Double Overtime, October 26th: Welcome to the Red Light District...

"We can start the fire, that will light up the night...
We'll watch it burn together on our respective sides"
Underoath: "I've Got Ten Friends & A Crowbar That Say You Ain't Gonna Do Jack"

The weekend just gone in the EIHL was, definitely, not a weekend for goalies. The pucks hit mesh with monotonous regularity around the league, with the highlights being Cardiff's 9-2 thrashing of Newcastle on Saturday night, Edinburgh and Sheffield sharing an eleven-goal thriller with the Caps winning 6-5 on penalties at the Hallam...and Cardiff then coming out on the wrong side of eleven goals as they lost six-five to Nottingham on Sunday...

Which means, I suppose, that the rest of us should feel cheated. But the points help to numb the pain...: This weekend also saw a few teams who stayed back on planet Earth, with Coventry having a relatively pedestrian four-point weekend, scoring only ten goals over the weekend yet winning both games, including a dominant performance on Sunday against a Sheffield team who, despite already rejigging themselves quite extensively (a theme which we shall return to later this week, by the way). The Blaze now finally look like they're clicking...

If this were the nineteenth century, then he'd already have been burned for witchcraft: ...aided enormously by the stellar play of Peter Hirsch in net. Here is a goalie who seems to consider a weekend wasted if he hasn't produced that rare category of save known as the "HOLY ****!" save, named after the reaction it inevitably provokes. He only got the one game this weekend as Tom Murdy was given the start in Hull on Saturday, but it took him only nine minutes for this weeks' example-a stunning flinging up of the stick hand while face-down and prone on the ground mid-roll and the net wide open in order to divert a Matt Hubbauer blast over the bar when the puck had rebounded straight to the Steelers forward in a melee. Much more of this and he won't need a plane ticket home-he'll just take a quick walk over the North Sea...

When you're letting in two hat-tricks, then maybe it's not the best night for your man-coverage...: Newcastle, on the other hand, and more particularly Michel Robinson, will be the toast of...erm, Cardiff this Monday, after Mark Smith and Brad Voth scored hat-tricks against them on Saturday night in a 9-2 win. Couple that with a home loss in Whitley Bay against Belfast on Sunday, and you have to wonder whether the Vipers are running a little dry on venom at the moment...

While one star falls, another rises...: Meanwhile, Belfast, aided by new signing Jeff Szwez (seriously-the only player with less vowels in his name to play in Britain is Chris Szysky, and that's only if you don't count "y"...) have earned themselves another four-point weekend, shutting out Nottingham on Saturday before the aforementioned win on the Sunday...

And, if you weren't convinced Michel Robinson had a bad weekend...: Sean McMorrow earned himself 1+1...

Speaking of the biggest Giant:...he and Kevin Bergin are building a nice little antipathy to each other-once again they scrapped off the opening face-off on Saturday, meaning that they've now exchanged pleasantries of the most hostile kind in every Nottingham-Belfast game so far this season. Stuff the "Matej Kralj scoring v every British team" streak we followed earlier this season-this rivalry could become the stuff of legend. Well, excited conversation, at any rate.

Something stirs behind Hadrian's Wall: Edinburgh, led at breakneck pace by Simon Lambert, are raising a few eyebrows now they've caught up with the preparation-two penalty shoot-out wins this weekend, in Sheffield and at home against Hull, mean that they are already off the bottom of the league and only one point behind Sheffield despite having played only half the number of league games...win even half of those in hand and suddenly, they could be in the top four...

Meanwhile, this weeks crisis in Sheffield:...There really is something wrong with the Steelers, but it seems no-one can put their finger on it. Certainly on Sunday night, they looked...well, the best word I can think of is ordinary. Their aura of being a "big" team, at least on the ice, is well and truly missing...6th in the league, 8 points behind the top 4...maybe the changes aren't finished at the Hallam just yet.

Hull's PR machine continues apace: You'd think, with the departure of Rick Strachan, that the relentlessly-upbeat press releases I used to mock so mercilessly are finished-Newcastle, in fact, have been the closest to mockery this year (leaving aside Mick Holland in Nottingham-anyone can shoot fish in a barrel, after all, especially when you get gloating, self-hyping stuff like this .) But Hull are back in the game with a truly wonderful effort of praising mediocrity (if the best postive you can find is "we tried hard" then you ARE trying too hard in the PR stakes) from Konstantin Kalmikov after their OT loss to Edinburgh gave them their solitary point of the weekend.

Doesn't that press release just scream "damage control" to you?

And, speaking of damage control, here's where I should stop...

There's an article in the works for Wednesday about the high turnover of players so far this season and possible reasons for it, as well as a mini-Round the Rinks for the midweek games this week due on Wednesday, ...until then, keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Round the Rinks, October 23rd: Scream of Anger

"You can burn it all
Rally around the table
If you want to just argue out
The last scenes of us"

Fightstar: "Paint Your Target"

The Elite League is in trouble. And this time, it's fact. There are documents doing the rounds on all the forums showing that the company that owns it haven't filed any accounts since they took the league over. If they don't file them this time round, then the company gets wound up, and shut down.

Meanwhile, we have Newcastle fans being told that, if they don't travel with their team to Whitley Bay, in the numbers of 1500 at least, then the Vipers won't survive. We have Edinburgh's owner, Scott Neil, sending out a press release basically admitting that the Elite League is becoming more and more expensive. And we even have Todd Dutiaume, Fife's coach, admitting that the Flyers should be playing at a far higher level than that of the SNL, except for the fact that they don't want to join such an unwelcoming and complicated league...

British hockey in its current form, in any league form, is unworkable. And it's nothing to do with import limits, Brits' wages, wage-caps or lack of them, or even the lack of the junior systems.

It's about pure human ego.

We are constantly told that those in power have the best interests of the sport at heart, That it's always somebody else's fault that the EPL and EIHL can't mix, or that the clubs don't talk, or that no-one can agree on import limits.

Bollocks. It's the fault of every single owner. GM and, for all we know, tea lady in the sport. Equally.

I know that I'm only seeing this from the viewpoint of a slightly-jaundiced fan, but it seems to me that any time you get something like this happen, there seems to be far less time spent on actually working out a solution then there is in saying whose fault it is that one wasn't found. Sarky press releases, claims of misplaced pride, and God only knows what else-in fact sometimes you think that the only person who hasn't been blamed for negotiations breaking down is, well, Brad Voth...

Maybe what the top league in Britain needs is what's coming-a meltdown.Maybe the fact that the top league in the country is seemingly about to go up Brown-Stuff Creek without a paddle, yet again, and most likely leave the biggest clubs in Britain in serious danger of being without a league to play in (you can't seriously see them accepting a drop to the EPL given the Arctic relations between the two of them, can you?) would be the best thing to make those running our sport realise that you don't just run a hockey team for the ego boost, or volunteer to be on the governing committee in the hope of getting hold of a free junket or two...you do it because you want to keep the sport which is a massive part of thousands of people's lives running in a way that doesn't make even hockey's most ardent fans think the off-ice side of British hockey is an absolute, genuine rib-tickler of a bloody great joke...

Now for the weekend preview:

SATURDAY

Hull v Coventry: A one goal defeat in the Skydome last time these two met and another new import coming in on defence for Hull means that this could be a close one, especially as both teams, for different reasons, need to win, and win convincingly...

Belfast v Nottingham: This is a close one...and should be a hell of a game to watch on GiantsTV-two teams who have already proven themselves to be offensive powerhouses, the Giants doing so only last week, in fact, meeting in a run-and-gun battle which will see two very tired goalies by the end of it...

Cardiff v Newcastle: Don't expect pretty hockey in this one. That's more likely to be over in Belfast. This game will be all about which team can work the hardest. And frankly, at the moment, until the final hooter goes, it's a toss-up.

Sheffield v Edinburgh: Half a team plays half-awake, as injury-hit Edinburgh play a Steelers team who, quite frankly, haven't reached their potential this season. They have another chance this weekend to convince their fans that maybe, an injection of new blood is all they needed.

