STORM BLITZ ISSUE #12 Saturday 11 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 : * Cardiff, Sheffield & Nottingham win * David Latta info * Bellway rink closes * GB U-16s in Canada * Latest Superleague table * Who's next at the Nynex? * Forthcoming Storm fixtures * Next on TV & Radio * Inter The Storm enhancements * Get back issues of Storm Blitz * How to unsubscribe to Storm Blitz ------------------------- > CARDIFF, SHEFFIELD & NOTTINGHAM WIN On Saturday, Cardiff Devils beat Ayr Scottish Eagles 7-4 at the Centrum Arena in Scotland. Nottingham Panthers were involved in another tight game, after their 1-0 defeat at Newcastle on Thursday, the beat Bracknell Bees 6-5 at Lower Parliament Street. Sheffield Steelers got back to winning ways with a 4-3 overtime win at Basingstoke Bison. > DAVID LATTA INFO An article in The Pink - the weekly sports paper of the Manchester Evening News writes about David Latta : DAVE GOES THE LONG WAY ROUND Dave Latta today revealed the red tape nightmare which sent him halfway round the world to sign for Manchester Storm. The highly-rated Canadian forward was forced to travel to Canada and back to get an entry permit after being refused by British Embassy officials in Germany. At one stage the transfer was called off by John Lawless and Latta was set to start his career again in Germany. But he finally arrived in Manchester 10 days ago on his 30th birthday. He explained, "I had agreed the transfer deal with John and flew to Dusseldorf to get an entry permit. But when I spoke to them they said it would take four to six weeks. I was so angry. I flew there from Munich which wasn't cheap. I arrived believing I was going to get this thing and then I find I'm not going to get it. You bet I was angry. That effectively killed off the deal but a few days later John phoned back to say they could fly me to Canada and I could get the permit there. So I flew to Ottawa and got the stamp from the British Embassy there. It took just 15 minutes for the paperwork to be done after waiting in line for an hour." Latta played junior hockey for the Kitchener Rangers and was drafted by NHL side Quebec and was under contract to them for five years. Then his career took him to Germany for four years before he decided he was ready for a change. He made his debut on Sunday with a couple of shifts in the 2-1 victory against Ayr. Latta qualifies to play in Britain without a work permit because his wife is British. > BELLWAY RINK CLOSES The Bellway Manchester ice rink that was in Albert Square, Manchester city centre has now closed. The rink was a temporary construction enjoyed by hundreds of skaters over the weeks it was in use. There is a strong possibility that the rink will return - possibly in a different location - in the future. > GB U-16s IN CANADA Great Britain U-16s have been playing in the Steel City Hockey Tournament in Ontario, Canada last weekend. They won their division championship and according to sources in Ontario played good hockey and were a pleasure to watch. > LATEST SUPERLEAGUE TABLE Pl W D OL NL +/- Points Cardiff Devils 28 20 2 0 6 +42 42 Sheffield Steelers 26 16 3 2 5 +28 37 Newcastle Cobras 26 13 2 4 7 +12 32 Nottingham Panths 28 13 1 2 12 +9 29 Ayr Scottish E 26 9 6 0 11 -13 24 Basingstoke Bison 28 9 2 2 15 -21 22 Bracknell Bees 25 8 2 0 15 -27 18 Manchester Storm 23 7 2 1 13 -30 17 Up to and including games on 11 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 MON 14 JAN - BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - Interview feature as part of Drivetime programme at approx 5.45pm WED 15 JAN - BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD 104.1FM - 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 THU 16 JAN - BBC RADIO LANCASHIRE 95.5/103.9FM - Grass Roots - Blackburn Hawks feature at approx 7.45pm FRI 17 JAN - BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - Manchester Storm features including interviews. Main feature of the progamme will be live football with Burnley v Bury commentary - 7.00 - 10.00pm SAT 18 JAN - BBC RADIO 5 LIVE - Review of the night's games in the sports section of Night Extra - 11.30 - 12.00AM MON 20 JAN - BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - Interview feature as part of Drivetime programme at approx 5.45pm TUE 21 JAN - BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD 104.1FM - Sheffield Steelers v Manchester Storm - LIVE - 7.00 - 10.00pm (*TO BE CONFIRMED*) WED 22 JAN - BBC RADIO SHEFFIELD 104.1FM - The Ice Line - Sheffield Steelers phone-in programme includes Steelers players as guests - 7.00 - 8.00pm WED 22 JAN - HTV WALES - Highlights of a recent Cardiff Devils game plus goals from other recent games - 10.40 - 11.40pm THU 23 JAN - BBC RADIO LANCASHIRE 95.5/103.9FM - Grass Roots - Blackburn Hawks feature at approx 7.45pm FRI 24 JAN - BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - Manchester Storm features including interviews at approx 8.00pm as part of general sports programme - 7.00 - 10.00pm SAT 25 JAN - BBC RADIO 5 LIVE - Review of the night's games in the sports section of Night Extra - 11.30 - 12.00AM > INTER THE STORM ENHANCEMENTS The front page of INTER THE STORM now has "New" and "Updated" icons where pages have recently been added or updated. Please let me know how this looks on your browser. I have designed it with Netscape 3 in mind as this is the browser I have and was also the most popular browser for visits to Inter The Storm, so please let me know how it looks with your browser - in particular how well the icons are lined up with the link. The new stats page that I have set up for the pages are now live. There are two sets of information. The "public" information is linked from Inter The Storm and this shows the number of hits since they started recording (ie. Thursday) and the average number of hits per day. Also recorded on this page is a percentage breakdown of browsers used by visitors to the pages (Netscape appears to be the clear winner so far) and the operating system used by visitors (Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 seem to be equally used last time I looked). There is also a breakdown on repeat visitors - ie. how many times people have accessed. This information is freely available by accessing the page linked from the front page. In addition to this, I have "private" information that I am not allowed to link to the page, but gives me a more detailed breakdown of the browsers used (ie. which version of the software) - Netscape 3 is by far the most popular, a breakdown of domain names that will give me an idea of the country of origin of each visitor - although with AOL and CompuServe being used by UK and other visitors, this may give a distorted impression. I can also see the number of visitors by Day of the Week, and also by time of day - although this is comfusing as the time is Eastern USA time I believe. Although I am not allowed to link this "private" information to the pages, I will periodically report on any "interesting" stats that come from it. If there are any other Web page owners who haven't discovered this free service, follow the link at the bottom of the stats page and it will take you to their home page and you can sign up there and then. > GET BACK ISSUES OF STORM BLITZ Issues 1 - 11 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 #12 *** INTER THE STORM can be accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/storm.html