Image from @wannabedutchie
So we did it on the actual final day of the season, and are back to back Champions! We have equalled Coventry's feat of doing just this, and in that become the first team to have FIVE Elite League Championships to our name. Yes everybody, that's not one, not two, not three, not even four but five. No one else can state that fact, so suck on them apples!
However, we didn't expect it to happen after those terrible bumps in the road which have included gifting six points to Edinburgh who finished last, and that's not meant as disrespect to the Caps who deserved their wins but we would have wrapped this up long before if you know what I mean.
It's been a proper team effort on and off the ice, and that's what saw us home in incredible scenes up at Fife which I was proud to be a part of; the memories of this will remain long in my lifetime as a hockey fan. It was just amazing. From doing the conga in the car park to high-fiving each and everyone on that roster as they came out of the locker room one by one. Remarkable; absolutely remarkable.
I'll talk about each individual player in a later article.
Going into that final weekend though, of the two I still felt we were slight underdogs. Yes, we had that two point advantage but you looked at the respective games each had and yes you could surmise that being a realistic thought. With Storm just playing their last game of the season in what has been a welcome return back to the Elite League fold, we all knew there wouldn't be many surprises there. The Panthers playing at the Arena could have been but those men in orange stood tall despite the ejection of Big Zack. One wee man deserved the plaudits, and it was a man who has been immense for a number of weeks too: That man, Marek Pinc. It surprised me that he didn't get Man of the Match last Saturday; that sequence of four saves in rapid succession was just awesome.
Then onto Sunday, and we knew what we had to do. After a weird call saw Cullen sent to the naughty corner for 12 minutes on a 2+10 check to head (it was an accidental collision between him and Mike Dorr if you look at again and again), Ben intercepted a pass and with confidence oozing from his Steeler pores: launched a shorthanded raid on David Brown. Desbiens did excellently to support him, and then the latter produced a beauty of a non look pass onto the stick of a gleeful Mosi who lit the lamp. Moments later, and back at full strength: we doubled the lead. Luke Ferrara takes most of the praise here with such hard work behind the home cage before feeding Ben then it was across the point where Jace Coyle (who really has shown some very good performances in recent weeks) faked a shot before throwing the puck and like many times in the past: Mathieu Roy was there at the right time and place to divert it in for 2-0.
Whatever Fife threw back at us, we were dealing with bar the odd scary moment and Pinc was again solid and dependable. When Fife did score, a nice finish from Stockton from a good team play: we didn't let it get to us and it was back on that horse to look for a third. Conny Strömberg, a 40 year old who plays like his life depends on every shift he takes and has the energy of someone in his early 20s, created it with typical not giving up attitude and his feed back into the danger area found a deflection from Roy and that was that. Fife huffed and puffed but we were in no mood to let this one get away: Pinc started dancing his crease in the final seconds and the large away contingent celebrated and serenaded the Czech netminder with a raucous "Happy Birthday" at the end.
We had done this the hard way but it was a statement that the team who many had written off (myself included at one stage) had triumphed to become champions again. I believe the CHL gave us some impetus early on, which we slightly got blown off course but got back into the groove when it really mattered whilst seeing those pretenders fall by the wayside, one by one. Us fans have made a difference with incredible support that acts like a sixth outskater when in full voice. The players feed off this, and that is what makes a successful hockey club. Tony Smith had been chastised by some for dispensing with Gerad and bringing Thompson; but when you win back-to-back titles and have the most successful British coach in: then you can excused a smile that says "Yeah I got this right."
Who knows what else is possible? More silverware I hope...
Then onto Sunday, and we knew what we had to do. After a weird call saw Cullen sent to the naughty corner for 12 minutes on a 2+10 check to head (it was an accidental collision between him and Mike Dorr if you look at again and again), Ben intercepted a pass and with confidence oozing from his Steeler pores: launched a shorthanded raid on David Brown. Desbiens did excellently to support him, and then the latter produced a beauty of a non look pass onto the stick of a gleeful Mosi who lit the lamp. Moments later, and back at full strength: we doubled the lead. Luke Ferrara takes most of the praise here with such hard work behind the home cage before feeding Ben then it was across the point where Jace Coyle (who really has shown some very good performances in recent weeks) faked a shot before throwing the puck and like many times in the past: Mathieu Roy was there at the right time and place to divert it in for 2-0.
Whatever Fife threw back at us, we were dealing with bar the odd scary moment and Pinc was again solid and dependable. When Fife did score, a nice finish from Stockton from a good team play: we didn't let it get to us and it was back on that horse to look for a third. Conny Strömberg, a 40 year old who plays like his life depends on every shift he takes and has the energy of someone in his early 20s, created it with typical not giving up attitude and his feed back into the danger area found a deflection from Roy and that was that. Fife huffed and puffed but we were in no mood to let this one get away: Pinc started dancing his crease in the final seconds and the large away contingent celebrated and serenaded the Czech netminder with a raucous "Happy Birthday" at the end.
We had done this the hard way but it was a statement that the team who many had written off (myself included at one stage) had triumphed to become champions again. I believe the CHL gave us some impetus early on, which we slightly got blown off course but got back into the groove when it really mattered whilst seeing those pretenders fall by the wayside, one by one. Us fans have made a difference with incredible support that acts like a sixth outskater when in full voice. The players feed off this, and that is what makes a successful hockey club. Tony Smith had been chastised by some for dispensing with Gerad and bringing Thompson; but when you win back-to-back titles and have the most successful British coach in: then you can excused a smile that says "Yeah I got this right."
Who knows what else is possible? More silverware I hope...
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