With the season coming down to the last few games, it comes down to who wants it more. Last night, the Blaze showed with an 8-2 win at Basingstoke that they are prepared to put their bodies on the line.
One player who has been standing out in recent weeks is Carlyle Lewis. After a slow start, Lewis is starting to make the big plays and is dominating on offense.
He refuses to let other teams dominate and has been pilling up the penalty points. Tonight, he was up against his old team - The Belfast Giants and was wanting to lead the Blaze to victory.
As the last bars of "God Save The Queen" are sung in a three quarters full Sky Dome, it's game on.
The Giants are the best Hockey side in the league and Blaze Coach Paul Thompson clearly has his side up for the game. Thompson is a man who plays every shot , calling out orders to a team used to winning and although the trophy cabinet this season is likely to be bare, playing for pride means a lot to guys like Thompson and Lewis.
Pretty in pink, The Blaze went 2-0 up with Barrie Moore scoring his 100th (on 10.02) and 101st (11.47 on a powerplay) goals.
Net Minder JF Perras pulled off a number of great saves but it was The Blaze who dominated the first period and should have scored more than the two goals they did.
What you can't do is give away soft goals against a team of the Giants quality and the Blaze gave four away to go in 4-3 at the end of the second period.
The first came after only ten seconds when Perras made a dreadful mistake to let Andrew Martin score but Barrie Moore scored his third of the night on 22.05 to restore the two goal lead and as is custom when a hat-trick is scored, the fans threw their baseball caps onto the ice.
Two further mistakes which led to Steve Thornton scoring twice on 28.08 and 29.14 showed why the Blaze need a net minder.
On 36.06, a short handed goal from Evan Cheverie put the visitors ahead at the break and Thompson's face as he trooped across the ice said it all.
Paul Thompson
It's the fourth time this season that the Giants have come to the Sky Dome and everytime they have gone away with the points.
A goal from Erik Hjalmarsson (his first at the Sky Dome) on 45.36 made it 4-4 and gave the Blaze some hope but the Giants quickly restored the lead to their delight of their 45 fans through Andrew Martin on 46.02.
A sixth goal for The Giants came on 49.55 when Tyler Howell scored assisted by Thornton and George Awada who again was a provider as Evan Cheverie fired home for the seventh Belfast goal with 43 seconds remaining.
Barrie Moore was the Blaze man of the match and the only Blaze player to emerge with any credit whilst Danny Stewart was announced as player of the month.
Coach Thompson looked a dejected figure at the end and his black suit summed up the mood of the Blaze faithful, who left the players knowing that their performance was just not good enough.
On Tuesday night, the Blaze are at Nottingham Panthers for an Elite League fixture before travelling to Edinburgh Capitals on Saturday. Then on Sunday, they face the Scottish side at the Sky Dome. Face off is at 6pm.
In between that, the All Star game takes place on Thursday Feb 19th at the Sky Dome with a 7.30pm face off. Tickets are already on sale priced at £15 for Adults; £7 for U-16; £10 for Concessions and Family Tickets (2 Adults and 2 U-16) at £38.
Tonight in the Challenge Cup Semi Final second leg, Manchester Phoenix beat Basingstoke 6-1 (11-3 on aggregate) and will face Belfast Giants in the final.