From The Editor's Chair: Edition 15

Welcome once again to the views that are "From The Editor's Chair"; the weekly column where FSB Editor Mark starts talking hockey. Another twist this week, like we have been doing a bit of recently, and with a bit of a Welsh flavour to it. No, Mark is not going to waffle about his Welsh godmother, just read and find out.

On Tuesday night, Steelers hosted a testimonial (the third in as many years, who will be next?) for a guy that has become one of the best captains we have seen in our building. Fellow fans I bring you, Jonathan Phillips:

Apologies for the crap photo above, I honestly don't have a decent one of me and the skipper and that's probably the best of a bad bunch. Now back to Jono, he's a captain that doesn't shout and bawl as much as you would expect some captains (especially in other sports) to be. He's the archetypal quietly spoken type, who just looks at you to make you accountable. Obviously when he joined us in the summer of 2006 as a fresh faced 24 year old, who would have thought that he would be celebrating a testimonial with us in 2016? I bet Jono didn't.

Whilst he doesn't put up massive numbers like your Mathieu Roy's, Jono quietly goes about his business every shift he does and puts in 100 per cent. He's a coaches dream, and fellow players respect him as much as we do as fans. That's why, bar one season when Doug Christansen appointed Steven Goertzen and his initial season when Shawn Maltby wore the "C", he's been captain ever since and that respect also transmits into the national team where he has been captain for numerous campaigns. 

He's a great bloke to chat with off ice and that's what makes him so popular. Like Rod Sarich, I sincerely hope that the Club finds a role for Jono off-ice when he does finally hang up those skates. He's publicly said on numerous occasions, Sheffield is his home now not Cardiff. That speaks volumes of the man if you didn't realise it already. To those who attended Tuesday, I missed it because of work commitments, I hope you enjoyed the night for such a superb Steelers servant. He deserved the appreciation.

Now the second part of the article, which I promise you will not be as long as the previous bit. Cardiff at the moment are, in some eyes, tearing the league apart. They stand at the moment, 11 points clear and depending on how we perform this weekend - could be much further into the distance. The Devils support are extremely happy, and who wouldn't be, a first ever Elite League title could be conceivably coming down to South Wales after many near misses. The last time they won a league title of sorts was 20 years ago, so it's been a bit of a wait (not as long as the Panthers and their 57 years).

So do they deserve it, and deny us the history that is a three-peat? To be frank, yes they do. They are far and away the best side in the country this season, and even when they had a slump, they bounced straight back. Hats off to Andrew Lord, he's got a roster that is capable of winning home and away and consistently too. That's how much respect I have for him and this Cardiff team, and I am not saying this just because they're beating us each time we play them.

If we finish second to them, then I'll be happy. Runners-up to one of the best Devils sides in the EIHL era would be no failure in my eyes. Of course, I would love it if we caught up on them and pipped them again in the home stretch - who wouldn't. Cardiff have set a high bar this season, so much so that even Daley Thompson would struggle to get over it. They are finding ways to win when they appear to look beaten, and that's the hallmark of a team that wins Championships. You can knock them down, but they get back up again (apologies to Chumbawumba). I can't see them failing, and I ain't no Mystic Meg.

Well that's all from me this week as regards my opinion. See you next week.

 

Thanks for reading everybody. Remember if you want to be a part of Frozen Steel you can get into touch with us on Twitter or find us on our Facebook Page, remembering to like us and leave a comment. We will then get back in touch:

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Elite Report - Week 15 Preview

It's the fifteenth weekend of action in the Elite League 2016-17, and your weekly dose of some daft predictions from FSB towers where the crystal ball kinda works when it wants to. We wrote the majority of this piece before Cardiff played in Dundee last night (Wednesday) and thought Cardiff would win there in regulation.

They did that, so we're chalking that one off. Here's the remaining predictions for the week ahead.

Thursday night:

Braehead Clan v Nottingham Panthers: The battle of the Neil Black clubs, winners of this Cup game to play the Steelers in the semi-finals. It's one that could go either way, both have been less than sparkling recently. We'll go for Braehead to win in regulation but it could be close.

Saturday night:

Braehead Clan v Edinburgh Capitals: An M8 derby on a Saturday night, and Caps will fancy their chances obviously. Surely Clan can't screw up on home ice? They can, but we doubt it as we're putting our faith in Finner and his men to chalk up a regulation home win.

Cardiff Devils v Nottingham Panthers: As we touched upon last week, Panthers are consistently inconsistent and capable of stopping Cardiff in South Wales. But this Cardiff train shows no intention of slowing down so we're going to see another Devils win in regulation.

