STORM BLITZ ISSUE #93 Monday 16 February 1998 Sorry about the delay.... If you have any comments on Storm Blitz, please feel free to e-mail stormblitz@intothestorm.co.uk any time. There are currently 301 subscribers to Storm Blitz ------------------------------------------------ INTO THE STORM IS SPONSORED BY SOUTHERN GRAPHICS http://www.southern.northwich.com ------------------------------------------------ In this issue : * Storm win the game but lose the Superleague * Other games Sun 15th * Bison beaten as Storm can still hope * Other games Sat 14th * Express Cup semi-final 1st Leg matches * Storm shock Ayr to prolong Superleague * Other games Sun 8th * Sat 7th games * EHL news * Next season's contracts * Thunderflash updated * Milton Keynes news * Superleague coach rumours * Dominic Maltais * New arena for Liverpool * Into The Storm updates * The latest from Storm Audio * Latest Superleague table * Final Express Challenge Cup table * Forthcoming Storm games * Directions to away games * TV and Radio News * Download back issues of Storm Blitz * How to unsubscribe to Storm Blitz --------------------------------------------------- > STORM WIN THE GAME BUT LOSE THE SUPERLEAGUE The Superleague title had at least reached the penultimate Sunday. Manchester Storm faced Cardiff Devils at home, whilst Ayr also at home, faced bottom club Newcastle Cobras. Surely there was no way that Ayr could not win it - but it was very close in the end. Storm’s game faced off 15 minutes late due to crowd congestion with Ayr’s game starting just five minutes later at 6.20pm due to live SKY screening of the latter part of the game. Ayr needed a point to wrap the league championship if Storm beat Cardiff. Hilton Ruggles scored the opening goal with three minutes remaining of the first period. The game remained tight as news from Ayr filtered into the crowd. Ayr were 0-0 at the end of the first and still 0-0 at the end of the second period. Storm kept their dreams alive as Rick Brebant doubled the lead on 46 minutes. Cardiff immediately pulled a goal back from McCarthy just as Ayr scored in their game. The minutes ticked down very slowly as all attention turned to game in Scotland. Many fans used mobile phones to call friends watching the other game on TV and relayed the information to the crowd. Newcastle pulled their netminder in the last minute and with their net wide open, the killer goal was scored and Storm’s hopes finally ended. > OTHER GAMES SUN 15TH In other Superleague games on Sunday 15th, Sheffield Steelers gained some revenge for the maulings that Nottingham Panthers have given them by defeating their rivals 9-3 at the Sheffield Arena. By the time there were nine minutes on the clock it was already 4-0 to Steelers. David Longstaff, Tony Hand, Ken Priestlay and Tommy Plommer scoring the goals. Frank Kovacs scored a short handed goal after 17 minutes to make the score 5-0. Nottingham started a mini-revival at the start of the second period with Weber and Carpenter scoring at the start of the peirod. Ron Shudra scored on the powerplay thirty seconds later to make it 6-2 and then on 37 minutes it was Ed Courtenay who made it 7-2 to Sheffield. Courtenay scored again two minutes into the third period and then Rob Wilson scored after 49 minutes and Nottingham were 9-2 down. With six minutes remaining, Brent Bobyk finished the scoring with a Panthers goal to end the game 9-3. Bracknell Bees faced Basingstoke Bison at home and overcame their rivals 3-2 after overtime. Brant scored for Bees after 14 minutes but then three minutes later Black scored a short handed equaliser. Black then scored again after 24 minutes to put Bison 2-1 in the lead. McCosh equalised after 39 minutes and there was no more scoring until overtime. Ferraccioli scored the winner for Bracknell four minutes into overtime and Bees kept up their challenge for fifth place above Sheffield Steelers. > BISON BEATEN AS STORM CAN ONLY HOPE Storm kept their hopes alive on Saturday night with a 5-2 victory at Basingstoke Bison. Conway scored for the next-to-bottom team with four minutes on the clock and Brad Rubachuk equalised for Storm three minutes later. The Bison were 2-1 ahead after 22 minutes with a goal from Teeple, but the second half of the game saw four unanswered goals from Mikael Wiklander, Craig Woodcroft, Stephen Cooper and Rick Brebant. > OTHER GAMES SAT 14TH In the other Superleague games on Saturday 14th, Cardiff Devils travelled to Newcastle Cobras and shutout the bottom club 6-0. Bracknell Bees improved their chances of finishing fifth in the Superleague by winning 5-3 at Lower Parliament Street against Nottingham Panthers. > EXPRESS CUP SEMI-FINAL 1ST LEG MATCHES On Tuesday night, Sheffield Steelers travelled to Bracknell Bees in the first leg of the Express Cup semi final. After seven minutes of the game, McCosh opened the scoring for Bracknell. Jamie van der Horst equalised for Sheffield after 30 minutes and then