April play off weekend

[takina]

Anyone going / not going regardless as to whether Blaze make it? Any other thoughts / comments?

[IX2T311]

I plan to be going regardless of whether Blaze finish 10th or 1st.

And once again this year it's hard to tell who'll actually be there, not just because the league is so wide open but because every team has the potential to beat any other team. Cardiff are losing games at home to the likes of Coventry and Manchester, the Scottish teams are relatively competitive this season, even Edinburgh aren't the pushover they were last year and can be quite strong on their home ice. If I had to hazard a guess at who's going to be there it'd be Cardiff, Sheffield, Belfast and maybe Fife(?). I don't particularly dislike the Panthers but I do prefer it when they're not playing, what with it being their home ice and such.

In honesty I think I'd be happier if Coventry didn't make it, 2 years in a row we've been there when perhaps we don't really deserve to be, despite the results, this year we've just been a bit too weak at the start of the season to really be competitive. I'm not even sure I'd be surprised if we didn't make it into the top 8.
Saying that though, we do look like a changed team, 4 point weekend from Nottingham and Cardiff going into a very close (and seemingly unfair) loss to Sheffield is better than we've been able to do all year. So if we're finally hitting the hill and we do start consistently taking points off everyone then I'd be happy for us to be there. I think we have around about 20 games left to play, if we could win all of them (which I know we won't) then we'd easily glide up into the top quartile of teams. The second half of the season is just as important as the first, perhaps more so, we just have to make something out of every game.

[Stuart Coles]

It's usually around this time I start looking at potential playoff matches and who might make the final four. If the league ended today, the playoffs would be:

(1) Cardiff v (8) Coventry
(2) Belfast v (7) Manchester
(3) Braehead v (6) Fife
(4) Sheffield v (5) Nottingham

Belfast are currently leading the Erdhardt, Braehead the Gardiner, which is why they get the #2 and #3 slots respectively. In my mind, this would be an absolute dream set of 1/4 finals. Predict who wins those!

[scott]

I'm going. Always a good weekend.

[takina]

We're going too (we being my son and I) - gone every year for the past 6 years and it's always a high point of our calendar (a low point too 'cos it means no more hockey)

Wouldn't like to have to select who I think will be there - Coventry could make it but equally we could finish 9th or 10th and not even make the first round. There's been some lovely hockey this year and if we end up watching as neutrals I'll still enjoy it equally as much.

If I could change one thing - the ridiculous 3rd / 4th place game. Never bothered with it after the 1st year

[IX2T311]

Jan 16, 2017 13:00:24 GMT Stuart Coles said:

It's usually around this time I start looking at potential playoff matches and who might make the final four. If the league ended today, the playoffs would be:

(1) Cardiff v (8) Coventry
(2) Belfast v (7) Manchester
(3) Braehead v (6) Fife
(4) Sheffield v (5) Nottingham

Belfast are currently leading the Erdhardt, Braehead the Gardiner, which is why they get the #2 and #3 slots respectively. In my mind, this would be an absolute dream set of 1/4 finals. Predict who wins those!

Cardiff v Coventry
If we play there first I'd say a win away followed by a scrap back home with essentially an entire game of desperate defending. 5-3 Cov on aggregate.
If we play home first I'd predict two losses in a row, maybe a draw in one of them. 4-3 Car on aggregate.

Belfast v Manchester
Belfast to win in Belfast, and if their recent form holds up I'd say Belfast to win in Manchester too. However Manchester aren't a pushover so they might pull a sneaky trick or two out the bag. It wouldn't surprise me if this was a good pair of games. 5-2 Bel on aggregate.

Braehead v Fife
This one I'm slightly more uncertain of, Braehead have been patchy at best this year and Fife are hardly a super competitive team, my guess is this'll be the opposite of Sheffield v Nottingham and it'll be a battle of who's the least worst on the night. If I had to guess I'd say this is the game that'll give us our fourth team of the weekend. 4-2 Bra on aggregate? Could easily see that sliding the other way though.

Sheffield v Nottingham
This would be the game to go to, I expect physically demanding and hard game, both teams will be fighting hard for both of these wins. Whoever wins this game would only edge it very slightly. 5-4 Shef on aggregate, though that could easily be to Nottingham as well.

All good matchups though, only one slightly one sided game being Belfast v Manchester, which may not even be so one sided if things go well for them. Though a lot can (and hopefully will) change between now and then.

[Stuart Coles]

Jan 18, 2017 23:28:47 GMT IX2T311 said:

All good matchups though, only one slightly one sided game being Belfast v Manchester, which may not even be so one sided if things go well for them. Though a lot can (and hopefully will) change between now and then.

I think I'd agree with you on all bar the Belfast-Manchester game. Between the two teams this season, Belfast have two wins (1 in OT), Manchester have two wins and there was one draw in a Challenge Cup quarter final game. It's been pretty close between those two!

[IX2T311]

Jan 19, 2017 9:48:33 GMT Stuart Coles said:

Jan 18, 2017 23:28:47 GMT IX2T311 said:

All good matchups though, only one slightly one sided game being Belfast v Manchester, which may not even be so one sided if things go well for them. Though a lot can (and hopefully will) change between now and then.

I think I'd agree with you on all bar the Belfast-Manchester game. Between the two teams this season, Belfast have two wins (1 in OT), Manchester have two wins and there was one draw in a Challenge Cup quarter final game. It's been pretty close between those two!

I didn't realise it had been that close in honesty, but Belfast must've picked up a good two thirds/three quarters of all the points they could've in the past month, right now they seem to be taking points from almost anyone. Maybe that game could be closer than 5-2 but I'd still be putting my money on Belfast to make it through...

On a separate note, assuming both Guildford and Milton Keynes do join us, does anyone know what'll be happening with the playoff finals? Will we keep the same structure and have the bottom 4 drop out before playoffs? I'm not sure if I'm just tired but I can't see any other (simple) way to pair them off within a weekend?

[hidehi]

We have to come 8th first and that is not certain.

[IX2T311]

Though it's not certain I wouldn't say it's unlikely, I think recently we've been a genuinely competitive team against the best the league has to offer, I thoroughly think that when the crunch games against Edinburgh, Dundee, and the other Scots come along we'll be getting a clean two points (providing we don't choke). If I was to hazard a guess at our final position I'd put us down anywhere from 5th to 8th.

[jen]

Does anyone know around what time the coach leaves on the Friday? I'd like to take my nephew but he is still at school on that Friday.