January 2005 was a busy month for the Coventry Blaze with no less than ten games in all competitions. It was made even busier as Paul Thompson had to find a replacement for injured defenceman, Pavol Mihalik. Luckily for Coventry, a tailor-made replacement in Jozef Lukac, another Slovakian who played a similar style of game, had just been released by Basingstoke. Lukac described the move:
“In December, while still playing for Basingstoke, I went home for Christmas. After 4 days, when I returned, my weeks’ notice was waiting for me in my locker. The team had problems with scoring goals, and I was told they needed a forward. I called my agent right away, and he promised to place me somewhere in the Elite League. It took just a few hours and I was on my way to Coventry. I played 2 try-out games during the first weekend, one in Cardiff and one against Nottingham at home. Everything went well and on the Monday, I signed a contract. This was like a dream come true to me, since I moved from the bottom team in the league to the top one.”
The following weekend, Blaze travelled to Sheffield in one of the most anticipated clashes of the year. Whilst nothing was ever publically spoken, it was common knowledge that Coventry were going to hold the Steelers, and Jeff Christian in particular, accountable for Mihalik’s injury. In an exceptionally physical clash, the Blaze were losing 2-0 when the expected fights appeared. Adam Calder, Graham Schlender and Wade Belak were all ejected in the space of a minute after exacting some on-ice retribution. This sparked a comeback from Coventry, clawing back the game to 3-3 only to lose to an overtime goal from former Blaze defenceman Ron Shudra. However, the team unity became apparent for all to see and if fans hadn’t realised this season was about to deliver something special, they did now.
Just a few days later, with big games coming in bunches like Travel Coventry buses, the Blaze travelled to Nottingham with a one goal lead in the Challenge Cup semi-final. With Nottingham leading 3-2 and overtime looming, Doug Schueller scored a howitzer of a goal from the point to tie the score up. A goal that led BBC C&W commentator Dave Simms to exclaim, “That goal was so sexy; it was like Kylie in hot pants!” That goal sent Coventry into their first major cup final at the highest level of UK hockey, where they would face perennial rivals Cardiff.
The success did not distract the Blaze. If anything, it provided motivation for the campaign to keep rolling on. The final four games of the month all saw victories for Coventry, with a further away win in Nottingham as well as victories over Basingstoke and Hull at home and a potential banana skin away to London on a Friday night. With the Blaze sitting top of league and in the final of the Challenge Cup, the final two months were shaping up to be very memorable.
2nd January 2005 – Coventry Blaze 4 – 2 Dundee Stars XO
8th January 2005 – Cardiff Devils 1 – 7 Coventry Blaze
9th January 2005 – Coventry Blaze 1 – 1 Nottingham Panthers AOT
15th January 2005 – Sheffield Steelers 4 – 3 Coventry Blaze AOT
16th January 2005 – Coventry Blaze 4 – 0 Cardiff Devils
19th January 2005 – Nottingham Panthers 3 – 3 Coventry Blaze CC
22nd January 2005 – Nottingham Panthers 1 – 2 Coventry Blaze
23rd January 2005 – Coventry Blaze 6 – 3 Basingstoke Bison
28th January 2005 – London Racers 1 – 4 Coventry Blaze
30th January 2005 – Coventry Blaze 9 – 1 Hull Stingrays XO
The OnFire Files 