SUNDAY

Nottingham v Cardiff: Revenge will be the only thing on the Panthers' minds after their 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Devils last week. Cardiff, on the other hand, will happily settle for "same old, same old" this time round...

Coventry v Sheffield: The Skydome could be a warm place this Sunday. Coventry v Sheffield is always a crowd-puller if not a crowd-pleaser, and this game should be a tight, hotly-contested addition to that group...especially with two fervent sets of fans going head-to-head off the ice as well as two fiercely-competitive coaches on it...

Edinburgh v Hull: The battle of the nearly-men takes off again-"nearly" in the sense that both of them are perhaps one player short, still, of challenging the big boys based on the early evidence, but the scrap will be all the more ferocious as both teams try to scramble over each other on the way up...

Newcastle v Belfast: This game is a classic example of the aristocrats versus the blue-collar, at least in styles of play. On the surface saying that the Vipers can win this is about as clever as, say, a racist attempting to defend his beliefs on Question Time. However, this is not the Vipers team of old, and the Giants, for all their razzle-dazzle, are vulnerable...

And there's your weekend preview...

Double Overtime, October 19th: Rumours of War

"How long can you hold your breath?
While you hold mine again and wait
Just to watch you perform the great escape..."
Moby ft. Azure Ray: "The Great Escape"

We're not even out of October yet, and already the EIHL is in trouble. I should have known it would be a bad weekend from the moment my computer failed on Friday just as I tried to post Round the Rinks...hence the lack of it for a second successive week...

Well, that might be something of an overstatement-after all, there are still eight teams in it and even those paragons of virtue in the EPL aren't exactly raking it in-as perhaps evidenced by Manchester's raising of their own walk-up ticket prices by one pound recently. However, the latest whispers going around have Newcastle struggling again, and rumours of trouble in Edinburgh are made at least semi-official by a downbeat statement from Scott Neil, which you can read and draw your own conclusions from here.

Anyway...that is perhaps a topic for another post-we're here to look back at the weekend, and so we shall...

"Best" d-man in the Elite? Maybe "mouthiest" was the adjective you were looking for: James Sanford, brought in to steady the ship in Hull and expected to play a big role in Saturday's game in Coventry, particularly with Pavel Gomenyuk missing, was a shining example of how not to do so as he managed to earn himself a misconduct barely five minutes into the game-by disputing an off-side call. Poor, James, poor. At least sit for ten minutes for something worthwhile, like a goal...

Speaking of goals...or more accurately goal-judges, aren't they supposed to be neutral? We had a bizarre incident in the same game (which Blaze won 5-4, by the way) where a centering pass went right across the net, Tommy Sandahl appeared to collide with the goalpost sliding across to block the resulting shot, was piled into by James Hutchinson and the net went flying about half-a-second before the shot was released (wide). No goal. And no goal-light. The whistle goes, the home crowd roar, thinking the puck has hit the net...and, after a pause of at least two full seconds...on comes the light. It was quite rightly disallowed, but that was possibly the finest example of twitchy-finger-syndrome in a long line of examples at that particular end of the Skydome-it's bad when referees tell you they're specifically told NOT to ask that particular judge's opinion at dicey moments...

...and should-have-been-goals: On to Sunday now, and a bad-tempered yet spirited game in Nottingham which saw the Panthers come out on top against Coventry, regaining pride after being absolutely mullered 6-2 in Cardiff the night before. However, but for a bizarre Luke Fulghum miss, in which he received a pass from maybe a foot away with Kevin St.Pierre hopelessly out of position and somehow scuffed his shot wide, or an unbelievable Peter Hirsch glove-save on Saturday night in the final seconds, a Coventry team who won one and lost one could have either been celebrating four points or ruing getting none. It was that kind of weekend in the Midlands...

But, just to show that it happens to everyone: Nottingham, who were woeful by all accounts against a silky-smooth Devils team on Saturday, thus creating the perfect storm for a tanking, played like genuine title contenders on Sunday night-it appears "backlash" is not just a word but almost a motivational tool in Corey Neilson's world...

