Better late than never

The power rankings are a bit closer this week as Coventry and Cardiff's injuries start catching up with them. Newcastle seem to be gaining some of their respectability back while Coventry's challengers at the top of the table are all keeping up the pressure with good runs of late.
In Caps land our recent run of "form" has been undermined by Basingstoke, Manchester and Hull's insistance of picking up points every now and again. 

Sheffield    5.97
Belfast      5.49
Nottingham   4.91
Coventry     3.53
Basingstoke  3.24
Newcastle    2.86
Manchester   2.43
Edinburgh    1.66
Cardiff      1.42
Hull         1.22

A Message From Martin Cingel

He reads it and so should you! ;p

Tappara - Jyvaskyla - Karpat - Espoo

I aslo did my ' check out the rinks ' videos during my tour. I took these for my own interest really and so I'll always remember what they looked like incase I never get the chance to visit them again. So if you are interested have a look at the following vids:

Tampere Ice Hall



Jyvaskyla Hippodrome



Oulun Energia Areena



Also not Jarko Soumalinen in the white pads!

LänsiAuto Areena

Power Rankings Update: Caps Still Pish

With the win over Coventry fading from memory the Capitals return to their rightful place at the bottom of the Power Rankings. In Cardiff things have gone a bit Vipers of late with two straight defeats and they're heading Capswards in the rankings.

Coventry     6.01
Sheffield    4.08
Belfast      3.59
Nottingham   3.23
Cardiff      3.05
Basingstoke  2.71
Manchester   1.24
Newcastle    0.93
Hull         0.93
Edinburgh    0.08

Caps Representi' Ayee

I should have done this ages ago but it's only now that I can actually be arsed writing something up on here. So here it is. Its lots of me and lots of representing the Edinburgh Capitals at rinks around Finland and Sweden. I got plenty of looks from the locals but I'm puting that down to my rather attractive yet slightly cheeky smile and not down to the fact I was wearing a completely obscure hockey top to them. Also note the patented double thumbs up Caps Representin' pose, it is a regular feature!

So first on the left there is moi in Oulu. The home of the ever so mighty Karpat. I look so comfortable in this pic but in reality I was freezing my ass off. It was -8 or something so I quickly pulled off the coat and gloves so everybody could see the awesomeness of the Edinburgh 02/03 away jersey. I stood out even more than normal ( Again I put that down to my sleek smile ) due to the fact that home team play in black and yellow and the away team on the night TPS play in white and black:

Next rink up for the Jan Krajicek game worn top to be shown off at was the LänsiAuto Areena in Espoo. Their wasn't much of a crowd at the Blues vs Kalpa game but this rink could arguably be the most comfy rink my buttocks have ever had the pleasure of sitting down at. The Sazka Arena would probably have some beef with that last statement but the LänsiAuto Areena had megapussi on sale so it wins out. Slightly, well maybe not the Sazka is just so good.

I aslo represented the Capitals in Jyvaskyla earlier in the tour showing off the much travelled top in all its glory. I was in the cramped standing section of the rink so couldn't really get a quality picture. I also took in Tappara vs Jokerit but was out and about pre-game and unfortunately forgot to wear to my jersey. I apologise for my forgetfulness. I think that's a word, isn't it???

From Finland and Helsinki I jumped on a Blue1 plane and flew over to Stockholm. This was my first ever Swedish experience. First game up for the Krajicek jersey was Djurgården vs MODO at the Hovet rink. The little brother of the near-by Globen Arena. The jersey was worn through-out the game but I thought grabbing a snap of a Caps top at the Globen would be far more impressive, so here it is. ENJOY!

From there it was on to the nice little town of Jönköping the home of HV-71. There I was fortunate enough to catch HV vs Frolunda. The match up was a complete sell out and unlucky for me so was my camera. The batteries packed in pre-game and I couldn't get a shot of me thumbsing it up at the biggest game of the entire holiday. So instead have a look at their quality jumbotron. The HV-71 hardcore fans were out in full force and were singing songs an hour before the game started. The club should be proud of their fans thats for sure. As for the game itself HV dominated especially when Jan Hrdina was on the puck. He was fantastic that night.

JUMBO!

Last up for us after a short train journey to Göteborg and the Scandinavium. We were there to see Frolunda vs Lulea. In Finland we had actually seen these two play each other on TV with Frolunda winning something like 7-1 on the road. So we were expecting another one sided contest. We got one but it was Lulea that was doing the goal scoring this time. Former NHL star Ľuboš Bartečko was uber impressive, scoring twice on breakaway moves. It turned out to be Lulea's first victory at Frolunda for seven years...

It's Christmas Come Early!

Check to the Head issue #4 should be on newsstands (i.e. in my bag) this Saturday for the first of the weekend's games against the Giants. For those whose attendance is issue dependent then I'd give the odds of copies being on sale as slightly higher than that of us wearing legacy jerseys as predicted by the Capitals' "Management".

December's issue is a must purchase for anyone who wants to know Martin Cingel's opinion on the quickest rail route between various Slovak destinations and a quality stocking filler for those who are wondering what the various options for food are inside the LänsiAuto Areena.

I've just about finished off my pieces for this issue which probably means Dave is sitting in front of Adobe Acrobat staring at a column sized hole that is the only one needing filled before the issue hits the press.

Right, that's enough skiving, back to the grindstone...

Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are...

...that I've not grown tired of maintaining a results spreadsheet to create power rankings that very few people other than myself (and even that's pushing it) take notice of.

Coventry 5.95
Cardiff 4.16
Sheffield 3.90
Belfast 3.57
Nottingham 3.29
Manchester 1.74
Basingstoke 1.73
Newcastle 1.22
Edinburgh 0.37
Hull 0.08