"News surrounding the Coventry Blaze, the EIHL and UK hockey in general"
Coventry • United Kingdom • 28 Years Old • Male
The Blaze Machine Rumbles On, 4 Point Weekend
Posted 7:47 PM ET | Comments 1
Which is exactly what is required at this point in time. Two games played, two games won, 4 points gained. Coventry had a double header (what you North Americans would call a home and home series, never made sense to me that one but there you go) against 9th placed Hull Stingrays. Being brutally honest, anything less than two wins would've been severely disappointing.
The game in Hull was by all accounts one sided. Blaze went 5-0 up, going 3 from 3 on the powerplay in that time. Coventry have a very effective powerplay; they have fast skating forwards with good passing that move the puck well. The PK units get moved around to create openings and goals happen! When players of the calibre of Neal Martin only make the 2nd PP unit, you know it's a strong area of the side, and Hull kept taking penalties and shot themselves in the foot. Game finished 5-2 to Coventry in the end, 2 late goals from the Stingrays closing the encounter.
Sunday's game was more of the same. Coventry's 1st line of Timmons - Carlson - Calder were ripping the Hull D apart causing all sorts of problems. In particular Hull couldn't cope with Timmons' power forward role and both of Calder's goals came from hard work around the board by him. Calder opened the scoring, before Hull got a questionable equaliser (may or may not have been kicked in).
That was it for the night as Blaze scored 4 unanswered and finished the game off 5-1. Goalscorers were Calder (2), Cloutier and Huppe (2). Pointless fact about the Blaze #1 - Sylvain Cloutier is the older brother of Manchester Monarchs and ex-NHL goalie Mad Dan Cloutier. We get a lot of brothers of NHL players here.
The other high point of the evening was the retirement of #81 Michael Tasker. Not the fact that he is going - but the way in which it was handled by the club! This season he has been hit badly by injuries and is bowing out with a bit of dignity. The guard of honour at the start was nice, as was his one and only shift of the game right at the end, skating on for a powerplay with just over a minute left.
You might think that I'd have nothing to complain about. 10 goals in 2 games, 2 wins, it's all good? Not me. I can always find something to whinge about. With Tasker's retirement, it leaves a hole on our 3rd line. Tom Watkins had been playing on D recently, but was moved back to make the 3rd line complete, leaving just 4 defencemen. We have 2 young British forwards on the bench, James Cooke and Joe Henry, the latter of which scored 5+2 on Saturday night for the ENL side. Why are they not getting a chance to get some ice time? We effectively iced 13 skaters tonight, discounting Tasker. If these guys are to develop into full time players, they need to be given some sort of ice time. When you're 5-1 up against the team in 9th (out of 10) place, let the kids play!
There we go, today's rant over.
Other results over the weekend - all league games:
Sat 12th Jan
Basingstoke Bison 10 Edinburgh Capitals 2 - if you're gonna win big, do it in style.
Newcastle Vipers 4 Manchester Phoenix 3
Nottingham Panthers 5 Cardiff Devils 3
Sheffield Steelers 1 Belfast Giants 6
Sun 13th Jan
Cardiff Devils 2 Belfast Giants 6
Edinburgh Capitals 3 Nottingham Panthers 0
Manchester Phoenix 1 Sheffield Steelers 2 (F/SO)
Newcastle Vipers 7 Basingstoke Bison 3
This leaves the Blaze 7 points clear of 2nd placed Belfast, with 2 games in hand. A strong position to be in at this stage of the season! But it can and has gone wrong before
Game notes from Sunday: James Pease played his 600th professional game for Coventry. This is more impressive given his young age (26)... Troy Neumeier was given his game jersey from his last appearence for Coventry on Boxing Day at Nottingham. It was his 1000th professional game. He's 38.
