The Official British Hockey Thread

Post by **Calv** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:15 pm

Phoenix went out of the playoffs against Cardiff, the 3-1 loss in the first leg was too much and we only managed to win 2-1 in the 2nd leg. Was a great game and a lot more physical than the rest of the games I've been to so far.

Hopefully some of the players will be staying next year - Moiln,Campbell,Battaglia,Clouthier, Timmons, Mangos, Vychodil from the imports and Walker and Miller from the Brits. The rest I'm not too fussed about, maybe Wolfe as he looked pretty good in net, but hada big dip in form half way through the season.

Tony Hand is definitely staying next season which is a bonus, and him and Johan Molin both got in the 2nd all star team

Post by **Calv** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:58 pm

Walker just announced he's staying next season, which I'm very happy about looks like a good prospect

Post by **Calv** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:03 pm

Playoff final is Cardiff v Nottingham tomorrow

Post by **Calv** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:27 pm

Nottingham won the playoffs in penalty shots after a 1-1 draw with Cardiff.

Systemfel · Post by **Systemfel** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:35 pm

They use shootouts in the playoffs?

Post by **Calv** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:08 pm

yep, 5mins of 4 on 4 then shootout. It's also a different setup with the rounds:
Quarter finals
1v8,2v7,3v6,4v5 best of 2, 1 home leg 1 away leg for each team.
Semi's is winner of 1v8 v winner of 3v6 and winner of 2v7 v winner of 4v5. This is one leg held on the sturday at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham. The final is on the sunday, the day after, also at the National Ice Centre.

oxenhoper · Post by **oxenhoper** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:15 pm

First time in living memory that Panthers have finished play off champions.

Well done boys........................

Post by **Calv** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:13 pm

shame there's so little coverage of it here, only BBC radio Nottingham were covering it.

Post by **Calv** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:27 pm

Final Roundup
League

Code: Select all

 	 Team  	      GP    W  	WOT  L  	LOT  Pts
1 	Coventry 	   54 	31 	5 	15 	3 	75
2 	Belfast 	    54 	27 	7 	17 	3 	71
3 	Cardiff 	    54 	22 	10   17 	5 	69
4 	Sheffield 	  54 	26 	4 	16 	8 	68
5 	Nottingham 	 54 	25 	4 	17 	8 	66
6 	Manchester 	 54 	21 	5 	22 	6 	58
7 	Basingstoke 	54 	21 	2 	25 	6 	52
8 	Newcastle 	  54 	22 	2 	29 	1 	49
9 	Hull 	       54 	15 	3 	33 	3 	39
10   Edinburgh 	  54 	14 	4 	33 	3 	39

Cup Winners:
Playoffs: Nottingham Panthers
Challenge Cup: Coventry Blaze
British Knockout Cup: Cardiff Devils

Top 10 keepers with 10 or more starts

Code: Select all

Player                 Team         Pld     GAA       SP   PIM	
Trevor Koenig 	      Coventry 	  63 	2.13 	92.9% 	24
Rastislav Rovnianek 	Nottingham 	32 	2.29 	92.7% 	32
Philippe DeRouville 	Belfast 	   12 	1.75 	92.6% 	 2
Phil Osaer 	         Cardiff 	   64 	2.68 	92.3% 	14
Miroslav Bielik 	    Hull 	      47 	2.78 	91.8% 	32
Peter Aubry 	        Newcastle 	 30 	2.96 	91.7% 	8
Jody Lehman 	        Sheffield 	 62 	2.72 	91.6% 	46
Curtis Cruickshank 	 Basingstoke   41 	3.15 	91.2% 	10
Jason Wolfe 	        Manchester 	58 	3.21 	91.1% 	4
Curtis Cruickshank 	 Newcastle 	 13 	3.73 	  91% 	26

Top 10 players

Code: Select all

Player   	     Team   	 Pld    G    A   Pts   PP  SH   PIM
Daniel Tessier	Sheffield	62	24	76	100	10	1	161
Mark Smith	    Cardiff	  61	35	55	 90	 5	2	 96
Dan Carlson	   Coventry	 66	32	57	 89	10	1	104
Adam Calder	   Coventry	 66	35	53	 88	10	5	111
Johan Molin	   Manchester  60	40	43	 83	 8	7	 36
Tony Hand	     Manchester  57	18	58	 76	 6	3	 80
Sean McAslan	  Nottingham  55	44	28	 72	10	2	 97
Jeff Hutchins	 Belfast	  59	38	34	 72	12	2	180
Mark Dutiaume	 Belfast	  59	27	44	 71	 8	2	 56
Derek Campbell	Manchester  59	26	45	 71	 4	3	224

Post by **Calv** » Sat May 12, 2007 2:44 pm

Top points scorer Dan Tessier has left Sheffiled for Duisberg, Germany which was unsuprising really. Also Covetry's captain Tait has left for Sheffield, and Coventry have signed GB captain Jonathan Weaver for 3 year.
Manchester have lost Joe Miller who has moved back to Telford, which is a bit of a dissapointment but I'm sure there's similar GB players out there who can come in and perform.
Phoenix have resigned Adam Walker, Matt Rich and Scott Basiuk so far and Tony Hand is Director of Hockey(I think!) however he hasn't confirmed whether he will play next season or not.
There's always talk of teams coming into the EIHL but no one has yet to say anything and I'm not sure the league structure will change.

