Into the Dragon's Den...The Blaze Forum Soap Opera

[PW]

Here we are then...a bit of fun. The Blaze soap opera. Starring...well, anyone on the forum who wants to be in it. All you have to do is write yourself in, and come up with storylines which others will then build on in each episode...You can write yourself it as anything...player, coach, fan, love interest, whatever...let your imagination run wild. Or, if you want to be in it as a character but not write, stick a message on and I (or someone else) will work you in somewhere...all characters will be referred to in the story as their forum names (or abbreviations thereof, or made up names, if you prefer...with a "cast list" at the top showing which forum member is which character.

Just to show how addictive these threads can become, was on one on another (F1) forum which ran to over 900 pages over four years, and had about a hundred characters by the end...

Anyway...enough talk...here we go...

Note: ALL EVENTS WHICH FOLLOW are FICTITIOUS, purely from my or other's imagination, and no insinuations of wrongdoing are implied or indeed meant as anything other than humour.

The Story Begins

It had been an awful few weeks at the Skydome. After Theo Fleury had used his clout with the IIHF and NHL to start a media campaign accusing the previous Blaze hierarchy of attempting to prevent the Giants from winning the league using a combination of doctored ice-cream, lethal nasal spray, a Coventry coach driver named Frank and contaminated teddy bears, and the chaos which resulted from that as the accused parties fled amid a media feeding frenzy (which on the plus side had generated the most media coverage ever seen for ice hockey), the Blaze are in trouble...no players, no coach and no likelihood of getting them in the near future. Now, with Planet Ice threatening to lock the doors, there seemed no hope for hockey in Coventry...but changes were just around the corner...and begin with a hockey player (PW) coming to the Skydome, looking for a job with his hometown team after time spent in the (very) minor leagues in Germany...on a rainy evening in early April (just after the playoff finals)...

Who does he meet? How does the story go? Over to you lot...

[Rich]

Can I be an extra who is always in the background but never actually does anything? Kind of similar to Winston in Eastenders.

[Claret & Blue Army]

You and anyone can be whomever they like. The limit is only on imagination

[PW]

Right...can see I'm going to have to kick this off...the first episode is being worked on as we speak...should be on late tonight/v.early tomorrow...

[PW]

SCENE: The Skydome on a rainy April evening. Cars slosh past, the last public skating session has just finished, and there's music coming from the Orange House round the corner. Round the corner from the Co-op/Ikea comes PW, carrying a hockey bag-he's obviously on his way to some sort of session at the Skydome. Unfortunately, it appears that no-one's around as he bangs on the door.

"Hello? Anyone at home?"

The door opens to reveal a fairly tall and imposing figure. of a man, in his early thirties or thereabouts.

"Hi, mate. Welcome home. Come in. But don't let anyone see you"

This is STEVE, PW's sometime partner-in-crime at Blaze games, whose summons has brought PW here for this meeting. PW enters and the pair walk round a darkened Skydome. No-one else appears to be in sight.

"Nice to see you again. Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on?"
"All in good time. Oh...by the way-meet the new owner of the Coventry Blaze franchise"

PW stops in disbelief

"You are kidding me, right?"
"Nope. It's amazing what you can get for a pound these days, particularly after the scandal of having the Blaze kicked out of the Elite League after Teddygate"
"Right. So you're running the Blaze. My God. I'd have thought no-one would have gone near it, but YOU'RE the secret investor everyone's been talking about?"
"Well, yes."
"Steve. We're mates. I know that you're not destitute, but you work as an insurance assessor. Which I'm guessing doesn't provide enough disposable income to run a hockey franchise. So what the hell are you planning to do?"

Steve smiles

"How do you think I always managed to afford all that drink on away trips? The family has money, you see."
"Yes, but where..."

A shadow of anger crosses the owner's face

"You don't need to know."
"Oh. Like that, is it?"
"It is."

There's a brief silence

"So...what am I doing here?"
"Well...we're going to rebuild the Blaze, starting from the bottom. The ENL I'm going to coach them, and you're going to play for them".

Pause

"Now you ARE taking the rip. I'm a rec player. And you're telling me to play professionally? My god, you're officially mad".
"So? Everyone has to start somewhere. And after the events of the past few weeks, no-one will come and play for us. So it's up to the fans to start it."
"And this is all going to fall into place how?"
"Because it is. Are you in? Cause if not you can walk out that door right now...if you are, then you can meet the others".
"There are others?"
"Sure...not all the Blaze fans have disappeared back to the football now City are back in the Premiership and Blaze have had a few rough seasons. They will come back. But first we need to get this thing up and running. Now. It's late, and I'm desperate for a pint. Will you play or won't you?"

pause. We can see PW wants to...

"Oh, what the hell. Let's go for it...at least we'll be able to put all our "if I was coach..." conversations into practice..."

