Warning: Incase you listen to this and somehow managed to get all excited for the game they are talking about, I’m a bit late on this one and the game has actually taken place, but it is worth pointing out anyway since it involves a Giants player – and not just any Giants played but the most talked about Giants player of all-time on message forums – Sean McMorrow.

The Sheriff appeared on BBC Radio Sheffield talking to their hosts about his teams upcoming double header (this past weekend) against Sheffield Steelers (in which each team won one game a piece) while also having an on-air chit-chat with Steelers new enforcer Mike Sgroi. The chat with Sgroi is the interesting point – an insight into what some of these tough guys think about one another. If you’re looking fireworks and trash talking then don’t bother, the respect is clearly there between these two heavies who have been doing the dirty work for their teams for over a decade now but it is worth tuning in to hear how they set up their fight for the first period of the first game between the two teams. (They did indeed go in the first and McMorrow got the edge).

Detractors will crucify this as them ‘arranging the fight’, but in Hockey this is something McMorrow would be expected to do. He is the leagues top enforcer and when someone new comes in to enforce for his team it’s only right that McMorrow gives him his stage, welcomes him to the league and lets him set a tone for his own team. Thankfully when it did happen McMorrow won the scrap and then the teams got on with the Hockey. The Giants won that one and lost the following night were both big boys kept clear of one another.

McMorrow goes on to say how he’d like every team to carry a player like himself and Sgroi on the line-ups and it’s hard to disagree with him. It would be good to see an extra element of entertainment on top of the skillful hockey some teams are producing and it would help add to the rivalries.

The irony in this radio piece though is that this is the same Sheffield team that earlier in the season said they were going down the skill hockey only route and that McMorrow wouldn’t be able to “buy a fight” against Sheffield but after a poor start to the year they have addressed a potential weakness by adding some toughness to the line-up (or if not to change fortunes at least give the fans something to cheer about) to fight, who else, but Sean McMorrow.

Perhaps looking for a fellow and regular dance partner, Giants enforcer Sean McMorrow has welcomed tough nut Mike Sgroi to the Sheffield Steelers calling him “an excellent addition to the Steelers team and a great signing for the Elite League.” Sgroi comes with a reputation of being a guy who can fight and play a bit and should add to the entertainment factor in games between the Giants and Steelers. With the Steelers struggling so far this season, especially domestically, their coach Dave Matsos has looked to shake up the line-up. Brad Cruickshank has moved to Coventry and Sgroi comes in to replace him. The Steelers organization has obviously seen what a McMorrow can do for entertainment with the fans both home and on the road and have looked to bring in someone of a similar ilk. McMorrow himself was full of praise while taking a not-so-subtle dig at his big rival Brad Voth.

“What kind of guy is he? perhaps the complete opposite of a Brad Voth, Mike Sgroi is a team guy, he puts his team first not him self, he will entertain the fans, protect his team mates and do whatever is best for his fellow players, not necessarily what is best for him self, he is the real deal,” clearly letting us know what kind of player he thinks Voth is at the same time and no doubt sparking their rivalry more.

“Mike is respected by many NHL and AHL tough guys as a clean fighter, he is an honest tough guy, sure he knows his role but he wont cheap shot a guy, he won’t try and beat a guy when he is down, the fans of Sheffield are in for a treat, he is the perfect player for the Steelers and the perfect player for our league,” said McMorrow, again pointing a finger towards Voth who McMorrow feels jumped him the last time they played.

McMorrow went on to say what many of us believe, ”The fans in this league deserved to be entertained, I try and do that and so will Mike Sgroi. The Steelers have a good man, a tough man and a good hockey player, the City will love him.”

What a nice way to round out the weekend with a win over Edinburgh and the news that Coventry had slipped up to our old friends Sheffield to put the Giants back on top of the Elite League. Of course Coventry still have a few games in hand but it is nice to be on top by a point putting the pressure on them to win them games. With back-to-back games coming up against the Blaze before Christmas this has put the Giants in an excellent position going into them match ups. The possibility of taking a five point lead into the Christmas break regardless of the two games in hand Coventry might have must be mouth watering for the players and a real incentive to get a big result.

Who says a fight cannot rejuvenate a down but not quite out hockey club? Only in the great sport of hockey can two men drop the gloves, square off,  duke it out and lift the crowd and the benches to surge on to a result? Only in hockey does the result of the fight not always matter either. Last night in the first second of the game Sean McMorrow of the Giants dropped the mitts with Brad Cruikshank of the Sheffield Steelers. McMorrow had invited Cruikshank to fight him in the press before the game and Cruikshank thinking that it might just give his directionless team the kick in the ass they need, duly obliged. McMorrow won the fight, easily, but the Sheffield players must have been sparked by their players courage and took the game to the Giants for the next 59 minutes and 59 seconds for the won the game 5-3 and may use this result as a turning point for their season. Read More»

This past weekend was the brand new shiny 20-20 Hockey-Fest trophy invented by the EIHL to give the fans something different for their weekend hockey fix. Something to bring all the fans together twice per year now, rather than the annual playoff booze up with hockey on the side.

The rules were different than normal hockey; two periods, twenty minutes per period, shortened penalties, no icing and no clock stoppage. A tournament played by all eight teams over one day with one winner at the end. It was radical thinking but an idea that might just catch on. The Sheffield Steelers ran out winners having beat the Coventry Blaze in the final. Favorites for the title, Nottingham Panthers who brought a few ringers to the competition went out early also. Read More»

…for any hockey fans living in Belfast. A comeback effort against Coventry that fell short on Friday night was followed by a shutout defeat to Newcastle on the road last night. It hasn’t been the best of starts for the Giants team, a team which by all accounts, that come directly from the fans at the games since I do not get to games myself anymore, the Giants have been very poor. Some fans even said the team look well behind the standard of last years team which only managed a 4th place finish in the league. Read More»

What more can be said about Steelers coach Dave Matsos. In his first year at the helm last season he guided the Steelers to the Playoff championship and followed it up this year with a league title, and then this weekend, another playoff crown. Surely it can only be a matter of time before a bigger team from a bigger league comes calling for this promising young coach.

Congratulations to the Steelers on dominating the major trophies this year.

It has been apparent for weeks now that the Steelers were going to win the league. Their huge lead a-top of the Elite League only needed mathematical confirmation before the trophy celebrations could begin in Sheffield and last night it finally happened. With Hull beating Coventry 4-1, the Steelers are officially now the Elite League Champions 2008-2009.

It is the clubs first championship since the 2003-2004 season but follows their playoff victory last year marking second year coach Dave Matsos as a young coach going places. In just two years with the club since retiring from the game through injury, Matsos has won the playoffs and now the league with Sheffield.

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Well, a 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the Steelers has pretty much eliminated the Giants chances of winning the Elite League title this season. I hate to make excuses and I rarely do, but there is little doubt that injuries have been the key reason to the Giants title charge falling apart. On paper they probably have the best squad but as people always say, ‘Hockey isn’t played on paper’ and when you shake out the injuries and eventually take to the ice with such short benches throughout the key times of the season you will inevitably come up short.

That is to take nothing away from Sheffield, who now baring a monumental collapse of proportions of which we haven’t seen before, will walk away Champions. It is a testament to the coaching ability of Dave Matsos, the best coach in the league. He lead his team to the Playoff title last year and now it looks like he has taken them to the league championship. How long such an up and coming young coach remains at the British level of hockey remains to be seen.

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