Katy’s Elite League Playoff Journal – Week 1 Finale

Originally posted on http://www.ukamericansportsfans.com/ on 2nd April 2012

Sunday 1st April

It might be April Fools Day but there’s no joking about the importance of today in the world of British Ice Hockey. Who will join the Nottingham Panthers in the final four? There’s no questioning which team have their game faces on, the Hull Stingrays players bigging up their David v Goliath clash in Sheffield via the medium of Twitter and clearly up for the tough challenge ahead of them. Max Birbraer sets a few of the less astute Cardiff Devils fans’ hearts racing claiming he’s been given the all clear to play in the second leg against the Blaze that evening; hopes are dashed later on when it’s realised that Max was merely getting into the spirit of the occasion and pulling an April Fool’s prank.

I spend the day doing normal people things and trying not to let my every second thought be about hockey. I fail.

By the time I reach my computer around five minutes have passed in the first period of both 6:00pm face-offs and both homes sides are already one goal to the good. On paper it doesn’t bode well for the Stingrays; the Blaze I feel can still make a decent fist of it and I wait to watch the action unfold. Cardiff are still without hard-hitting defenceman Chris Frank. Would it matter? Possibly: within minutes of each other, both games are tied, Blaze equalising through Rob Farmer on the powerplay and Hull through Jason Silverthorn, the East Yorkshire team seemingly ready to shut me right up – they really are up for this after all. Goliath 1 – 1 David.

Then, a triple hit of action and the statuses on Twitter come flooding in. First, a goal in Dundee, Belfast going up within just 27 seconds through Tom Dignard (yay!) although this is later altered to Aaron Clarke (aw). At IceSheffield Hull go ahead in both the game and on aggregate, and in Cardiff there’s drama as the Devils are awarded a penalty shot, which is subsequently taken and missed by Jeff Pierce, Peter Hirsch pulling a huge save out of the bag to keep the Blaze’s hopes alive – Cardiff and penalty shots go together about as well as politics and trifle.

Then Belfast score again. It’s now 7-0 on aggregate – can Dundee muster up some dignity and at least take the rest of the game to the Giants? Hmm, apparently not. A third goal for Belfast. Aaand then a fourth. Oh dear. What the hell Dundee? Dig in, dudes. Nobody wants to see a rout. But it’s surely already a case of lights out, all out on Tayside (anyone who gets that reference – high five).

The other two games are on period breaks. Can Hull hang onto their ever-so-slim lead? And just who will prevail in the as ever finely poised Cardiff v Coventry battle? It’s still all to play for, it’s a game of three thirds, and other such footballing clichés. Going into the first period break in Dundee, the Stars have interestingly had 12 shots on goal to Belfast’s 15, proving that however close a game might seem, it’s all about taking your chances, and the Giants are absolutely deadly in front of goal.

The second period begins in Sheffield and the home side quickly equalise but few minutes later the Stingrays re-take the lead. I was wrong to doubt them. There’s no denying they have the bit between their teeth, but can they hold out against a side that are notoriously good at coming back from deficits? They are leading despite apparently being backs to the wall throughout the second. Do they have the mettle to see it through? (There’s a metal/Steelers pun in there somewhere. I’m ever so droll).

What about the hapless Stars? Happily for them there have been no further goals in Dundee, but this is mainly because it’s the first period break, whilst in Cardiff the home side take the lead through Stuuuuuu Macrae (complete with the requisite number of u’s) and Blaze seem to be losing their grip on a semi-final berth as momentum swings in favour of the Devils.

Into the final period in Sheffield and Hull are still leading. Belfast put back-up netminder Andrew Dickson in goal and proceed to score a 5th and 6th goal, and Dundee players and fans alike must be counting down the seconds until this painful encounter, along with their season, is over. I am momentarily distracted as I discover last season’s Vipers favourite, netminder Charlie Effinger, has joined Twitter, and I proceed to harass him.

At the Big Blue Tent it sounds as though Blaze just don’t have enough invention or energy in the tank. In Dundee Brennan Turner has his second fight in as many nights, squaring up to Nick Kuiper. Hull add a fourth goal to their tally – this is looking majorly ominous for Sheffield. Could Ryan Finnerty’s big decision be coming back to bite him in the behind? Or are Hull just that motivated? Their defence and netminder Christian Boucher are playing a proverbial blinder. It will make for a great underdog story if they can make the final four. Two seconds after the first fight in Dundee comes the second, Jeff Hutchins dropping the gloves with Darryl Lloyd. The latter is an agitator not an enforcer by trade so I’m keen to see how he fared with the gloves off.

