Well, we won it. It wasn't as easy as some folks may have expected, as the Scims are a very well drilled side (as they should be after the best part of a month together), and seemed very confidant coming of the back of beating Hull in a friendly, then winning a pre season tournament in Fife.
But, impressive as the Scims were, I was more impressed with our boys. Despite just 2 hours training, and 2 games together, they already ahve the makings of an extremely confident, skillful side. To those fans of other teams who seem to think that we will be a '1 line' outfit, with no-one to back up Hand & Big Ed.... think again. Almost every guy on the ice on Sunday looked like the real deal. No one making up the numbers here.
Now, my stars of the match were Andre Mattsson and Andre Payette. Mattsson is an absolute beast of a d-man. Fast, skillful, and very strong, it will take a phenomenal forward to get the better of him over a full 60mins. His positional play was awesome.
And big old Payette... Captain for the weekend, and seemingly relishing it. This man can play hockey! Y'know, like he did back during his time in Coventry. He ain't just a goon and he seemed to thrive on the responsibility. And major kudos for doing the rounds in the bar afterwards, trying to have just a few words with everyone present. Thats what I like to see.
Other stuff.... New shirts look better in the flesh. Got my order in for a Cup jersey, so fingers crossed the legend 'Learned 1' will be seen around the Dome in two weeks time. Also, the ice looked good. Plenty of logos, and clear, visible lines. Still looked a little soft, but I put that down to it having just been laid, and the warmth in the rink on sunday. Indeed, it was much warmer than usual, which is a tiny cause for concern, but not much.
And that about wraps it up.
Oh, and Swindon fans coming down next weekend, if you want to meet up and chat, bring yourselves over to the Station Inn, opposite the bus station. Myself and a number of other Phoenix fans will be in there from about 3-ish.
And we're done. No swearyness this time either.
No comments:
Post a Comment