So, a lil ol' recap...

Bloody Stevie Lyle! That miserable looking Welsh git. If it wasn't for him, we most certainly would have taken the points against the Bison a couple of Sundays back.

Seriously. We outplayed them to that much of an extent we should have had double figures on the fucking scoreboard. But noooooooo, Stevie pissing Lyle had to be in the crease. AAAARRRGHHHHH!!!!

And to make matters even worse, he was fucking smiling in the bar afterwards. He never smiles! Or I'd never seen him smile anyways. Git!

Moving on, Thankfully I didn't travel to MK for the road game, but hopefully thats our annual away day  humping over and done with early doors. And even worse than that, I couldn't make the Telford game due to family commitments. But we took the points, so thats good. Playing .500 hockey is acceptable for now, but I really am waiting for this team to start clicking, as we look like we have another 250+ point 1st line, and the 2nd looks good for 100+ as well. I know some folks are getting impatient, but I'd much rather start slowly, and build up a head of steam than get off to a flyer, then burn out at the business end of the season.

And thats it. Rather brief I know, but I just don't have anything else to add at the minute.

Roll on Sunday!

Me, as Fan Liason...

So, I was reading through all the fall out from my little into thread for the new season over of the official forums, and it got me thinking:

Am I that much of an awkward choice for the role? I mean, sure I swear a wee bit on here...OK, I swear a lot, but its only words for fucks sake (and yes, that one was purely fucking gratuitous), and I don't force anyone to read my often barely comprehensible musings. And I seem to be not visible enough. Not sure what to do about that one. I know some nice 'head shots' are being done on Sunday, so I am going to assume that said head shot will appear in the program, and probably on the monitors, very soon indeed. I'm sure that will scare a few folks. But beyond that? I'm over 6 and a half feet tall, I have a big beard, and my fucking name is on my jersey. If people can not work out who I am..... I'm not sure what else I can do in that respect. Bright red hair maybe? Or a mohawk?

And add in the fact that certain people just seem to have a problem with me being involved at all. The same people had a problem with me being involved in the supporters club, but when I stepped aside... they were nowhere to be seen. Personally, I don't give 2 shits if a section of the fan base doesn't really like me. More folks do than don't so I guess I'm pretty popular. And being liked isn't a pre requisite for being a public face of an audience. Shit, Dave Simms is probably the most hated man in British hockey, and he is the face of pretty much the entire sport!

Anyways, I just wanted to get that of my (phlegmy) chest. Now I'm off to neck some cough meds to try and shift this annoying chest rattle before tomorrows game.

See Y'all at the rink!

OK, here is yet another 'warning'

If you are reading this blog, then you will have clicked through a warning page from Blooger/Google, notifying you that there may be contnent that is classified ad 'adult' within. You will have also noted the bright red warning which sits atop each page, composed by myself, which further warns specifically about the type of language which can be found within.

I would like to think that most internet users would understand that these are there for a reason. They are not 'general' warnings which serve no purpose. They are there for a reason. This blog can, and often does, contain language which is classified as 'adult'. For the purposes of this posting, I'm not going to repeat these words, as I assume that you can guess most of them.

I write emotionally. I use the words which best sum up my emotions when composing a missive on here, and on occasion this is somewhat 'industrial' in nature. For this I make no apologies.

Thank you for your time.

And so it begins.....

Indeed. Sunday saw the mighty Phoenix take to the ice at the Ice Dome (well, they wouldn't take to the pitch would they?) and face the Sheffield Steelpups, sorry Steeldogs in the 2nd leg of the annual War of the Roses trophy series.

And guess what? The Pups only went and bloody won the thing! Well, they won on aggregate as the fairly sizeable crowd on hand saw a true rarity: Both netminders gained shut outs leading to a 0-0 draw. Which isn't to say the game was boring.

Far from it, in fact.

As per usual, Coach Payettes Pups took a few 'liberties' during the game. And, also as per usual, the officials were simply shite. There. I said it. Even with 4 of them on the fucking ice, they still missed some of the most blatant cheating seen in the borough of Trafford since the last time Christiano Ronaldo took to the pitch at Old Trafford! Seriously, there was a distinct lack of any attempts to apply any degree of control to the play. If this is what we can expect this season, then there will be a lot of pisse doff players and fans in the Dome over the coming months.

 New import Pozivil took a bit of a battering from ex-Phoenix player Derek Campbell during the 1st period. Campbells reaction was way out of proportion, and I highly doubt he would have tried the same shit with, oh say Schnabel unless he wanted to be eating his post match meal through a straw. Speaking of Big Rob, Payette seemed to be trying to draw a scrap out of him all game, continually having cheeky digs.... before speeding towards the bench as fast as his shall we say 'increased' frame would allow. Big Rob was wise to this, however and treated Payettes dihgs with the lack of response they deserved.

And Poor old Tom Duggan. The lad almost had his head ripped off by one of the Pups, who reached over his helmet and appeared to pull it backwards over himself. Which unsurprisingly neither of the Refs saw. Not only was this blatant cheating, it was also fucking dangerous. Idiots.

Beyond that, the Phoenix looked exactly like you would expect from a team who had only had a couple of training sessions and 1 game before hand. I personally am not worried about the season base don this showing. Once the rink rust is properly blown off, this bunch of players are going to rack up the points for fun. All 4 imports showed signs that they will be weel worth the wages, and the Brit lads, new and old, looked as smooth as we have come to expect. And for tjhose who were not there, this is a seriously fucking huge squad of players. For once, Ben Wood does not look like he has strayed in from a episode of Land of The Giants. Schnabel in particular is HUGE.

And the highlight of the night was watching the Pups players celebrate. Seriously, you would have thought they had won the fucking playoffs, such was the jubilation on display. Calm down, dears. Its only the War of the Roses Cup (which we own. We have the receipt and everything!).

See y'all on Sunday!

Its the final countdown.....

Yes, there is just a week to go til the new season begins with our annual 'friendly' fixtures against the Steeldogs. I say 'Friendly', but after last seasons play off semi final, I'm expecting this game to be anything but. I know a number of our returning players were somewhat less than impressed with the antics of the Steeldogs squad during the game, so the chance to , ahem, say hello will surely be taken. Payettes thugs won't find it as easy to push our guys around this season, either.

And the (almost) final make up of the squad looks good. The final imports all appear to have the hallmark of THs careful signing policy, and will hopefully do us a very good job indeed.

And the TH question? Will he play, wont he play? Fucked if I know to be honest, but my gut feeling is that he probably will.

Anyways, onto other stuff....

Predictions for the season: League champions to be either us, or Guildford. I honestly can not see past the two of us again. The battle for 3rd thru 5th should be a close fought run between B-Stoke, Sluff, and MK with my gut feeling being that the Bison will (finally) come good this season. I'd reckon the 3rd place team could be up to 10 points adrift of the top 2 though. Behend them, the scrap for the remaining play off spots should be between Swindon, Potty, and the Puppies. Despite the sucess of last season, Payettes thug squad are going to find it much harder this season without talismanic nettie Bowns to keep them in games, but I still see them qualifying for the quarter finals. And once again poor old Bracknell and Telford will miss out, although don't be surprised if it comes down to the wire for the 8th and final play off spot.

And thats your lot (for now).

See you at the rink!