Chuck a duck

That isn't rude - it's one of the games played at the Coventry Blaze ice-hockey matches at the Skydome in between the one of the game periods and before the hypnotic Zamboni comes onto the ice to clean the surface up.

The objective is to get the ducks (which are sold for £1 to raise funds) into a paddling pool placed on the centre face-off spot. This is a target smaller than 1m from 15m across the ice and over the glass panels around the ice which are 2.5m high. In this picture I managed to grab three ducks in the air - look large to see them. Somebody won yesterday - a great achievement.

Unfortunately, this was the highlight of yesterday's match in which the Blaze lost 4-6 to the Cardiff Devils after going into a first period lead of 2-0 after just a few minutes. The Devils came back and hit 4 past the Blaze in short order, three of them inside 70 seconds at the start of the second period. All the Devils goals came from poor defensive errors by the Blaze giving away possession up the ice and leaving no cover.

The forth Devil's point shouldn't have been given - I don't think the puck crossed the line as it was underneath the goalminder who was under two other players. It definitely wasn't over the line when everyone got up. Then Ryan Ginand got a third half way through the second period but the Devils pulled ahead with a fifth in the third. He is a fantastically skilled player - skates somewhat like a ferret - going in one direction and then the opposite way in a fraction of a second.

Ashley Tait, the 38 year old Blaze captain scored the forth and his 600th point - a record in the Elite League). No compensation I'm sure for a poor team performance. The Blaze had a fifth disallowed - it was a great kick, but unfortunately that's not allowed and the Devil's stretched it to 4-6.

Those seventy seconds at the start of the second period really really hurt.