Bracknell won the game in the third period. Pellerin scored after 47 minutes and then Whistle scored with four minutes remaining to set up a tense second leg in Sheffield. On Wednesday night, the second semi final took place between Nottingham Panthers and Ayr Scottish Eagles. Premak scored the first goal for Nottingham after nine minutes. Biette equalised for Ayr six minutes later but Paul Adey put Nottingham back in front after 16 minutes. Ryan Kummu made it 2-2 two minutes before half time with a goal for Ayr Scottish Eagles. Knox put Nottingham Panthers back in front after 22 minutes but Parco and Purdie scored to put Ayr 4-3 up. Jamie Leach equalised for Nottingham two minutes before the end of the second period and there were no more goals in the third period. Nottingham Panthers will be hoping to pull off a shock and win at the centrum Arena in the second leg. > STORM SHOCK AYR TO PROLONG SUPERLEAGUE Storm travelled to Ayr on Sunday 8th to see if they could stop the Scottish team from getting the one point they needed to clinch the Superleague title. After a goalless opening period, Craig Woodcroft scored to put Storm 1-0 ahead two minutes into the second period. Sam Groleau levelled for the Eagles shortly afterwards and the Superleague title now looked destined for Scotland. One point was all that Ayr needed - even an overtime defeat would have been enough! Craig Woodcroft scored with just 20 seconds remaining to spoil the premature celebrations and keep Storm’s slim hopes alive. > OTHER GAMES SUN 8TH In other games on Sunday in the Superleague, Bracknell Bees defeated Sheffield Steelers 6-5 at the Sheffield Arena after overtime. Brant opened the scoring for Bees after six minutes and then Junkin made it 2-0 six minutes later. Ed Courtenay made it 2-1 five minutes into the second period and then Kelman restored the two goal lead for Bracknell with a third goal on 30 minutes. Mike Ware, Nicky Chinn and Tommy Plommer scored goals in just two minutes and Steelers led 4-3. Bracknell came back two minutes later with the equaliser. Nicky Chinn thought he'd won it for Steelers with three minutes left and then with just 47 seconds remaining Brant equalised at 5-5. The game went into overtime and Gomes scored the winner three minutes into the extra period. Newcastle Cobras faced Basingstoke Bison in Newcastle Arena in a battle of the bottom two clubs. Xavier Majic scored after 18 minutes to give Newcastle Cobras the lead. Basingstoke soon equalised from Shewan and that was it for goals and entertainment! The second, third and overtime periods were all goalless and the bottom two clubs got a point each. Cardiff Devils faced Nottingham Panthers in Cardiff and won 3-1. Moria, Cooper and MeEwan scored for the Welsh side, while Laxdal scored for Nottingham. > SAT 7TH GAMES In the final Express Cup group game on Saturday, Bracknell Bees came from 4-2 down at the end of the second period to defeat Newcastle Cobras 6-5. In the Superleague, Cardiff Devils travelled to Basingstoke Bison and won 4-2. In the other game, Ayr Scottish Eagles are now just two points from the Superleague title after they won 5-2 at Nottingham Panthers. Shawn Byram cored twice for Ayr. Ayr would win the Superleague if they beat Storm in their next game at the Centrum Arena. > EHL NEWS According to reports, the European Hockey League recently held their first ever meeting in the UK at the Nynex Arena. They were discussing the Wildcard entrants for next year's competition. It is said that Manchester Storm were the only team that met the requirements for a wildcard team of the teams put forward. > NEXT SEASON'S CONTRACTS There has been talk recently of Jim Hrivnak's future at Manchester Storm. Kurt Kleinendorst says that Hrivnak wants to sign a new contract, but that he isn't to be treated differently from the other players, who are all currently contracted only to the end of the season (except Kris Miller, who was awarded an extended contract earlier in the season - unless this wasn't true of course). Other players who are wanted next season, Kurt says, have only been verbally told this and no contracts will be signed before the end of the season. However, it is no secret that many of the players have already booked their planes out of Manchester as soon as the day after the Superleague play off final and indeed have had them booked for some time. It has to be hoped that any players that slip the net don't get tempted to stay overseas. > THUNDERFLASH UPDATED Thunderflash has announced an update to the site. New to the Storm electronic fanzine is a new format Ice Warriors, a new Storm song, the fans view on who should stay and who should go - and an alleged exclusive. Thunderflash can be found at http://members.aol.com/thunflash > MILTON KEYNES NEWS The team that hosted Storm's first ever game may well be up and running again soon with a new rink opening shortly in Milton Keynes. It is claimed that the rink will