Thoughts on a season Part 2

So we had placings 1 to 5 yesterday, time for 7 to 10 today!

Newcastle Vipers
Bit of a disappointing season for the Vipers, the franchise players seemingly coming to the end of their careers the Vipers never really took off. Even Derek Campbell didn’t look the same this season. The Vipers need a clear out and get some fresh blood out on the ice. The Vipers should be up challenging for a title, they have all the ingredients:

Fine arena
Dedicated support
Hockey tradition

Sound familiar? You could argue the Vipers are much similar to the Panthers! Hockey in the north east has been around since year dot. So it just seams the final piece of the jig saw is the team on the ice.

For the 0809 season I enjoyed the Vipers visits to the Ice Dome as it would usually mean a win for the Phoenix. The Vipers played good, if not spectacular, hockey and had an outstanding net minder in Andrew Verner. His quality only underlined by being nabbed to the continent. Im sure the Blaze and Steelers must have been itching for his signature!

So a season to forget and a bit of an uneasy off-season as the clubs future is decided, but the Vipers are now a team I feel an affinity with. As a fellow member of the little four, a cracking weekend was spent singing along with the Vipers and generally making a nuisance of ourselves to make a point!

Edinburgh Capitals
The 0809 season for the Caps mirrored the 0708, the Caps struggle for most of the year but come January something happens up in Murrayfield. The Caps get going and make the playoffs. This year this meant a playoff quarter against the Steelers, a close first leg would leave the tie open to either team. But sadly, for everyone bar a Steelers supported, the game was decided after the first leg.

The Caps are slowly building a successful franchise up in Scotland, a Capitals visit to the Ice Dome was never an easy win for the Phoenix. But I loved watching them play, accompanied by some of the best fans in the league!

The big handicap, it seems, for the Caps is the revolving door roster. They need to sign a team and keep it all season. All the mid season departures and signings will never give rise to 100% coherency in the locker room.

Standout player would be Mark Hurtubise, coming in just behind our own David-Alexandre Beauregard in scoring stakes he was a joy to watch. I imagine a great deal of time and effort for the Caps office will be spent bringing him back to Edinburgh next year! I can only hope that if not, he considers Manchester! If we could afford it just imagine Hurtubise and Beauregard on the same line!

Hull Stingrays
Or should it be the Hull/Nottingham Stingrays, with rumours abound the Stingrays now being bankrolled by Neil Black it should be an interesting off-season for those in Hull! Hull always seem to struggle and never really got going in any game at the Ice Dome, the Stingrays only win against the Phoenix coming in the Phoenix march madness period when the team were dead on their feet.

A roster sprinkled with some decent players in Kostadine/Kalmikov/Slonina and emerging brit Lee Esders, the Stingrays had the nuts and bolts of a successful team. But they never really clicked and a poor first half of the season meant an uphill struggle was needed to reach the Caps in the last playoff spot.

With Rick Strachan gone and ex Blaze Clouthier becoming player coach there is much cause for optimism on Humberside. I will be looking forward to the visit of the Stingrays next season!

Basingstoke Bison
A season to forget for those down in the Silverdome, a season that yielded only 8 wins all year and a record making loosing streak. The worrying signs emerged early in the season for the Bison, only for planet ice to come in and save them. A move to the EPL being a sensible one for the Bison, many rivalries renewed and many new ones to be made!

Sadly 0809 would not see the same terrific ten for the Bison, as players left there did not seem to be the same do or die attitude on the Bison roster. At times the Bison would click and play some sublime hockey. But those moments were few and far between. The highlight for me would been the form of Kevin Reiter in the Bison goal. Standing on his head night in and night out he kept the score line respectable in so many games.

I think had he been with any other team he could easily win them a trophy, a big mobile goalie who would frustrate opposing fans and players.

So EPL for the Bison, and I think it will do them well! I will be sad not to see them or their fans at the Ice Dome again!

Tune in tomorrow for The Angry Budgie's view on the Phoenix!

Death of the Elite League?

Well the proverbial really has hit the fan hasn't it!

