“I ain’t superstitious,
When a black cat crosses my path.
And, I ain’t superstitious,
As I break the looking glass.
Ain’t afraid of no demons,
Don’t make me laugh!”
“I Ain’t Superstitious” – Megadeth
I remember reading an article many years ago about superstitions in Hockey (sadly, despite many attempts, I can’t now find said article which is a shame as it would have made a good blog topic on its own). Said article explained that as Hockey is such a fast paced sport, anything that gives you the illusion of being able to control just the slightest aspect will help with confidence. Some of us fans also take the same approach for much the same reason or because we want to appease “the Hockey Gods” (hence the fear about uttering or even thinking about “the ‘s’ word”…)
At the time of writing, it’s the evening of the season opener – an away game in Nottingham against the Panthers. For many, this will be the first time they’ve seen this years squad in action whilst others have attended at least one of the pre-season games.
I’ve a number of reasons for not being there myself. One of the main ones is that I’m terrified of history repeating itself (something that looked even more likely when Storm scored first, but I’m getting way ahead of myself here). For the benefit of any newbies (or for those that were there and I’m sure will have attempted to bury the memory as deep as possible), its time to grab a beverage of choice and get comfy as we turn the clock back to the year 2001…
It had been an off- season of big changes. The team had been sold by the arena owners to local businessman Gary Cowan, the previous seasons coach, Terry Christensen, had been relieved of his duties and long time assistant Daryl Lipsey had stepped up to the plate. Off-season signings included GB Netminder Stevie Lyle and ex-NHL goalie Mike Torchia who had helped backstop the Sheffield Steelers to the Grand Slam/Sham (delete as applicable) the previous season, so it’s fair to say that things were looking good. A short pre-season had seen an exhibition shut-out loss at the arena to Russian side AK Bars Kazan and a 5-5 tie with Ayr Scottish Eagles (that if memory serves was supposed to be a two leg affair called the “Go Goodwins” cup. Sadly, the return game never happened)
The seasons starts proper with an away trip to Nottingham and with this being the first game, large numbers of Storm fans descend on the NIC. The puck drops and we’re under way. Not long into the first period, Storm break the deadlock by scoring first and the excitement builds. Having had a disappointing previous season, could we really be returning to the glory days of KK? For a short amount of time, it sure looks like it. However, things soon take a turn for the worse. The Panthers pull a goal back, take the lead and then score again. And again. The problem here is that to just about everyone in the building (with the possible exception of Storm Coach Daryl Lipsey) can see that Lyle is badly rattled. Throwing his water bottle into the top of the net after every drink becomes the norm and I’d have been surprised if he could have stopped a beach ball by the time he’s finally pulled from the net and replaced by Torchia, although the damage has already been done.
(As a side note, memories of that night were stored away in the subconscious of many fans there and brought up whenever Stevie Lyle played against the Phoenix. Many an evening was spent by the Choirboys with chants attempting (and arguably succeeding) in putting him off his game. Cruel? Possibly, but as with all our chants and songs, we knew where the line was and as much as we may have sometimes pushed up hard against it, we never crossed it and let’s face it, we wanted out team to win. One famous example is, having let in his fair share of goals one evening, the immortal line “I say, I say, I say. What is Stevie Lyle’s favourite colour? Indigo!” (a joke that works much better said out loud 😉 )
Back at the NIC, the night draws on and the final result is a thoroughly depressing 6-1 defeat. Sure, it’s only the first game of the season and there’s a lot of Hockey left to play, but there is a overwhelming feeling of dejectedness amongst the Storm fans. To make matters slightly worse, the England football team had played Germany in Munich whilst the game was going on and despite going 1-0 down after 6 minutes, had come back and won 1-5. Whilst the rest of the country celebrated, us Storm fans drowned our sorrows…
As an interesting note, some would point to this instance as the start of the final descent of the Storm arena era (and to be fair, many would argue that this process had really already begun the previous season). I’ll openly admit that I’m probably reading too much into things when I compare the game to something that happened a couple of short years later. Pretty much the exact same set of circumstances led to the Phoenix being eliminated from the Playoffs in a semi final game against the same team in the same building. An early lead (scored by “Super” George Awada if memory serves) created some short-lived hope before the Panthers rallied, equalised and the floodgates opened. The final score? You’ve guessed it. 6-1. Said game brought a sad end to arena Hockey in Manchester (and the team for a couple of years)
So, back to last nights game. It’s fair to say that things didn’t turn out so bad after all, especially with reports that we were incredibly short-benched. For some of us, this no doubt brought back memories of another Nottingham away game during the first Phoenix season. Plagued by injuries, I’m pretty sure I remember Rick Brebant playing the full 60 minutes (!) of the game, with the team scoring early and holding on for dear life (sadly, the Panthers equalised mid-way through the third period and a tied game was an accepted result at the time so that was the final score)
I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts how I’m a big believer in fate, and whilst I’ve dropped a good many over the years, I still hold onto a couple of traditions and superstitions (I’m not listing them here as I’ve no doubt someone will try and put me off them!). Do the team and travelling fans owe me a debt of gratitude for not going last night and tempting the final score?
I’ll let you decide…
Drumming Up A Storm 