"It's only girls wear pink!"

(Sunday 10th April - Playoff Weekend in Nottingham, Day two)
(Part 1)

Sunday morning was finals day, which started off with a game between the England and Scotland U18's. Due to lack of sleep the night before, we decided to miss this game in favour of a lie-in. (Honestly, it's really not that much fun...scotland never stand a chance, it's the same every year)
We took our time getting ready then met up with Sarah (who managed to get up on time for the 1st game) for lunch.

We had been headed to a bar called The Pit & The Pendulum, but that idea was cut short when, due to Englands silly sunday licencing laws, the bouncer asked for Id. See, I didnt mind this as I am now well past the legal age and therefore felt all complimented and young again...but unfortunately with Sarah being only ickle, we had to make alternate arrangements.

The only place we could think of, that wasnt either a pub or of the Burger King variety, was the Hard Rock Cafe. We were on our way to it when out of nowhere we were jumped by a rougue tram that I'm pretty sure was after Lu's handbag...*phew* thankfully though, it missed! It's a good job too, as she also has a phobia of trams as well! As we dandered up the road we imagined the most horrible thing we could - A velvet covered tram, filled with wasps (which matt hates), moths (which I loooath..yuk!) and people touching the underside of their wrists (yes folks...sarah is strange too!)...nightmare!

When we got close to the HRC doors we could hear Dave Matthews calling us in. Yes this was the place!
Sooo different to the Hard Rock in Belfast...it actually played rock music the entire time we were in it... (...not a single Corrs song in sight!) ...and the walls had proper rock memorabilia...not just the Elton John cast off's we got stuck with...

With our food ordered, Matt of course requesting all healthy produce be banished from his plate, we added veggies to our tram of terror and waited patiently on our drinks.

They arrived quickly...fizzy water with lemon...err...I'm sure I ordered Pepsi... (Well, actually I had ordered Coke, but nowhere in Nottingham sells it. Only Pepsi.)

Anyhoo, unlike the Hard Rock in Belfast, the drinks were quickly changed without hassle...and even more unlike the Hard Rock in Belfast, I didnt feel ill after eating the meal...

By the time we finished stuffing our faces, we had missed warmups...which was a shame as I was told the two teams, the Cardiff Devils and the Sheffield Steelers, actually warmed up together...passing the puck back and forth, and shooting at each others net.

Cardiff was without Craighead, but instead had their number one goalie, Cugnet, playing in d, and had their back-up in nets...

...It was at this point that I began to wonder just how seriously this "race for 3rd place" was being taken...



Our fans spent the entire game chanting, cheering and just generally having a good time.
I think we had a chant for pretty much everyone in the arena....

For the Comets (Nottinghams cheerleaders): "Comets, Comets give us a wave" ...they did wave, but it had to be this whole big coreographed move, so we then chanted "You only wave when you're told to...wave when you're told toooo..." Essh! They were soo dull. They barely moved during the game. Actually made us appreciate our own pom-pom flingers! Cue chant of "Bring on the G-Crew!"

For the officials: Firstly Mike Hicks who was refereeing the game...various yells of "Hey Hicksy, learn to spell!" ...and chants of "Belfart *clap clap clap*" ...let me just explain this for you... Mike Hicks owns a company called Shinedog, and is (allegedly *cough*) personally responsible for doctoring the logo on the inside of our jerseys to read "Belfart Giants" instead of course of "Belfast Giants" ...hmm...

Then Nigel Boniface...he was standing down below us at the plexi watching the game with a couple of other guys...first there was "Nigel, Nigel give us a wave" ...which, eventually, he did....and then came "He's tall, he's thin...he'll put you in the bin...Boniface, Boniface" Which I think was his personal favourite ;o)

For Craighead: He was watching the game down at the plexi near us... Of course it started with the traditional "Johnny, Johnny give us a wave", but he didn't, so it turned into "Craigheaaad...it's only girls wear pink...it's only girls wear pink" ...which gave him, and everyone else in the arena a bit of a giggle! =)


wot is it with these damn pink shirts?!

For the fans: We started with Cardiff and worked our way round every team represented in the arena.... "Devils, Devils give us a wave" ...then... "London, London give us a wave" ...and so on, and so on...

Are you beginning to see a pattern forming here?? Ok, so we're just a big friendly bunch, who...err...like to wave! lol

...incidentally...they all waved! Yay! =)

And for ourselves: "Stand up if your team's not here" at which point one of the 4 Giants who turned up just to watch the games, Leigh Jamieson, stood up and waved in agreement that indeed, his team were most definitely not here! lol =)

During one of the period breaks Lu and I went for a wander round the concourse, and whilst we were distracted by Belfast enforcer Mel Angelstad (who was over selling his fight dvd's on a stall) drunkenly measuring his hand against that of an oversized coventry fan, we got hijacked by photographer Dave Page who dragged us outside and demanded our cheesiest poses for Powerplay magazine. Gee whiz, I sure can't wait to see that one.....NOTT!!!

The highlight of the game, however, has to be our fans starting a mexican wave, and not only getting it to circle the arena about 12 times, but also getting the entire Cardiff bench (including coach Dave Whistle) to join in each time it passed them... This only went to confirm my previous suspicions, even further!
Unfortunately I was at the wrong angle to get a photo of this happening, but if you're interested, you can find one here.

In the end the Steelers were presented with the bronze, giving the Devils a good head start to the bar!