not be big enough for the Superleague, and the new team may well be playing in the English League or possibly the British League depending on the consortium that will run the team. The latest report is that Tony Oliver, the man behind the potential British League team has been denied his chance by the rink management, who are preferring the English Leagues setup. A survey of 375 Milton Keynes Kings Supporters Club members showed that the British League team was favoured by 367 of them. The opening of the rink will probably be in a few weeks time. It is claimed that there will be "something different, not available at any other rink in Europe". > SUPERLEAGUE COACH RUMOURS The Sheffield Star reported last week that Steelers coach Alex Dampier is the number one target to become the new coach of Newcastle Cobras next season replacing Dale Lambert. Dampier has also been linked with the new London Docklands team. His comments on the subject were: "All I'm doing right now is seeing out the rest of the season with Sheffield and then I will wait and see what happens after that. I don't have a contract with Sheffield, so I am a free agent and free to talk to whoever I want, but it's not something I'm really worried about right now. I've never bothered looking at other possibilities until the end of a season. But it's also a question of whether Sheffield want me to stay." The News Of The World reported that Peter Woods will be taking over as Manchester Storm coach at the end of the season. The reasons given were that Kurt Kleinendorst's family are having trouble settling here. Peter Woods's contract with Basingstoke Bison runs out at the end of this season. Meanwhile Bison have been told by Civic Leisure that funds the team that they will not be funding them next season. Unless another suitable franchise is found, the Bison may drop out of the Superleague. Incidentally, GMR immediately reported that the rumours of Kleinendorst's impending departure were false. > DOMINIC MALTAIS Following the departure of Dominic Maltias back to play for Hampton Roads Admirals, Kurt Kleinendorst is quoted as saying, "As long as I am in charge of this club I will never again be placed in that sort of position by a French Canadian player". Dominic walked out on Storm long after the transfer deadline leaving Storm shorthanded for the rest of the season. > NEW ARENA FOR LIVERPOOL Plans were announced last week for a 20,000 seat indoor arena in the Liverpool area. It is said to be sited on the old garden festival site in the city. There has been no specific announcement for an ice hockey team to play out of the complex, but if a team were to exist, they would have to buy part of Storm's North West franchise the same way that Leeds have bought part of Sheffield's franchise for their Lasers team. The last Liverpool team to play in the city was the Liverpool Leopards. > INTO THE STORM UPDATES The Guestbook and the Manchester Storm Message Forum both broke down this weekend with Web server problems - the Guestbook has referencing problems, while the Forum managed to get a corrupted index and bad file permissions. The Web Site stats also managed to corrupt themselves. All this happened on Friday 13th at 3.30pm! Thanks to U-NET's "Easy 2" squad for their help over the weekend for sorting it all out! Ice Hockey Links - Added link to ANOTHER new unofficial Newcastle Cobras site! Amended inaccurate link to the unofficial Ice Hockey Superleague site. 20 Things DS Would Never Say - There are now 55 things that Dave Simms would (apparantly) never say. All the tables, results, fixtures, latest news etc have been updated as normal. > THE LATEST FROM STORM AUDIO Storm Audio has increased its storage capacity so there's more archive space available. STORM AUDIO now includes news and post match reaction from the following games: Manchester Storm v Cardiff Devils (Sun 18 Feb) - Kurt Kleinendorst's view on Dominic Maltais leaving, Jim Hrivnak's contract and Ayr's Superleague win. Ayr Scottish Eagles v Manchester Storm (Sun 11 Feb) - 7 minutes of commentary highlights from the vital Superleague clash with the GMR commentary team of Jeff Tomlinson and Andy Costigan. Manchester Storm v Basingstoke Bison (Sun 1 Feb) - Kurt Kleinendorst talks about Storm letting 4-0 become 4-3 and hot news about the summer plus Peter Woods on why the Bison had a bad weekend. Listeners should download the final release of Real Player 5 which is better than the Beta version that many people are using. The file is free to download from http://www.real.co.uk or on the CD-ROM on the front of .Net magazine. An edited version of STORM AUDIO appears each Monday evening on BBC GMR 95.1FM at 5.55pm. STORM AUDIO can be found on the Internet at http://members.aol.com/stormaudio > LATEST SUPERLEAGUE TABLE Pl W D OL NL +/- Points Ayr Scottish Eagles 27 19 1 2 5 +47 41 Manchester Storm 26 16 3 1 6 +36 36 Cardiff Devils 26 15 2 1 8 +23 33 Nottingham Panthers 27 13 3 