I'm just in from work and have devoured a curry made by my currently baking better half. the blog will be timestamped in accordance with what is happening in the game and will give as much interesting and/or banal comments as I go along...enjoy!
19:43 Logging in to the sites above to see what I have missed so far....and I've missed a goal already! 1-0 up after 3:57, HockeyBurst UK tweeting that Coach Richardson got it, while EIHL site claims it was Kyle Bruce. Have gone to seek clarification at ClanChat, but I'm the only one in the room. If a hockey blogger is alone in a chatroom, and no one is there to see him type, does his keyboard make a noise?
19:48 Whether it's Kyle Bruce or Coach Bruce, we are 1-0 to the good against our challengers for 5th place. Both men seemed to enjoy the skate with the Clan event after the Edinburgh game at the weekend. Kyle was getting in amongst the fans, getting his photo taken with pretty much everyone on the ice, and I even spotted him cutting some shapes as he went. Coach Bruce, post shower and clean up, spent a fair amount of time on the ice too, signing my mum's shirt before ignoring her plea for help as she decked it...
19:52 2-0 Clan! Ryan "Soupy" Campbell doubles the lead at 10:02. I don't know if "Soupy" is his actual nickname, but I've heard a few rabid female fans shouting it at him. An undeniably Scottish nickname nonetheless. He's been getting amongst the goals quite often, but seems to get less adulation than Cook, Krestanovich et al. So, as I was saying, Ishbel sent herself sprawling at the heels of Brucie, but the rink staff were quick to help her up. Despite her fall, she had a good night, as did many others, mixing with the players, an opportunity no other sport in Scotland affords itself.
19:57 CO DEEEEEE BOSSSSS TOCKKKKKKK (Cody Bostock) makes it 3-0! My cooking Mrs and I had a good wee chat with Cody on Saturday night, where he made an honest assessment of the 7-1 win over The Caps. "It was a bit boring." he told us. And to be honest, it sort of was. A 7-1 win over anyone BUT Edinburgh would have been lauded as a season highlight, but the plight of our east coast neighbours made it more of a formality than an exciting game.
20:00 4-0!!!! Of all the games to be blogging about rather than being at! Brendan Cook, Cookie, The Cook-Meister...he's added yet another goal to his impressive season with us. Although, HockeyBurst Twitter is claiming it's Adam Walker's goal. Who to believe? Looks like 5th place could be in the bag and it's not even the end of the 1st. This is the kind of horsing that surely won't be boring for Mr Bostock. He cuts an intimidating figure from afar. He reminds me of ex WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, minus the homicidal and suicidal tendencies the Rabid Wolverine exhibited before his demise. (I've used rabid twice in this blog and both uses could not be further apart in context.) As we regaled him with chat of our upcoming trip to Canada, he seemed to be happy to let us talk to him, not giving up his game face just yet.
20:05 End of the first period, 4-0 Clan! I'm off to eat some cookies and wonder what the heck my downstairs neighbour is up to tonight. It sounds as if he is trying to move the heaviest furniture in the world with a hammer and trumpet.
20:19 As the Zamboni presumably prepares the ice for the 2nd period, I am being treated to the delights of "Ouch! Sextuplets!" on the box. A reality show about a woman who dropped 6 babies at once. That's one for each Caps players who will be icing on the last game of the season. They also have a massive pram. (Secto Parents, not Edinburgh.) As the second period looms, I'm still the only one in ClanChat...
20:27 Irn Bru and Laney's Cookies now dispatched, Twitter informs me of a 5th Clan goal. No name on it, so a quick dash to www.eliteleague.co.uk tells me it's Jon Landry who has netted. I was about to write that he is probably our most important D-man, but that would be a disservice to Tim Wedderburn and Cody. Landry's points tally for the season is now over the half century mark though, so I'll stand by my plaudits. He was another who took the time to chat with Laney and me on Saturday night.
One thing I took from meeting the guys is that while they are sportsmen, and famous to a certain extent, I wasn't overawed by them, like I was when I met Motherwell FC cult icon Eliphas Shivute in ASDA in Motherwell when I was about 13. As a youngster, seeing one of my sporting idols up close filled me with wonder and amazement, like my nephew Aiden gets when he's down at Fir Park. Now I'm older, I respect them for making something of their lives and taking the opportunities that have come there way. Jon is a year older than me and a professional sportsman in a foreign country. He's gotten there through hard graft andrealised potential which I salute him and the rest of the team for. Our conversation was just shooting the breeze, like you would in any other situation, which grounded the team for me. Top bloke!
