Monday 2nd April
I hope that although Saturday and Sunday’s journal entries were nothing more than a spewing stream of over-exuberant consciousness on my part, they managed to sum up the rollercoaster ride that is following multiple ice hockey play-off quarter-final games on Twitter, and that they somehow captured the intensity of the experience of a sad and lonely laptop-loving neutral such as myself. Now on we go, roaring full throttle into week two of the action.
Debates continue over the drawing of the semi-final line-up – should the teams have been re-seeded like in the NHL, or are Elite League playoffs set up like a bracket in which case the outcome is as it should be? There are rumblings of dissent from players about the decision-making process and Giants’ forward Mike Hoffman unwittingly begins the ‘Kelman In!’ campaign to have the Belfast owner take over running of the Elite League. League politics scare me however I would innocently venture to say I think this could be a very good thing indeed. I would also like to offer my services as his deputy and/or assistant. Because it’s about time I had a career change. Can we consider that my formal job application? I think so.
The Hull Stingrays players’ Twitter feeds make for brilliant reading this morning as the triumphant underdogs returned home to a heroes’ welcome late on Sunday night and seemingly enjoyed the subsequent celebrations. They believed they could do it, and they did it. News stories come flooding in congratulating the side who have beaten the odds to take their place in the final four. Steelers lick their wounds; some call for the head of Ryan Finnerty. A kneejerk but perhaps understandable reaction given the set of circumstances that led up to their quarter-final defeat. However Finnerty will have learnt a lot from this season and any team loyalties aside I personally hope to see him do well next season as I feel he will improve as his focus shifts to a pure coaching role and on the whole, I’ve enjoyed the way the Steelers have played this season.
Players say goodbye to colleagues and fans and it dawns on me with a tinge of sadness that for six of the ten Elite League sides, the season is over and they’re officially on holiday. We may never see many of the imports who have entertained us all season on these shores again. But for four teams of players, their fans, and a bunch of rabid hockey-loving neutrals, we have one big weekend left. There are hasty reassessments and realignments of loyalty as the new underdogs are factored into the equation and everyone figures out who they will be cheering for. I’m struggling with the notion at the present time and will re-visit this particular issue later in the week.
Tuesday 3rd April
Estate agents around the UK find their phones ringing off the hook as intrepid fans try to find out just where it is that Rob Dowd has bought a house. Rumours that it’s in Fife gather pace. Overall it’s a telling move from a man who many suggested could be on his way to Europe in the summer.
*STOP PRESS* It's not in Belfast... (cue dramatic music)
I decide it’s time to think about a semi-final preview and wonder idly just how much coverage I will manage over an infamously debaucherous weekend.
I fall into the womanly trap of losing myself to Steelers-related sympathy after hearing reaction to their loss on Twitter and in the media. There were tears apparently. As much as it’s fun to have some banter and rivalry, the pathetic girl in me cannot abide watching others suffer and as such, despite trying to remain stiff of the upper lip, I dissolve into a mass of ‘aww’-ing and anguished expressions and battle with the desperate urge to run down to Sheffield and administer firm yet tender hugs to Finnerty and co.
But as well as being a pathetic girl, I’m a lover of sport, and at the end of the day, what do we demand from the athletes we support above all else? Passion and desire. Simply put, we want them to want to win as much as we do, more preferably, if that’s possible, because it’s how we relate to them and to be frank, it’s why we all watch sport in the first place. So anyone who can’t empathise with Finner, or indeed any broken sportsman after a heartbreaking loss, is denying their own inner pathetic girl, or passionate sportsfan – whatever you want to dress it up as. It’s a sad fact however that passion alone is, more often than not, not enough to win trophies, and it’s a shame that not all of Finnerty’s team shared the passion of their player-coach, or perhaps the outcome may have been different, as we consider by contrast the balls-to-the-wall, never-say-die mentality of the triumphant Hull side who were eventually to be their undoing.
On the other hand, I laughed, some might say quite loudly despite my attempts to be muted and respectful, at some of the witty chants and songs that were being created and circulated by Steelers’ rivals. I’m a horrible person. But they were funny. There’s empathy, but then there’s really great banter.
Wednesday 4th April
I feel all procrastinatey and decide I’ll write the weekend preview tomorrow.
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