A Capital Christmas

It was 27th December. The turkey sandwiches had all been demolished. Nothing but scattered crumbs remained where fresh mince pies once lay. Shards of crumpled wrapping had been scattered to the four winds. Christmas was officially over.

‘Oh no it wasn’t!!’

(Oh yes it was!)

Actually, no – it wasn’t! As a post-Christmas present from me, to me, I had surprised myself with a trip north of the border to view a festive clash between the Edinburgh Capitals and the Cardiff Devils at Murrayfield ice rink. Really, I shouldn’t have. I’m too good to myself.

So who would get a late gift from Santa, and who would be found to have overdone it on the Christmas cheer? The Devils were flying high following a pre-Christmas cracker of a Challenge Cup decider against Sheffield, a game eventually tied at 4-4, meaning the Welsh side progressed to the semi-finals of the Cup at the expense of the Steelers, and it was a thrilling game by all accounts, and sold out – good work those dudes. They followed up with a Boxing Day league win against Fife before setting out on their travels, making the long journey north to the Scottish capital for Tuesday’s clash with the dark horses of the league this season.

A Capital Offence

(Do you see what I did there?)

The Capitals have had a good season so far and on home ice, they were likely to be dangerous – this would not be straightforward for the visitors. Coming off the back of a Christmas sandwiched by road defeats in Belfast and Dundee, there could be no excuses tonight as Richard Hartmann’s men came home with one purpose and one purpose only: to give their fans a dose of much needed festive cheer. And they started out well in the first period, taking advantage of a relatively flat-footed Devils side who had yet to rouse themselves from their bus-induced slumber. It was my first viewing of the handy Capitals side who were undoubtedly pacey on the attack, but they were unable to capitalise (pun-tastic Bob) on their rivals’ bus legs, their powerplay proving impotent, and a scrappy first period ended goalless.

Capital Punishment

(Honestly, I have more of these)

The home side would rue their lack of early finishing; they would not get that opportunity again, the Devils coming out in the second back to their usual selves, feisty, forward and physical, and after building the momentum they finally took the lead in the 27th minute from Scott Dobben following a mistake by goaltender Nathan Craze as he fumbled a Brad Voth shot. The Capitals were non-plussed however and grabbed an equaliser just five minutes later, a scrappy, scrambled effort finally put away by Barry Mackenzie. The game still didn’t have quite the spark that it needed though and I was left wondering if it was actually my fault. I was yet to see a really juicy hockey match in person this season. What have I got to do to see some fireworks?!

Caps Lock (and load!)

My worries were unfounded, the third period proving that there was life in the old dog, the game finally sparking into life, hits being thrown and the momentum swinging this way and that, as Cardiff started to pick up penalties and the Capitals powerplay finally proved dangerous, twice in two minutes in fact following a 2+2 penalty for headstrong Devils defenceman Chris Frank, Rene Jarolin finding the back of the net twice, the second coming from a 5 on 3 opportunity.

Suddenly the Capitals had a two-goal cushion and looked to be in control of the game, turning the tables on the visitors. They held the lead for a few minutes but the Devils were winding up the pressure, the Capitals starting to tire, and you just knew there was more to come from the visitors, as they punished the opposition with a more physical approach, clearly not the style of hockey favoured by Hartmann’s Euro-centric side, eventually the reward coming, the second Devils goal a success on their only powerplay opportunity from the stick of Mark Richardson. An equaliser followed five minutes later from Brad Voth. 3-3. Game well and truly on.

The Devils in the Detail

It was end to end stuff now and the atmosphere built despite the relatively limited number seated in Murrayfield’s Baltic conditions (yes, it took me back to the good old days at Whitley Bay. Except there were pretty lights. As opposed to none. Which was nice). There were moments of pressure as Jeff Pierce was called for hooking and the Capitals had another good powerplay, an excellent pad save from Stevie Lyle the only reason the home side were unable to take the lead. Back to full strength and the game changer came from the clinical Devils side, Stu Macrae netting with less than a minute and a half to go. Could the Capitals find an equaliser once again to take the game to overtime? It was not to be, the game wrapped up in the final minute via an excellent individual effort from Ben Davies on the breakaway, one of two young British players to catch the eye on the Devils side, defenceman Josh Batch also looking a fine prospect.

A great final period had rescued what could have turned out to be a fairly lacklustre game, and to celebrate we headed to the Murrayfield bar to sample some of their finest beverages. Well, it was Christmas after all.

The Best of the Rest

Speaking of Christmas, a number of gifts were being bestowed in other parts of the kingdom. In the second of the massive home and away double header between rivals Nottingham and Sheffield, Nottingham were once again victorious having won the first leg at the Motorpoint Arena the previous night. The Panthers have now won 5 of the 6 clashes between the two sides, seemingly the Achilles heel of last year’s title winners, and the only team to really have the Steelers’ number this season. It capped a frustrating run of three games without a win for the Sheffield side who are now out of the Challenge Cup and down to third in the standings. Finnerty’s side having a little wobble. Will that be all it is, or are the wheels coming off the previously seemingly infallible challengers?

Nottingham’s gift to Belfast of taking away four of the Steelers precious possible points was apparently not well received by the Northern Irish side, who, despite a comprehensive victory over them on their home ice the night before, couldn’t beat the Braehead Clan at the Odyssey, a gifthorse looked soundly in the mouth there. Surprising, as it was a fairly substantial present – this was no knitted snowman jumper. Mike Bayrack was the stand-out man for the Clan, scoring a brace against his former side as the Glaswegians won 4-1 – a gift indeed for their travelling fans, and a missed opportunity for the Giants.

The Lion, the Finn and the Mo-Train

In other, far more important, news, Christmas looked set to be cancelled when Panthers’ captain Danny Meyers announced he was cutting off his beautiful blond locks. If he’s saved the cuttings he could raise enough cash to buy a new player by auctioning them off to stalker fans. Not me, of course. I’m not in any way stalkerish. £50 for a locket-full?

There was more movement around the league as, clearly in direct response to my post last week about player loyalty and him sounding like a Hollywood divorce lawyer, Scott Champagne decided to quit the Panthers. He was promptly replaced with not one but TWO new imports, Corey Neilson full of the Christmas spirit, bringing in Finn Sami Ryhanen, and former Panther, veteran Sean McAslan, who shoots to the top of the all-time awesome name rankings with immediate effect, being as it is that he sounds like the fictional lion king of Narnia. Amazing. Belfast chose to replace arguably THEIR top player with a veteran too, in the shape of former player Mark Morrison, who apparently hasn’t even played the game for a year. A strange decision, but one which was met with unbridled joy by the Giants fans. Well alrighty then.

What else? In summary: Hull and Coventry traded wins in their home/away double header. Belfast’s Daryl Lloyd picked up the mantle left first by Benoit Doucet and then Brock McBride, scoring back to back hat-tricks and proving he means business. Fife picked up a much needed two points against local rivals, the struggling Dundee Stars. Colt King had a Twitter row with some Panthers fans. Brennan Turner was this week’s ‘player moaning about officials on Twitter’. Adam Keefe was back in fighting action, imperious against Braehead Clan’s Kevin Phillips. Edinburgh’s Rene Jarolin became the league’s joint top scorer. Cardiff had the best of the weekend, quietly picking up four points and qualifying for the Challenge Cup semi final. Brad Voth said hello to me in the pub. And I think that just about covers it.

And so into the New Year. It’s time to head towards the business end of things. Stay tuned folks – it’s going to get serious.