Not in Doubt at Nottingham

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 24 November 2012 at the Capital FM Arena
Result	Nottingham Panthers 5 Cardiff Devils 0
Competition	Elite League – top-tier British ice hockey
Hopping	Number 9 on the rinkhopping list
Pre-match preparation
Not a lot – I arrived in the pouring rain with five minutes to spare from Brigg.
This match in one sentence
An efficient and dominant performance from the home team, and the points were won with the four goals in the second period.
So what?
Nottingham are fourth in their “southern” conference table and have closed the gap to Cardiff in third to just one point.
The drama unfolds
Panthers’ David Clark was penalised for hooking after 12 seconds.  This is excellent commitment on his part – his team successfully defended the powerplay.  Here’s my scene-setter clip.  This is an excellent and comfortable arena, by the way – thoroughly enjoyed the visit here. Each team had one more powerplay opportunity in the first period but there were no goals.  I was surprised to find the shot count announced as 8-8 because my impression had been that Nottingham were well on top.  What do I know?  I don’t even know all the actions to the music – it’s embarrassing when you get “Put your hands up in the air, put your hands up in the air” mixed up with “We will rock you” and I have no idea about this gangplank style thing that everyone is doing.  0-0 at the end of the first period Panthers removed any lingering doubt about this result with a second period demolition of the Devils.  Cardiff had three penalties and Nottingham were lethal in converting all three into powerplay goals, with another one thrown in.  Bruce Graham scored one and assisted two, Pat Galivan scored two, including one from a rebound from a shot smacked in by Jordan Fox from the blue line, and Matthew Myers had the even-handed goal.  See, I am picking up the jargon.  Game over, to all intents and purposes.  4-0 at the end of the second period Myers added his second and the team’s fifth in the third period.  Not much else by way of drama apart from a bit of coincidental 2+2 roughing penalties and two of the officials hitting the ice when trying to separate the teams.  One of the penalties was against the Panthers’ netminder Craig Kowalski so fair play to Devils’ Devin Didiomete for trying to rough up someone with even more padding.  Final score 5-0
The programme
Something random
Clockwise!!!! It was never in doubt. Look at the posts tagged ice hockey in the cloud on the right if you would like an insight into the strange world of Zamboni behaviour.  This one has been badly disguised as an aeroplane but fools no-one.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
Nothing to add – except that you can still make a pledge which I will ask you to pay up in June 2013 to help the funding of world-class eye and sight research at Moorfields Hospital.  Use the HoppingForMoorfields tag to look for further details.
What Next?
I will try to get to a midweek game, working hours and weather permitting.  Hanworth Villa v Littlehampton in a Vase replay on Tuesday is top of the shortlist.