EIHL Play Offs day 1

Toni, Sam and I scooted off into Nottingham and found a nice cafe to have a full fried breakfast to set us up for the day. I tried calling Scott a few times but failed to get hold of him. Called Ian Coyle who said that Scott was alseep and they he would try and wake him. Popped into Ice Nine, an old haunt for jewellery and incense sticks and Toni bought a couple of rings (and the I bought her another one to replace one that had cracked).

We then headed down the hill to the NIC for the Elite Ice Hockey League play offs. Toni picked up her press pass and tickets but Sam and I were still lacking any abilit to enter. Scott was still incommunicado and it was now only one hour until face off and still no tickets. I put in another desperate call to Ian Coyle and he told me to call Scott's wife, Gill, who informed that I had 2 tickets reserved in the name of Willie as he couldn't make it. Typical Scott, everything gets sorted at the last minute but I was VERY happy to have tickets in hand:


Toni and I:


Sam and Toni (I have no idea why Sam is looking like that):


We then headed into the main rink and met up with Shaggy.

What a great banner:


Shaggy and Sam:


Of course the most important thing today was the hockey.

Sheffield Steelers 5 Cardiff Devils 2
Unfortunately this wasn't a great game to watch. The Sheffield Steelers were very clinical and kept driving forwards but the Devils just seemed to lack any spark and even though they did get the game to 2 - 2 at one point they never really seemed dangerous enough to pull off the upset. Fair play to Sheffield, they carved through the Cardiff defence well, they keep tight in their own defensive end and were dangerous going forward. Although I am no fan of the Steelers and would rather have seen the Devils go through I can do nothing but admit that the Steelers thoroughly deserved to win.

Face off:


Fisticuffs on Frederick Street!



Caps fans with protest banners:


Vipers protest:


See all the pictures here: 040409Steelers5Devils2EIHLPlayOffSemiFinal#

So the Steelers are through to the final tomorrow. Who will they face?........read on

Coventry Blaze 2 Nottingham Panthers 6
Despite the scoreline this game was far more fun to watch than the Steelers v Devils one as both teams started out pretty evenly matched. Even when the scoreline was 1 - 3 to the Panthers there was a good chance that Coventry could pull back and close the gap. As it turned out this didn't happen and the Panthers did a very good job of taking the Blaze apart. Panthers power play was very good and thanks to Blaze penalties they were able to capitalise.






During the game the Newcastle Vipers fans started a 5 minute chant of "SIX TEAM LEAGUE, YOU'RE HAVING A LAUGH" which was great to hear. It did continue again later on with Manchester Phoenix and Belfast Giants fans joining in too. At this point there seemed to be more music and it was played louder, I wonder why LMFAO

See all the photos here: 040409Blaze2Panthers6EIHLPlayOffSemiFinal#

So the final tomorrow should be a real corker with arch rivals Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers battling for the honour of being the 08/09 Play Off Champions.

Following the games and a brief chat with Doug Christiansen, Edinburgh Capitals Director Of Hockey, Toni, Sam, Shaggy and I went to The Corner House to enjoy a lovely TGI Friday meal of Jack Daniels ribs.

Toni and I:


Shaggy:

Sam: