Last night was another ice hockey commentary, and what a game - a 7-7 tie after three periods, which went into overtime and then penalties.

I was commentating on my own (my colleague Andy was working on the football coverage back in Caversham and couldn't make it in time, so he presented from the studio during the breaks) and that meant holding the fort on a three hour broadcast, covering one of the fastest non-motorised sports on the planet. My voice was already going by the end of the first period - when I realised we were going into extra time, my voice box was serving the last of its notice.

It was a fantastic game and an amazing privilege to be commentating live. Even though it was only the second game I've done, I doubt I'll get another game like it. But as I mentioned last time round, iit's the comments people leave on forums during and after the games that really make it worthwhile.

Over on the away team's forum it transpired that a few fans were chatting away all night while listening to the commentary at home. They thanked us for being impartial (something we didn't quite achieve last time!) and seemed delighted with the service.

But on the main hockey forum - dubbed, cleverly, The Hockey Forum - you can read the response of real, dedicated ice hockey fans, some with decades of loyalty to the game under their belts. It's quite daunting to think that some of these people are tuning in to hear me, alone on a gantry above the ice, trying to keep them interested. Obviously it helps when there's 14 goals - God help me when it's nil-nil going into the final period.

The reaction's generally been good though. One person emailed the show to say it was the best radio sport they'd heard in years! I'm not sure it deserved quite that accolade but it's hard not to swell with pride when you read something like that. Another fan says:

"I was grateful for the commentary! So the guy does need to stick a thesaurus on his Christmas list (that'd be a brilliant present), but he's a good commentator and in time he'll be a good hockey commentator. If the coverage can keep me from leaving the room - even during the period breaks - they must be on to something.

How nice is that? A complete stranger tells the world they've got confidence in you to become a good hockey commentator. How kind to take the time to even commit that to the web. However, he does raise an issue others have mentioned, which is my hideous over-reliance on the word 'brilliant'.

Listening back to the highlights (here) it's fairly obvious, and it was probably worse live on air, but I never noticed it at the time. I was too busy trying not to make far greater mistakes! Here's me, the great Grammar Nazi who enjoys nothing better than lording it over others with a lesser grasp of the English language, and I can't find any synonyms in the memory bank for 'brilliant'. It's shameful.

With this in mind, for the next commentary on 6 October I'm going to institute a Brilliant Box. Between us, Andy and I will come up with some sort of forfeit for each time I use the word 'brilliant' during the commentary. I'm also going to sellotape a list of synonyms (marvellous, amazing, superlative, astonishing, spectacular, maybe even peerless) to the side of the gantry.

Not a bad way to improve in life though, is it? Have a go, then wait for anyone listening to let you know exactly what they thought. After the first game it was clear I hadn't researched the opposition well enough - solved most of that for this game. And next, we bump up the vocab a bit. And maybe after three years of this, I'll get to cover Great Britain at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics...