After the first month, I had the Blaze down as being the ones to challenge Belfast for the title. Then the wheels came off. What happened?
The answer to that depends what side of the camp you're on. If you're on the "pro-Blaze" side it was simply a matter of injuries striking key players at the wrong time, other Erhardt teams using their financial muscle, and all the other usual excuses trotted out when the Blaze have struggled the past few years. If you're one of those who likes a dose of realism with your hockey-certain aspects of the team simply haven't performed as expected, Michael Henrich has been something of a disappointment, at least based on his pre-season hype as "the better Henrich brother", Brian McMillin was a truly fantastic defensive forward but was sacrificed due to his lack of goals, and right now the team simply aren't playing as well as they can. There's a general air of dissatisfaction in the Blaze fanbase right now, so they need to pick things up massively. From a Steelers perspective, it probably couldn't be a better time to face the Blaze right now.
Is Matt Soderstrom an upgrade on Paul Thompson? Has there been a huge change in the style of play from last season?
It's impossible to say that after three months-and clearly it would be folly to say that a rookie coach coming in will automatically be better than one of the best British coaches of the modern era. What Matty is though is the manifestation of a needed change. Thompson had been ridiculously successful but over the past few years he'd looked a little stale, with teams that looked like they'd run out of ideas...the odd strange recruitment decision didn't help either. He needed a new challenge, and the club needed to go in a new direction, so it was the ideal time for PT to head for pastures new.However, the problem the Blaze have had is that they've not really embraced the new era yet...PT was heavily involved in recruiting this season's roster and we've seen a lot of returnees from last year.That said, we've seen elements of movement towards a more fast-flowing, less regimented style, so there are signs of change that will no doubt become more noticeable as Matty gets more confident and settled in the role.
Who from the Blaze roster will give us the most problems? What will the key battles be out on the ice?
It's hard to look past Ryan Ginand for Coventry-after all, he is the league's top goalscorer. A lot will depend on whether or not the Steelers can shut him down along with Ashley Tait on the top line-expect to see the Steelers third line tasked with shutting him down. Kevin Harvey vs Drew Fata will be a cracking physical battle too-Harvey's starting to find a run of scoring form so he'll be an underrated offensive threat and potentially find space if Steelers concentrate on Ginand and Shea Guthrie.
At the other end, a lot will depend on the Blaze shutting down Jeff Legue, Rob Dowd and Nate DiCasmirro, cause when they're all on form they're frankly terrifying. Mike Egener and Benn Olson will get a heck of a physical test from Stefan Meyer, too. But the key battle will be between both sides' top line and the other's shutdown line. If the Steelers' 3rd can stop Ginand, Tait and Harvey and Tim Spencer can impose himself physically on Ginand and Guthrie, that'll go a long way towards them winning the game.
Anyone from the Steelers give you cause for concern?
It would be a lot quicker to answer who doesn't! Jeff Legue is a player I'd kill for on the Blaze roster, and we all know what Rob Dowd can do too. But the two players I think Blaze fans should be most concerned about if I were picking would be Nate DiCasmirro and Stefan Meyer-Meyer's on a goalscoring run and DiCasmirro has a way of finding space that will mean the Blaze D have to watch him every second he's on the ice.
Any prediction for the game?
Much as I'd love to predict a Blaze win, I can't see it right now, unless the Blaze come out far better than they did against Fife. As I said earlier, if the Steelers wanted to pick a time to play the Blaze than them in the current state of missing their top point scorer and coming off a nasty defeat with fans questioning the team would probably be it. My head says that the Blaze will have to work very hard indeed to stop the Steelers coming away with two points.
What about for the rest of the season? What will be a successful season for the Blaze?
Depends who you ask. For me right now, challenging all season, making the PO weekend and maybe at the outside a PO final appearance is realistically the best we can hope for. But the frustrating thing is that when this team has been good, it's been REALLY good. A trophy of any kind will probably be considered a wildly successful season-realistically the league's out of reach though so top four in the league would be more than enough to please most fans.
Anything you want to promote?
If you're a Steelers fan not travelling, don't forget you can still watch the Blaze on the Blaze TV webcast (you can find details at cleancutsports.com) and I'd also say that you should look out for British hockey blogs like this one and support them...cause there's a lot of excellent EIHL coverage out there. :)
No bribing was involved in the writing of the final sentence.
A big thank you to Paul. I fully recommend reading his Chasing Dragons blog (link here), it is a very good read.
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