Now that pissed me off no end....

First up, yes, we lost, and yes, we deserved to lose. No arguements there from me. The Bison played a solid road game, and were far more clinical in front of the goal. Our D was opened up far too easily, far too often. As such a Bison win was a fair result.

What wasn't fair, however, was what happened in the 57th minute of play...... From my vantage point, Stevie Lyle made the cynical decision to purposefully knock the goal off of its moorings to deny the Phoenix a goal. I saw it. Pretty much everyone around me saw it.....

 Then all hell broke loose in the stands.

 Chants of 'Cheat, Cheat, Cheat' began to ring out, a chorus of boos began the likes of which I have never heard at a hockey game. Quite literally hundreds of people were incensed by his action. On the ice, the Phoenix players looked positively apoplectic when they realised that 1: the goal had been washed out, and 2: Lyle was going to escape unpunished. The game restarted, but the players hearts had clearly been ripped out, and the previous few minutes of ferocious play evaporated.

Come the end of the game, we then all witnessed something pretty much unprecedented. Lyle was booed again, during the Bisons lap of honour. He very quickly realised he was the target and made a quick turn and headed for the exit after a very short lap. Sadly for the other Bison players, this meant that they bore the brunt of the booing. I was part of this chorus, whilst I also clapped the Bison players very slowly and without my usual vigour.

Post game, Twitter and Facebook were alive with recriminations. I tweeted that Lyle was a #dirtycheatingcunt. Was this an over-reaction? For sure it was. My adrenaline was pumping, and my passion for my club was afire. Do I regret it? Not for a minute. People react to a situation, and these things cannot be undone, and as such we all must stand by our actions, whether they be right or wrong.

I also admonished the officials for allowing such a blatant act of foul play to go unpunished. Which brought me a tweeted admonishment from one of the officials in the form of Kris Wells. He also drew the ire of a few other Phoenix tweeters for daring to stick his head above the parapet. Then the fall out began. Over on the official forum, some posters registered their disgust at how the bulk of the fans reacted. Phrases such as 'darkest hour' and 'let down' have been bandied about. I shall repeat below what I posted on the forum myself:

So, in summary: it was our 'darkest hour' and we 'let ourselves down' by being passionate enough about our club to want to boo and chant 'cheat' at a player who just to all appearances cheated the club out of a potential point in a game which may have significant bearing on the eventual home of the league title? Please. The simple fact that this 1 action riled our normally placid fans shows just how deep that passion runs for many. People pay their money, then once inside the rink, they can react in whatever manner they so choose, as long as no rules are being broken. Last time I looked, there was no rule about booing anyone. If others don't like that, then fine, but please, enough with the melodramatic 'darkest hour' nonsense. Personally, I always hated the 'We don't boo the opposition, we just cheer our team louder' stuff. Booing the opposition is something which has been part of sporting culture for decades. Go to any football or rugby ground and you will hear it. It even happens at cricket. And I'm sure the Bison players who didn't know why there was booing have gotten over it. Lyle knew. See how short his 'lap of honour' was? He couldn't wait to leave the ice. Maybe he should have explained to his team mates why. And so we are clear, I booed. I have no remorse about this, as I felt it was the best way to show my displeasure

And that sums it up for me.

 See you all on Sunday.

Deep breath.....

EDIT: I stand corrected one one point from below. It was just a 10+Game. This error was caused by myself (and others) misreading the gamesheet. The sentiment remains however. Pering had a shit-fit and over-reacted.


Ok, lets get the good stuff out of the way first:

We won. And there was some damn fine attacking hockey going on from our forward lines, sans Coach Hand. The Brits like McKinney, McKenzie, Duggan, etc are producing some of the finest quality hockey I've seen in a long time, and long  may it continue. I can't criticise the performance last night at all. That was a team who know they are good, and want to play as well as they possibly can.

And it was nice to see a decent sized crowd in there last night, especially for a Saturday night game. The ST voucher books appear to be working too, based on the people passing by Mags at the door.

Now the negative stuff.

Pering. What the fuck was he thinking? First up, the call on Ciaran for clipping. Not in a million years. Someone needs to sit down with Pering and show him the difference between a hip-check (which is what it was) and clipping. Pering muffed the call up badly simply by making the call in the first place. Which would have been enough to piss me off royally as it was.

