him back all column but maybe it's time, on the eve of the new season, and with preseason games beginning in Sheffield today, to let Bubba Ray out for the last word...

"Heee-yah, sports fans! Get the fire-brigade on speed-dial, warn the emergency rooms and prepare to scream until your throats get sore, cause EIHL action is back on the ice and in your face, and it's gonna be the most rockin' sockin', barn burnin', screamin' and hollerin' season of the EIHL yet! Whichever team you support, the wait is over, so good luck to 'em all, grab your sticks and gloves, pull on your replica shirts and LET'S PLAY HOCKEY!"

The summer wait's over. Forget football, the true winter sport is back!

Hockey's Back...and more...

Yee-HAH, cowboy!

Lock the doggie in the barn, pack the kids off to your mothers and settle in for a rollercoaster from now until April, cause it's wetter outside than a horny dolphin's undercarriage, and the sweet winter sound of a well-struck slapshot is back in the rinks of the UK. As Lemmy says before every Skydome face-off, it's time to play the GAAAAAAAMMMME!

Sorry. I was temporarily taken over by the malevolent spirit of an American commentator then...I do apologise. However, he (let's call him Bubba Ray) will likely be making regular appearances in this column from now on when nothing but the rantings of an over-excited Texan will do. Call it releasing my inner Dave Simms. Only without the naffness.

The point made above is a good one, though...here in Coventry, hockey is officially back with the ENL team's first warm-up game yesterday-which saw a good crowd of people, mainly there to see the brand-new Blaze shirts for the first time. The hockey wasn't bad though, with a nice goal from Tom Ledgard being the highlight of the night, and gave a nice appetite-wetter for when the big boys hit the ice in, believe it or not, nine days.

Which (swift plug here) must mean that it'll shortly be time for the all-singing, all-dancing PW's Season Preview, which is currently being worked on with me scouring the Internet for clues on past form of players and my record collection for song-lyrics to fit to teams, and should hopefully appear on Saturday. I am fully aware that I've not been on here for a week, though, and there is much to cover, so let's begin.

Anyone know a good first-line centre?: Sorry, Panthers blog friends, but few things have amused me more this week than Chris Richards deciding he'd rather stay in the US. Given that it's not Bruce Richardson, who I see as far more crucial to the Panthers' success this season, I'm not sure hugely why this is such an issue, especially with Matt Myers, Molin, Dave Clarke et al, especially with Dan Tessier still on the market. After all, as I said earlier on this off-season, the lad can sure play...And it could be worse...

Steelers sign Andrew Sharp: No, stop laughing. Seriously. The team who claim that they "were as tough as anyone and would win games on the PP while others gooned it up" (paraphrasing Dave Matsos) have signed...erm...a player who is known for firing the pucks at others in warm-up, fighting and...that's about it.

Oh, all right then...have a giggle. But don't push it, Panthers fans...you're the ones who'll have to suffer the laughter of the rest of the league should he score past you and there be a 15-page thread on the Cage about him...

I would write more about the fact that Sharpy's entire Coventry career consisted of one shift, one fight against Jeremy Cornish (which he lost) and the fact that he has actually stuck his own fights on Youtube...but quite frankly, I don't want to get on the wrong side of him because fighting, and throwing punches, is one thing he clearly can do...this'll be why the Romford fans loved him...

Off-Ice Innovation: Coventry are launching an online ticketing service through their own website. Now this is a superb idea, and the rest of the league, have they not already done so, would do well to follow suit...

Random Hockey Video: Just to get you in the mood...awesome soundtrack too...

That's all for now-mammoth season preview to come on Saturday...

Friday Frolics...

More hockey fun to come-this post is mainly taken up with responses to comments etc...but the fun continues thanks to the reader ideas, and there's some new stuff in there too...



Boys Like Girls: A gold star to Kid in his last comment for referencing one of my favourite sports writers in ESPN's Bill Simmons, particularly his reference to the latter's "Lindsey Hunter All-Stars" which is basically a team of athletes whose names sound a little like they should be hot girls. The original, containing American athletes, is on this page, but Kid asks if we could make an all-EIHL version. I've had to stretch it a little to contain people who've played in the old Superleague, but there are many still in the league this season-in fact almost a whole line...



Goalie: Jody Lehman (Sheffield): Cardiff fans everywhere will applaud this after their invention of the "Jody is a girl's name" chant when he played for Coventry. Sounds like he should be a nurse on Grey's Anatomy, to my ears...