If you have been living under a rock for the past 24hours you have missed some action! There has been many a rumour floating around the message boards regarding the structure of next seasons Elite League. There are three clubs, Manchester/Newcastle and Edinburgh, who 'appear' to have been ejected from the Elite League for next year.

Naturally there are many arguments on either side as to who is right and who is wrong. The frustrating thing as a Phoenix fan is the lack of clarity on the issue! This whole saga has left a sour taste in the mouth in the run up to the, usually, fantastic finals weekend in Nottingham.

I wont go on much more on this as, frankly, I don't know much! But have a read of the following blogs/newspaper articles and they will fill you in!

Breakaway British Hockey Blog
F Block Blog
The Cats Whiskers
The Pyre
The Phoenix Website
Elite League Website
Bolton Evening News
Nottingham Evening Post
Edinburgh News

So as you can see its already covered in most quarters, hopefully, from a Phoenix perspective, all will become clear tomorrow morning at 7am!

So if your up at that time, pay the Phoenix site a visit!

I do plan on doing my own playoff hockey essential tracks, as per recent posts by the Breakaway and FMJ blogs. That may well appear tonight or tomorrow!

2009 Elite Leage Playoff Quarter Final Preview

Well that’s it for another year, the regular season has finished and we have only two weeks of hockey left! Then we will have to put up with football for another couple of months before the countdown to 09/10 begins! Anyway for today’s post I wanted to preview the finals match ups and offer my own thoughts on what may happen, what I want to happen and a quick summary of who will be key for each team. This years match ups genuinely offer a few surprises and potential slip ups. I can honestly see a situation where none of the top 4 make it. It wont happen but there could be a few surprise packages in Nottingham on the 4th April!

Anyway onto the quarter final games:

Sheffield Steelers vs Edinburgh Capitals
Well this is an interesting tie, and one which may not be as clear cut as you may think. The big thing about playoff hockey is that any game is for the taking, league placings count for nothing come finals hockey. Added to this the Steelers have really been coasting coming into the playoffs and the Caps have hit a great run of form to take them clear of Hull in 8th. Another thing in the Caps favour is having the first leg in Sheffield, and Ice Sheffield for that matter. A rink that, even Steeler fans themselves, admit has not been the happiest hunting ground for the Steel machine. So if the Caps can keep it close or tied down in Sheffield they must fancy their chances back on home ice!

Steelers player to watch: Well you cant look past Jody Lehman really! This man has been in scintillating form all season backstopping a team to only 6 regulation losses all season. This man is the main reason behind the Steelers success this season!

Capitals player to watch: Has to be Mark Hurtubise, this man has simply been awesome for the Capitlals. A man who has stuck with them all season and fell just two points shy of the magical 100 point barrier. If he hits top form against the Steelers he could send the Capitals to Nottingham.

Who will win: In my heart of hearts I want the Caps to win, just upset the cart and provide some intrest in Nottingham. I recon there will be 8 sets of supporters behind the Caps in this one! However if I listen to my head I can see the Steelers winning this, they have been a ruthless machine for most of the season and can wipe the floor with anyone on their day. Ill go for a tight Steelers win, but will hope for different!

Coventry Blaze vs Newcastle Vipers
This is another playoff pairing which could well throw up a surprise. Coventry are not the dominating force they used to be, and in Perras they have a good nettie but not one in top form like Lehman. Newcastle on the other hand have a fast team, but one suffering from injuries. The other thing that may hinder them is their tendency to spend most of the game in the penalty box, and with the Blaze having players such as Calder and Deschatelets that could be terminal!

Blaze player to watch: Difficult to pick on guy out when the Blaze have 4 players with 70+ points for the season. But im going for Adam Calder, a second stonking year and only piped to the scoring post by David Alexandre Beauregard. Still a class player!

Vipers player to watch: Not sure who to go for on the Vipers roster, so ill pick David Longstaff, the only reason being his annoying habit of being able to rack up points against the Phoenix! Despite how old and silly he looks he is still a vital cog in the Viper machine!

Who will win: I think this one is fairly simple to predict, while it is playoff hockey and anyone can win. I think recent injuries will hurt Newcaslte and ultimately Coventry should have the strength in dept to see them to Nottingham.

