Plenty of Nothing

Peterhead Prison

Peterhead Prison is to Scotland as Abashiri Prison is to Japan. Beginning in 1882, Peterhead was where Scotland's most hardcore criminals wound up, and during World War One, its Communists. John Mclean was one of the latter category, imprisoned for making antiwar speeches in 1918. In 1907 he wrote a pamphlet called The Greenock Jungle about slaughter-house conditions on the Clyde.

Greenock Morton visit Peterhead at Balmoor. This is their third meeting of the season. Each has taken one win off the other. Morton are in second place, one point behind Stranraer. Peterhead are sixth, six points out of a playoff spot. High winds could cause the postponement of quite a few matches today, so it could be Morton's chance to grab first place while other teams run for shelter. [Weather not a factor anywhere.]

As the three-quarter mark of the schedule approaches, four clubs have a real shot at winning the division: Stranraer, Morton, Forfar and Brechin, with Dunfermline an unlikely fifth.

[Morton win 1 - 3. Goals by McManus (2) and Caldwell. Stranraer also win, so Morton remain one point behind. Stirling lose and can finish the season no better than fifth. Morton cannot finish tenth.]

[Hearts beat Cowdenbeath 10 - 0.]

On Thursday Inter Milan beat Celtic 1 - 0. Celtic are out of the Europa League.

Today in Japan it's the Fuji Xerox Super Cup. This event, which kicks off the domestic Japanese football season, ideally matches the J1 champion and the winner of the Emperor's Cup. But in the event that a club has taken the Double, like Gamba Osaka just did, the J1 runners-up are invited to fill in. Consequently today's match is between Gamba and Urawa Red Diamonds.

Gamba Osaka actually won the Treble. They were League Cup winners too.

Gamba have won the Super Cup once, in 2007, after winning the J League championship. Urawa Red Diamonds have won it four times, twice as league champions, once as Emperor's Cup winners, and once as Emperor's Cup runners-up. (Before 2009 in the event of a Double it was the Emperor's Cup runners-up who played.)

[Gamba win 2 - 0.]

Both clubs were also in AFC Champions League group stage action this week. Here are all the results involving Japanese teams:

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 0 - 0 Kashiwa Reysol

Gamba Osaka 0 - 2 Guangzhou R&F

Suwon Samsung Bluewings 2 - 1 Urawa Red Diamonds

Kashima Antlers 1 - 3 Western Sydney Wanderers

Not propitious.

[Today also saw the playing of the President's Cup, a supercup between the League Ireland champions Dundalk and the FAI Cup winners St. Patrick's Athletic. This is only the second year for this new cup competition. Dundalk won 2 - 1.]

[No plans yet for Osaka and Dundalk to meet.]

Hello Genji

Source.

We Are the Best!

Review. Based on Aldrig Godnatt. Solna. Västerås.

About the Romanian Campionatul Naţional

The Romanians have been playing ice hockey (hochei pe gheață) since 1924. The Campionatul Naţional (CN) is the top league, with six clubs. But because two of the six are also members of the MOL Liga, the CN plays two parallel regular seasons, each with its own standings, one of four teams, and the other of six. There is also the Cupa României which is played in December by the six teams.

The teams are:

Corona Braşov. (See About the MOL Liga.)

Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc. Also known as HSC Csíkszereda. (See About the MOL Liga.)

CSA Steaua Bucureşti. The Rangers. 40-time CN champions, and 33-time Cupa României winners. They play at the 8,000-seat Mihai Flamaropol in Bucharest. Colours: red and blue. Founded in 1951.

CSM Dunărea Galaţi. The Danubians. Founded 1932. The Galaţi Skating Rink holds 5,000 spectators. Galaţi is a port city on the Danube. Blue, red and white. They won the 1988 Cupa României.

Progym Gheorgheni. Founded 1949. Red and white. Their rink holds 1,000. They played one season in the MOL Liga. Gheorgheni is in the primarily Hungarian-speaking part of Transylvania.

Sportul Studenţesc Bucureşti. This sport club was founded in 1916. Black and white. They play at Mihai Flamaropol.

The Romanian language is so much like French there's really no excuse for Canadians not knowing all about the hockey scene there.

Chalet

European Women's Champions Cup 2015

It was the European Women's Champions Cup this weekend in Espoo, Finland. Four national champions took part in a round robin: HC Lugano, Linkopings HC, SKIF Nizhniy Novgorod, and Espoo Blues. SKIF won.