It's not a bad way to make a debut, really: Steelers had two new players in their line-up this weekend, as Matt Hubbauer registered goals on each night and an MOM on Sunday, and Stephen Wood, who looks to be the next Steve Munn, only a bit bigger, landed from America and was immediately given the responsibility of leading the defensive unit. He didn't do too badly as the Steelers won twice against Newcastle, and picked himself up an assist in the process...

Welcome, Belfast...we were wondering when your stars would turn up:...and they duly did against a luckless Hull, who were hammered 8-2 on Sunday night. The Giants completed a goal-fest of a four-point weekend which began with a 9-2 hammering of Edinburgh on Friday night...which was the cause of much joy over on the GiantsTV webcast...

Although, I'm not sure which is stranger....Me watching part of the cast but somehow completely failing to miss being mentioned (well, the Breakaway was, anyway-and even though I missed it it made my Friday when I found out, so thank you to both the GiantsTV bunch and those who are now possibly reading as a result) or Sean McMorrow getting MoM despite failing to get on the scoresheet in any way, shape or form...I've heard of "doing the things that don't get noticed", but come on, that's ridiculous. Maybe he just makes REALLY good period-break oranges...

(and yes, I am fully expecting him to beat the hell out of at least one Blaze player before scoring a hat-trick on his first visit to the Skydome now-peace, hockey gods, it is but gentle mockery...).

And how about those Devils, anyway?: Like their New Jersey namesakes, they appear to be revelling in a style of play that's ugly but, seemingly, very effective-the aforementioned beating of Nottingham was followed by a win against Edinburgh on Sunday...and yet no-one appears to have really noticed that they're quietly becoming a very effective hockey team...

I know it's a bit short...but there's your weekend review...

Double Overtime, October 12th

"And all, all the fear and all the anger falls away"
boysetsfire: "Handful of Redemption"

This weekend was a good one-and teams finally seeming to get themselves on track was a fairly common theme in the Elite League. I rip into both Belfast and Coventry on Friday, and both of them promptly go and get themselves four-point weekends...and, in Blaze's case in particular, finally look like the type of team their fans hoped they would be.

It seemed something of a perfect metaphor this morning that, as I walked back from town after far too long a night (it's OK-there was a perfectly good birthday-related reason for being out, and I took today off work in anticipation of such an eventuality), the sun broke through the clouds over the Skydome and bathed it in the kind of dawn light you normally only see in postcards. For several teams in the EIHL, maybe the clouds of the early season are starting to drift away.

Anyway-on to the weekend review:

If nothing else, it's got to be in the running for quote of the weekend: On Saturday night, I was drifting around after the ENL game in Coventry when I ended up sliding into conversation with a fellow Blaze fan who'd not made the trip up to Sheffield. He was checking the scores on ih-update when he noticed that Sean McMorrow had had a fight with Brad Voth after fifteen seconds, and mentioned this and how he thought that Belfast's enforcer seemed an utter waste of money. This led him very quickly, and almost out of nowhere, into an inspired reworking of "Tomorrow" from Annie. Unfortunately, some of it is probably too...well, controversial to print here in full. Well, that and I can't remember some of it for sure. But it was possibly among the most surreal moments this season will produce as he just broke into an off-the-cuff song...the first verse went something like

"You'll get a shift soon....McMorrow!
Even though you're rubbish and your skating...lets you down
Cause you're just a goon...McMorrow!
And your stupid pens, they make the Giants fans...all frooowwwwnnnn...
McMorrow! McMorrow!
We love you, McMorrow!
You're a guaranteed pow-er-plaaaaaayyyy!"

Of course, the Giants won in the end (and did the same on Sunday night in Cardiff, after penalty shots) which takes something of the sting out of the mockery, and after that first verse, the song lost its lustre somewhat as it descended into swearing...but even so, that song will be in my head the first time the Giants come to town...

