SHEFFIELD, UK – Two weekends into the new season, and are the wheels already coming off the Coventry Blaze wagon? You might think it’s a bit too early to think this considering they have only played three games, and admittedly against Nottingham and twice against Belfast, but as league champions, at least a single home win would be expected. With Brad Cruikshank, Jon Weaver and now Russ Cowley out injured, things are not looking good for Paul Thompson’s men, however what a better time to get back on track than a double header against Midlands rivals, the Nottingham Panthers. If Coventry can get a couple of positive results out of this, then not only will they have finally got onto the board, but also it will bring some confidence back to the team, and in that rink – a confident Coventry is a dangerous thing.
What is looking impressive is the Nottingham Panthers. After a tough opening weekend, they had a relatively easier task, with Cardiff and Dundee being the opposition. After making hard work of turning over Cardiff, they made up for this by putting 9 past Dundee. To offer solid title credentials, it’s as important to dispose of the ‘weaker’ sides as the teams you’re competing for the title with and one of Nottingham’s faults over the previous years as been the inability to finish off lower placed teams, and drop ‘easy’ points. What they have to do is to continue their impressive run, and they already have a win against the Coventry Blaze under their belt. This weekend could be a cracker for Midlands’ hockey.
Last Saturday saw my first opportunity to see the Dundee Stars, and in particular Sean ‘The Sheriff’ McMorrow, and although better late than never, it was good to see Dundee back on the top table of British ice hockey. It’s clear that this team has not been put together to win the title, but to compete and entertain, and they certainly did that, with the team throwing hits and be willing to step up to look after their team. What I can see though are a few changes to turn the team from also-rans to someone who could possibly make the post-season play-offs. If they were to achieve that – then I believe that ice hockey will be well established back into the Dundee public, and if anything, that has got to be their main objective this year.
Last week saw Edinburgh and Newcastle face-off over the weekend in ‘exhibition’ games, when their league season starts this weekend, and a part of me thinks that this is wrong. Braehead and Hull have justifiable reasons for starting late; exactly what are Newcastle and Edinburgh’s? Was it to save money? If a team like Dundee, can get a squad together in time for the first weekend of the season then surely two established teams based in the Elite League can do so as well. Last season the preparation of the Gardiner Cup, gave Edinburgh a justifiable reason for starting late, I’m struggling to find one this year.
This weekend also sees the first league fixture of the Braehead Clan, when they go up the road to face Dundee. There has been some positive marketing coming out of the club on the west coast of Scotland, and I hope that this franchise is a success. With the west coast missing out of hockey since Ayr sadly left us, it’s a chance to re-engage with the fan base there. In Bruce Richardson, they have a coach who will drag his team through games, with the sheer determination that his play exuberates. He has assembled a team to reflect this, and I think they will shock some of the teams, if the Clan are lacing them up in a rink near you, it might be worth going down to see what they are like.
Steel Night Live will once again be covering the Sheffield Steelers home game, however instead of myself commentating, we have enlisted ex-Sheffield Steeler Neil Edwards to commentate for you all.
You can find a link to the commentary here http://steelnightlive.wordpress.com
If you have any comments/feedback on this and other comments, then please e-mail in on the address at the bottom, if I get some good stuff, they will find themselves in the next article, I am very interested in what you people think.
Until next week.
Big Dave Contact the author Dave.Grant@Prohockeynews.com
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