Lights Out but Goal Lamps on - Five things I learnt this week

I thought I’d power through this week’s five things before outside influences knock out the lights on me – there’s never a dull week in UK hockey is there!

1. POFW ticket pricing – The EIHL have just confirmed £89 for the week-end (plus booking fees and administration costs no doubt), which is about £30 a ticket for the three worthwhile games. It’s a cash-cow for the league, but another fleecing for the fans. Compare and Contrast: How about supporting TeamGB and seeing 3 games a day for 5 days at the IIHF Div 1B championships in Belfast in April  - the whole 15 games for £60; or four games of NCAA NHL future stars going full pelt for £40 at the Belpot tournament next November? POFW Pfft.
2. Barn-burner or bungle-fest – Cracking going forward, as six goals in a game can’t be sniffed at, but letting in five is so out of character for our team that you wonder what went wrong. Coventry have been racking up some impressive wins against Cardiff and Belfast recently, so maybe they were due to breakout with five, but I imagine Thommo will make the players play tighter at the back tonight and make the Defence play Defence.
3. Outside Influences - £Kerching for the Elite League as surely they get to fine Danny Stewart after his interview for bringing the game into disrepute. I love the brass of the man as he claims the Blaze were told the warm-up would start at 8pm, whilst in reality he was stood near to Simmsey as the Arena announcement was made to the crowd stating that face-off would be at eight after 5 minutes of warm-up. Too many knocks to the head impacting his hearing maybe? Also a little ironic that one of the first calls of the night was against Ash Tait for a delay of game!
4. Nelson v Almedia versus Fournier v Foster – After seeing the Levi hit right in front of our block, I’m cool with the 5 + Match call – I understand it could have been more lenient but an injury did seem to have been caused, so fair enough as it was a poor play from our man. However at almost the same time Fournier was steamrollering Foster down in Cardiff, and skated away without a penalty being called. If DOPs really is for player safety then both need to be looked at, and equality restored, but as the Fournier hit won’t be automatically reviewed will Belfast pay for the appeal and potentially weaken the Devils just as the Steelers roll into the bay? That’s a decision that should be made by the chairman and league rather than teams involved imo!
5. Phoenix back in the ashes again – One final (?) classy move from Neil Morris as he releases a press statement whilst his team were playing saying he can’t keep funding them. I wonder if things could have been different had he not jumped in bed with Scholes and had his hissy fit at the 2015 playoffs. It’s probably been coming for a while now, and hopefully the EPL can find a more stable solution to keep the Phoenix together, but with the Bees lack of funding, and the Lightning moving on, there’s lots to worry about in that league right now. 

On final thing to leave you with is the return of the SSSC away busses! After a bizarre change of mind, we’re left as we were, leaving only another embarrassing PR mess behind – typical Steelers!

Cheers,

Tony.