STORM BLITZ ISSUE #11 Thursday 9 January 1997 If you have any comments on Storm Blitz, please feel free to e-mail inter.the.storm@poboxes.com any time. In this issue : * Stuttering Steelers go down in Cardiff * Cobras beat Panthers 1-0 * Ayr beat Basingstoke * Storm in the Sun * "Under The Moon" review * Latest Superleague table * Who's next at the Nynex? * Forthcoming Storm fixtures * Next on TV & Radio * New Web Stats for Inter The Storm * Get back issues of Storm Blitz * How to unsubscribe to Storm Blitz ------------------------- > STUTTERING STEELERS GO DOWN IN CARDIFF Sheffield Steelers went to Cardiff to play the Devils on Thursday live on SKY SPORTS and on BBC Radio Sheffield. The first period was very physical and there were a great deal of penalties for both sides and it remained goalless. Vesio Sacratini opened the scoring for Cardiff in the second period and the lead was doubled by Frank Evans before Ron Shudra pulled one back for Steelers. The third period saw Tony Hand equalise for Sheffield and they looked like they may go on to win the game before Doug McCarthy gave the Steelers a 3-2 lead. With 35 seconds remaining, Alex Dampier pulled Greco in a last gasp attempt to equalise and take the game into overtime. With 20 seconds remaining Priestlay passed to Wilson and Lyle shot just wide. 10 seconds later, Lyle missed again before Steelers called a timeout with just 1.2 seconds remaining. This came to nothing as Cardiff opened up a 5 point lead at the top of the table. > COBRAS BEAT PANTHERS 1-0 The lowest ever score in the Superleague saw Newcastle Cobras beat Nottingham Panthers 1-0 in the North East on Thursday evening. I think I am correct in saying that it is the (joint?) lowest top level result in this country ever! > AYR BEAT BASINGSTOKE Ayr Scottish Eagles finally got to winning ways on Wednesday night as the defeated Storm's next opponents Basingstoke Bison 3-2 in Scotland. The first period saw most of the action as Hoffman and Steer put Ayr into a 3-1 lead after the score had been 1-1. The second period was goalless, as was the first 10 minutes of the third. Little pulled a goal back on 50 minutes to bring the score the 3-2 and despite a valiant effort, Basingstoke could not equalise. > STORM IN THE SUN The following article appeared in THE SUN newspaper: John Picks Up a Storm John Lawless reckons he knows why Manchester Storm have struggled in Ice hockey's Superleague - his coaching. Four straight defeats saw Storm hit the bottom before Sunday's 2-1 win over Ayr stopped the rot. Lawless, 36 tomorrow, admitted: "I've had to look at myself to see how I could improve as a coach. And there is definite room for improvement!" > "UNDER THE MOON" REVIEW Channel 4's new all night sports programme Under The Moon began on Wednesday night with a 5 and a half hour programme. The programme was split into three, with the first being a phone-in/e-mail/fax discussion type of thing with guests including Jo Brand (for some reason), a footballer and a cricketer. It was very lively and off-beat, but the topic rarely moved away from the current topics in football and cricket. The second part of the programme was American Football. They showed a full match for two hours! This was really over the top as the American Football programme was only on two nights previously. From 4.30 to the close at 5.30 they showed Trans World Sport which included brief highlights of an NHL game (about 30 seconds long). They said that the middle part of the programme would concentrate on American Football action - despite there only being the championship games - one being shown live on Channel 4 on Sunday night and then the Superbowl left. They said that basketball would come in after that. Whether it would be live or not wasn't clear and neither was whether they would stick to basketball every week which would get very dull after a bit, live or not. > LATEST SUPERLEAGUE TABLE Pl W D OL NL +/- Points Cardiff Devils 27 19 2 0 6 +39 40 Sheffield Steelers 25 15 3 2 5 +27 35 Newcastle Cobras 26 13 2 4 7 +12 32 Nottingham Panths 27 12 1 2 12 +8 27 Ayr Scottish E 25 9 6 0 10 -10 24 Basingstoke Bison 27 9 2 1 15 -20 21 Bracknell Bees 24 8 2 0 14 -26 18 Manchester Storm 23 7 2 1 13 -30 17 Up to and including games on 9 January > WHO'S NEXT AT THE NYNEX? Manchester Storm v Basingstoke Bison - Sunday 12 January 1997 - Superleague. Basingstoke are Storm's bogey team, as Storm are always expected to do well against them but rarely do. Bison humiliated Storm at the Nynex 8-3 in November after having lost away after overtime. The third meeting was away and that was also a Bison win, this time 6-4. I can see a Storm victory at last, although it will be close. The prediction for this game is...Manchester Storm 4 - 3 Basingstoke Bison. Manchester Storm v Cardiff Devils - Thursday 16 January 1997 - Superleague. This game is to be live on SKY SPORTS and is unlikely to produce much needed points for Storm. The last meeting between the two sides ended with a 2-1 victory for Cardiff that Storm played well in, but Storm's performances since then give much less cause for optimism. Cardiff should be well and truly out of their temporary rut by then riding high at the top of the league, while Storm will probably still be bottom of the league. The prediction for this game is...Manchester Storm 2 - 5 Cardiff Devils. > FORTHCOMING STORM FIXTURES SUN 12 JAN - Manchester Storm v Basingstoke Bison, Superleague, 6.00 face off. WED 15 JAN - Ayr Scottish Eagles v Manchester Storm, Superleague, 7.30 face off. THU 16 JAN - Manchester Storm v Cardiff Devils, Superleague, 7.40 face off. TUE 21 JAN - Sheffield Steelers v Manchester Storm, Superleague, 7.30 face off. THU 23 JAN - Manchester Storm v Bracknell Bees, Superleague, 7.30 face off. SAT 25 JAN - Newcastle Cobras v Manchester Storm, Superleague, 6.30 face off. SUN 26 JAN - Manchester Storm v Basingstoke Bison, Superleague, 6.00 face off. WED 29 JAN - Manchester Storm v Newcastle Cobras, Superleague, 7.30 face off. FRI 31 JAN - Sheffield Steelers v Manchester Storm, Superleague, 7.30 face off. > NEXT ON TV & RADIO WED 15 JAN - BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD - Sheffield Steelers v Nottingham Panthers - LIVE - 7.00 - 10.00pm (*TO BE CONFIRMED*) WED 15 JAN - HTV WALES - Highlights of a recent Cardiff Devils game plus goals from other recent games - 10.40 - 11.40pm THU 16 JAN - SKY SPORTS - Manchester Storm v Cardiff Devils - LIVE - 7.00 - 10.00pm TUE 21 JAN - BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD - Sheffield Steelers v Manchester Storm - LIVE - 7.00 - 10.00pm (*TO BE CONFIRMED*) > NEW WEB STATS FOR INTER THE STORM Starting very soon will be detailed statistics for Inter The Storm. Using a free service from Web Tracker, the statistics will include frequency of visitors, number of accesses by each visitor, operating system and browser details and time popularity (ie. most popular days & times of day). I will publish the details on the pages along with the Guestbook statistics and the banner advert statistics in the near future. > GET BACK ISSUES OF STORM BLITZ Issues 1 - 10 are still available. If you didn't get them, or want them again, send an e-mail to inter.the.storm@poboxes.com and let me know which you want and I'll forward them on to you. > HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE TO STORM BLITZ Easy! Send an e-mail to inter.the.storm@poboxes.com telling me that you don't want Storm Blitz any more. Also use this address if you wish to change e-mail addresses or if you have any comments. *** END OF STORM BLITZ ISSUE #11 *** INTER THE STORM can be accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/storm.html