The Scotland Double
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A nice Saturday morning to get up early for the long
journey up north across the border my hockey weekend started in Scunthorpe
where I live and with my bag dresses and the parent already out I left the
house wondering do they even know I'm going to Scotland this weekend. Past that
now I headed to the train station to catch the 8.08am train to Meadowhall,
Sheffield to meet up with the SSSC (Sheffield Steelers Supporters Club) to jump
on the bus to make the journey. I arrived in Sheffield at 9am and after a short
pit stop at Subway for some breakfast I headed over to the arena to catch the
bus, two full busses travelling up to Edinburgh that's some fantastic support
and that's not including the people that have drove themselves up or possibly
going up on train, so expecting their to be a big orange following in Scotland
this weekend. Everyone was aboard the buses the 2014 Playoff Final DVD was on
and we left Sheffield just before half ten to start the journey north of the
boarder.
The atmosphere on the bus I must say was extremely
comfortable and during the journey it got to the part of the playoff final that
we love to watch over and over again and that ladies and gentlemen is
"Goertzen to Fata, SHOOTS AND SCORES". At that point there was a nice
big cheer on the bus as everyone remember that moment, we then stopped at
Washington services where we bumped into the players’ coach and after a nice
break and a little chat with the players after they'd finished on the slots lol
we was back on the road, next stop Edinburgh!
We arrived at the hotel about 4.15 and after a quick
stop to check in and drop our stuff off it was off to the Rink ready for this
evenings game and after the shambles of last year when we turned up midway
through the 2nd period it was nice to arrive in plenty of time and I was able
to take in a couple of pre-game beers and a chat with friends, which went down
a treat and then it was onto the game where Sheffield ran out rampant 10-2
winners against the Edinburgh Capitals and it was an easy win in the end in a
game that had the potential to be a banana skin with goals coming from Mathieu
Roy who scored a hat-trick, Robert Dowd and Jay Latulippe who both scored two
goals along with Fretter, Mosienko and Forney who each chipped in a goal. The
game came with two powerplay goals for the Steelers through Roy and Forney as
well as two shorthanded goals on the same powerplay by Latulippe and Roy, the
Caps goal scorers were Jarolin and Rix and the game saw both Netminders get a
run out but Doyle played the whole 60 minutes as Edinburgh were outshot 56-15.
Ben O'Connor was the Steeler Man of the match and now the focus was on Sunday's
game in Edinburgh. Also liked to say congratulations to Erin who won the fancy
dress for the Steelers fans! Was a great game of hockey and Its always better
when I've had a cracking laugh sat with friends but now it was a short journey
back to the hotel to get some food :). Was nice to have a few drinks and talk
with friends as well as a few of the players before going for a walk to look
for a takeaway as the hotel prices were ridiculous and after that I thought it
was time to hit the pit.
Another day another game a nice early wake up ready
for a bit of match of the day and some breakfast after a lovely cooked buffet
breakfast I ventured into the city centre with friends for some sightseeing and
a bit of shopping. We're saw the players out about in the city but I had a
great afternoon with good company was such a good laugh and managed to get a
bit of shopping done getting some things for me as well as a present or two, It
was then back to the hotel to watch a bit of the football in the Bar. At 3.30
it was everyone aboard the bus and it was off to Dundee we went for game two of
the weekend against the team at the bottom of the league with two bus fills
hoping for a four point weekend.
We arrived in Dundee just after 5pm and it was
straight into the arena to grab a bite to eat before the game and it wasn't the
best of games to be honest, despite out shooting the home side massively
Steelers came away losing 4-2 with Mathieu Roy scoring both goals to add to his
tally from the night before. Sheffield didn't play 60 minutes all night and at
times were really poor defensively and just wasn't clinical enough but saying
that Cheverie in the Dundee goal was outstanding all night but Sheffield are
going to lose games but now it's to focus on Nottingham away on Saturday. So a
two point weekend and now it was time for the long journey home, after a few
good byes and some good laughs everyone seemed to be in good spirits despite
losing its still been a top weekend. We left Dundee not long after 9pm and we
eventually stopped for a break at around quarter to 1 not always the best times
when the people had dropped off but I had my headphones in literally the whole
way home and got some sleep as and when I could, even in the services people
were laughing and joking and I think it's safe to say the guy working in W.H
Smith has never been so busy at 1am in a morning. We eventually got back to
Sheffield at about 4:15am a long old journey to say the least but it's what we
have to do if we want to follow our teams all over the place. It was off to
Meadowhall train station for me though as I still had to wait till 5:35 to even
get to Doncaster and then it was a wait till 6:39 before I could get the train
to Scunthorpe which at this point everyone I was with over the weekend will be
nicely tucked away in bed.
Finally walked in the door at about half 7 and was
finally in bed by 7:50 to catch some shut eye! It's been a great week though
despite Steelers only winning one of their two games it was still good to spend
time with friends as well as a few hours in Edinburgh and it was also nice to
meet a few of my twitter followers over the weekend as more and more people are
asking me if I'm Tom :) so if you see me say hi and I apologise if I'm not sure
who you are there is a lot of people to remember lol. It was an amazing
following by the Sheffield fans over the weekend and if you haven’t done a
Scotland weekend yet guys make sure you make time for it and get to one as I
promise you that you won’t regret it. It's back to reality for a few weeks
before we go back up to Scotland for the weekend but next time we find ourselves
in Glasgow for our matches with the Braehead Clan. So until then guys look
after yourselves.
Thanks for reading guys. Any questions or comments please get in contact with
the Frozen Steel Team on this article, Facebook or via Twitter:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@CausyFSB
@TomWalkeden
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
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or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com
Let's Go Steelers!
Tom
@TomWalkeden
(Follow me on Twitter for Live Updates on Games)
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