Twas a good sight to see on Boxing day, 2 points in the bag, a decent sized crowd, and the better half at my side for the 1st time at the hockey.
But something bugged me.
Why the fuck are Newcastle so determined to be goons all the time? Barely 5 minutes into the game, we had a fight break out after Nathan Ward placed a perfect hit on one of the Vipers. Sadly for Nathan, Derek Campbell felt he needed to lay down the ‘law’ by beating him up immediately afterwards. Big, Bad, Brett Clouthier rather rashly threw himself into the melee (along with the Vipers McAllister), and got 3rd man in, thus forcing his ejection from the game. The Boys responded with 2 quickfire goals, but the damage was done.
After this, everytime a Phoenix forward moved over the bluline, it was like they had big old targets painted on them. I have no problem with big hits, and solid, clean checks. Newcastle however seemed determined to use elbows, hooking, holding, and even a few borderline cross-checks to try and get back into the game, rather than actually playing hockey.