The Printed Word

Joe Grimaldi - now there’s a name from the past. It’s four years since the  helmet throwing, spearing, fighting coda to his EIHL career which resulted in an 18-game ban and his contract with Edinburgh Capitals being torn up. This week he featured on a podcast broadcast by Fourth Line Voice, and listening to him was a bit like hearing a dinosaur roar. It also sparked a Twitter spat with Dave Simms who was angry enough to call him out for his derogatory comments on British hockey, the refs, coaches and fans.  It was difficult not to compare Grimaldi’s narrative with another podcast featuring Matt Nickerson, a player who would have eaten him for breakfast. The former Fife enforcer spoke with humour and warmth and a clear love for the game, even when things all got a bit crazy. There was no joy whatsoever listening to Grimaldi’s tales of life on the road. Littered with obscene language which drained the life out of everystory, he belittled the UK ...

Sheffield Steelers moved back to the top of the Elite League this weekend, but the title race remains wide open as the margins between each team narrow with every passing set of fixtures. Steelers were just one of two teams to enjoy a four-point weekend. They started with a 5-4 OT win over great rivals Nottingham Panthers, and then posted  a fine 8-3 road win at Coventry Blaze. That result knocked Clan into second spot, one point behind Steelers, but with two games in hand. Glasgow Clan, who have made much of the early running, had a one-game weekend and home ice advantage, but still couldn’t cash in, going down 4-2 at home to Guildford Blaze - their second loss of the season at the hands of Paul Dixon’s side. Belfast Giants, another side which has found consistency elusive - and this week shook up the dressing room by releasing two players, and bringing in forward  David Goodwin from Mora IK of Sweden. Coach Adam Keefe clearly saw the moves as crucial...

There is surely nothing more absurd than a play-off play-in game. Well, unless you count a ‘pick your quarter-final opponents’ novelty factor. Only ice hockey could combine them into the same  cup competition and think they’d struck on something unique. The Elite League’s Challenge Cup has been kicked around more often than an empty juice tin rattling around rinkside. Placed next to all the other trophies, it’s the slightly  scuffed one at the end - a bit like that family relative no-one really likes, but no-one has the heart to ask to leave  the party. And so,  we get plain daft ideas bubbling to the surface on how to  breathe new life into its stagnant format - ideas which really ought to be laughed out of the room with a hearty snort of derision.  The play-off play-in is neat title for a truly dumb idea. It rewards failure. The two teams which finished bottom of qualifying groups of just three were handed a lifeline -...

It’s strange how a text message can not only jolt you, but also spark memories from years back . News of the death of Mike Lindley took me back 30 years. In the Heineken era, he and Jan were at the helm of the Supporters Club, and organised travel to away games for thousands of fans. Their Wembley excursions saw a convoy of buses depart the car park whether or not the team had qualified - in fact, in many ways it was more fun if you didn’t have to fret over possible semi-final elimination. Sure it was a different era, travel was cheaper, and time was perhaps in greater supply, but there is no doubt that this rink rocked. The official Supporters Club was packed with weel-kent faces, and then there were the Three Ds, whose road trips have rightly passed into hockey folklore. There are still a few of ‘em around these days too ... Mike was just a young man back then. He was still young when he passed away after being diagnosed with a brain tumour. He...

There are many twists and turns yet to come, but Glasgow Clan are enjoying the 2019-20 ice hockey season pretty much more than anyone right now. They've been at the top of table more than once, and midweek saw them post a splendid come from behind 6-3 win over Cardiff Devils. Saturday brings them to Kirkcaldy to face a Fife Flyers side they have dominated thus far - Zack Fitzgerald's team have won their last four meetings, and the coach will be quietly confident of stretching that sequence even further. If so he then heads back west to face Sheffield Steelers with the prospect of a four-point weekend to keep his team comfortably ahead of the chasing pack. And that might be one of the sparks which ignites a title race which has been wide open from day one. None of the big four - Sheffield, Belfast Giants, Nottingham Panthers or Cardiff Devils - have properly clicked yet.  When they're hot, they're pretty good, but there have been some solid dents placed in the...

The Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline has hosted many magical nights since it re-opened. An evening in the company of Snow Patrol has to sit comfortably in their top three. To see a band of their standing in such an intimate setting was a genuine thrill for the fans who snapped up all tickets within hours - many queuing up long before the box office opened. Appearing as a trio, Gary Lightbody, Johnny McDaid and Nathan Connolly were able to relax, re-work some of their classic songs, and enjoy performing a set very different to that of a major stadium gig. And they clearly had as much fun as an audience which soaked up every moment from this charity fundraiser which netted £30,000 for the Craw’s Nest Trust; a fantastic sum which comes in their 30th anniversary year. The evening had a wonderfully relaxed to it from start to finish, with the band taking some major delays- two hours stuck in the runway at Heathrow - in their stride. Highlights? Pretty much every song...