EIHL - Saturday

Awesome! Woke up to cooked breakfast before heading off to Nottingham by tram! Novelty for me. The last time I travelled by tram was in Amsterdam in 1999!

Keith and I popped into Void to check out the fab goth clothes and boots before grabbing coffee and going off to the rink to get our tickets.

Excellent seats - thanks to press passes courtesy of Edinburgh Caps!

Met up with some of Keith's friends before heading off to our seats to watch the Semi Finals

Coventry Blaze -v- Newcastle Vipers
Blaze are apparently not a particularly popular team with fans of other teams and this was evident in the huge amount of chanting in support of the Vipers.

A very exciting game. Lots of scraps. Blaze did go on to win 4-2 but it was never a certainty and the game was exciting right up to the end.

Keith and I nipped out for lunch along with thousands of other hockey fans and managed to find a quiet little Chinese restaurant which seemed to have been overlooked by the chip-munchers! Had a fairly relaxed lunch and lots of water to make up for the vast quantity of alcohol consumed last night!

Slow stroll back to the rink with brief stop on the way to pick up painkillers for Keith who didn't have a hangover at all!

Sheffield Steelers -v- Cardiff Devils
The Steelers, like Blaze, not particularly well-liked by any supporters other than their own and those of the Belfast Giants. The majority of the stadium came out in support of the Devils.

However, despite having about 90% of the crowd behind them, the Devils seemed to be asleep for the majority of the game and it was sadly quite dull to watch. The Steelers were never really challenged and to give them their due, played a good game and came away with a 2-1 win.

So the Finals will see the two most disliked teams in the league go head to head. It will be interesting to see who gets the bulk of the support.

Keith, Shaggy and I had dinner at TGI's. JD ribs! Awesome! Ate WAY too much... but it was worth it!

Pics HERE: EIHL Saturday Pics