Hull continue to hang on. Lord knows their fans must have no nails left. Cardiff give themselves a two goal cushion, the man of many u’s Macrae scoring once again. Blaze look to be out of this one. Hull score again to go 5-2 up, former Steeler Derek Campbell completing an unlikely hat-trick to become the hero of the day. Wow. Sheffield, you’ve officially scuppered this one.

And then it’s over. People, we have an upset. It was so nearly Braehead Clan, but in the end it was the Hull Stingrays who defied the history books to win through, and richly deserved it is too. The final four weekend will be a little more interesting than expected due to the presence of a true underdog, and will also be largely devoid of orange shirts. Colt King, you are clearly a god amongst men. Cutting off noses to spite faces is a thought that crosses my mind but still not knowing the full picture, I clearly can’t speculate. Oops, I just did. My bad. Needless to say, Ryan Finnerty has to be feeling sick as a parrot, and being as that this was his last competitive hockey game, it has to hurt.

Cardiff put a cherry on top of their successful quarter final challenge with a fourth goal, Jeff Pierce making up for his earlier penalty miss with less than two minutes remaining. Belfast score three more goals to compound Dundee’s misery. An aggregate score of 14-0 does not make for easy reading.

I go to bed to prepare for another working week with my mind still buzzing with hockey action and reaction. The Easter weekend is going to be a good one quite apart from any mention of bunnies, chicks or chocolate eggs. And I shall be there to deliver you full coverage of the action!

Re-views and Previews... Part 2

I continue my review of the final weekend in the Elite League regular season, and preview the play-off quarter-final match-ups.

3rd v 6th – Nottingham Panthers v Braehead Clan

Following another disappointing performance in the league this season, the Panthers took the heat off of coach Corey Neilson somewhat by winning the Challenge Cup, and there’s no denying that with a strong crowd behind them and on their home ice the Panthers will want the playoff silverware badly, to bolster their season’s successes. Their final weekend saw them shut out the Capitals at home 7-0 before they travelled to Belfast for both teams’ final game of the season, a tight encounter that really set the tone for the playoff hockey they have ahead of them. The Panthers can be a good clutch side at times and are capable of big performances under pressure; it’s their consistency that lets them down and they are prone to a silly mistake or two, so it will be interesting to see which Nottingham side turns up for their final run-in.

Braehead ended the season as the undisputed top team in Scotland, with over twice as many points as their nearest rivals, and they battled right to the end for 5th place with Coventry. They had a fantastic final weekend, beating Hull at home before clinching a stunning late victory in Sheffield, and they proved they have strength in depth as nine different names went on the scoresheet across the two games. Braehead have blown hot and cold and netminding has at times been a problem for them; they may opt to go with Brit Mike Will over the erratic Jaakko Suomalainen as Will has performed admirably for them and won them games in pressure situations; he could be one to watch for the future.

For me this is the biggest opportunity for a team to overthrow one of ‘the big three’ teams in this quarter final stretch. It would be a massive upset for the hosts of the final four weekend not to be present but the Clan have undone Nottingham before and I believe that in at least one of the legs, they can do it again. For Nottingham their home ice form will be key and they will want to hit the Clan hard and early at the National Ice Centre, especially if they are trailing from the first leg.

Prediction: Home wins each way; I think Nottingham will want to win this at all costs and will take the victory based on a big home win. Aggregate score 7-6

4th v 5th – Cardiff Devils v Coventry Blaze

The fourth quarter final is a clash between two teams who were pitted against one another this weekend just gone, in a double header that would see both sides getting into the spirit of things and the playoff hockey in full flow. They will meet each other two more times to decide who will progress to the final four and this one really is too close to call. Honours were even this weekend just gone, with each side winning their home game. 17 goals were scored and there were two fights; Chris Frank achieved a Gordie Howe hat-trick if you take both games as one but worrying for Cardiff ended the weekend on crutches following a rip-roaring tilt with the Blaze’s Brian Jurynec. The attacking advantage probably goes to Cardiff who outshot Coventry 78–51 across 120 minutes of hockey, however Blaze’s Peter Hirsch had the stronger weekend in net, saving 70 of the attempts on his goal in comparison to 42 stops by the Devils’ Stevie Lyle.