Then his follow up.... Oh dear. Mr Pering must be a sensitive little soul. Big Robb Schnabel has a word (rather angrily I concede) and is assessed a 10+ Game AND a match penalty for Abuse of an Official. What the fuck? Whilst I have no issues with a 10 min misconduct being assessed (as is often the norm), giving a Game and a Match as well is a total over-reaction of the highest magnitude. It was a stupid fucking call in the first place on Long, which clearly incensed Schnabel, and rather than deal with his continued anger after the Phantoms scored as a result of the PP, Pering had a shit-fit and turfed him. To say I uttered a few choice words to myself is an understatement.

It really fucks me off when refs seem to want to be seen as 'tough' on things like misconducts as it often means they over-react to things which a simple 10 minute trip to the box will nip in the bud. Especially given the tone of the game to that point (the only other call was an obvious too many men call against the Phoenix bench), it wasn't as if he had been dealing with narky, pissed off players all evening.

I never though a ref would annoy me more than Suchz did at the play offs in April but I have been proven wrong already. Pering may show promise (which is why he has been brought up from reffing ENIHL games), but is out of his depth currently, making basic errors, and if he is indeed to continue as a ref at our barn (which according to Tambo he is), then he needs to be paired with a more experienced official who came assist him.

And I'm going to stop now before this just becomes a 4 letter word rant. Fuck, Fuckity Fuck, Fuck!

7 reasons to be happy.

Well, that was a wee bit better wasn't it?

For the first time this season we had a comfortable home victory, crushing the visiting Bracknell Bees 7-1. About fucking time too! The forward lines finally started to look like they knew what they were capable of, and Foney was massive at the back. I for one was more than happy with how the team as a whole performed. The 2nd and 3rd lines especially are looking formidable. Yes, I said 3rd line. Nice to ram the whole 'Tony Hand only plays 2 line hocky' bollocks back down the throat of some folks isn't it? We have 3 lines of qualituy up front, and a 'don't fuck with us' attitude now.

And Richie Bentham got himself a 'Gordie Howe' hat-trick (that is a goal, an assist, and a fight). We don't see them very often, so it was a rare treat to be sure.

Indeed, the whole weekend was a treat, as the team scored 14 goals over the course of the 2 games played, adding another 4 points to the tally, and cementing our place at the top of the table. Losing to the Phantoms mid-week was a bit of a shitter, but I certainly don't expect to win every game from now until April, and Peterborough isn't the nicest place to drag the team to mid week.

Another major plus at the moment is the situation that the Steeldogs find themselves in. After last seasons undoubted high for them, this season ahs seen 'normal' service resumed, with the Dogs languishing in 9th place in the league, and reduced to trying to goon it up to win games. I guess Payettes 'magic touch' when it comes to coaching has deserted him. Mind you, losing probably the best netminder and forward in the league hasn't helped, and it couldn't happen to a nicer team. Their visit on Sunday should be an absolute fucking cracker. I'm guessing we will see the usual cheap-shot bullshit from Payettes thugs, however, I am more than confident in the abilities of our boys to take it to them and give as good as they get. And having seen the videos from last weekends Dogs/MKL game, it looks like that is exactly what we will get. Certainly not a game for 'purists', but a bit of 'old time hockey' instead.

Bring it on!

My heart can't take much more of this..... and its only mid-October!

So, the Phoenix took the points on Sunday from the visiting Milton Keynes Lightning, but as is fast becoming the norm, we did it the hard way. In fact, we probably did it the hardest way of all, requiring not just overtime, but penalty shots too!

To say many of the faithful were shitting a brick would probably count as a factual statement during those five or so minutes it took to enact the shootout. The game beforehand wasn't exactly a relaxing experience either....

The game started, and was played in much the same manner as previous meetings with the Lightning. That is to say it was fast, furious, balls to the wall hockey time! The Phoenix took the early advantage when young Andy McKinney placed the puck past Mettam, after barely 5 minutes of play. Within 4 minutes however, things took an ill turn as Ciaran Long was assessed as match penalty for checking to the head after a solid hit on Dan Harris left the Lightning player prone on the ice. The vast majority of fans felt that the ref called the injury, not the hit as he did not call the penalty immediately, but only after it was appernet Harris was hurt. Ciaran to his credit immediatley checked on Harris as soon as he realised he had hurt him, but this was not enough to placate one of the Lightnings resident goons, a very pissed off Grant McPherson, who rapidly found himself on the end of a solid beat down from Phoenix goalscorer McKinney, who landed some beautiful punches before scoring the takedown with ease. McPherson had a repuataion for being one of the leagues togher guys, but on this showing he looked, well, piss poor really. Both men were assessed a 2+2 for roughing (picking up a fighting major is harder than picking up a virgin on a Saturday night in Manchester in the EPIHL these days), with an additional 10 minute instigator call on McPhear-ful.