The game in Hull was by all accounts one sided. Blaze went 5-0 up, going 3 from 3 on the powerplay in that time. Coventry have a very effective powerplay; they have fast skating forwards with good passing that move the puck well. The PK units get moved around to create openings and goals happen! When players of the calibre of Neal Martin only make the 2nd PP unit, you know it's a strong area of the side, and Hull kept taking penalties and shot themselves in the foot. Game finished 5-2 to Coventry in the end, 2 late goals from the Stingrays closing the encounter.
Sunday's game was more of the same. Coventry's 1st line of Timmons - Carlson - Calder were ripping the Hull D apart causing all sorts of problems. In particular Hull couldn't cope with Timmons' power forward role and both of Calder's goals came from hard work around the board by him. Calder opened the scoring, before Hull got a questionable equaliser (may or may not have been kicked in).
That was it for the night as Blaze scored 4 unanswered and finished the game off 5-1. Goalscorers were Calder (2), Cloutier and Huppe (2). Pointless fact about the Blaze #1 - Sylvain Cloutier is the older brother of Manchester Monarchs and ex-NHL goalie Mad Dan Cloutier. We get a lot of brothers of NHL players here.
The other high point of the evening was the retirement of #81 Michael Tasker. Not the fact that he is going - but the way in which it was handled by the club! This season he has been hit badly by injuries and is bowing out with a bit of dignity. The guard of honour at the start was nice, as was his one and only shift of the game right at the end, skating on for a powerplay with just over a minute left.
You might think that I'd have nothing to complain about. 10 goals in 2 games, 2 wins, it's all good? Not me. I can always find something to whinge about. With Tasker's retirement, it leaves a hole on our 3rd line. Tom Watkins had been playing on D recently, but was moved back to make the 3rd line complete, leaving just 4 defencemen. We have 2 young British forwards on the bench, James Cooke and Joe Henry, the latter of which scored 5+2 on Saturday night for the ENL side. Why are they not getting a chance to get some ice time? We effectively iced 13 skaters tonight, discounting Tasker. If these guys are to develop into full time players, they need to be given some sort of ice time. When you're 5-1 up against the team in 9th (out of 10) place, let the kids play!
There we go, today's rant over.
Other results over the weekend - all league games:
Sat 12th Jan
Basingstoke Bison 10 Edinburgh Capitals 2 - if you're gonna win big, do it in style.
Newcastle Vipers 4 Manchester Phoenix 3
Nottingham Panthers 5 Cardiff Devils 3
Sheffield Steelers 1 Belfast Giants 6
Sun 13th Jan
Cardiff Devils 2 Belfast Giants 6
Edinburgh Capitals 3 Nottingham Panthers 0
Manchester Phoenix 1 Sheffield Steelers 2 (F/SO)
Newcastle Vipers 7 Basingstoke Bison 3
This leaves the Blaze 7 points clear of 2nd placed Belfast, with 2 games in hand. A strong position to be in at this stage of the season! But it can and has gone wrong before
Game notes from Sunday: James Pease played his 600th professional game for Coventry. This is more impressive given his young age (26)... Troy Neumeier was given his game jersey from his last appearence for Coventry on Boxing Day at Nottingham. It was his 1000th professional game. He's 38.
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03 Ice Hockey In The UK
04 Coventry Blaze - The Season So Far
05 Around the Rinks - Sat 5th and Sun 6th Jan
06 Call the Police, there's been a Robbery
09 World Juniors - why isn't GB any good?
11 When Is A Win Not A Win?
13 The Blaze Machine Rumbles On, 4 Point Weekend
16 How To Improve An Unofficial Official
18 Introducing Weavertime
21 Turn up for one period, win 8-1.
04 Coventry Blaze - The Season So Far
05 Around the Rinks - Sat 5th and Sun 6th Jan
06 Call the Police, there's been a Robbery
09 World Juniors - why isn't GB any good?
11 When Is A Win Not A Win?
13 The Blaze Machine Rumbles On, 4 Point Weekend
16 How To Improve An Unofficial Official
18 Introducing Weavertime
21 Turn up for one period, win 8-1.
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