"That big red button there. The one marked "PANIC!". Press it. For the love of God, press it now!": Sheffield are officially in the doldrums. A 4-1 loss to Coventry on Saturday night in which they were described as "lacking in ideas" and "simply not good enough" from those who travelled, says to me that the Steelers now have some real problems-and makes me wonder how long before changes are imminent. Sheffield has never been a town to accept mediocrity, after all....and a 4-1 win in the Yorkshire derby against Hull on Sunday came too late for Jeff Hutchins, who has been released today despite scoring in that game. Matt Hubbauer is his replacement...

Heckle of the Weekend: Nottingham, 3-0 down in Coventry. Kevin Bergin receives the puck in open ice with a free shooting lane at Peter Hirsch's net as the goalie is out of position...and miscontrols the puck, allowing a Blaze defenceman to nip in and take it. He then misses an attempted big hit by several feet, Blaze head up ice...and Dan Carlson scores. Next shift, he drifts slowly round behind the back of the Panthers net as a whistle goes, followed by Corey Neilson, who is serenaded with a brief but loud chant through the plexi, to the tune of "We're Gonna Win the League" of..."You should have kept Molin! You should have kept Molin! 'Cause Bergin's utterly useless, cause Bergin's utterly useless, cause Bergin's utterly use-less....ya should have kept Molin!"
Bergin's glare told everyone behind the net exactly what he thought of that one...

Statistics? They prove nothing: Further proof of this was seen in the same Coventry-Nottingham game, as the Blaze recovered from an early setback (well, Jason Robinson did after being fairly convincingly beaten in a fight by Dominic D'Amour) to annihilate the Panthers' game plan in the second period, scoring three unanswered goals and two more, including a killer knife-through-the-heart goal from Greg Chambers just as two goals from the Panthers had threatened a frantic finish by pulling it back to 4-2. The best player on the ice? Dan Carlson, who, it had been muttered recently, including on here, had looked somewhat out of sorts offensively this season. Not on Sunday, he wasn't...two goals and being almost uncontainable is a hell of a way to answer any critics.

And just by the way, if you look for the term "offensive shootout" in the dictionary you'll find "see Blaze v Panthers": The shot count in this game...36 on Peter Hirsch, 43 on Kevin St Pierre. Yikes.

This could be one to watch: Edinburgh and Newcastle, in a pair of battles in the frozen North, split a weekend which saw fights, match penalties, a pair of close games and ANDREW SHARP SCORING!

Hold on, I just had to re-check that. Yes, Sharp scored. It's on the stats and everything.

But anyway...the games themselves were spirited affairs, hard-fought between two teams who may, now, be starting to believe that they're not there just to fill the lower playoff places....

Just going back to the shot counts...: It appears that, on Sunday at least, the defences around the EIHL took the night off. The least number of total shots fired in a game yesterday was seventy-two in Cardiff (38 to 34 in favour of Belfast). And they say that the Elite League is boring...over one genuine goalscoring chance a minute is a fairly decent average, really...

There you go-there's your weekend review...

Round the Rinks, October 9th: Dust, Straw, and Feathers

"Men think highly of those who rise rapidly in the world; whereas nothing rises quicker than dust, straw, and feathers."
Lord Byron.

He may have been mad, bad and dangerous to know, but it seems that Byron, in between writing some quite-good love poetry and future exam fodder for Eng.Lit students everywhere and/or fornicating with everything in sight, could have pretty much summed up every hockey season, or at least the period between August and November. Crazy things happen as teams are settling in for the season proper after the opening skirmishes...and it is usually, come the end of the season, of little consequence. However, that doesn't mean it isn't interesting...look:

Tell your statistics to shut up. Or at least whisper-you're scaring the Coventry fans: A stat for you: as of today, the top scorer in the league, Nottingham's Jade Galbraith, has scored 20 points. This is one more than the Blaze top line of Derek Campbell, Dan Carlson and Adam Calder combined.

No, really. Please shut up: Not only that, but the much-vaunted "best offensive pairing in the league" of Carlson and Calder have four goals between them in the same time. Looking down the league, we see names you might expect who have scored more than ACDC combined, proving that at least offensive trends are the same: Colin Shields, Galbraith, Sean McAslan, Mike Berry, Wes Jarvis...

Hold on a second...