Nottingham Panthers vs Manchester Phoenix
Well this is the tie everyone on either side seemed to want, and for the same reasons too! Both sets of fans believe they can beat each other! Plus you could argue the Knockout Cup on Thursday could be ideal preparation for the Panthers. This will be a great tie and, putting aside my Phoenix tinted specs, I think this is the ite of the finals weekend! If they want to both teams can get the puck and play fast flowing hockey with scant regard to defence! They key for Nottingham is to get a good lead from the first leg in the NIC, the key for the Phoenix is to keep it close and look forward to the home leg in Alty. This second leg is already shaping up to be another ‘game of the season’ with ticket sales going very well we could have our second sell out, and anyone who has seen the Ice Dome full and in full flow will agree it’s a sight and sound to behold! In that atmosphere I fancy a Phoenix victory.

Panthers player to watch: Seeing as though Dan Tessier is injured I have to go for Brendan Cook. Leading the Panthers in scoring he could lead them to the finals.

Phoenix player to watch: I desperately don’t want to pick the obvious, but I cant! The key man will be David Alexandre Beauregard. The man is simply an awesome player and deserves his position at the top of the Elite League pile. If Nottingham don’t shut down our first line we could well see the Phoenix in Nottingham and not the hosts.

Who will win: It depends on the first leg for me, if we keep it close I really fancy the Phoenix to win. Even my head thinks we can do it, we have always had close games with the Panthers and either team has beaten each other on their home ice! So ill stick my head out and go for a Phoenix victory.

(Come on you cant be surprised! A Phoenix blog predicting a Phoenix victory?)

Belfast Giants vs Cardiff Devils
Probably the third tie where a top 4 team could be surprised! While the Giants recent form has not been great they also have the distraction of the Knockout Cup final on Thursday. While this may well have no effect on the Giants it will still be a hard fought tie. The Giants/Devils have worked up quite a rivalry this season and things could get sticky! Two evenly matched teams will face off in the O for the first leg, then its all back to the big blue tent for the second leg! Much like the Phoenix, if the Devils keep it close in the O I fancy them to take it on home ice!

Giants player to watch: Has to be Paul Deniset, with something like 3 hatricks in 3 different games in Altrincham id love to see this guy pull on a Phoenix jersey!

Devils player to watch: Im not going for the obvious top scorers on the Devils roster, no, im going for possibly the most hated player on Elite Ice. Step forward Mr Brad Voth, this man is simply Mr Cardiff Devils. While he is not the flashiest of players, on every Devils visit to Altrincham he manages to stir things up and get a few points on the board!

Who will win: This will be the tightest tie of the quarter finals and one which will be keenly fought. Even though the Giants have two cups in the bag already I do fancy the Devils to win this. They have hit form at just the right time, and always have a nack of reaching the finals weekend!

So there we have it, my predictions for finals weekend! Im really looking forward to the 4/5th April even if the Phoenix don’t make it! I really fancy this year as the year for a surprise and if my predictions come through it could be a weekend that shakes the established order in the Elite League.

So have fun this weekend everyone! In the next day or two ill post a quick few thoughts on Thursdays Knockout Cup second leg. A cup, which many fans, from so-called ‘larger’ clubs seem now to dismiss! Im sorry but it’s a piece of silverware isn’t it! Hopefully this blog will also have some information on the extensive fan coverage of finals weekend!

So keep your eyes and ears peeled this could be a cracking end to the season!

Phoenix v Newcastle 15th March Game Review

So the Vipers rolled into Altrincham for the BMI Baby Elite League clash, which for the Phoenix, was the umpteenth game in 2 nights, or so it seems! With Tuesdays 2nd Leg of the CC final looming this was a game, which in my opinion we could have done without!

First Period: So the first period began and as ever when the Vipers come to town it was going to be a tough physical game! As it turned out it was the Vipers who were to have the best of the opening 20 minutes. The first Vipers goal came after only 2min 16 seconds when Derek Campbell came down the right side of the zone and let fly and stonking wrist shot that beat Murphy on his glove side. The Phoenix broke back at4min 42sec through Nathan Ward, assisted by Dunn and Garbutt. The Vipers regained the lead at 8min 47sec through the eternal David Longstaff, slid the puck under Murphy’s pads.

