Jump to content

Elite Ice Hockey League


Zanetti

Recommended Posts

Bumpity bump!

Fife flyers have been accepted into the elite league. Brilliant news, and even better to have another scottish team in the fold. I hope murrayfield is packed out for the derby games like the olden days!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great first season for Clan and I'm sure equally so in season two!

Rumoured new signings will defo improve the team if they are confirmed.

Ice Hockey really is the best kept secret in sports - wish the media that can't see past the end of their footie nose would give it the space it deserves!

I do love football, but I agree hockey deserves more coverage. However, the standard of British hockey is frankly shocking in my opinion. If you have ever been to, or even just watched on tv, an NHL game then watching the Elite League feels like watching the equivalent of the Masters in football. Nowhere near as many hits, much less aggression in general, unbelievably slower than NHL and generally just a bit boring when compared. So I don't really blame the media for focusing more on football since it's the most popular sport in the world, in Scotland especially where other sports are ignored by the majority of the population, and they have arguably the best league in the world of the most popular sport in the world to report on in England instead of a poor quality ice hockey league which has far less interest from the people they are reporting to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do love football, but I agree hockey deserves more coverage. However, the standard of British hockey is frankly shocking in my opinion. If you have ever been to, or even just watched on tv, an NHL game then watching the Elite League feels like watching the equivalent of the Masters in football. Nowhere near as many hits, much less aggression in general, unbelievably slower than NHL and generally just a bit boring when compared. So I don't really blame the media for focusing more on football since it's the most popular sport in the world, in Scotland especially where other sports are ignored by the majority of the population, and they have arguably the best league in the world of the most popular sport in the world to report on in England instead of a poor quality ice hockey league which has far less interest from the people they are reporting to.

It's chicken and egg though, isn't it? With less coverage less people will know they have a local pro hockey team. With less people aware, there's less crowds. With less crowds, there's less money. With less money there's lower quality.

The EIHL may well be light years behind the NHL, KHL and most other European leagues but it doesn't stop it being entertaining. I've had plenty of edge-of-seat moments following Edinburgh where we've won, lost or taken a game into overtime just seconds from the final buzzer - and the excitement is possibly the most important part of a spectator sport?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's chicken and egg though, isn't it? With less coverage less people will know they have a local pro hockey team. With less people aware, there's less crowds. With less crowds, there's less money. With less money there's lower quality.

The EIHL may well be light years behind the NHL, KHL and most other European leagues but it doesn't stop it being entertaining. I've had plenty of edge-of-seat moments following Edinburgh where we've won, lost or taken a game into overtime just seconds from the final buzzer - and the excitement is possibly the most important part of a spectator sport?

Completely agree with you. It definitely needs more coverage because it really is entertaining to watch. Just because it is miles behind the NHL (and always will be) doesn't mean it's not entertaining. After all, the SPL is the best league in Scotland and most of the matches are bloody dire. NHL will have nicer stuff, but the EIHL is still very entertaining.

On your last point, I remember a match vs Coventry this season at the Braehead Arena. 1-0 down, 8 seconds left and we smash in the equalizer, sent me mental :D I think we lost in OT though :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Some teams have announced their fixtures, including cardiff, who host fife on boxing day, feck that for a journey! there is a caps/flyers derby on hogmany, should be a good 'un.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Are all the teams professional?

If you mean professional as in full time more or less. All imports will surely be full time and certainly the top 6 or 7 clubs most if not all the home grown players will also be full time with the top guys earning more than some imports. The smaller clubs like Dundee, Edinburgh and Hull have had some home grown players that will have a job outside of hockey, though this may sometimes may be down to their choice if they have a good job and remember they only play hockey for about half a year. If you were looking at a football comparison it is a bit like SFL 1 teams are mostly full time but the further you go down the division the more part time players you will find. Younger players often may be students also imports are attracted over here as they may have played college hockey so want to complete their degrees or do postgrad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After the really disappointing news that Richardson was leaving the Clan because he was offered a job back home, we finally have a new player/coach, who was announced today as Drew Bannister. Definitely pleased with that, the guy was a number 26 pick in the NHL draft in '92 has tons of NHL experience and is bound to have some really good contacts.

Bring on the new season now, after a few signings hopefully.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What sort of crowds do the Scottish teams draw?

Think ours was around 1500 last year on average, with 2k+ towards the end of the season and the playoffs, hopefully next season it should go up. Dundee and Edinburgh was a bit less than that, but I'd expect Fife to get around 1200-1500 as well probably next season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Braehead Clan kicked off their season at home on Saturday. An impressive 6-0 win over Dundee Stars. Even more impressive was the attendance of over 2,500.

Sunday saw an away trip to Edinburgh Capitals and a 4-2 victory for The Clan.

Good start for Braehead. Cardiff Devils this Saturday. Should be a close, well contested game.

Paddy Power offering 3/1 on a Braehead win. I'll have some of that :-)

Edited by TeddyKGB
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A huge well done to the edinburgh capitals after their 8-3 win over fife tonight. I'm a flyers fan, we were murder tonight, second best to the caps in every department. Fife badly need at least another 3 new imports in, injuries and shitloads of ice time for the imports are killing us. I was hugely impressed by the caps tonight, some of their play and passing was a joy to watch. I hope the result tonight helps get the fans back through the door.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Edinburgh Capitals 2 Cardiff Devils 3 tonight. Went along and really enjoyed it. The Caps were twice 2 behind but came back well and deserved something out of the game even hitting the post in the closing stages. Massive game versus Dundee next up on Saturday.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

Aye, the Clan.

They have an NHL player from the Detroit Redwings playing while the lock out thing is on.

If it was football it would be like say an established English Premier League player coming to play in the Scottish 1st Division. Like a Michu of Swansea playing for Falkirk.

Anyway I was at a game last week and he scored a last gasp winner and the place erupted. It's a joy to watch him skating rings round the majority of other players.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...