Yup, the massive Cardiff defenseman, not exactly known for scoring goals or...well, a soft touch around the opposition's net, has seven already.

I will now light myself on fire. Or, as they say in teen-flicks nowadays...."ooooh, snap!"

Well, no-one can say he's indecisive: Hull have signed a new player this week-James Sanford joins from the ECHL to shore up the blue-line, showing that Sylvain Cloutier is not afraid to make changes, or at least threaten them, early on...

I appreciate that things on here, at least post-number wise, currently have about the same expectation-reality relationship as Ed Courtenay's view of the EPL at the moment (I am told by my Manchester friends that he's not exactly looking overjoyed to be in Manchester, nor over-exerting himself in the effort to tear the EPL apart)...at the moment I'm having something of a AC/DC-esque slump in numbers post-wise thanks to not having Internet time at work and busy evenings...however, I hope this will change as the slump ends shortly. Work is being done behind the scenes. Honest.

Now for the weekend preview-I have noticed the comments but I'm going to answer them in a post I've got in the works-particularly the one from Yotes regarding Molin...


So, first the double-headers:

Edinburgh v Newcastle (Newcastle home leg at Whitley Bay): This could be fun. Two teams who are already raising eyebrows meet (almost)-home-and-away. The Vipers get their first outing in the "character-filled" (read "old") North East hockey temple of Hillheads Rink in Whitley Bay, and the Caps get a chance to avenge their defeat at Hockeyfest, while at the same time get their own season up to the same speed as everyone else's now the Gardiner Cup's out of the way...

Belfast v Cardiff: The Belfast leg of this pair will be live on GiantsTV, and it's an intriguing weekend as we have two teams for whom the word "inconsistent" would be a compliment-both their engines are turning over, but not at all running sweetly like that of Nottingham and Newcastle's. They will both be hoping that this weekend is the hockey equivalent of a jump-start-both teams need to find themselves some rhythm-it's only thanks to the greater struggles of others that they currently find themselves third and fourth...

The rest of the weekend sees a Rubik's Cube of fixtures, as Sheffield play Coventry while Nottingham play Hull on Saturday, before the two away teams return home and switch opponents for the Sunday.

There's all sorts of storylines here...not least the meeting on Saturday between two teams who are under-achieving quite spectacularly so far this season...who'd have thought a Sheffield-Coventry game would see fifth playing sixth, even this early on?

Then, of course, there's the ever-growing rivalry of Blaze-Panthers on Sunday (and these games are getting nastier and nastier over time) with the Yorkshire Derby as the supporting act...if the Stingrays win that one, there could be muttering growing ever louder in South Yorkshire.

Blaze-Panthers, meanwhile, is nothing short of a legalised, localised, bloodless war now-there is genuine hatred amongst Blaze fans for their East Midlands rivals-a feeling which is, at least while the two teams are in action against each other, seemingly reciprocated. Buckle up for this one, folks...this weekend could get controversial in a hurry...

There's your weekend preview...

Double Overtime: Hockeyfest Edition.

"Never too late to stand your ground - Revolution begins!"
Arch Enemy: "Revolution Begins"

Last weekend saw a revolution, a whole new way of watching hockey. A weekend which I will remember for a long, long time for the earth-shaking amazingness of a sight that turned the whole world on its head.

A Newcastle team played a whole game without once resorting to goonery. And won.

And, in other news, Hockeyfest took place up in Sheffield.

Let's take a look at the weekend.

Winning ugly is the new beauty:..it seems, as for the second time in successive weeks a team came to the Skydome, was universally derided by the home fans for playing an "ugly" style of hockey, and proceeded to play the much-vaunted Blaze roster right off the ice. After Cardiff last week, this week saw Newcastle play a similar high-energy, hard-charging style (with Mike Berry particularly prominent) which the much-hyped silky skills of the Blaze seemed unable to break through...a 5-2 victory was just reward for the travelling side..