The double header was a thrilling way to end the season for two sides who have fought closely all season and have fostered a healthy rivalry both on and off the ice, and I have no doubt we will see some feisty clashes across the two games. Of all the match-ups I think I will be keeping the closest eye on this one; Cardiff will be looking to repeat their success of 2011, when they made the playoff final and only just missed out in a close battle with Nottingham. The Blaze seek to return to the final four having missed out in 2011 and they have certainly been stronger over the last couple of months than they were earlier in the season. Cardiff have arguably the advantage with the second of the two games being played in their barn, the notoriously tough Big Blue Tent, and they will look to minimise any damage the Blaze can inflict on them in the first leg at the Skydome and seek to use their physical presence and speed of attack to get the job done in the second leg. The sometimes lightweight Blaze have found their scoring form but are a little loose in defence and it will take a monumental effort from Peter Hirsch to turn away the shots that will rain in on him from the prolific Devils forwards.

Prediction: Cardiff have been the stronger side consistently throughout the regular season and I believe they will take the final spot in the final four. It will be a close one, but Cardiff will desperately want to avoid it going to a shootout, at which they have been hopeless this season. I think they will nick it. Aggregate score 9-7.

Not to be outdone… 9th v 10th – Edinburgh Capitals v Fife Flyers: the Revenge

I can’t let the weekend review pass without commenting on what could respectfully be called a good old time hockey tilt in Kirkcaldy on Sunday night (or in layman’s terms, a mass brawl). With nothing left to play for the teams, placed 9th and 10th in the Elite League respectively, and with the score stacked 9-3 in favour of the visiting Capitals, the players decided to abandon the hockey-playing and act out the much-vaunted old-school rivalry on the ice, with a cheap shot to Fife goalie Garrett Zemlak triggering a series of fights which saw 7 players ejected from the game and a combined total of over 300 penalty minutes doled out by the toiling referees. It was an inauspicious end to the season but certainly a memorable one.

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So, I’m excited to see how next weekend plays out as we discover who our final four will be. I have a few more nuggets of wisdom up my sleeve to share with you before the season is out including my Elite League Dream Team, plenty of play-off build-up, and a beard analysis the likes of which has never been seen before. You don’t want to miss it.

That was the week that was...

First published on http://www.ukamericansportsfans.com/ on 8th January 2012

January. The New Year. A time of resolutions, post-Christmas blues and detoxing. A time to stay in and slouch on your sofa, finishing off the last of the Christmas chocolates and the dregs from the Baileys bottle before launching into the latest fad diet.

I remember this time last year. The transition between Christmas and New Year was significant for me, not just because of the chance to stop force-feeding myself cheese and biscuits and consuming a bottle of wine a day, but because it was when I went from loving ice hockey, to being obsessed with it. And now I remember why. This holiday season, like the last, featured ice hockey in copious amounts. The Spengler Cup and the World Junior Championship adorned our screens, both featured on Eurosport for our viewing pleasure. There was my trip to Edinburgh, not quite the same as last year’s festive Vipers games at Whitley Bay, but still, it enabled me to keep up appearances in the Elite League. And I got an ice hockey film for Christmas! The masterwork that is Youngblood. Ah, scantily clad Rob Lowe. It’s what the holidays are all about.

In the NHL there was plenty going on as always, with the excellent HBO 24/7 series building up to the Winter Classic, and then the game itself on 2nd January, in which a flying Rangers side just got the better of a rangy Flyers side and skated into a comfy little soft spot in my heart in the process. I returned to work to find my Calgary Flames jersey had arrived, a little late Christmas present which lifted my spirits on the return to work. A shame that the team themselves couldn’t do anything of the sort with their on-ice performances. The less said about that the better.

And then I found out that there was to be another live broadcast on Sky Sports: Sheffield Steelers travelled to the Skydome in Coventry to take on the Blaze. Going to the pub in my detoxifying state was just not an option so instead I splashed out on Sky Sports for my home television. Elite League ice hockey in stunning high definition. It’s what Friday nights are made for.

Coventry haven’t beaten Sheffield yet this season, so they would look to break the hoodoo in front of their home crowd and the Sky cameras. Gin and tonic in hand (well, it’s got less calories than cider!) I was ready for a good contest. And it started out briskly, the first chance coming for Sheffield as Blaze picked up an early penalty, but it was wasted, the Steelers with no ideas and no killer instinct on their powerplay, and the Blaze producing an effective penalty kill. Was this a sign of things to come? Er, no.

