DC, Referees and Sponsors

by Seanna Murdock

Blog from door 19

The Sheffield double header taught me three things; First, I was absolutely right in my estimation of Derek Campbell. Yeah, he may have ten points from 18 games, he may also be an alright skater and player but he is also a massive annoyance and dangerous cheap shot merchant who could literally get away with murder as long as he was wearing a Steelers jersey. The linesman looked pretty fearful of losing a chunk out of his arm as he pulled Campbell away from Hoffman.

Secondly; any faith that anyone could have in the competence of refereeing in the Elite League Officials is misplaced. The fact that 95% of the penalties that occurred weren't called and the laughable penalties that were called were inexplicable. It was interesting to see the vendetta that Hicks seemed to have against Ross Dalgleish unfolding on Friday night handing his beloved Steelers many power play opportunities.

Thirdly; I must reiterate the fact that our joke of a sponsor in the form of Cool FM is doing nothing useful to promote the Giants to listeners that may be considering a match. On Friday I was in work and at around 9am they had Dougie on the phone, repeatedly calling him Doug Christian and not asking any relevant questions made a bit of a joke out of the whole situation to be honest. On Monday (29th) I was also listening to Cool FM in work and Kirstie seemed over the moon that Frank Lampard was in attendance on Saturday night; there was no mention of the score line, any of the incidents, the fight or anything - just the fact that she may have breathed the same oxygen as an overpaid muppet who probably considered himself 'slumming it' in the Odyssey. It kinda makes sense; the Steelers showed a lot of footballing prowess, trying to impress Lampard with their diving skills.

Friday night was once again the Movember match with some very impressive (and some Sidney Crosby-esque not-so impressive) facial growth. Must say that I was impressed with Cookie, Bayrack, Mason and Hoff! Even Domish and Joey Talbot's tashe would give Magnum PI a run for his money. Of course it was all for a good cause and it was good to see some fans were even buying replica Movember jerseys paying full whack and giving a donation to the very worthy cause.

It was actually weird to see that some of the season ticket holders didn't clap the Giants onto the ice and were only interested in the fights, laughing when the Giants were given penalties. Just a quick bit of advice if you want to see a fight guaranteed then go to Cage Wars, then you won't be disappointed its on three times a year in the Kings Hall!

Mustukovs had an awesome weekend cementing his place as statistically the best goal keeper in the Elite League. He made some impressive saves and kept the score line very low. I'm not a massive mark for the Steelers any way but the saving graces of the Steelers in my opinion were Talbot, Mustukovs and rookie Tom Squires (even though he wasn't iced, I rate the kid on what I've seen). Mason once again showed his grit and determination after eleven minutes in he put the puck in the net breaking the scoreless deadlock. Thanks to one of Hicks' many calls on Dalgleish (might as well have been two minutes for breathing), the Steelers capitalised on the power play opportunity with Domish equalising and tying the score going into the second.

Every time that Hicks shot his hateful striped hand into the air all I heard in my ear was, "Thats Dalgleish again! He's given away another effing penalty." Rather than supporting the British yer man repeatedly just said "Awful, thats just awful." Over and over again like that was going to make the situation any better. The best bit was that he was swearing to his very small son, bit of advice; If you are going to verbally express an opinion you should broaden your vocabulary, can I do secret Santa for this guy and buy him a thesaurus? The second period was extremely frustrating with neither team scoring, but with some very hard hits and the tension between the two teams was palpable. The third was a turning point for the fortunes of both teams Dowd set Tait up for a beautiful goal beating Murphy much to the delight of the strong Sheffield fan representation. Murphy was pulled and once again the extra player on the ice failed to work. As I said before, Mustukovs was having an awesome night and to be honest he deserved the win. It was cheapened however considerably when the Giants tried to level the score and take it into OT with Domish booting the net off its moorings labelling himself as a cheat for the rest of the weekend. So the Steelers took the first two points, however the Giants would get their revenge the following evening.

Saturdays match came after a freezing day spent in a training centre brushing up on my first aid and secretly hoping someone would collapse so I could practice my new skills. Michael Hicks once again proved that he was not only incompetent but that he should just stick to making hockey jerseys. The first disappointment of the evening came when the Giants were called for a delayed penalty and Mustikovs skated back to the bench. The Giants weren't in control of the puck, it bounced of Gleed and travelled the length of the ice and into the opposition net. It should have stood but Hicks was throwing his weight around (pardon the pun) and waved it off. This gave opportunity for Dougie to bang the plexi (that stuff must be triple reinforced when Hicks is reffing). Hicks was shocking in the first period missing high sticking and obvious slashing penalties right in front of his face.

Our hot commodity of the season Brett Hemingway put the Giants on the scoreboard at around nine minutes, making it hopefully a better result for the home team. Brad Smyth in my opinion hadn't been playing to his fullest potential and expectation with his NHL background and experience, however he beat Mustikovs with a power play goal set up by the assist machine that is Mike Bayrack. The Giants went into the second with a two goal lead and it was looking like we could at least salvage two points from the double header. It was freezing so I cuddled a cup of mediocre coffee and enjoyed the prematurely festive atmosphere.

The second period held just as many blunders on the part of Michael Hicks, it was looking as if he had cracked open his Elite League rule book during the Zamboni's turn around the ice. May I also add that the atmosphere on Saturday was lifted with the presence of some Canadian students who cheered the Zamboni driver and practically everything else, genuinely loving the evening. In the second Hicks' performance was looking to pick up as Sheffield were given back to back four minute penalties and he was ignoring dives from Hewitt and Clark. Of course he ruined it when he made a classic Hicks call, putting Shields in the box for a "trip" (dive) from Derek Campbell, needless to say Dougie put that plexi through some abuse once more. The penalties were so ridiculous that at one point I saw Dougie dropping his clipboard and actually laughing. Mike Hoffman netted a peach of a goal set up by Shieldsy and extended the Giants lead and showing pure dominance for the first time in the whole weekend. The third period was an angry and antagonistic; Mike Bayrack was given a slashing penalty which gave Domish the green light. He sliced through the Giants defence like a knife through butter, murdering souls like there was nobody in front of him and making sure that he denied Murphy his shut out.

Campbell had been cruising for a bruising all night skating around with his 'You can't touch me attitude' and his extremely punchable face. He had been winding up Hoff all night and got his wish; a fight and we got our wish; an absolute beat down! There wasn't many punches but it was an out and out win for the new sheriff in town. Campbell and Munn both had been aggressive all evening but had also ran away from the Giants that were willing to take them on, I still smile when I see that picture of Steve Munn being punched in the ear by Malcolm MacMillan back in the day. Once again the worlds worst tactic of pulling the goalie was employed and Mustikovs was pulled onto the bench allowing Danny Welch to slap the puck down the ice and finishing the score at four to one. That is of course until Rob Dowd got one with seconds to go but it was merely consolation. 4-2 Giants.

I'll finish with a note to Bruce Richardson based on the Clan game last week: Skating away at speed and dusting your hands off after a cuddle with Jon Gleed doesn't mean you won the "fight".

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Cardiff	0-3	Basingstoke
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Chelmsford	5-8	Telford
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Slough	5-2	Swindon
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Solihull	3-7	Bracknell
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Sheffield	1-1	Guildford
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	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts

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