[The IIHF cancelled the European Women's Champions Cup competition after this. It ran for eleven years. See the stats here.]

Unarigoe (うなりごえ), Chapter 5

 

 

 

 

Stranraer at Cappielow

George Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton. Art historians believe his jacket was the inspiration for the Morton jerseys of the 1990s. Portrait by William Beechey.

Stranraer visit Cappielow. With Stranraer in first place and Morton second, this is the League One match of the day. A Morton win will bring the Ton within a point of first place; a Stranraer win will leave Morton seven points adrift. Each has taken a win off the other so far this season. Stranraer are having an extremely solid season, alternating wins and draws, and at this point have to be favourites for promotion.

[Morton win 2 - 0. Goals by McManus and Russell. Morton are one point out.]

Tuesday saw the completion of the playoff round of the 2015 AFC Champions Cup. There have already been a couple of preliminary rounds, but this was the first one to include a Japanese club. Final score (after extra time): Kashiwa Reysol 3 - 2 Chonburi of Thailand. The group stage starts next week.

On Tuesday Berwick Rangers beat Spartans 1 - 0, ending the Lowland League champions' Scottish Cup run at six games. Scottish Junior Cup winners Hurlford United also went six games before bowing out. Berwick move on to the quarter-finals and their competition-leading seventh game.

On Thursday Celtic and Inter Milan played to a 3 - 3 draw.

Yesterday Rangers beat Raith Rovers. Can Rangers still win the Championship? There is a mathematical possibility, but Hearts would have to stumble. Hearts are on track to finish with about 99 points. The very best Rangers can do is 92.

Scottish Junior Cup Round Five action today:

St. Andrew's United [0 - 4] Pollok

Yoker Athletic [1 - 0] Lesmahagow Juniors

Kilbirnie Ladeside [0 - 2] Hurlford United

Washi Monogatari

"Yugiri": washi horsemen by Uchiumi Kiyoharu. Source.

Genji Monogatari Emaki No. 37 Yokobue, by Yuko Matsuyama. Source.

About the MOL Liga

The MOL Liga is the top hockey league in Hungary. Several of the clubs are located in neighbouring Romania and Slovakia, but all of them are within the historic boundaries of the Kingdom of Hungary, which just goes to show that old empires don't die, they reformulate themselves as sporting organizations. MOL, a Hungarian petrochemical company, is the league sponsor.

Each team plays a 42-game season stretching from September to February. Six teams make the playoffs. The Hungarian and Romanian clubs also participate in national championships in their home countries.

The clubs are:

DAB-Docler. The Steel Bulls. Founded in 1977. 6-time Hungarian champion, and twice MOL Liga winner. Colours: red, white and black. Their rink, Dunaújvárosi Jégcsarnok, holds 4,000. Dunaújváros is a steel town smack in the middle of Hungary.

Ferencvárosi TC. Founded 1928. 25-time Hungarian champion. Green and white. Pesterzsébeti Jégcsarnok in Budapest holds 1,500.

Miskolci JJSE. Ice Bears. Founded 1978. They play at Miskolc Ice Hall, capacity 1,304. Black, yellow and white. Miskolc is a steel town in northeast Hungary.

Újpesti TE. ÚTE for short. Founded 1955. 13-time Hungarian champion. Újpesti Jégcsarnok in Budapest holds 2,200. Purple and white.

ASC Corona 2010 Braşov. Wolves. From Brașov, Transylvania. Corona is an alternate name for the place, meaning crown. It was also known as Stalin City for a few years. The club was founded in 2007. They play at Brașov Olympic Ice Rink, capacity 2,000. Yellow and blue.

HSC Csíkszereda. Founded 1929. They play in 4,000-seat Lajos Vákár Ice Hall in Miercurea Ciuc in the Hungarian-speaking part of Transylvania. 15-time Romanian champion, and 2010-11 MOL Liga winner. Blue and white.

HK FTC Nové Zámky. 2013-14 MOL Liga champion. Founded in 1965, they played in the second-tier of Slovak hockey until 2008. The club's logo and colours (green, white, blue) are based on the coat of arms of Nové Zámky which depict the city's 17th-century fortifications. Their arena holds 3,000.

Debreceni HK. Founded 1989. Red, yellow, white and black. Their rink holds 500. Debrecen is the largest city in eastern Hungary.

Hungarian is one of those rare languages with its own name for ice hockey: jégkorong.