Deep breaths….

I’m going to start this one off by simply stating that there will be language used in this article which can (and often does) cause offence. If you are likely to be offended by my use of the more colourful parts of our fair and ancient language, maybe this one isn’t for you this week.

OK, so, to say i’m pissed off would be an understatement of epic proportions. Indeed, I’m so fucking angry at how the actions of 2 non players can affect the outcome of a whole game, that I feel the need to rever to my old swear-a-thon style just to express myself in an unambiguous manner.

Now, don’t go getting me wrong. The Tigers came to the Ice Dome expecting a royal arse kicking, right up there with what w ehave handed out to Slough and Peterborough recently. Probably even more so after we had lost Saturdays game (which according to those there also featured the EPIHLs “Inept Officiating tm” standards). However, to their credit they still came to play a game of hockey, which they did, and they played it well. Well enough to take the points? Nope. Harsh, but true, they did not play well enough to honestly say they left the rink with the points because the deserved to. At the point when the game turned, the Phoenix were in the ascendancy, and were beginning to look more like themselves again. Sadly, it all went very pear shaped, very quickly.

Hockey is at least 50% luck when on this ice. Sometimes the luck is with you (and the gods only know how much luck we have ridden of late), and sometimes it isn’t. But in general, you make your own luck. Sometimes though, some outside body makes the luck, and you have to deal with all the shit that follows. That is what happened on Sunday.

Now, I’ve never been one to blame the officials for us losing a game. 99.9% of the time its the teams own fault if they fuck up. And soem of last nights issues were very much of our own making. Without big Robb and his steadying influence at the back, we looked dangerously weak. For those who wondered why we signed him again (yes, there is a percentage of the Phoenix fan base who don’t like him), last night was evidence as to why. He steadies the ship in a manner which Boothroyd, much as I admire him, does not. Schnabel exudes an authority on the ice, and fuck me did we miss it last night. The lapses cost us dear early on, but the forwards dug deep and looked like they had saved our arses big time…

The we scored to go 5-2 up. Except we apparently didn’t. The Phoenix players began to celebrate. The fans began to cheer. Shit, even the Tigers players began to ready themselves for a face off, then they noticd the ref had his arms spread wide. No goal. The Tigers reacted first, sped up the ice and promptly scored whilst the Phoenix players, and around 1,000 fans went bat shit mental at the man in the stripes. Quite literally, he was the only person in the whole building who didn’t think it was a goal. No whistling down the play and consulting the goal judge, just a wave of the arms, and that’s your lot. Coach Hand was clearly livid. Psurny looked like he would get chucked out such was the vehemence of his reaction. How I managed to not let fly with a  stream of expletives is beyond me. I was seriously fucking angry. I mean, it was clearly a goal. For fucks sake, even Scott McKenzie (who was sat at the other end of the fucking rink) said so after the game in the bar. The anger continued once the game re-started. Cat calls and boos rang out for the officials (who had been pretty poor before this incident with wildly inconsistent icing and offside calls).

And whilst the Phoenix were trying to play in a haze of anger, the Tigers scored again. From a clearly offside pass. Which pissed everyone off even further. Again, Hand an Psurny went ballistic, again the crowd reacted with a rarely heard fury. The officials were dictating the direction the games momentum was flowing.  After this, the Phoenix tried, but the spark was gone. Telford played out for OT, then penalties, and as usual, of penalty shots were mostly poor (except KOVARs textbook one.. that was perfect, Not Psurnys as I erroneously wrote).

And it fucking hurt. To have the game changed so drastically and clearly by the officials was beyond acceptable. Coach Hand picked up a 10min misconduct after the game for abuse of an official allegedly after being told to ‘fuck off’ when he questioned the refs about their calls.

Like I said, I don’t like to blame the refs for losing, but last night they effected change in the game which did alter the outcome. Because its true, had we moved into a 5-2 lead, there was no realistic chance for the Tigers to come back, no matter what some may say.

And breathe….