That's entertainment, Part 1

Fresh from the Olympics finishing, it was back to normal domestic hockey last week for me and my beloved Scims. Three home games in the space of just five days meant a heavy schedule for the lads that played but all things considered; they came out of them with their heads held high and an indication that maybe – just maybe – things could be turning the corner at the right time. That’s the hope, but hockey has a funny way of changing its mind as you all know.

We started last Wednesday with the first leg of our “Best of British” challenge with Coventry Blaze. Sure the Blaze decided to rest the majority of their Elite League “stars”, would have been a bit of a mis-match really if they had gone full pelt on us. But they had three Elite League title winning imports icing, Cruickshank (Steelers), Stewart and Söderstrom as well as GB internationals Russ Cowley, Tom Watkins and Greg Owen. Chuck former Viper Derek Campbell as a fourth import too (we only had one import in Slami) and you’d still expect them win easily.

However after two periods, we led 4-2, which must have annoyed the hell out of the watching Paul Thompson from the gantry and Luc Chabot on the bench so much so the Blaze came out for the third period with fire in their bellies. The final score ended 8-5 to our visitors but those in the sparse crowd of 166, really believed that the lads didn’t disgrace themselves at all. The second leg is in Coventry tomorrow night (Wednesday) and whilst I think the Blaze will win on aggregate, it’s certainly been a more than worthwhile exercise for the Scims. Safe to say, I also would say that “Thommo” must have been impressed by some of the British trained talent we iced.

I didn’t go skating on Saturday morning, after having a late Friday night with some friends. They had talked me into going to a singles night which usually means a cattle market of large proportions. I didn’t find anyone; in fact I never tried as the female species on offer was not to my liking. They were all much older than me and not at all pretty. Think I will stay single for a while, although I do have a “thing” for that female ice skating instructor at Ice Sheffield as you know.

So back to the bread and butter of the league it was, and facing teams at corresponding ends of the league table: leaders Milton Keynes on Saturday evening and basement Romford on the Sunday. Games against MK have always been close encounters; each of the matches at Ice Sheffield has been settled by an odd goal or in a shootout. This was no exception, and despite losing 2-0 after two periods…we’d given them a good test. With seven minutes left, we had a goal and a lifeline when Slami scored on a powerplay. Could we force them to overtime? Despite pushing for it, Barry Hollyhead saving one off his lid – we couldn’t find that second goal. Still, we’d competed well and given the leaders a decent game.

The game also saw one of our young defencemen, Chris Wilcox, carried off with a broken nose which caused a delay as there was blood on the ice. Safe to say he looked a bit of a messy state when he did make it up to the bar post-match. It was also good that I managed to grab a word with the afore mentioned Mr Hollyhead since he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever met and talk about a few off-ice things. It was also good to have a chat with Nikki and Dawn, whose Dad is the legendary Dave Goodwin, and if it hadn’t been a case of me having to time the last tram and bus combination home then I would have been there chin wagging away until a stupid hour with them. Happy days!

Part two to follow shortly…keep reading!

Mark

Cardiff	v	Edinburgh
11th February 2012 19:00
Dundee	v	Hull
11th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham	v	Belfast
11th February 2012 19:00
Sheffield	v	Coventry
11th February 2012 19:00
Fife	v	Braehead
11th February 2012 19:15
Braehead	v	Fife
12th February 2012 00:00

Dundee	6-2	Fife
5th February 2012 18:30
Cardiff	4-5	Braehead
5th February 2012 18:00
Sheffield	2-4	Belfast
5th February 2012 17:00
Coventry	6-1	Fife
4th February 2012 19:30
Belfast	4-1	Cardiff
4th February 2012 19:00
Nottingham	6-2	Dundee
4th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Belfast Giants	41	33	8	3	167	83	69
2	Nottingham Panthers	40	30	10	2	182	87	62
3	Sheffield Steelers	35	30	5	0	133	77	60
4	Coventry Blaze	40	25	15	1	153	113	51
5	Cardiff Devils	39	20	19	10	124	112	50
6	Braehead Clan	39	22	17	2	146	127	46
7	Hull Stingrays	41	11	30	4	107	165	26
8	Edinburgh Capitals	38	11	27	3	89	170	25
9	Dundee Stars	40	7	33	5	95	163	19
10	Fife Flyers	39	7	32	5	79	178	19

Peterborough	v	Guildford
8th February 2012 19:45
Swindon	v	Basingstoke
11th February 2012 17:45
Guildford	v	Peterborough
11th February 2012 18:00
Slough	v	Sheffield
11th February 2012 18:30
Milton Keynes	v	Bracknell
11th February 2012 19:00
Manchester	v	Telford
11th February 2012 19:00

Slough	3-0	Basingstoke
5th February 2012 18:30
Guildford	4-2	Milton Keynes
5th February 2012 18:00
Manchester	6-3	Swindon
5th February 2012 17:30
Telford	6-8	Peterborough
5th February 2012 17:30
Sheffield	3-0	Peterborough
4th February 2012 19:30
Milton Keynes	1-3	Manchester
4th February 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Guildford Flames	38	26	12	3	172	111	55
2	Manchester Phoenix	39	24	15	3	145	123	51
3	Slough Jets	37	24	13	2	167	117	50
4	Sheffield Steeldogs	38	22	16	4	119	101	48
5	Milton Keynes Lightning	37	22	15	1	116	99	45
6	Basingstoke Bison	38	21	17	2	135	126	44
7	Swindon Wildcats	39	15	24	5	126	134	35
8	Bracknell Bees	37	13	24	8	107	142	34
9	Peterborough Phantoms	38	14	24	2	123	164	30
10	Telford Tigers	39	9	30	2	106	199	20

	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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That's entertainment, Part 1

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