Second Period: With 40mins left in the game I think most Phoenix fans were still hopeful of this game. It was clear, however, that the Phoenix were either holding back or absolutely exhausted as the recent fixture crunch began to take its toll! The Vipers made it 3-1 at 25min 56 sec when Rob Rankin deaked Murphy and again slid the puck under the Phoenix nettie. What amazed me about this goal was, despite the deake Murphy stayed with Rankin and I couldn’t believe it when the goal light was lit!

Third Period: Three goals in this period and sadly an embarrassing scoreline! The Phoenix began brightly and after 47min 45sec MOM (in my eyes) Bruce Mulherin made it 3-2. Any hope of a recovery was killed off in a frenetic 18 second spell. Ben Campbell got the Vipers 4th at 49min 34sec and Ed (Big Nose) Courtney got the 5th at 49min 52sec.

Verdict: Pretty depressing really and a little worrying. The Phoenix were second best all night, the Vipers looked fresh and very quick! This result could have been predicted as the Phoenix are playing a crazy schedule at the moment. I had thought that the Phoenix performance was more the team holding back for the CC Final 2nd leg on Tuesday. But as I think back to it now, it was probably more exhaustion! What worry’s me know is the recovery time, the boys only have one free day where as the Giants will have had two!

Attendance: OK tonight, probably around 1,200 in.

Phoenix TV Highlights:



MEN Article

So that’s it really, pretty depressing but hey ho, the Vipers can’t catch us, we (probably) wont catch Cardiff. So 6th place it is and as I post a playoff game against the Panthers! At least it wont mean the 50th game against the Giants in a month!

I have a couple of posts on the go or due to get going, a recent post on the Phoenix forum regarding attendances has prompted me to write another post, sort of re-visiting my earlier rant here (link to well supported post). Plus my own post on finals weekend and the various ways to keep up to date.

Finally, you may have noticed the dates for the two legged Knockout Cup Final against the Giants have been agreed and published. If you have read the Phoenix forums you will be aware of the farcical nature of the dates. I had planned to post a quick comment regarding this on today’s game review. However that small post has become a rant in its own right, and one that has been toned down about 4 times to make it family friendly! Anyway ill hopefully have that online tomorrow night!

Phoenix v Newcastle 26th February Knockout Cup 2nd Leg Game Review

So last Thursday night saw the second leg of our Knockout Cup semi-final versus the Newcastle Vipers. This was going to be a tight game despite the 4-1 lead the Phoenix had from the first leg. As anyone who is into hockey will know, it only takes a couple of seconds to score! As happened in Thursdays second leg (at one point) so a 3 goal lead is not much in reality!

Sadly I could not attend this game, the match clashed with the Metallica/Machine Head gig at the MEN Arena Thursday night, which I had some pretty decent seats at! So I had to rely on text updates from a mate at the game. For a full and detailed game review check out the Five Minute Major and The Pyre blogs, written by Matt/Becky and Rob respectively.

As with previous reviews ill make a few comments and will update my blog with video highlights when they become available!

Anyway onto the game:

First Period: By all accounts it seemed like the Phoenix had the better of the opening period, creating many chances. Only to be kept at bay by Verner in the Vipers goal. Thankfully the first goal (which was crucial in this type of game) came by way of the Phoenix at 3min 44sec when Nathan Ward struck his 15th goal of the season. Not to be outdone the Vipers ensured this was to be a close game when Mark Goett scored his second of the season at 16min 38sec.

Second Period: A mere 40 minutes now stood in the way of the Phoenix’ second trip into a cup final tie of the season. Im sure a fair few nerves were set jangling when it was the Vipers who scored first in the period, when at 27min 24sec the veteran Longstaff netted his 32nd of the season. This narrowed the score to 5-3 in favour of the Phoenix. A collective sigh of relief must have been emitted at 30min 30sec when Alex Dunn scored his 11th of the season.

