COVENTRY Blaze skipper Jordan Pietrus has teamed up with The Observer to deliver an exclusive insight into the Blaze locker room by writing a fortnightly column.
In Jordan’s latest column, the skipper reflects on a memorable week for the Blaze organisation as they helped raise £35,000 for former player Adam Calder and picked up two points on the road in Belfast.
Friday night was a big win for us, Belfast is a tough place to play hockey and the team they have is one of the best in the league.
Belfast are strong at home so to steal points on the road was a great step for us and the boys played with plenty of energy while working hard off the puck.
Sunday at the Skydome against Cardiff was another strong effort, playing against the Devils is always a battle.
The team did lots of good things and overall we played well, we just have to learn how to finish the game off – in general we made steps in the right direction this weekend which is a positive.
Taylor (Carnevale) has settled in well to the Blaze side.
It’s difficult for a player to come into a team with just a couple of practice sessions and go straight out onto the ice.
However he played hard and he played regular shifts – he’s doing a great job and off the ice he’s a good man to have in the locker room too.
On Tuesday night we all played in the Adam Calder benefit match to raise funds for one of the most successful Blaze skaters ever as he’s currently battling with cancer.
Though I’ve never played with Adam, we do share some similarities as he first started his career in South Carolina before coming to Coventry.
He’s part of the Blaze family and if he’s family to the Blaze he’s family to the team so we all wanted to show our support.
It was a classy move from everyone in the Sheffield Steelers organisation to give up their time and come down to play.
Thommo (Paul Thompson) obviously has a link with Adam so that was their link to come and show their support.
Though we’ll be enemies with the Steelers this weekend everyone had a fun night and it proved there’s more to hockey than just the game on ice.