Coventry Blaze v Dundee Stars: Could that four point weekend just gone by be the catalyst for the Blaze season to start up? It could well be, but former coach Furby will be keen to extinguish the fire before it really starts to burn. We're going for Blaze to outshine the Stars, albeit in overtime.

Fife Flyers v Manchester Storm: A game which could sway either way, with Storm keen to get back to winning ways or Flyers to do well again in front of their fervent support. Really don't know how to call this one, so we will be a bit negative and settle for Flyers to win in overtime.

Sunday night: 

Dundee Stars v Braehead Clan: They're at it again these two, with a third meeting in eight days...they'll be sick and tired of seeing other! Each side won in regulation at the other's rink last weekend, so that gives no clues. Quite fancy Clan to come away again with a regulation road win.

Edinburgh Capitals v Fife Flyers: Another hard one to call, particularly when you've got a couple of evenly matched sides on paper. Edinburgh will want to get some results in, Fife will want to improve on the road. Reckon Caps will have the edge on this one, regulation home win but close.

Manchester Storm v Belfast Giants: Depending on how each team goes on the Saturday, this will be crucial for the Sunday. If either go to overtime and/or penalties then that could be an important factor to phase in. We'll go for Storm to win it, this could go to overtime though.

Nottingham Panthers v Coventry Blaze: An intriguing Midlands battle on Sunday afternoon. Can Blaze heap more misery on a Panthers side who seem to have their minds elsewhere? They could do, but we'll be nice and go for the home side to skate away with a much needed home regulation win.

Those are the predictions from FSB Towers, what about you?

      

Thanks for reading everybody. Remember if you want to be a part of Frozen Steel you can get into touch with us on Twitter or find us on our Facebook Page, remembering to like us and leave a comment. We will then get back in touch:

@FrozenSteelBlog

@FrozenSteelMNL

@hockeybhoy

@DISGU15ED

Don't forget to listen to our weekly podcast  Breaking The Ice

It's available on iTunes to listen and download, also on Soundcloud

Or drop us an email to Frozen Steel Blog

Elite Report - Week 14 Review

Time once more to look back on another week's action. Did the predictions go as planned or did they fall apart like they usually do so? Read on and find out...

Wednesday night was where it all started, and Corey Neilson must have been reading my prediction because the Panthers didn't read the script. Cardiff came from behind and chalked up another regulation win, so a bad start there.

Onto Saturday night, and four games played. We got a single one right which isn't that good; that being the banker that was another Cardiff home regulation win (this time against the Caps). Whilst Belfast did go to overtime in Fife, it was the Flyers who took the win. Storm were shut out by the Blaze and Dundee shone against the Clan. Looks like a sorry week's predictions already doesn't it?

Then into Sunday, could we improve? No we didn't, with one out of three. The Blaze (see guys, I told you that you could do it) being our sole correct one. Giants beat the Caps in regulation, when we had it the other way, and Clan did the same in Dundee. Definitely a week when we went backwards.

Overall it takes the tally to 39 out of 103, and the percentage dips again to .379 - just as we thought we would be improving! Can next week get any better? We hope so.

Thanks for reading everybody. Remember if you want to be a part of Frozen Steel you can get into touch with us on Twitter or find us on our Facebook Page, remembering to like us and leave a comment. We will then get back in touch:

@FrozenSteelBlog

@FrozenSteelMNL

@hockeybhoy

@DISGU15ED

Don't forget to listen to our weekly podcast  Breaking The Ice

It's available on iTunes to listen and download, also on Soundcloud

Or drop us an email to Frozen Steel Blog

Getting it off my chest - Five things I learnt w/e 4 December

I need to get this off my chest, so that I can go to the game later with a clear head and try to enjoy the hockey unwound. So here's an earlier than normal five things.

Well that was another controversial week in the EIHL wasn’t it! On-the-ice we’ve finally taken back one of our games-in-hand over the Devils, played “our biggest rivals” twice, grabbed a nice haul of points, but still the item that ground everyone’s gears again was the refereeing and the Elite league’s response. So it’s an angry and frustrated five things this week:

