Newcastle Vipers hoping to beat their problems
Dec 27 2010 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
DANNY Stewart has shown his Christmas spirit this week, now he hopes for plenty of team spirit in return, writes STUART RAYNER.
The Newcastle Vipers players have had a whole week off for Christmas – a rare luxury in the sport.
Their player-coach is hoping to reap the benefits at home to Hull Stingrays today.
The players have been off since Sunday 19th, and the Canadian has used it as an opportunity to draw a line under everything that has gone before in a troubling season.
“We’re kind of looking at this Christmas break as a clean break, and it’s a fresh start to the season for the club,” said the rookie coach.
“With all the off-ice problems it’s been a difficult first half of the season.
“I gave them the week off to go home and they’re due back today. We had some guys who are pretty banged up so it’s a pretty fine line as it is.
“When you’re failing to ice a team at all I just wanted guys to rest up.
“We’ll have to wait and see if all the guys are able to fly back in but if the weather’s that bad, there might not be a game for them to come to.”
As well as serious financial problems, culminating in the club being put up for sale, a new-look team have struggled on the ice, and are one from bottom of the Elite League.
“There’s been ups and downs – a lot more downs than ups,” he reflected. “But in recent weeks we’ve really showed signs of putting good performances together.
“We’ve become a stronger team and guys have bought into it.
“We always want to be moving forward.
“I don’t just look at results, you’ve got to look at what’s been done during the games.
“There were a lot of disappointing performances at the start of the year and I found myself talking a lot about consistency.”
Stewart has been delighted with recent performances, if not always results. Newcastle beat Coventry Blaze earlier this month, and moved closer to a Challenge Cup semi-final place. Although they lost twice in their last weekend matches, to Sheffield Steelers and Coventry Blaze, it has not dampened Stewart’s enthusiasm for the double-header with Hull.
“Against Sheffield it was neck-and-neck the whole way,” he said. “It was pretty much a 1-0 game.
“They scored late on, then got an empty net goal to make it 3-1. Whoever scored first was always going to have the edge.
“On the Sunday we had a little collapse in the second period (conceding five goals). Being 6-0 down for the final period it would have been easy to pack it in, but the guys kept on going.”
Today’s match faces-off at 5pm at Hillheads, with the return game 26 hours later. Supporters have been asked to wear as much white as possible today.