Defence: Taylor Christie (Edinburgh) (C): As the first person to catch my eye as an obvious member of this team, he has to be captain...



Leigh Jamieson (Coventry): A bit more left-field, perhaps, but there's a sniff of Midwestern college-girl or perhaps American track-and-field athlete/soccer player in there...



Taylor Howells (Belfast): Nickelodeon series ahoy!



Blair Scott: (ex-Bracknell and Cardiff): Just because.



Forwards:

Corey Spring: (ex-Manchester): Is it me or does this name just scream "porn-star" if applied to a woman?



Jade Galbraith (Nottingham): The easiest inclusion on this list-by far. You can just see the fictional Jade being involved in some sort of blockbuster movie. Either that or a long career as the resident totty in an Australian soap. Or Sunset Beach.



That's about all I can think of for now, though. Probably missed a few glaring ones (Corey LeClair came close to making the cut apart from having too many Coreys and d-men in the team)...Feel free to add your own...



Richardson Rules!: Yotes asks me if I really think Bruce Richardson will be better than Chris Richards. Simple answer is...yes. Mainly because, while Chris Richards has impressive stats, they've all been at CHL level. Richardson, on the other hand, has been around the AHL, ECHL and is equally experienced. He reminds me more of a Tessier-type player than Chris Richards and, particularly if placed with Johan Molin and Jade Galbraith, will rack up the points as he's consistently had stats far more akin to those of a creator than a scorer. He may not score as many as Richards, but I reckon he'll set more up...

Run for the Hills!: Following on from Five Minute Major's post on The All-Scary Line, there's a new addition in Phoenix's latest signing, Luke Fulghum. He looks a very good player, but Jesus, look at that facial hair! And just because I will not pass up any opportunity to ridicule the white-gloved pansy that is Marek Ivan-imagine your daughter bringing this zombie home. Worst haircut-and-zombie-stare combo ever...

Big Trouble in Little Belfast: The Giants have new owners after previous owner Jim Yaworski (he of the NHL contacts)...erm...failed to give them any money for three years. Ouch. From the official site...

Despite an announcement three seasons ago that Canadian businessman Jim Yaworski had invested a significant sum of money to secure the future of the Giants in Belfast, the money never materialized. After three years of waiting, Gillespie and the Giants had to look elsewhere, with a strong preference for participation by the local Northern Ireland business community.

Not that I'm one to start rumours, but just how much money have the Giants got now, especially as one man (Jim Gillespie) has effectively kept them running by himself for three seasons-and just how stable are they?

I know that's just a few tidbits for a Friday, but hey-even hockey bloggers are allowed a little time off in the off-season. :)

Back to Hockey,...

At the request of Kid and no dount many others-we now return to the hockey...

With rosters finalised (or nearly so-Sheffield are now already looking askance at their roster given their definition of "team toughness" appears to be "let Ryan Finnerty get pounded into the ice every time he tries to stand up for ANOTHER team-mate smeared all over the plexi. Or feed Steve Munn raw meat and growth hormone until the season starts"...I never thought I'd say this but it appears the only time you're guaranteed NOT to see a fight at a game this season will be when the Steelers play the Panthers. The thing with that rivalry is that this could be the first season both sets of fans start whining that the referees don't protect them at the same time, and don't slag off the other) it's time to look at the one signing for each team thus far that has made me think "hmm...he could be worth watching on his own", or, to put it another way...if you HAD to go to a game based solely on wanting to see one player on the ice, this is who it would be in my case.

Basingstoke: Austin Sutter (F): You thought I'd pick Cornish, didn't you? He's just the comedy sideshow, though. Sutter is the one-a diamond in the rough from the CHL. And if you're sat there scoffing because he's an unknown from the Central Hockey League-well, a certain EIHL favourite called Adam Calder came from the same league, and he's not done too badly...

Belfast: Mike Burgoyne (D): Oh, pants. This guy is good. Neal Martin with three more inches and ten more lbs. 38 goals from the blue line in the last two seasons, and 116 points? In a tesm full of signings that make you go "hmmm...." (Cheverie, Howells, Deniset, Robins) the ex-OC Blazer still stands out. For comparison, in a similar-standard EIHL in the last two seasons, Neal Martin got himself 18 goals and 66 assists. Bolts from the Belfast blue-line ahoy...