1. To Tony the GM – We thank you for bringing stability to our club, and attracting probably the deepest pool of player talent that’s ever graced our club. The hockey is exciting, the league is growing, we’re in with a shout of adding more silverware, and the building is filling up nicely. Cheers.
2. To Tony the League Chairman – Literally what the arse, ass, bum, butt, cock, crapola, dickweed… were you thinking when you launched that steaming turd of a statement about cracking down on dissent?  The recent (im-) proper comments regarding referees, linesmen and the Department of Player Safety should be a call to arms rather than prompting a dumb threat. In the modern world we’ve all seen the incident on social media, and heard multiple views from those in attendance about what’s happening, so the truth is already out there - and it’s a bit late to buy people’s silence with the threat of fines. Naïve. 
3. What should they have done? - Tell us what you’re going to do about solving the problem, rather than who isn’t toeing the party line. Tell us about referee training, how we help them develop, how we show them their mistakes so they can learn - people will understand if we have to live with the current flaws IF we know that the solution is coming. Treat us like grown-ups and we’ll do the same in exchange.
4. Which came first, the game or the business – When ‘hurting the business model’ is the first thing that comes to mind when you’re hit by a barrage of player safety concerns, it’s time to take a hard look at what you’re trying to achieve. These incidents, our rulings, and that dumb-ass statement will circulate the globe reinforcing existing prejudices that we’ve got no-more than a goon-league – and by doing this in the way you have you’ve taken us backwards and undone so much good work.
5. Public reporting going forward – Now that people are facing fines, will we have more no-show interviews like the Panthers did last night – more emotion free highlighting of rule-book on websites – more corporate focused, sponsor pleasing, boring as hell bland garbage like we get in Premier League and F1? This is a sport fuelled by emotion, and living on the edge of the rules, and we need to hear that emotion to help us feel involved and passionate about our sport. Another step backwards @officialeihl

As a final thought, who will do the auditing of the players, managers, GM’s comments, and who will pay for that work to be done? Wouldn’t that be better invested in goal-line technology, or helping out our referees with(say) a four-man system where we match some up-and-coming stripes with some more experiences ones? I’d rather have three line hockey, and decent referees.

Someone tell me I'm wrong, and we aren't at a watershed moment for the sport we love.

Big Match Preview - Panthers Double Header

The weekend is almost upon us and the games are coming thick and fast as we head towards the halfway point of the season. Cardiff currently are an astonishing 13 points ahead of us in second place. We have however an equally astonishing 6 games in hand!

That's all good, but you've got to win those games in hand to make them count. Any slip up now could have a good bearing on how this season will pan as we chase for that historic three-peat that nobody in the Elite League, since its conception, has ever accomplished.

Talking about slip ups, this weekend could provide one easily. Our opponents on this home and home series are none other than this team:

Yep it's those underachieving Bears, sorry Panthers, from down the M1. A team that seems to have garnered its season expectations into winning the Continental Cup. Sure we wish them all the best in the Super Final but with a fan base that lauds success, shouldn't they be making a concerted effort into getting as many trophies in the cabinet? That way it allows Gary Moron, yes even some of my Panthers friends think he's an ageing dinosaur and at times a club embarrassment, to work himself up and start up the "we're the best team in the League" comment.

The fact we have seen this season that the Panthers roster is quite simply average, and some of the roster aren't as good as the players they've replaced. They started off the season like the proverbial house on fire, and until their first lot of Continental Cup action: were racing away with the league. But either this change of focus or some complacency kicked in, and now they find themselves in an abysmal 6th place in the league standings. Put it this way, if 9th placed Edinburgh won their games in hand on Corey's men - they'd be level on points. That ain't good enough.

Yet they always seem to find a way to upset us, especially in the NIC. We can go into games with them and be the team everyone expects to win but something seems to happen there which never goes our way and we come out of there sans the win. The key to Saturday is to play Panthers like we have offensively over the games in the Arena so far, take the game to them and silence the building so much the natives start getting on their backs and it then transmits into play from those wearing black and gold. We've done it before, why can't we do it more and more often. Is it a psychological thing? Your guess is as good as mine here.

A lot of what happens Saturday, will also determine how both teams approach the game on the Sunday. If we win, confidence that we can make it three home wins out of three against them will be high and Panthers will be looking to right that unwanted stat. A Panthers win would have the opposite effect, increase their confidence whilst deflating ours and causing massive cheers down in South Wales. We have seen it already, the defence isn't the greatest and left Pacl on both occasions here in Sheffield - hung out to dry more than a pile of dirty washing. Neilson's actions last Arena home game left a lot to be desired from both sets of supporters as he let the bleeding continue and didn't call a time out all game. It looked like his mind was elsewhere and he didn't care. 

Predictions: Panthers to win 4-2 in the NIC, but Steelers to enjoy revenge on the Sunday with a 6-2 home win. I just have this nasty feeling they (Panthers) will actually perform Saturday and show what they are possibly capable of and inflict a painful blow to our ambitions. What about you? 

Thanks for reading everybody. Remember if you want to be a part of Frozen Steel you can get into touch with us on Twitter or find us on our Facebook Page, remembering to like us and leave a comment. We will then get back in touch:

@FrozenSteelBlog

@FrozenSteelMNL

@hockeybhoy

@DISGU15ED

Don't forget to listen to our weekly podcast  Breaking The Ice

It's available on iTunes to listen and download, also on Soundcloud

Or drop us an email to Frozen Steel Blog