0 11 -5 29 Bracknell Bees 26 13 1 1 11 -19 28 Sheffield Steelers 26 11 2 3 10 +8 27 Basingstoke Bison 27 5 4 5 13 -35 19 Newcastle Cobras 27 5 2 1 19 -55 13 Win=2; Draw=1; Overtime Loss=1; Normal Loss=0 > FINAL EXPRESS CHALLENGE CUP TABLE Pl W D OL NL +/- Points Ayr Scottish Eagles 14 12 0 0 2 +30 25 Sheffield Steelers 14 9 0 0 5 +6 18 Bracknell Bees 14 7 2 1 4 +3 17 Nottingham Panthers 14 8 0 0 6 +6 16 ----------------------------------------------------- Manchester Storm 14 5 3 2 4 +10 15 Cardiff Devils 14 6 1 0 7 -8 13 Basingstoke Bison 14 4 0 0 10 -26 8 Newcastle Cobras 14 1 2 1 10 -21 5 Win=2; Draw=1; Overtime Loss=1; Normal Loss=0 The top 4 qualified for the semi-finals. > FORTHCOMING STORM GAMES DATE OPPONENTS F/O VENUE COMPETITION Sat 21 Feb Sheffield Steelers 7.00 Away Superleague Sun 22 Feb Bracknell Bees 6.00 Home Superleague Play-off games to be announced > GETTING TO STORM AWAY GAMES The following information is taken from THE STORM SHELTER (http://www.omen1.demon.co.uk/storm/index.html) Sheffield Steelers v Manchester Storm Saturday 21 February 1998 face-off 7.00 Address Sheffield Arena, Broughton Lane, Sheffield. Telephone 0114 256 2002 0114 256 5656 (Box Office) Capacity 8500 Directions From M1 Junction 34 take the A6178 towards Sheffield town centre. The arena is on the left about 1/4 mile after a McDonalds. The Car Park is 2 pounds. Or From Glossop, follow the A57 through the City Centre, then follow the Meadowhall signs. Arena signposted on right after the sports stadium. > TV AND RADIO NEWS TUE 17 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the Winter Olympic games - 0300 - 0400 TUE 17 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics LIVE - Live coverage of the Women's final in the Winter Olympics - 1000 - 1130 TUE 17 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the Winter Olympic games - 2100 - 2245 WED 18 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics LIVE - Live coverage of a men's quarter game - 0545 - 0815 WED 18 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's quarter final games - 1430 - 1600 WED 18 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's quarter final games - 1730 - 1900 WED 18 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's quarter final games - 2100 - 2245 THU 19 FEB SKY SPORTS 2 - Ice Hockey LIVE - Live coverage of an Express Cup semi final - 1930 - 2200 THU 19 FEB PICCADILLY KEY 103FM - Storm news, game preview and interviews - 2030 - 2035 THU 19 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the Winter Olympic games - 2100 - 2200 FRI 20 FEB SKY SPORTS 2 - Ice Hockey - Full coverage of the Express Cup semi final shown earlier in the evening - 0000 - 0230 FRI 20 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics LIVE - Live coverage of a men's semi final game - 0545 - 0815 FRI 20 FEB SKY SPORTS 2 - Ice Hockey - Full coverage of the Express Cup semi final shown the previous evening - 1130 - 0230 FRI 20 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's semi final games - 1730 - 1830 FRI 20 FEB BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - GMR SPORT - Interviews, previews and news from Manchester Storm along with other sport - 1900 - 2200 FRI 20 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's semi final games - 2100 - 2245 SAT 21 FEB GALAXY 102FM - Galaxy Sports - Interview with Kurt Kleinendorst and music - 1715 - 1730 SAT 21 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's 3rd/4th place play off - 2100 - 2245 SAT 21 FEB BBC RADIO 5 LIVE - NIGHT EXTRA - Review of Saturday night's games including results as well as all the other sports results - 2330 - 0000 SUN 22 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics LIVE - Live coverage of the men's final - 0430 - 0745 SUN 22 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's final - 1030 - 1300 SUN 22 FEB EUROSPORT - Winter Olympics - Highlights of the men's final - 2130 - 2300 SUN 22 FEB BBC RADIO 5 LIVE - NIGHT EXTRA - Review of Sunday night's games including results as well as all the other sports results - 2325 - 2335 MON 23 FEB BBC GMR 95.1/104.6FM - Drivetime - Interview with Kurt Kleinendorst and Storm players following the weekend's games - this is an edited version of STORM AUDIO - 1755 - 1800 > DOWNLOAD BACK ISSUES OF STORM BLITZ All previous issues of Storm Blitz are still available. You can download all of the back issues from the Storm Blitz page on Into The Storm. If you do not have Web access, then if you e-mail me, I'll forward the issues that you require on to you. > HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE TO STORM BLITZ Easy! Visit the Storm Blitz page on Into The Storm and post the "unsubscribe" form. Alternatively you can send an e-mail to stormblitz@intothestorm.co.uk 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 #93 *** E-mail STORM BLITZ at: stormblitz@intothestorm.co.uk INTO THE STORM can be accessed at: http://www.intothestorm.co.uk