[Zanetti]

Braehead Clan website.

Fantastic news for west coast fans who aren't too fond of travelling through to Edinburgh to watch a decent standard of hockey. I'll be buying a season ticket anyway.

Hopefully having two Scottish teams can attract a bit of sponsorship, if it's marketed properly it could be very good for both teams. This news couldn't really have come at a much better time, with the recent exposure the sport got at the olympics.

It'll be interesting to see how it goes but I am definitely very excited about it.

This post has been edited by Zanetti: 13 October 2010 - 15:49

[Lambie's Pigeon Feed]

Bloody stupid calling them Braehead though. Any idea how much tickets might be?

[Zanetti]

Lambie, on 07 March 2010 - 19:40, said:

Bloody stupid calling them Braehead though. Any idea how much tickets might be?

There'll be sponsorship money in it though so it's worth it. In Edinburgh it's something like £15/11/7 so it won't be too much different.

[deky]

I might pop along to a game or two.

Braehead's a cracking wee arena.

[flyingscot]

Any benefit in creating a new team and not just upgrading the established Paisley Pirates into the Elite league since they play there anyway and have a grass roots support? Guess it is sponsorship and not being associated with anywhere might attract more people?

[Lang Toun Lad]

Should be Fife Flyers and/or Dundee Stars.

[Zanetti]

Lang Toun Lad, on 08 March 2010 - 16:18, said:

Should be Fife Flyers and/or Dundee Stars.

They both knocked back the chance, apparently. They're obviously quite happy playing such an awful standard of hockey in the Scottish league.

[Lambie's Pigeon Feed]

Who plays for Elite League teams in the UK? Is it like NFL Europe was where all real NFL players who were trying to prove their worth/too shite to get a game play over here?

[Zanetti]

Lambie, on 08 March 2010 - 19:54, said:

Who plays for Elite League teams in the UK? Is it like NFL Europe was where all real NFL players who were trying to prove their worth/too shite to get a game play over here?

In America the standard is roughly...

NHL > AHL > ECHL/CHL/IHL > SPHL/AAHL

I say America because Canada has it's own junior leagues which to be honest I don't really know how they compare to the standard here, but the British Elite League is about the same standard as the ECHL.

[Lang Toun Lad]

Zanetti, on 08 March 2010 - 17:50, said:

They both knocked back the chance, apparently. They're obviously quite happy playing such an awful standard of hockey in the Scottish league.

I doubt that. There's a bit of infighting between the two teams and the Elite League but it would be a shocking decision from the directors to knock it back.

[section_Y]

always thought paisley would have made the step up

is ma hand still going to the pirate's games?

[The_Belgian]

flyingscot, on 08 March 2010 - 13:40, said:

Any benefit in creating a new team and not just upgrading the established Paisley Pirates into the Elite league since they play there anyway and have a grass roots support? Guess it is sponsorship and not being associated with anywhere might attract more people?

I used to watch the Pirates regularly when I was younger (started watching them in their final BNL days, then SNL for a few seasons), but I stopped going after the move to Braehead.

It's good to see this team get another shot at the British league, but it would have been nicer if they had kept the name of Paisley Pirates, never mind Braehead Pirates or now the Braehead Clan.

[St. Starko]

Lang Toun Lad, on 09 March 2010 - 17:36, said:

I doubt that. There's a bit of infighting between the two teams and the Elite League but it would be a shocking decision from the directors to knock it back.

No, it's true. They have more than once knocked back the Elite League because they feel it's "financial suicide", and they have a point. I have absolutely no idea how the Edinburgh Capitals stay in business each year, but thankfully they do and the standard is pretty good.

[Jambo Stu]

So are the pirates done? It is an amalgamation?

Notice they don't start for 207 days

[Fudge]

What time do games start at? Is it 7pm every Saturday, alternate home and away games?

Think I might start going as I'll be back through in Glasgow from the summer onwards.

[Zanetti]

The_Belgian, on 09 March 2010 - 18:25, said:

It's good to see this team get another shot at the British league, but it would have been nicer if they had kept the name of Paisley Pirates, never mind Braehead Pirates or now the Braehead Clan.

Jambo Stu, on 09 March 2010 - 18:58, said:

So are the pirates done? It is an amalgamation?

