Inferno blog - Mark Smith

4th Apr 2013 | Posted by Mark Smith

Hello everyone,

I have just been asked to write one of several playoff blogs for this upcoming weekend, so here it goes.

It is that time again; the reason why all of us play hockey, and that is the excitement and intensity of playoff hockey. It may not quite be the grind that North American players have become accustomed to, but nonetheless it is the most exciting time of year to play hockey. We kicked it all off with an amazing weekend starting off up in Braehead, and what a wild game that was. The boys all battled hard and gave everything we had, and although so many people around the league didn’t like the position we were in heading back to Cardiff, I can tell you what, there was not one ounce of disbelief in our dressing room. Coming back to the BBT, and the best fans in the league was just another boost for us, and safe to say we played one of our best games in months. And now here we are, heading back to the final four, and I can’t imagine doing anything else this weekend. This week of practice has gone very well and G has been doing a job of getting all of us ready and focused. All the boys have stepped it up, with our first line of Stu, Maxi and Blighter, who I feel are one of the most skilled lines in the league, really showed us what they can bring this past weekend. As always, Benny using his speed and dangles is always dangerous, and CJ raised his game to another level, which was amazing to see, and finally Gimbo, who is such a big body out there, is dominant in the corners and in front of the net. Last but not least of the forwards we got Big Rupe, controlling the corners using that big frame as well to frustrating defensemen. My stall mate, The Doctor, aka crazy legs is an energy guy who will do anything for this team and has done a job killing penalties and hemming teams in their end on the cycle. And then we got Abam, you should see this kid with no shirt on, chizzled, he has really stepped his game up recently, and remember that it this line in Nottingham the other week who chipped in big-time offensively. Finally, the d core. Richie is as sold as ever and his offensive game has emerged to be one of the best in the league. Marshy, is again a rock solid guy back there. G always brings the intensity and focus to every game, and Kenton who we will hopefully have back playing is always a big part of this team. Lastly Minner, and Myersy, these guys may not get the ice time, but anyone will tell you they are still big parts of this team, always keeping things positive and doing the jobs they need to do in practice. And last but not least Whits, this guy is a gamer, and has stepped in and done a phenomenal job for this team. It has also been encouraging to see the progress of our injured guys and really is a boost to have them around as much as possible. It really isn’t the same without having Faulks around to hear his chirps.

It has been a season that has come with so much adversity and we have seen a great deal of perseverance from all of the guys. We are all feeling good heading into Saturday’s game. Every guy in our room believes we can win, and hey, why not, that’s why we play the game. We aren’t a group that is just happy to be here, the focus this group has is incredible and we all believe we can send a shock to everyone around the league. With that being said, and with the support of the loudest fans in the league we are ready for the challenge. With the season quickly wrapping up I just wanted to say also that is has been a pleasure playing with such a good group of guys and playing in front of such passionate fans. Lets give it everything we got here this weekend and anything is possible.

Thanks,

Mark