Elite Ice Hockey League

[DiegoDiego]

The whole nice family atmosphere thing whilst also wearing hockey's minority sport status as a badge that makes them special.
The German hockey fans know how to create atmosphere. 

Yet when I start a "It's a fucking family sport" chant at the playoffs someone tries to throw a drink over me, curious folk British hockey fans.

It's not just German hockey that can create a good atmosphere, plenty of counties can. It does seem though that the Clan fans especially are trying to copy German hockey culture. It comes off as a bit cringeworthy in the same way as many MLS games do.

[Torpar]

Bari McKenzie signs with Fife Flyers, is he the only player to play with all four Scottish Elite League teams? 

Side note, Dumfries v Murrayfield U12s many years ago, I made a pass from behind our net and stood admiring it, next second Bari hit me behind the net, knocked the wind out of me and I had to be helped off the ice. Even back then he was hitting everything he could. 

[BallochSonsFan]

1 hour ago, DiegoDiego said:

 

Yet when I start a "It's a fucking family sport" chant at the playoffs someone tries to throw a drink over me, curious folk British hockey fans.

It's not just German hockey that can create a good atmosphere, plenty of counties can. It does seem though that the Clan fans especially are trying to copy German hockey culture. It comes off as a bit cringeworthy in the same way as many MLS games do.
 

I've been to the SAP a few times and I've even been on a sonderzug special away trip.

Trust me, the purple army are nowhere near proper German fans.

[DiegoDiego]

Trust me, the purple army are nowhere near proper German fans.

I've been to a few German games myself. I realise it's different orders of magnitude but you get the feeling that's exactly what they're attempting to emulate.

[invergowrie arab]

7 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:

 

It's the thing I hate most about UK hockey fans. The whole nice family atmosphere thing whilst also wearing hockey's minority sport status as a badge that makes them special.

The German hockey fans know how to create atmosphere. 

I think thats why I took against THF. A bunch of absolute bedwetters when it comes to stuff like the Flyers support. It shouldnt ever come down to physical confrontations as has unfortunately happened in recent years but as an away fan there is no better place in the league to go than Fife.  Dundee still have a few old school guys from Rockets/Tigers games who are good to hang about the bar with but they get very much lost in the whole family friendly atmosphere at games.

[DiegoDiego]

as an away fan there is no better place in the league to go than Fife.

Absolutely.

[BallochSonsFan]

Fife is shite for away fans.

The trawler nets and sitting at the end the away team shoots towards only once out of 3 periods is baws.

Dundee is way better for sight lines. 

[Craig fae the Vale]

Went along to Braehead last night for the first time in quite a while and had an absolute blast. Forgot just how much I enjoyed a hockey night.

https://piesontheterraces.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/glasgow-v-fife/

[tongue_tied_danny]

On 06/10/2018 at 11:08, Craig the Hunter said:

Went along to Braehead last night for the first time in quite a while and had an absolute blast. Forgot just how much I enjoyed a hockey night.

https://piesontheterraces.wordpress.com/2018/10/06/glasgow-v-fife/

Good blog mate. I've just read your baseball reports. Good reading even though I know SFA about the sport.

Edited October 8, 2018 by tongue_tied_danny

[tongue_tied_danny]

Another OTL for Dundee last night. They've a worse penalty shootout record than England at the world cup...

[#Gary]

Fife away is utter shite...

[spud131]

Glasgow Clan away at MK lightning on freesports at 7:30pm tonight.

[BallochSonsFan]

Thread has been a bit quiet.

Unsettling couple of weeks for EIHL sides. Cardiff are on a run of patchy form and the Steelers aren't improving the way Tony Smith will be expecting under the new coach. Strangely Paul Thompson seems to be doing well for those b*****ds down in Schwenniger. A good few players have either left their teams by mutual consent or have been punted. Some have moved to other sides (ECHL and Danish club sides) whilst the likes of Wiikman and now Brooks are looking for new teams. The Brendan Brooks one makes me chuckle a little. Mouthy towards some Clan fans who weren't unhappy that he was moved on in the summer but he's been booted from 2 different teams since September. Looks like it's a season too far at 40 years old, although he was good in the world championships last year.

Clan havent been consistent this year but any improvement is a whole heap better than John Tripp's utter mess. I actually rate that worse than we were under Krestanovich - Jordan got the job late when Bannister walked out to join Owen Sound and it was an utter clusterfuck of a team that we had that season. It effectively ended Krestanovich's playing career when he still had at least a couple of seasons of very good hockey in him. We've signed some good forwards but our D is suspect and prone to being either really effective or really poor. Rumpel isnt Zemlak levels of pish but he's no Kyle Jones 2nd season quality. I don't see him as being any better than the likes of JFP and mad Suomalainen were. And JFP ended up banging the hot Clan office girl (Lorraine?) so earns cult hero status.

Missing Sunday due to gig commitments (unless Courtney Marie Andrews cancels) so my next live hockey will be Mannheim v Augsburg next Friday night, with Mannheim v Ingolstadt on the Sunday and Stuttgart v Hertha in the Bundesliga sandwiched in on the Saturday.