Steve smiles

"I knew you would. Come on...let's go and meet the others...[/i]

Caption fades in as the sight of the two men walking around the edge of the ice fades out....THE BEGINNING

Come on, people...you must have something to work with there...

[Claret & Blue Army]

April leads into May and once again to Steves birthday
During one of the by then regular lads nights outs to Heat plans are made to put the wheels in motion for what is hoped will prove a return to the glory days of 2007 when the club last won the quadruple.

Steve gathers his select secret pack known as Mr X, Mr Y and Mr Z together and issues them all with roles.
He begins

I've been looking at my history and see the best way to get noticed is by becoming the bull of the yard so to speak

He produced a flyer ;D of the notorious Broad Street Bullies who dominate the NHL in the mid 70s

Go get us about 8 of the orneryous guys around to form the toughness we will need given the leagues new penalty of a 5 minute minor for backing down in the face of a fight

Mr X agrees to go and search for the men required. As he leaves the establishment he drops his business card which reveals Mr x to be none other than.......

[shexi06steph07]

A GIRL!
my god it's steph she always wanted to see the players in the changing room but never thought she'd go this far

later on that day she comes back with a man towering above her and steph annouces that she found him jogging around the outside of the arena and his name was.....

[Dave]

davey

A uneasy looking bloke in his early t mid twenties. Back in the Blaze glory days, he was a recognisable blaze fan within his social circle. However, he drifted away from the game, as the Blaze drifted away from success. Last seen at the skydome in the glory days of 2007, he was almost unknown to the threesome of PW, Steve and Steph.

The four of them all sit down in 'TheShakespeare' a pub that had in recent years became the Blaze fans regular, to have a post match moan about the state of the team.

"Steve, PW I'm sure this is a face you two may vaguely remember" Steph announced to the table.

"Listen Davey, nice to see you after so long and all, but I'm not sure if you understand the situation and more importantly what on earth you think that you can offer to the situation?!?" Steve proclaims.

"Well, Steph told me all about it. At first, I was shocked I mean the last time I saw the Blaze play was back in 2007. (A smile appears on his face). Yep those were the days, what a team we had back then, even more succesful than the 2005 team. However, I got drafted away to Naples and left the forces just 4 months ago. So to be honest i didn't realise just how bad things were getting for the Blaze.
Well anyway, I think I can help. Steph told me what your going to try and do hear Steve and I like the sound of it. Starting from the bottom and building a gritty team. It won't be too expensive as the ENL is a semi-pro Brit league. But most importantly, Coventry IS a hockey city and I want to see us build this organisation back up to the top flight of UK hockey!" Davey said.

...

[your name here]

Meanwhile...

< Lowly paid extra walks dog in background of shot. He is noticed by nobody. His dog stops and sniffs for a moment - they both exit stage left >

Back to the action....

[naffer]

Newsflash from the Coventry evening Telegraph.

Blaze new coach Davey signs 6 new enforcers.

Davey is quoted as saying

"Nobody will push my team around but most opposition players will be pushed around in wheelchairs after they have played us this year"

[Dave]

haha

.....
He goes on to say
"From my limited experience, teams without the biggest budgets work the best when built around grit, determination and a good work ethic. British hockey is similar to North American game in that, tough, gritty hockey can often prove succesful.
I know that we don't have the biggest budget, or the strongest hockey knowledge but I have decided to sign these six tough guys that WILL also put points up to enable us to make the skydome a real tough place to come and play hockey. Any team that wants to come to Coventry to pick up the points will have to come up with the goods, because I am going to try and make the skydome a fortress."

[PW]

Now it's beginning to catch on, ain't it?

Right then...the new ENL team will be having their first training session shortly...I'm just working on it now..

[jakemurrall7]

in the pre-training skate round the rink, 2 of the enforcers, clashing together accidently after checking out the stands around them, both have had to have stitches above their noses. 12 in the one guy and 13 in the other, with them both having concussion, and slight amnesia, they cannot recall their head coaches name.

Head Coach Davey, was apparently very confused as to how it happened as he was coming out of the dressing room with the other 4 tough guys,

so in a desperate turn after the 2 knuckle heads heads are out with concussion, HC Davey brings in Jake Murrall, 6'2", and although not being as 'tough' as others, he likes being beaten up by big guys HC Davey had this to say on ENL TV, "Jake is a right fruit, i'm sure there is something wrong upstairs, but i have brought him in to cover the injured guys and we'll see how he gets on as he only turned pro last wednesday but i'm sure he has the brains for hockey, i hope".

With Jake meeting new team-mates, and training 25 minutes away, they all sat down to have a game of poker before the 'hard-work' starts......

[PW]

And so, the camera pans through the Skydome, following Steve and Davey as they walk towards the changing room to meet their team. We join them in the middle of a conversation...