Third Period: A manic opening minute saw the Phoenix take the lead in the game and extend the lead to 4-3 on the night and 8-4 overall. The first came from David Beauregard who, at 40min 23sec scored his 56th of the season. Followed a minute later by Brett Clouthier’s 7th of the season at 41min 26sec. As mentioned at the start it only takes a couple of seconds to score in hockey, and, a bizarre goal by the sounds of things. Likit Andersson scored at 41min 26sec with a shot from the resulting face off which surprised Smurf and crept under his pads. Thankfully the Phoenix held on and each team traded a goal in the last 3 minutes of the game. Jeff Hutchins scored for the Vipers at 57min 06sec and Kyle Bruce scored an empty netter for the Phoenix at 58min 22sec.

Verdict: As I was not at the game I cant really comment much, other than being chuffed the Phoenix managed to get the win and progress to the final. A tricky tie against the Vipers, as neither team can expect league success it leaves us with the Cup competitions, because of this any team will be up for the game! So now the Phoenix will progress to their second cup final of the season. Despite our league placing, this is turning out to be a vintage season for the Phoenix. Im sure, if you offered any Phoenix fan who attends the home games in the Dome two cup final appearances in a season, they would have torn your arm off! Now all we have to try and do is to win them!

We have a challenge cup final against the Giants, and now Knockout Cup final against the Devils or, again, the Giants! So Sheffield/Nottingham fans, can you say your team has made it to two finals this season? No I didn’t think so! Say what you want about the cup competitions, but if you faced a season with no success versus a season with a cup win, which would you choose?

Attendance: From reports it sounds like it was not a great attendance inside the Dome, but a great atmosphere none the less!

Phoenix TV Highlights:



MEN Article

Gig Review - Metallica - Manchester Evening News Arena 26th February

So last Thursday saw a busy night for me, attending the Metallica gig and hoping the Phoenix would do the job against Newcastle! The game review will follow, but for now onto the Metallica gig:

The Sword: Its always tought for the first act of the night to come on in an Arena gig. While there were a couple of hundred people in the arena come 7pm when The Sword took to the stage, bear in mind that’s a couple hundred people in a 20,000 seat arena! Despite this they ploughed on with a good sound, but un-intelligible vocals. Plus I swear they had been taken straight from the 70’s! The lead guitarist/singer had some lovely flared jeans on! It may be because im not a fan but the music was good, it just sounded like one 45min song! It’s a shame the sound for the vocals was so poor I could hardly tell what he was singing about! Having said all that those that were in attendance responded well and those 45mins did seem to pass pretty darn quick!

Machine Head: Machine Head were a big reason I bought tickets for this gig, I did also want to see Metallica but I do love Machine Head. Id say the arena was probably 60% full, with a packed out standing floor for Machine Head. Highlights of the set were Imperium and Davidian for me! Two songs, which showcase the heavy and the fast that MH, do so well! Each song has crunching guitars and a constant beating from the Drums. That’s pretty much how I like my Metal! Rob Flyn is a great front man and took every opportunity to profess his love for the crowd and city, and that love was and is returned right back at Machine Head. Ive seen them three times now and every time am blown away by their live performance. The only slight downsides for me, again, concerned the vocals, they wernt very clear for me! Plus as a support band, it kind of limits what you can do in terms of length/composition of the set list and what you can do with the lights! Even so a great performance from the MH boys! A perfect warm up for Metallica!

Metallica: So onto the main act of the night, a full to bursting arena exploded when Kirk Hammet took to the stage, shortly followed by Rob Trujillo, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield. What followed was a masterly 2 and a bit hours of metal perfection. This was my first time seeing Metallica, I knew they would be good, but crikey they were awesome! The music sounded perfect, James vocals sounded perfect and the light show was awesome! The first couple of songs saw a mad lazer show lighting up the centre stage. For the rest of the set the massive lighting rig moved up/down/sideways and created some perfect lights! Coupled with copious use of flames all over the stage whipped the crowd into a frenzy! All the usual hits were played including: Master/The Unforgiven 2/Enter Sandman and many others! Plus some great songs off Death Magnetic: Cyanide/That Was Just Your Life and a future Metallica classic (in my eyes) The Day That Never Comes. It was truly an amazing site when the house lights were put up and you could then see 20,000 screaming fans!

So an amazing show, Metallica are fantastic and im now glad to say ive seen them Live. Defiantly worth the entry fee! I only hope that my naff phone pictures give a small glimpse as to what it was like Thursday night!

