New Season
The hockey season is back, and you can follow it all with us right here on BIH.
Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
A change in circumstances
When Gerad Adams’ Cardiff Devils demolished my Sheffield Steelers 7-1 in the House of Steel a few weeks ago, few would have bet against them being beaten. They looked an invincible force that nobody could seem to stop, and if anything – the chances to remain unbeaten for the rest of the season looked pretty damn possible. It was basically a race to see who was going to get the second spot beyond them. Would it be Belfast, Steelers or Panthers? Now things have changed, and changed dramatically.
Cardiff have suffered a stutter which has blown everything wide open, and the team that have taken full advantage is my beloved Steelers. Ben Simon is now proving to be one of the best coaches this country has ever seen, and this is only a rookie season for him doing that job. Normally player-coaches don’t succeed but if they have a great bench coach helping them out then they will. Ben has this with Neil Abel, a legend in his own lifetime and one of the most solid defencemen I have ever seen play. Neil has been there, done it and got the proverbial T-Shirt as the phrase goes and his knowledge helps Ben succeed. They are such a great team between them.
Now excuse me for being personal but the Elite League did their best to screw this up. Four games in the space of the last five days, and one of them against the old enemy from down the M1. Few would have expected that the team would win every single one of them, but they did and that’s the hallmark of a potentially great side. From “The Moose” and his record number of Elite League shutouts, to Jerramie Domish who is the most underrated defencemen in the League, and Neil Clark who is proving to be an excellent acquisition as a goalscoring power forward. In fact, the entire roster have all been heroes and deserve all the plaudits that are heading their way at this moment.
I could not do this blog without mentioning Friday night’s Sky hammering of the Panthers, could I? Safe to say, the Panthers looked a beaten side before the first puck was dropped. They did not turn up pure and simple and Coach Corey must be slowly realising his time in NG1 is well and truly up (last night’s loss to Newcastle didn’t help his cause further). Cries of the now ironic “SexxxxyyyNeilsonnnnnHockeyyyyy!” coming from the joyous Steelers support (myself included) saw Corey troop off the ice and with head slunk. K-Wall is not as good as they say, they need a better builder if he’s a wall and I don’t think the flu ridden DAB would have made a difference if he’d played.
Also I had to mention the following night’s game against Coventry that was a hell of a game. A great advert for GB hockey and they should put it onto a DVD to promote the game. With 54 seconds left Coventry looked a certainty to have the W but who else but the much maligned Soupy (Derek Campbell) to make it 2-2. The delight on his face after it went in said it all, Paul Thompson must have been literally sick. Overtime couldn’t separate it, and so down to penalty shots. Joey scored but the real hero was Moose – deserved Steelers Man of the Match. Jaeger had equally been impressive for the Blaze between the pipes. A pulsating encounter that had everyone gripped right to the very end.
Follow me on Twitter as www.twitter.com/hockeybhoy but yours as always in hockey on here.
Mark
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