Cardiff: Rod Hinks (C): Fast-skating, skilful, wily (at age 35) and proven quality in the EIHL after his stint with Newcastle. If they gel, Hinks and Silverthorn could be Carlson and Calder, with a Welsh accent. And don't forget the mountains of flesh on the Devils blue-line (Doug McIver especially) either...

Coventry: Sylvain Deschatelets (C/LW): I have a soft-spot for Deschatelets anyway, so I admit to a little bias. But this guy was the best player no-one noticed in the EIHL last year, by a long, long way. I haven't been this happy about a Blaze signing since...well, ever. He even just about trumps my joy on signing Curtis Huppe last season. And, considering I was widely considered to have a man-crush on the sharpshooting Manitoban while he was at Belfast, this is some feat.

Edinburgh: TBA: Let's be nice and say that, as yet, no-one they've signed has been "wow" good. Or close to it. About the nicest I can say is that if Taylor Christie doesn't make it in hockey, then he can always dress up in drag and become a troubled teen queen on the OC with a name like that...it even sounds like a character from Dawson's Creek or similar...

Hull: Rick Kozak: Unlike most of the club-wielding cavem...sorry, "physical" players who Strachan has signed this season, it appears Kozak has brains to go with his brawn. Goals appear when this guy's around, it seems. So does controversy, too. At least Hull, should they lose, will now go down fighting. Literally.

Manchester: David Beauregard (W): All you need to know about this gentleman is that in his last four pro-hockey seasons, he has scored 49, 41, 39 and 35 goals in the UHL. That's 164 goals, or 41 average a season. And 151 assists. That's average stats of 41+37. Pretty impressive, don't you think?

Then, bear this staggering fact in mind...he only has one eye! I defy you not to get excited by him now...

Newcastle: Tyler Willis (W): Chris McAllister has the brawn, Derek Campbell and Andre Payette have the mouth, but Willis, despite being the smallest of them all, has all three. And an AHL pedigree. If Danny Stewart (Blaze version) winds you up now, prepare to have a new target for pure hatred. Unless you're a Vipers fan, that is.

Nottingham: Bruce Richardson (C): Panthers fans-prepare to forget you ever thought Dan Tessier was the best centre you'd seen in a Panthers shirt in the EIHL era...

Sheffield: Nathan Gillies (C): Hm. Mike Peron, mark two. This is really, really not a bad thing. Especially if he has an equally ridiculous way of bouncing up and down when settling into face-offs. Or an irritating habit of scoring just when it would be most useful...

I accept this is relatively short, but with rosters finalised and less than a month to go to the start of the season, the countdown officially begins now...

Spinning Around

This is the last word on the PR debate so far this week-and for a while...the next post will go back to considering the hockey, including a quick breakdown of "best new signing" in the EIHL (one player allowed per team). But before that-and very quickly....

There has been much debate raised this week after my columns referring to all the PR suggestions etc and particularly "Right To Reply". You can definitely say that it was probably the most open attack on certain sections of the EIHL I've ever written, and occasioned a reaction from several clubs in the EIHL-most notably my own Coventry team in the person of Sally, with whom I've had extensive conversation via email and forum recently. Most of it is out there in public but some, for various reasons, isn't and won't be.

As as result of these and the comments she has left regarding my posts, I feel the need to state publicly that the Blaze have been nothing less than fully open in replying to my concerns/attacks aired both here and elsewhere. I am fully aware that them being my team hasn't meant they've got off lightly-in fact it's probably only Hull who've been more of a target-in their case due to the fact they were utterly dire on-ice and (in many Stingray fans' opinion) on the bench last season...

Anyway-simply put (and this may cause some of those from Coventry who read to fall over in astonishment)-I'm just putting on record that the highest praise is due to Sally and the Blaze in general for the way they've responded-I've gone after them with a will in the past but have to give full public credit here...if all clubs were willing to do the same with their fans (I'm talking to you, Nottingham in particular) then the hockey community would be far better.

(This doesn't mean they have a free pass now-but it's only fair to acknowledge when someone does something well, in the interests of a balanced blog)

Right. Serious bit over. Now back to taking the mickey out of Brad Voth's haircut, and ordering my Deschatelets replica...:)

Keep keeping your eye on the puck, people. Now we get back to the hockey!