Captains Blog - Part 5

Hello All

Since my last blog we have played 3 games, all of which went to overtime and 2 which went to a shootout.

The Belfast game was a feisty affair and we suffered a huge blow with Faulks getting injured. A guy like that can’t be replaced so it will be up to everyone on the team to pick their games up. I thought that Stewart deserved every game of his suspension; it was quite frustrating because he should have been kicked out of the game after his hit on Smitty, and if he had of that play on Mac would not even have happened!

Looking ahead we have 3 games in 4 nights, home to Sheffield and Dundee and away in Hull at the most versatile arena in the UK. If the playoffs were to start now we would match up with Sheffield, I am sure both teams will have that in the back of their minds heading into the game.

As mentioned before we have been dealt a tough blow with Faulks and now Hilly is injured as well. At the time of writing this I’m not sure what the severity of his injury is, but hopefully he will have a speedy recovery. Injuries are an unfortunate part of the game however it does give some other guys a chance to play some more minutes and improve their games, and we will need guys to do that now if we want to be successful.

I followed GB and watched their first two games at the Olympic qualifiers. It was always going to be an uphill battle for them, but I thought they did well. A lot of the goals they gave up were power play goals. If they want to make the next step there will have be more funding at the grass roots level, get more kids playing the game and more ice rinks. All the best to them at the World Champs though, hopefully this experience will give the squad a boost while they are there.

I watched the opening game of the 6 nations at the Millennium Stadium. Although the game was a disaster for Wales particularly the first half, the overall experience was amazing. They had a great result in Paris to stay in the running; it would be amazing if it came down Wales v England in Cardiff to decide the winner!
That’s all for this time, cheers!

Stu