Elite League season in review – Playoff Finals Weekend in preview
What a season it has been. Featuring ups and downs from start to finish, the Elite League has proven once again that you really never know what will happen next, or what will be around the corner in the top flight of British hockey.
From the early exchanges between the big guns of the Erhardt Conference, including smack talk on Twitter and a war of words between Devin Didiomete and erstwhile Blaze target Mike Danton, you already knew this was going to be a season to remember.
Clubs signed enforcers in droves, player arrivals were delayed due to visa issues throwing early preparations into chaos, and there were pre-season un-friendlies, particularly those between Cardiff and Coventry.
There was a mini influx of NHL stars, a trip to Germany for league champions the Belfast Giants, a mass brawl in Cardiff, and The Best Game Ever ™ in Coventry. There have been too many controversial incidents to mention, including all-out attacks on and off the ice, and questionable discipline was reflected by questionable decision-making in response.
There were changes in coaching staff and playing staff throughout the league, Jordan Krestanovich’s mystery ‘illness’, the fall and rise of the Edinburgh Capitals, the continued woes of the Hull Stingrays, a wunderkind goaltender in Dundee, the drama surrounding Belfast’s ownership issues, Corey Neilson FINALLY getting the pieces of the jigsaw in place, hostile murmurings in Sheffield, the news of Paul Thompson departing British ice hockey, and a set of play-off quarter finals with more twists and turns than a really rather crooked thing!
It’s been a rollercoaster ride, and it is, for this season at least, almost at an end.
Quarter Final Reflections
Fife were in many ways the surprise package of quarter finals, beating Nottingham on home ice in the first leg in an impressive 4-2 victory. Everyone assumed their opponents, always so dominant at the NIC, would put them soundly in their place the following night, but it was a much tighter affair than anyone could have anticipated, the Panthers snatching the victory they needed with just one goal to spare, amid what was reportedly another questionable officiating performance. Fife can hold their heads high having given their all in what most agreed was a display across two legs that deserved more.
Despite battling to an impressive 7-5 victory over the Devils on home ice on Saturday night, the Braehead Clan staged a spectacular implosion on the following night in Cardiff, routed by the home side 7-2 on the night resulting in a huge 12-9 aggregate score. The Devils maintain their impressive record of having not missed a playoff weekend since the inception of the Elite League, and despite recent wobbly performances they will go into the weekend with belief in their ability to score copious amounts of goals, if nothing else.
Belfast perhaps surprisingly failed to capitalise on their home advantage to the extent many had predicted in the Saturday night game at the Odyssey against the Capitals, producing a lead of just 2 goals to take with them to Edinburgh for the return leg. They made life difficult for themselves but ultimately dominated despite an exciting return leg, Kevin Saurette scoring twice to help the Giants secure a 4-3 win on the night and a comfortable 7-4 aggregate scoreline.
Coventry and Sheffield produced the most exciting of the four match-ups, the result going right down to the wire. Sheffield had the advantage following Saturday night’s first leg in Coventry, but the Blaze were not about to let Paul Thompson leave without a final gutsy fightback. In a dramatic tie that saw Coventry take a two-goal lead into the second period before the Steelers levelled in the second, Dustin Cameron scored the only goal in the final period to take it to overtime. The game saw heroic performances in both goals from John DeCaro and Peter Hirsch, a misconduct for ever-fiery Brad Leeb, for ‘playing’ apparently (!), and Shea Guthrie producing a captain’s performance to be the difference on the night, scoring a hat-trick which included the game winning goal less than two minutes into overtime. The Blaze triumphed and progress to the finals weekend for the first time in three years, heading straight into a mouth-watering semi-final against the Belfast Giants.
And so to the playoff weekend. The pinnacle of the Elite League season is upon us once again – four games in two days, and a chance for fans from across the country to come together and celebrate the season. First up, a pair of tantalising semi-final clashes.
The Semi-Finals
Nottingham Panthers v Cardiff Devils
The lowdown
The league leaders will have the odds stacked heavily in their favour going into this clash. With a strong contingent of home fans, and comfortable as ever on their home ice, Corey and co will be looking to add to their haul of league and Challenge Cup trophies by winning a third playoff weekend in the space of three years. Cardiff had a lacklustre end to their season but after a barnstorming fightback against Braehead in their quarter final, they will be up for a challenge and urged on by an always vocal red army.
The stats
Nottingham have dominated the Devils this season, winning seven out of nine meetings between the two sides in both league and Challenge Cup. Both Cardiff’s victories over the Panthers came early in the season, and at the Big Blue Tent. Can they find a way past their impressive opponents in this repeat of the finals of the past two years?
The prediction
The Panthers will want to stamp their authority on the playoff weekend from the get-go and make a statement to their fans and to the teams following them in semi-final 2. I believe the Devils will run them close early on in the game but once the Panthers find their legs they will score plenty; if K-Wall can hold his nerve at the other end, as he so often has this season, I foresee a comfortable albeit not easy progression to the final – 5-1 Panthers.
Belfast Giants v Coventry Blaze
The lowdown
What remains to be said that hasn’t already been said, by myself at least, about this pair of teams this season. Despite the much-vaunted rivalry between Coventry and Cardiff, the Blaze’s games against Belfast this season have been just as much, if not more, full-blooded encounters with some astonishing hockey on display – these two sides were a great match for one another and have produced some of the highlights of the season.
The stats
Despite many seemingly close-run battles the sides have been involved in, in their eight Erhardt Conference meetings throughout the 2012/13 season Belfast have won six to Coventry’s two. The Blaze will have to dig incredibly deep to find a way past the Northern Irish side, but digging deep is familiar territory for the Coventry faithful – will their faith be rewarded on Saturday?
The prediction
The Giants will still be stinging from the loss of their league title to the Panthers and they will view the playoffs as their chance to gain retribution. Although they will undoubtedly be looking towards a final against the Panthers on Sunday, they would be foolish to overlook an always feisty and fired up Blaze side, but I believe that if the Giants go into the game with the desire to win, then win they will. As if often the case at a showcase weekend such as this I believe the game will be cagey and low-scoring despite some physical encounters. I am calling a 2-1 win for Belfast on the day.
Join me one last time next week to find out all about the ins, outs, ups and downs of another playoff weekend, including a) what it’s like being sober at playoffs, b) whether my predictions are any better this year than they were last year and c) really, what IS the point of a 3rd/4th place game?
See you then, fair readers!