20:39 Ohup. (That's the noise I just made...) apparently the Blaze are clawing back in to the game, 5-2 according to Twitter, 5-1 says EIHL site. Cowley has definitely scored though. In fact it's now 6-2 according to HockeyBurst! Goalarama! No scorers for the second Blaze and 6th Clan goal to report, despite many refreshes of the page. As great as the modern world we live in is, with tweets and texts and whatnot, I'm gutted I'm missing this game as it has now gone 6-3 to the Clan! Flip Me! Owen got Blazes 2nd, Krestanovich with Clan's 6th and Farmer with Cov's 3rd.
20:50 Now it's 6-4! What is going on? During the barren spell of November, it was not a strange site to see Richardson's Purple Army surrender a 2 or maybe 3 goal lead, but surely not a 5-0 deficit????Owen has his second of the night. What a mad 11 minutes that has been. Knowing nothing of the way the game is being played, I say Coach Bruce should call a time out ala the Cardiff game 2 weeks a go and get them told to cut out the nonsense! Squeaky bum time is coinciding with the lesbians on Coronation street having a rammy.
20:56 7-4! Maybe, somehow, I've channelled my thoughts (and more likely everyone inside Braehead Arena's) to Bruce and he's got them kicking arse and taking names. The 2nd period has just ended, Cookie getting the 7th for us. 6 goals in that period, Blaze outscoring 4-2. Third period should be dynamite! It's nights like these that I regret pulling out too quickly and making that Volkswagen Polo stop as I made the final turn of my driving test all those years ago. Had it not been for that, I could have driven to work, then on to Braehead, and witnessed what seems to be an epic game. Drat and Blast!
21:19 3rd underway and according to the newly revived @clanfans on Twitter, Campbell has got himself in the bad books for a "high stick double minor". During the break I saw James Nesbitt pull a catheter out of a man's penis. Spoiled by the evening's television tonight! FYI, I won't be doing this on Saturday during the Aladdin Cup. Sofa shopping instead. I like the idea of this mini tournament, akin to 20:20 Cricket. Opens up the game to something more dynamic as a one off, promoting tactic, guile and speed. Also gives us a crack at some silverware before the Playoffs...
21:26 No further scoring as yet. Speaking of the Playoffs, if we win tonight, then it looks like Nottingham would be our first round opponents. The Panthers have succumbed to the Clan a few times this season, and no doubt Brucie and Cook would love to get one over their old team. Any decent Playoff efforts will be a great end to a great first season in the league. Getting past the first hurdle is paramount though, and having had Nottingham's number a few times already this season, it shouldn't be too arduous a task. In other news, I have now left Clan Chat empty.
21:30 They say that no news is good news, and by far the most frustrating part of relying on second hand information, is the impatient wait that one has to endure before being told what is actually going on. Hopefully I've kept you interested to this point. I've just been reprimanded by @laneyferg , "you're no' writing a book".
21:35 Just as I started following Olly Murs on Twitter to tell him how bored I am of hearing his cockney lilt each time I call Mumbai at work, I get confirmation that it is now 8-4 Clan! My "celeb" abuse will quell until I find out who scored it. "Goooooooooooalllllllllll Clan!" screams/shouts/elongates @clanfans. Still no idea who the scorer is. Surely that's the game wrapped up now? It's Matty Haywood, assisted by Landry. 7 and a half minutes to go...
21:47 YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Clan clinch 5th place in what was probably an end to end, action packed game. A big well done to Bruce and the boys on the ice, as well as Kirsty and co off the ice in making the season a success. A double triumph in the Aladdin and the PlayOffs would be too greedy to ask for, but it's not beyond our means. Richardson's Purple Army, we salute you!
And I salute you as well for sticking with me all the way through this long winded and slightly egotistical blog. Quite why you would want to know every nuance of my night I do not know, but I've enjoyed my experiment.Would much rather have been at the game though...
NaNight!
Mon The Clan!!!
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