Phoenix: Game Shape

"If you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready."
- Suga Free: "If U Stay Ready"

Nothing like taking it back to 1997 with some West Coast hip hop on a freezing January night, but Suga Free's lyrics sum up the ideal Elite League mentality after the Christmas break.

For sure, most teams have stayed active throughout the last week, but coaches often take it easier as players enjoy a relaxed training schedule and more family time.

Steelers boss Dave Matsos made an exception, promising that his players would be either back on the bike or the ice the day after they scraped a 3-2 win against the Giants.

However, the Phoenix enjoyed a lighter schedule with no formal training, but defenceman Carl Graham made sure that he stayed busy. Coming back in game shape after Christmas is a big priority and Graham got a few workouts in to stay ready.

“You could take about six days off and I’m sure that throughout the league there are guys who will do that,” Graham told the Phoenix game programme.

"You need to hit the gym and ride the bike otherwise coming back and trying to play is hard."

And the British D-man has an additional incentive to be ready to go. Following the departure of Dwight Parrish on Boxing Day, there's more work available on the Manchester blueline. Somebody will have to eat Parrish's minutes, meaning that Graham could get some extra ice time.

“I’m hoping so,” Graham added.

“It’s hard to go from playing only a few minutes per game to play between 15 and 25 minutes but I’ve got to comeback from Christmas with the mindset that I’m going to be playing."

Capitals: Rolling Deep

Ever since Shawn Germain quit the club in September, the Edinburgh Capitals have been a man short on D.

But the arrival of American defenceman Sean Perkins has eased the pressure on the other defencemen.

The improving Capitals are now ranked eighth in the Elite League and Tuesday’s 4-2 victory against Basingstoke pushed them five points clear of the Bison.

“Bringing in guys like Sean Perkins and Roman Nesrsta has given us a bit more depth,” Christiansen told skysports.com.

“Rolling with four defencemen is a tough way to play in this league and Sean’s a player coming in off a championship team. He knows what it takes to win and will be important for us down the stretch.”

Perkins, 22, moved to Scotland after a stint with the championship-winning Cincinnati Cyclones in the ECHL and has joined a blueline that features two-way D-men Taylor Christie and Joe Dustin.

“Sean’s a skilled player who skates very well,” Christiansen added.

“I think on the Olympic sized ice he’ll do very well for us. He can distribute the puck and join the rush. We want him to come over and excel.

“I spoke to him about the opportunity to play here and have more ice time than he was getting at home. He’s come in and started well so I’ve got nothing but good first impressions of him.”

Giants: Legit Contenders?

Steve Thornton is out to prove that the Belfast Giants are true title contenders in tonight’s showdown with the league leading Sheffield Steelers.

The Giants, who trail the Steelers by six points with a game in hand, still have four more matches against Sheffield, beginning at the Odyssey Arena tonight.

Belfast were shutout 5-0 when the teams last met and after dropping more points in December Thornton knows that the Giants cannot afford to slip further behind.

“We’re coming through a tough spell and this is a game to show if we’re a legit title contender,” Thornton said in an interview with skysports.com.

“This is the biggest game of the year for us. A victory in this game puts us right back in contention for the league title after a few people had written us off when we went through a bad spell.

“We’ve dropped a little bit in the standings but the way we’re looking at it is that it’s still in our hands. We’ve still got a lot of games against the other contenders left.”

Thornton, who returns to duty tonight after serving a two-match ban for tripping Hull netminder Curtis Cruickshank, is preparing to face a Sheffield team that has only lost three games in regulation all season.

The Giants have been boosted by the recent return of star forward Paul Deniset, who scored the overtime winner against the Stingrays on Sunday and leads the team with 45 points.

“Sheffield don’t seem to be dropping a lot of points against other teams so if we’re going to catch them we can’t rely on others,” Thornton added.

“There’s a lot of time left, but home games are really important and with Deniset and myself back we’ve only got Andrew Martin missing from the line-up and we like our chances.”

Martin has only iced in 19 games this season and has been sidelined with a leg injury for over a month. The Canadian forward attempted a comeback in mid-December, but had not fully recovered and has been out since.

“Andrew’s had an MRI and the results came back similar to what we expected,” Thornton said.

“He’s got a high ankle sprain, a little bit of ligament damage and some swelling in the joint, which is a tough hockey injury.

“Hockey players would almost prefer to have a break than that. It’s one of those things that if you come back too quickly from it you can re-injure yourself.”