Notice they don't start for 207 days

I've not heard anything to suggest that the Pirates are done but what's the chances that they can really survive when there's a far superior product available?

St. Starko, on 09 March 2010 - 18:45, said:

No, it's true. They have more than once knocked back the Elite League because they feel it's "financial suicide", and they have a point. I have absolutely no idea how the Edinburgh Capitals stay in business each year, but thankfully they do and the standard is pretty good.

That's what I heard too, I don't know the ins and outs of it but I'm not really convinced they'd be worse off than how they are now.

Fudge, on 09 March 2010 - 19:04, said:

What time do games start at? Is it 7pm every Saturday, alternate home and away games?

Think I might start going as I'll be back through in Glasgow from the summer onwards.

I think there'll be Saturday and Sunday games, maybe some midweek too. But the fixture system is changing so that each team plays each other six times. With an odd number of teams though there might be free weekends too. Not sure how it'll work out.

[Lang Toun Lad]

St. Starko, on 09 March 2010 - 18:45, said:

No, it's true. They have more than once knocked back the Elite League because they feel it's "financial suicide", and they have a point. I have absolutely no idea how the Edinburgh Capitals stay in business each year, but thankfully they do and the standard is pretty good.

It's been rumoured since the end of the BNL that we didn't make the jump because of a clash of personalities on both sides and it seems individuals are coming before the sport and its fans.

I'd say the real financial suicide would be to continue for anorther few years in the Scottish leagues. We're barely getting a crowd of 500 in for derbys against Dundee and 'd think we could get back to 2000 odd if we were in the Elite League. The quality if unbelievably bad just now and it's only going to get worse having another close EL team for any talent to jump to.

The costs will increase significantly but income will jump considerably as well. We also don't need to have the full import quota if it means the difference between profit or loss.

[Kris Boyd]

Great news! I'm a huge ice hockey fan, brilliant news for the Scottish game to have 2 teams in the EIHL imo

[Lambie's Pigeon Feed]

So are the players mainly British or Americans/Canadians/Scandinavians/Soviets?

[A_dee4life]

Zanetti, on 08 March 2010 - 17:50, said:

They both knocked back the chance, apparently. They're obviously quite happy playing such an awful standard of hockey in the Scottish league.

Did Dundee not win some big British tournament a few years back? I went to a couple ice hockey games with mates and remember alot of people around the city were talking about the game.

[Lang Toun Lad]

Autumn Cup?

[Zanetti]

Lambie, on 11 March 2010 - 20:30, said:

So are the players mainly British or Americans/Canadians/Scandinavians/Soviets?

A lot of Canadians and British, a fair number of Americans and a few from other places in Europe mainly Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

[ayrunitedfw]

might get a season ticket for this. How much are they ? When are the games etc ?

[Kris Boyd]

ayrunitedfw, on 18 March 2010 - 18:03, said:

might get a season ticket for this. How much are they ? When are the games etc ?

Season starts in September, but due to Braeheads prior arrangements the Clan won't have their first home game until October, by all means get a Season ticket, cheaper than the football, friendlier atmosphere and more action. The Clan are driving hard to bring in fans for the next season, Braehead Arena is a cracking wee venue, will be good to go on fan trips away for the weeken to Belfast when the Clan play the Giants and I'm looking forward to the Edinburgh Capitals rivalry.

Hopefully there will be a lot of season ticket holders come the start of the season, would be great to get an east vs west rivalry with the Caps


P.S. Can we use this as the EIHL thread, should be a lot to talk about with the Play offs next week.

[Zanetti]

Kris Boyd, on 18 March 2010 - 18:14, said:

Season starts in September, but due to Braeheads prior arrangements the Clan won't have their first home game until October, by all means get a Season ticket, cheaper than the football, friendlier atmosphere and more action. The Clan are driving hard to bring in fans for the next season, Braehead Arena is a cracking wee venue, will be good to go on fan trips away for the weeken to Belfast when the Clan play the Giants and I'm looking forward to the Edinburgh Capitals rivalry.

Hopefully there will be a lot of season ticket holders come the start of the season, would be great to get an east vs west rivalry with the Caps

Not sure that it'll be quite as simple as an instant rivalry, but over time it'll definitely develop. A nice start would be if we could nick the likes of Garside in the off-season.