Now that's the kind of injury we'd like to have: Kevin Bergin-who let's not forget it was announced last week would be replaced with Johan Molin on the Nottingham roster for Hockeyfest due to carrying an injury-seemingly made a mockery of his own team's medical staff by scoring two goals, fighting Sean McMorrow and assisting on one other as the Panthers beat Belfast 6-2 on Saturday night. Clearly, the man has a superhuman pain tolerance. After all, no-one is saying that Nottingham may have (gasp) overexaggerated his injury to gain a potential advantage on Sunday, surely?

Return flight from Sweden: £200. Week's wages: £400 (est). Flying several hundred miles, and then only playing 40 minutes of hockey, including missing a sitter, while the team who brought you back in specially are thrashed 6-0 by their most-hated rivals (whatever they try to claim about Sheffield): Priceless:...although of course the fact that Bergin not only happened to be only injured enough to miss Hockeyfest, but that his replacement also happened to be far more suited to four-on-four hockey, at least in theory, was little more than a fortuitous coincidence. Honest.
Either way, this blatant manipulation of Elite League rules didn't work out well for the Panthers, as Coventry, even faced with Molin, were simply unstoppable after their capitulation against Newcastle the night before, putting six past Kevin St.Pierre while conceding none in their quarter-final.

Tick, tick, tick...:...goes the time-bomb in Sheffield. Saturday's dour 2-1 home loss against the fast-improving Cardiff Devils was, reportedly, watched by a crowd of only 1800 hardy souls. The team are now down to sixth in the league, and even their win in Sunday's Hockeyfest may only be papering over the cracks at the moment, particularly as other teams are improving steadily as they begin to gel. There are hopes in South Yorkshire that the win over the weekend will finally drive some belief into what has been a strangely subdued Steelers season.
But, if it doesn't, then there could be some serious ramifications for British hockey as a whole...what happens if the lean times continue in a city used to only the best?

And, continuing the theme: Belfast, too, are a team which, while not in trouble, aren't exactly providing the pyrotechnics that their fans expected-much more of a damp squib. Sean McMorrow can't find anyone to fight, Pierre-Luc Faubert isn't living up to the hype so far, and only Pat Bateman and Colin Shields are scoring reliably. Like the Blaze, they had real trouble against Newcastle-a side who, by all the wisdom of pre-season (including mine) shouldn't be doing as well as they are with a team full of blue-collar workers, but seemingly lacking the scoring flair of the Elite League aristocracy. With the season now running into the darker nights of autumn after starting in the glowing hopes of late summer, reality may be kicking in in Northern Ireland too...

Then, there's Coventry:...another side who are having to work hard to win round their fan-base at the moment-the Blaze are a team who seemingly are still searching for their identity. If anything, they remind me at this early stage of a traditional Nottingham side...full of talented parts which, by all the laws, should already be meshing into a sweet-running machine. Somewhere, though, like Belfast and Sheffield, there is dust in the gears-they come up against the tiniest bit of grit and almost seem to grind to a halt, just as they did on Saturday in front of a first stunned and then progressively more restless crowd...

So, was it a success?: The general consensus from Hockeyfest seems to be "this, if used properly, could be huge". A day which saw reviews ranging from "a nice diversion" to "absolute genius" from those friends I've spoken to, it's certainly opened a few eyes amongst both traditionalists and the newbies as to just what can be made of the sport in this country. Granted, it's nowhere near perfection yet, but, like Newcastle's form this season, it's a hell of a start-now everyone just needs to work out the best way to keep it going...

And there you go...there's your weekend...

Double Overtime, September 28th:

"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...

And there you go-there's your weekend reviewed...

Round the Rinks, September 25th

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.

Double Overtime, September 20th

"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...

Time and Tide...

..wait for no man. Sadly, not even me.

I am producing the weekend review slowly in between doing my normal job today...it should hopefully be up around 5:30 this afternoon...

Round the Rinks, September 18th.

"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 Lowe as 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...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Midweek Musings and Linkyness...

"Run away, run away, I'll attack

Run away, run away, go chase yourself"

30 Seconds To Mars: "Attack"

"It is impossible

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...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Double Overtime, September 14th: Scream, Aim, Fire...

"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?

There you go...that's your weekend reviewed...

Round the Rinks: September 11th

"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...

And there's your weekend preview...