After an entertaining first few minutes in which King and Jurynec effectively clotheslined each other, Shea Guthrie was speedy and Dave Simms saying ‘Venus’ sounded just like ‘penis’, ex-Blaze man Luke Fulghum scored the opening goal of the game against the run of play, easily finding a gap in the Blaze’s defences to score on Peter Hirsch. Then it was the Blaze’s turn on the powerplay – could this be their chance to stamp their authority on the game? Er, no. Despite some excellent build-up play they could not make the man advantage count; the Steelers’ killer pairing of Legue and Ramsay combining on the counterattack to score a 2ndand stun the Blaze. Steve Birnstill came close to making it three; Hirsch looked all at sea (I told you there would be more poetry eventually). Sheffield’s second line battled and the 3rd goal came from nowhere. This game was in danger of being over before it had started.

It was time for another one of Thommo’s magic time outs. Would it provide the spark that the home side needed to get back into the game? Er, no. The Blaze shut the door on the Steelers to some extent, halting the free-scoring and levelling the game somewhat, but they were frustrating to watch, there was no fight, they couldn’t get any shots on goal, and the balance was by no means redressed.

Into the second and there was a rash of penalties and a number of stick breakages. Somebody call the gear supplier. The Blaze needed to up the urgency, and you could see the desperation as there were a couple of swings and misses. Peter Hirsch looked in better form and made a couple of quality saves, including from a one on one with Jeff Legue, and this seemed to galvanise the Blaze. The game opened up and there was some real end to end stuff. In a reversal of the first period, Coventry looked dangerous on the breakaway, Guthrie missing a number of good chances, and the momentum slowly swung back in favour of the home side. Would they capitalise on their new-found attacking play? Er, no.

In another reversal of fortune (Anne Robinson would be all over this), Sheffield had a powerplay which was much stronger, resulting in a tidy pass from Tait to Ramsay, who buried the puck to make it 4-0, effectively killing the game off. Rob Farmer dropped the gloves and tried to goad Mark Thomas into a fight to rile his side but it wasn’t to be. Could it fire them up? Another ineffectual powerplay later and it seemed perhaps not. But wait: a couple more minutes passed and the hex was broken, Brian Jurynec scoring on the rebound from a Domish shot through John DeCaro’s five hole. It seemed this could this give them the momentum they needed to turn the tide: Bakrlik and Guthrie showed up and had shots saved shortly afterwards. Guthrie is brilliant on the puck but he needs to do some work on his finishing given tonight’s evidence. Then another chance from Rob Farmer, the Blaze spirits really lifted now and the excitement in the Skydome surging – this was more like it! Blaze went for it; there was no doubt they needed to score another goal to take the third period to the Steelers. And they got their chance as Ryan Finnerty was called for holding – a powerplay chance right before the break. Could they make it a two goal game? Er, no.

I took my chance in the second period break to pour more gin and marvel at Russ Cowley’s massive eyes and impossibly complex accent. Where IS he from?

It was a quiet start to the third period compared with the thrilling end to the 2nd; the wind seemed to have gone out of the Blaze sails, and they returned to frustratingly sloppy passing and turning over of pucks. You could almost hear the collective sigh as hoards of casual fans turned over. Hirsch pulled off a couple of decent saves and yet more powerplay opportunities for the home side went begging, and the Steelers, with three games in three nights, understandably took their foot off the gas, their top line resting, and players seemingly taking penalties just because they fancied a sit down. It was frustrating stuff and the time ebbed away. It was all over. On the night, the difference between the teams was sheer hard work, clinical finishing and a strong game in net from John DeCaro.

North of the border, Fife Flyers lost two of their key imports in a major ‘wheels falling off’ week, a mirror image of the Vipers last season, Danny Stewart must be experiencing déjà vu in a big way, the poor guy. But if their misfortunes follow the Vipers pattern they will pull off some surprising results and this was reflected against the Steelers in Kirkcaldy on Saturday night, where the Flyers made the visitors work for the two points despite being under-staffed.

Cardiff went to Nottingham for only the second time this season and played out of their skins despite missing key players Birbraer, Voth and Matzka, producing the game of the weekend thus far, pushing the Panthers on their home ice and beating them 4-2, the forward line of Stu Macrae, Phil Hill and Jeff Pierce turning up in force and causing all sorts of problems for the Panthers defence. Devils defenceman Chris Frank picked up a surely unbeatable 35 penalty minutes in some kind of violence hat-trick, having two fights, bleeding all over the ice and eventually being thrown out of the game for cross-checking from behind. Take a bow, sir. The return leg promises to be a full-blooded affair and that’s putting it mildly.

In the final two games of the day, Belfast and Braehead picked up home wins. The rest of my weekend round-up will follow shortly. Let’s hope tonight’s games give me plenty to write about. Otherwise I’ll talk more about gin and possibly beards. And nobody wants that.