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The mid-week action on the ice this week saw Fife Flyers hosting the London Racers on Tuesday in cross-league competition.   An early goal from Dennis Maxwell set the Racers on the way to victory, and follow-ups from Ian McIntyre and Mark Gouett seemed to seal the game for London, but the Fife fightback began with Todd Dutiame finding the net to put the Flyers on the scoreboard.  Further Fife goals from Mark Morrison and Paul Spadafora tied the game up at three apiece going into the third period, but the Racers clinched the win through Jim Vickers in the 53rd minute.

Nottingham Panthers cruised to an easy win over Basingstoke Bison on Wednesday, with netminder Geoff Woolhouse notching up a shut-out and Marek Ivan scoring a hat-trick to take the game 3-0.  Sheffield Steelers were in cross-league competition, hosting Guildford Flames in a match where sixty minutes of regulation play and five minutes of overtime weren't enough to let either side find the net, the game ending in a nil-nil draw.  Former Phoenix netminder Jayme Platt recorded an eighteen shot shut-out in the Sheffield net, but this was overshadowed by the impressive performance in the Flames net of Miroslav Bielik, who notched up a 46 shot shut-out.

The first leg of the Challenge Cup Final took place last night at the Skydome, with Coventry Blaze hosting the Cardiff Devils.  Adam Calder opened the scoring for the home side in the first period, with Tom Watkins adding his marker two minutes later.  Rob Davison found the net for the Devils but that proved to be their only goal of the match, with Chris McNamara, Wade Belak, Ashley Tait and Joel Poirier piling on the misery to take the game 6-1. 

Dave Whistle took exception to an incident involving Jon Cullen late in the game, and in voicing his frustrations he picked up a match penalty from referee Simon Kirkham.

"Jon Cullen is one of the cleanest players in the League and his face was being pushed into the glass," said Whistle. "Those penalty calls are not being made and it's happening far too often. I told the referee what I thought and he made his call against me."

The second leg of the tie takes place in Wales next Thursday.

by Richard Allan