As always rock on people!

p.s. I have a review of the Phoenix v Vipers game also played on the 26th February prepared. This will be posted tomorrow (Monday), along with the usual game review of the Phoenix v Coventry game from Saturday, which will be posted on Tuesday.

Phoenix v Newcastle 26th December Game Review

So I hope every one had a great christmas and got everything they wanted from Santa! I must also apologise for the late posting of this game review! As you all will know christmas plans are never set in stone!

So onto the game, it seemed like we hadn't played the Vipers before, its been a long time since they last visited the Dome! Games against the Vipers have always been very physical and quite even, however I would always expect the Phoenix to win the home games against Newcastle!

First Period: A classic first period, end to end hockey, very physical but some great hockey being played. Then over a 8 second period after 5 mins the game was more or less all said and done! Firstly Fulghum scored at 5min 10sec, and as Andy C was reading out the details the second went in at 5min 18sec through Burnett un-assisted! The Phoenix, had, prior to this lost Clouthier to a game penalty for 3rd man in. Now I did not see the incident that caused this, but I remember seeing Clouthier wheel around and stride into the corner. Sadly the officials come down hard on 3rd man in and Cloots was chucked! The period carried on as normal and then with 24sec left in the period Bauregard scored the 3rd for the Phoenix. Overall a very satisfying opener for the Phoenix!

Second Period: Newcastle seemed to find some life in this period and slowly found some life, Verner between the pipes also found his form! The only goal of the period fell to the Vipers and Griffith got his first of the game at 28min 9sec.

Third Period: Another tight period with only one goal to show for it. This fell to Griffiths again who scored the second at 41min 15sec. This set up the third nicely, but the Phoenix managed to hold on and secure the two points.

Verdict: A classic game against the Vipers, tight, physical and hard. However very happy we got the win. Campbell and Payette made themselves an annoyance all game but thankfully the guys dealt with it easily!

Was also good to see the boys doing the double and securing another two points with a win up in Newcastle the following night!

Attendance: Quite a large crowd in considering it was boxing day! I would say 1,400 in!

The season so far.........part 2!

This post kind of follows up on my thoughts of the team so far this season; and wanted to give my opinion on a couple more things.

My first thought is a follow on from last season, and the first full season we had in our finished rink. Now I love our Dome, yes the sight lines are rubbish, but its our home and I love it! Its got character, quirks and so many little things that make it more of a home than any arena would. Which is why it frustrates me to read fans of arena teams come here and moan! Look you knew what you were coming too, there have been endless posts on forums around the league that our rink, and Cardiff’s for that matter, don’t have great sight lines. Its easy to get round it, stand up or watch TV, just don’t say you didn’t expect it!
Still, I wouldn’t swap the Dome for an arena anytime! I have been to Schuff when the shed has been half full, such a poor atmosphere. Plus in the last days of the Storm/First Phoenix season, imagine 1500 people in an arena that can seat 17,245, you can imagine that atmosphere! No the Dome is great for us, we can create an awesome atmosphere in that place, 2,500 fans in a small/compact tin rink its fantastic!

My second thought for this post, and I hope the Phoenix can maintain their current form and finish high up the table, is this could be a season when the fans of the ‘big’ teams finally realise there are other teams in this league.
The reasoning behind that thought comes from our resent wins against Schuff and Nottingham. Immediately after our win against Schuff I remember going on Steeltalk and reading the reaction cross the pennies. Not one comment acknowledging the fact that the Phoenix were the better team and deserved to win! Fast forward to the win against Nottingham in the NIC, I was so pleased to read the Panther fans admitting the Phoenix were, on that occasion, better than them! I think it may need a good season, with a good finish, to convince these fans that there are teams outside their arenas!

Im sorry if that last though annoys some of you, but I have to admit to feeling closer to the likes of Basingstoke/Hull/Edinburgh etc.. as I always feel that because we don’t play out of an arena, we are not good enough!

p.s. Crikey just read that Ed (Big Nose) Courtney is back in the Elite League after singing for Newcastle! Will be good to see him on the ice again, I just hope hes not slowed down too much!