As A View from the Bridge plans for its 15th Season of podcasting, we decided to cherry pick a couple of the older editions to revisit.
First up, “Product Placement” from October 2013.
This was one of our final podcasts as an “unofficial” entity, and was released on the same day as the announcement of Jim Gillespies indution to the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.
This induction came with it’s own special edition of A View From The Bridge in which Todd Kelman and Mike Appleton of IHJUK refelcted on the announcement.
However, this “Product Placement” edition was released as a podcast on it’s own to discuss the events of the week gone by. Hosted (as usual) by Patrick Smyth, he was joined by Davy McGimpsey and Neil “The Coach” Russell. Guests included Mark Hitchcock and the then BBC journalist, Owen Bradley.
An episode littered with fake ads following Patrick and Mark Hitchcock’s amusement at the number of promtional announcements that took place at the Sheffield Steelers game the previous Sunday.
The lads initially tackle the events at the Big Blue Tent in Cardiff where the Giants defeated the Devils 2-1. This took place under a veil of turmoil in South Wales as changes were taking palce on the ice and potenially on the bench. Phil Hill had just been ditched by the Devils and picked up by Sheffield, while on ice action would see a controversial moment when Adam Keefe was ejected for a hit on Andrew Conboy.
The hit would see Keefe handed a 4 match suspension and we hear his, and the lads, thoughts on the incident in the podcast.
Mark Hitchcock joins the lads to talk about the Giants 2-1 defeat in Sheffield (BBC Highlights), a game that witnessed Doug Christiansen’s Steelers break a 5 game winning streak for the Giants.
This came off the back of a victory the previous weekend in Belfast, a game that was punctuated by Sheffield’s manufactured faux-fury toward the Giants promotional video for the game where Finn McCool showed a bitter edge toward Christiansen’s jump to South Yorkshire.
Hitchy revisits his assertion about Frank Doyle and the lads discuss the Giants losing despite having two penalty shots in the game.
The show’s final guest is Owen Bradley, then BBC Nottingham corespondant covering the Nottingham Panthers. Corey Neilson’s side had been at home in Continental Cup action. However the weekend was made most notable for the interview Neilson provided to Owen after an early defeat.
Owen discusses the interview and how the Nottingham Panthers fared in the early stages of a competition they would ultimately go on to win a few years later.
A View From The Bridge will return in a few weeks to look ahead to the new EIHL Season.
But you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, SoundCloud or share your thoughts on the show by giving us a review on Apple Podcasts.
Pictures: BBC NI, Audio: Owen Bradley, Video: Belfast Giants / Gerald Davies