"So, Davey-this Jake guy. What do you know about him?"
"Well, he's a nice guy, but somewhat tapped in the head. About the same size as PW, actually...and from what I've heard they'll make a right pair-both absolute sods to play against. I was thinking of sticking them on a line together and seeing if they could strike up a partnership...they seem to have got on well up to now."
"Fair enough. Who else do we have?"
"Well, there's a guy we know only as "Flash". I met him out walking the dog, and we struck up a conversation. Apparently he's a long-time fan who fancies getting into playing...and he enjoys a ruck. Trouble is, he's a goalie, so we might have to hold him back a bit. Then, of course, you have Rich and JP. JP's a bit of a lad-likes to go out on the lash, while Rich'll be the character guy in the dressing room along with his brother Andy. There's some guy we call TR on there as well, and a student from Cov Uni....a big bruiser of a d-man we call "naffer"...I'll of course be playing-then you have..."

They're interrupted by a yell of anger from the dressing room, followed by the sound of overturning furniture. Rushing in, they find JP being held in a head-lock by PW while Jake thumps the hell out of him and the others stand there watching. Each word Jake says is punctuated by a thump.

"You...cheating...son...of...a...b..."
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Steve's voice rings through the changing room. PW releases JP, who tries to go for Jake but is flattened by a single punch.

"Oh..hi, Steve...Davey. We were just having a team bonding session over poker. Jake's just lost rather a large amount of money despite having a straight flush..."
"Yeah, and it was fair!"
"Shut it, cheat..or explain how you and PW both managed to have the ace of spades when we were playing with one deck!"
"What're you trying to say, you f..."
"ENOUGH!"

Davey decides to assert his authority.

"Right. Flash, get in goal. Jake, PW, go and start warming him up. Rich and JP, get the nets. The rest of you, outside and start doing laps."
"But..." Jake objects.
"Go, or you'll be scrubbing the Skydome seats with a toothbrush. AFTER you've skated until your legs collapse underneath you..."

At this, even Steve raises an eyebrow-the Navy appears to have had an effect on Davey...

The team exit...although not before Jake leans down, takes a wad of fivers out of JP's wallet, and says "They're mine. Thanks for spotting it PW"
"No problem. Let's go and see how good this goalie is..."

The session progresses. Despite a few early mishaps, the team begin to gel. Jake and PW in particular form an instant partnership, which reaches its height when they rush down ice as a pair, swap passes and finally score as PW drops a pass one-handed through his legs just as he's hit by naffer, for Jake to roof it-which provokes spontaneous applause from the few curious onlookers who have heard rumours of a new team. Steph is talking animatedly to Steve, who calls Davey out of the scrimmage...

"Davey..we're in the ENL-Steph's just told me she's sorted all the paperwork. What with the leagues finally introducing promotion and relegation, how realistic are our chances this season?"

"Alright guys...next goal wins it...Well, Jake and PW look like they'll score a few, Rich is going around keeping people happy and looking for someone to hit-we've got your money..."

As the conversation's going on, JP has broken free of a scrum involving Rich and naffer on the blue-line, and is heading in on Flash-Jake and PW are closing in to cut him off. Steve watches idly as he talks...

"I've got to say, though...I haven't seen much emphasis on the physical..."

As he says this, JP is sent flying as Jake and PW look at each other, nod, and throw what can only be described as a double-clothesline rather than a hit, which leaves JP flat on the ice. He gets up and is immediately levelled again by naffer, before reacting angrily and hip-checking Flash on the way past. Jake picks up the loose puck, beats him, is tripped and sends a pass from mid-air down-ice to a streaking PW, who slips the puck neatly through the goalie's five-hole. Davey turns and smiles as the small crowd begin buzzing at the brutality, speed and skill of what they've just seen.

"Now that's what I'm talking about. But we've still got to sell tickets"

Steve smiles.

"Oh-leave that to me and Steph..I think we'll manage it somehow..."

The episode ends with Jake and PW high-fiving after the goal, and Steph answering her phone...

"Steve...I've got some good news for you and Davey...they've accepted our friendly. Guys, the new Blaze's first game will be against..."

Fade to black.

[Rich]

"Guys, the new Blaze's first game will be against Belfast Giants."

This announcement is greeted by cheers from almost everybody in the team. A friendly with the Giants. Blaze and Belfast were the high flyers for years back in the day. They had developed a high profile rivalry and the publicity that this rivalry brought to the sport had made ice hockey in the UK big. Things had eventually moved in very different directions for the two clubs. Belfast were now playing in front of 40,000 people week in week out at their new look arena. They had become a team that not just the people of Belfast but people from all over Northern Ireland and even Republic Of Ireland would travel to watch week in, week out. Blaze however had gone bankrupt following their ban from the Elite League. Nobody was quite sure about the ins and outs of what exacly had gone on to result in the ban, although Theo Fleury had played a major part with his frequent media attacks on the club. Rumour was some kind of betting scam had gone on but the whole thing had been very hushed up and not made clear in the media. There was one person in that new look Blaze team that knew everything though, the one person that wasn't showing any emotion whatsoever, PW.