Won't be too long before the obvious candidates for the GB squad start to show themselves. Big issue over Dowd as Perlini's form for the Panthers is shite. Perlini was a major player for us in the promotion campaign. I'm fully expecting us to be absolutely horsed and to be relegated back down to Group A for the 2020 tournament but it'll be a great experience for some of the younger guys in the squad. Other than Liam Kirk (who probably won't make post season with the Petes and should therefore be available) we aren't seeing a lot of youngsters stepping up from the U20 side. Sam Duggan is back in the UK with Cardiff after leaving Sweden. Lewis Hook is over in Belfast. A little bit older you have the likes of Jordan Cownie doing well for Dundee. Craig Moore has had injury issues but I'd take him at the Clan as a replacement for Sulivan in a heartbeat - Sully just doesnt look like a GB-grade defenceman. Ferrara is doing ok for Coventry along with Dave Clements. Possibly time for the EIHL to cut import numbers to 13 and to encourage teams to give the better youngsters more ice time?

[DiegoDiego]

Why would the EIHL help out the national team to their own detriment? It's nothing to do with them.

[BallochSonsFan]

8 hours ago, DiegoDiego said:

Why would the EIHL help out the national team to their own detriment? It's nothing to do with them.

The EIHL isnt a development league and should never be one, but there should be a pathway for more British players to step up to EIHL level.

If nothing else, guys like Colin Shields are at the end of their careers and we have top end Brits like Mark Richardson, Matthew Myers, David Phillips and Jonathan Phillips who are the wrong side of 30. If we don't have Brits coming through to replace them then the EIHL is going to become poorer by default - Any team can bring in solid imports but the difference between champions and also-rans often comes down to depth. Having Brit depth that can play at EIHL level is a major bonus to a team.

The EIHL clubs are going to need to replace a lot of the current top end Brits in the next 3-4 years. If nothing else then for selfish reasons there's a need for the EIHL clubs to have an interest in British player development. Doesnt mean that the EIHL is the place to develop youngsters. The NIHL isnt a high enough level of hockey (as much as I really enjoy watching it on occasion) to be the development league to train EIHL-capable players. We need a level in between, similar to the old BNL, that gives the best youngsters a proper stepping stone to EIHL level hockey.

We're only a couple of years away from the best Brits in the EIHL being the likes of Swindlehurst, Ferrara and Cownie. We need to see the next group of Brits coming up if only to ensure that the EIHL doesnt suffer a drop in quality when we're left calling up guys who aren't capable.

Then there's the economic argument. Falling £ v $ value will cost players money. The price for a good quality import will go up because guys will want higher sterling wages to protect their dollar income. I'm not convinced that the current import limit is sustainable. My own preferred import limit would be 12, although that means that when the 12th team joins the EIHL we'd need 96 EIHL-capable Brits. 

[spud131]

Josh Gratton released by Glasgow this afternoon. Appears to have been the clubs decision which is a bit strange considering he's the 2nd top points scorer.

[invergowrie arab]

Very interesting league this year. The quality is going up year on year and anyone can beat anyone. No idea who is going to make the playoffs or win the league.

Went over to Belfast to see the Stars win over New Year, brilliant set up they have there.

[mcintyre_gmfc]

Copeland and Halas stole the show last night at the Clan vs Cardiff game, imagine Willie Collum levels of officiating and x100. Copeland especially should be in the stand watching the game, he’s a complete and utter liability. 

[invergowrie arab]

Your heart sinks when those two are on the ice. Halas in particular is the fussiest ref you have ever seen

[BallochSonsFan]

I dont like the way that Halas calls the game. He calls every minor penalty rather than trying to let gameplay incidents go as a way of trying to help a game flow. Toby is the opposite - Doesnt call some of the things that he possibly should but it's done to try and help the game flow. I prefer watching games where Toby is refereeing.

Unfortunately there are a number of Clan fans who focus on the officials. A soft penalty is still a penalty. I've never really seen Halas call something that wasn't technically a penalty. I don't like it and I'd rather he let some of the very minor incidents go but if he calls a penalty and it's genuinely a penalty then there's nothing to argue about. Players give officials the opportunity to call penalties. My only ask is that officials are consistent and call the game evenly for both sides.

I'm not convinced that always happens. I do sometimes see the bigger teams getting more of the marginal calls. Stuff that we're called for seem to be missed against the bigger teams.  It doesnt mean that ours aren't penalties - they absolutely are - but it can get frustrating because fans are quick to adopt the "always cheated, never defeated" mindset. Sometimes a missed call will change a game. The missed call on Vandermeer in the Clan @ Giants game was really annoying as it was at a point where the Clan were ahead.. Vandermeer being ejected for a check to the head would potentially have been a game changer. Other than that? The Giants got back into the game not just because of that Vandermeer hit, but because we gave them some stupid powerplays to hurt us with.

It's a fan's right to view the game through tinted glasses but I really don't like the frequency with which referees are being blamed. They make mistakes. They miss calls. Shite like that happens. 99% of games are decided by the quality of play on each side and fans would do well to focus more on the hockey and less on how unfair they think officials are. I'd rather give a team credit for winning than blame a referee for losing.