The Printed Word

Peter Hetherston coined the best phrase to describe the pressure of the run-in when everything is on the line. Previewing a big game, the then Raith Rovers' captain said it was "jaggy nettles time." Right now, four EIHL teams know that feeling all too well as they try to stay just out of reach of being stung in the race to bag one of the remaining play-off spots. The fact they all play each other across the closing weekends of the regular season simply throws more pressure on to the benches. Forget 'must win' games - each and every one of them comes with a 'cannot lose' tag. There's a seven-point gap between Manchester Storm in  seventh and Fife Flyers in tenth, but the race-within-a-race is arguably between the bottom three - and that gap is three points.  Jaggy nettles time indeed. Storm  returned to Scotland last night and grabbed what may yet be a game-changing 2-0 win over Glasgow Clan - a team now in worrying freefall....

Ice hockey doesn’t get a lot of mainstream media coverage. After listening to The Nolan Show segment on fighting in the sport, maybe we should be grateful. Two proper hockey enforcers going toe to toe - Chris Frank (Braehead Clan)  and Matt Nickerson (Fife Flyers). Pic: Steve Gunn The Irish broadcaster honed in on a fight in a recent Belfast Giants game - a normal, very brief toe to toe with spanned all of five punches before the players hit the ice and the officials stepped in. The fact the match was sponsored by the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) and attended by  assistant chief constable, Alan Todd, gave host, Stephen Nolan, the hook into a ten-minute debate on violence within sport. It was bewildering to watch as Nolan and his guests spoke from a basis of zero knowledge, but still managed to manufacture some outrage over the fact the country’s second most senior police officer was there and didn’t instruct instant arrests given it was witnessed an...