The net result was a 5 minute power play for the Lightning, which they failed to capitalise on. Period end, and the score was 1-0 to the Phoenix.

The dreaded 2nd period slump surfaced once more after the break and midway through the period the Lightning tied the game up with a well worked move which culminated in a goal for Leigh Jamieson (who is somehow on the GB roster for the Olympic qualifiers. How a player like him makes the squad but Tom Duggan doesn't is beyond me). Speaking of Jamieson, he was skating on a fine line all evening, often goin into check near the board with his lead elbow at head height. Why he wasn't called on this I don't know, but it looked beyond dangerous to me. The period ended all square, and set up what was usre to be an eventful 3rd period of play.

The Phoenix stepped it ip for the 3rd, and were duly rewarded for their efforts when Andy McKinney scored a peach of a goal to give the Phoenix the 2-1 lead. Sadly, the Lightning tied the score once more with barely 5 minutes remaining, and both sides spurrned opportunities to win it, as the tension rose in the stands.

Overtime was a blur as both side played as fast and hard as possible, but the dreaded penatly shots were required. Fuuuuuuuck! The only shot scored was the first one with Michal Psurny slotting home, as Steve Fone blanked the Lightning trio to secure the 2 points. Needless to say I was very fucking relieved.

Seriously, if this is to be the pattern for the season, then I really do think I'm going to have some kind of episode. The tension was so much that a few naughty words slipped out of my mouth (quietly though, and nothing too rude. The odd 'oh shit' here and there). Thank fuck for the relaxing effect of beer. Without a post match brew, I don't think my wife could have coped with me.

I have to say as well, the comedy moment of the night came when another goon from down south, Chris Biggins, sorry Wigggins gobbed off to big Rob Schnabel, then promptly shit himself when he realised Schnabel was more than willing to have a 'dance' with him. Indeed, the smell of fear was palpable, even from my vantage point some 30-odd metres away.

And, finally, it appears that with the NHL lockout in full swing, our lil' old club has been 'adopted' by the fans of the Phoenix Coyotes. So, to any of them reading this, thank you and enjoy!

See y'all on Sunday!

Flames doused!

I would never expect the Phoenix to take a 4 point weekend from the Guildford Flames. As the 2 sides most would expect to be battling it out for the title, splitting the points over a weekend of back to back games would most likely be the norm.

Not this time.

Not contnent with travelling down to Guildford on Saturday and beating them in their own barn, the Phoenix only went and fucking did it again the following night in front of the Faithful at the Ice Dome.

OK, as is fast becoming the norm we didn't exactly do it the easy way, requiring a winner in OT after the Flames tied the scores with barely a minute left on the clock, but fuck me sideways it was exciting to watch. Sure, we are not the free flowing side of yore, but the shot count is steadily rising, and the team are showing some real balls out there on the ice. There were some handbags early on after form Phoenix player Curtis Huppe decided to get a little too cheeky behind the Phoenix goal, and it did look for a while that Guildford constant use of elbows and holding was going to cause the officials to lose control of the game entirely. Seriously, it has been many, many moons since I saw so much blatant cheating from a side coming to the Ice Dome. In fact, the last time I did, it was the Flames old netminder, with his kicking the nets of the moorings and diva-esque reactions.

It seems to me that the standard of officiating is going backwards this season. I'm sure a lot of this is down to the EIHAs efforts to bring younger refs and linos up from th ENIHL and junior ranks, but they should always be paired with an experienced set of officials too. Some of the officiating we have seen thus far has been so shit it almost beggars belief. You know that the standard is poor when you bitch and moan about it even when your own team have won the game.

Anyways, onwards and upwards! Dissapointed we lost to the Beavers, sorry Bison, last night but we have the Lightning at the DOme tonight who certainly don't seem to be the side they have been in previous seasons, so it should be an interesting one to say the least.

See you at the Dome (or the pub... your call).