Deeds Blog - Part 8

What a weird week!

Hockey is such a weird sport at times, Thursday nights match we play 20 minutes out of a 60 minute game and come away with a win, and then come out strong both Saturday and Sunday against Coventry and play a full 60 minute game and come away with two losses and zero points. I stated in last weeks blog that both Saturday and Sundays games against Coventry would be a complete war, for whatever reason it seems like this season there's a real hatred between us and them.

What happened Sunday night after our match is something I have never experienced in all my years of playing hockey. When you have classless fools from Coventry running around, hitting players with dangerous high hits, and using their sticks as weapons it is only a matter of time before incidents like this occur.

I hate to place blame on anyone, but not once all weekend did I see the referee's take charge when any of these events were taking place. Hockey is a rough and rugged sport, but there are rules that come along with the game to ensure the players safety. When Benn Olson is using his stick like a baseball bat and Mike Egener is "head hunting" actions need to be put in place so these players are ejected from the game or punished for their behaviours.

When no action is put into place by the referee's  you have players like myself who take matters into their own hands and have to do what they feel is right in order to protect their teammates and that is what happened Sunday.

As fans I am sure what took place after the match on sunday is very exciting for you but I truly believe it could have all been avoided. I understand that shaking hands is a form of respect, and is something that has been done for years in this league. Personally I do not believe any good comes from a hand shake after the game, I trash talk and go to war against these players and 30 seconds after the game is over I am supposed to set my emotions to the side and forget about everything that happened in the game? It is something I believe the league needs to look into changing, and maybe incidents like Sunday's only happen once in a blue moon but they still happen. If any fans were offended by my actions Sunday I am sorry, I did what I believed was right and take a great deal of pride in sticking up for my teammates and coaches. We are a team, and if you take liberties on my teammates I take it personally and act accordingly.

Moving forward Thursdays match against Hull is a MUST win for us, we have been struggling in Challenge Cup games and these are two points we must have in order for an opportunity to advance into the Semi-finals of the Challenge Cup. Last time we went to Hull we underestimated their team and it cost us two points we need to play a full 60 minutes and capitalize on our chances so we can get the win.

Saturday we will be heading up to Scotland for two games, it will be my first time seeing both Breahead's and Edinburghs rinks although I am excited for the two games I am dreading the 10-12 hour bus trip!! Like I said last week, if we want to continue to move up in the league standings we need to make sure we are beating the teams below us in the standings. Having said that we need to respect our opponents and play them as if we were playing a Nottingham or Sheffield. The league is so deep this year that anyone can beat anyone on any given night, you need to show up for every match or more times than not we will find yourself on the losing end. I must say the BBT was rocking this weekend and even thou we didn't get the result we wanted Sunday it is nice knowing we have your support!

On a final note I would like to say sorry to Blighter, I came into the room Sunday and saw him icing his jaw and I asked him what happened and he told me he ate one of my rights. So if by chance his blog is a little "off" this week I will take full responsibility for that!

Cheers

Deeds