Post by **archibalduk** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:02 am

The new season starts on 8th & 9th September

It's frustrating to hear that quite a few teams are allegedly breaking the "gentleman's ageement" of the salary cap. I wish the cap was more binding so that teams don't get an unfair advantage. I don't see how we can compete by sticking to the cap if others are going to get more stars in by breaking the cap. But then we'll run into what caused the demise of the ISL - everyone will start breaking the cap, causing financial ruin

Phoenix have lost three of their best players: Derek Campbell, David Vychodil and Johan Molin

So far we've only re-signed Scott Basiuk, Adam Walker and Matt Rich. Also, goalie Aran Fox has been called-up from the youth team. Tony Hand says he's on the verge of signing five or six more players - I hope they'll be able to replace the likes of the players we've lost.

laskey 16 · Post by **laskey 16** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:32 am

To be honest, I'm pretty glad that the wage cap is only a gentleman's agreement. If it were a rule then all teams must abide by it and sign lesser quality, cheaper players. By having it as an agreement it is encouraging teams to sign some cheaper players but also some better quality ones. This ultimately means that we get to see a half-decent EIHL standard of hockey but the games are closer. If we had no wage cap at all then Edinburgh and Hull would lose 10-0 or 12-2 etc, but with an agreement like this one it is 6-3 or 5-2 etc, with the occasional 7-1, 8-1 etc, but we get to see the best players possible. It's a happy medium IMHO. Still, I would say that, I'm a Sheffield fan and we always break the cap!

Post by **Calv** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:28 pm

I'd rather have everyone play on the same playing field to be fair

Post by **Calv** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:29 pm

we've also re-signed Simon Mangos, the man with the coolest name in british ice hockey

laskey 16 · Post by **laskey 16** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:30 pm

Yep, me too, but I want to see the Tessiers and the Mark Smiths. I think as long as teams aren't getting too out of hand, its OK.

hluraven · Post by **hluraven** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:48 pm

Teams will always find ways to get around a cap, due to the things that can be offered other than wages.

Should, for example, university education be part of a wage cap. Many EIHL teams offer university packages to attract players including Cardiff, Coventry, Newcastle et al.

What about accomodation. Sheffield are building housing for their players, should these costs be in a cap.

Cars? Equipment? etc

My point is, these things are not included in a cap so the cap is a pointless agreement. If they were part of the cap, well then the cap is so low then we will have a semi-pro league as our top league.

Not sure what I would suggest is the way forward, obviously a free for all would run the risk of ISL2, whereas tighter cap controls would lead to either more complaints of teams circumventing the cap or such a high cap that the smaller teams either overextend themselves or fail to be competitive

laskey 16 · Post by **laskey 16** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:17 pm

The cap is not pointless, although I agree it does not actually do the same job as most salary caps, like in the NHL. What it does do is discourage teams from blatantly and ridiculously creating different levels of play - ie. if Sheffield signed Crosby, Jagr and Ovechkin whilst Edinburgh had only semi-pro players, to give an over-the top, ludcrous example. The fact we and others are talking about how much teams are spending, which rarely happened in the ISL days, means teams need to spend limited amounts so as to not disilussion fans. Sheffield, Belfast, Nottingham etc can probably afford more than they currently spend, but if they paid the maximum they could then fans would realise the EIHL was becoming "ISL 2" and Edinburgh/Hull etc fans would lose faith. I'll admit its a stupid, silly, crazy system we have, but its British ice hockey

and we'd probably be worse without it. It also reduces the chance of teams going bankrupt - in the ISL teams had to spend more than they could afford to compete. Now, although the Hulls and Edinburghs usually come bottom of the league, they can spend what theyr'e comfortable with and at least not get embarassed - Hull had many payers last year who stayed on from their EPL days. I think its the lesser of 2 evils, personally, but its nice to see the system be analysed and talked about - it can only improve our sport.

holydogg · Post by **holydogg** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:15 pm

For those interested, there is a 2007 Team GB card set being sold:

Team Great Britain 2007 Hockey Card Set Released

hluraven · Post by **hluraven** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:09 am

laskey 16 wrote:The cap is not pointless, although I agree it does not actually do the same job as most salary caps, like in the NHL. What it does do is discourage teams from blatantly and ridiculously creating different levels of play - ie. if Sheffield signed Crosby, Jagr and Ovechkin whilst Edinburgh had only semi-pro players, to give an over-the top, ludcrous example. The fact we and others are talking about how much teams are spending, which rarely happened in the ISL days, means teams need to spend limited amounts so as to not disilussion fans. Sheffield, Belfast, Nottingham etc can probably afford more than they currently spend, but if they paid the maximum they could then fans would realise the EIHL was becoming "ISL 2" and Edinburgh/Hull etc fans would lose faith. I'll admit its a stupid, silly, crazy system we have, but its British ice hockey and we'd probably be worse without it. It also reduces the chance of teams going bankrupt - in the ISL teams had to spend more than they could afford to compete. Now, although the Hulls and Edinburghs usually come bottom of the league, they can spend what theyr'e comfortable with and at least not get embarassed - Hull had many payers last year who stayed on from their EPL days. I think its the lesser of 2 evils, personally, but its nice to see the system be analysed and talked about - it can only improve our sport.

I think we are agreeing

The current system is easily manipulated, I don't think anyone would claim that Belfast were on an even playing field when they had Theo Fleury, Shields et al, but few would say the league didn't benefit from it. What the agreement does, as you say, is stop ridiculous abuse of the system and gives lower teams an easier task to stay within their means.

From a league perspective I would say the most important things are that no-one goes bust, and the standard of play is as high as possible for the spectators/development of players. Right now I think the EIHL is providing that as well as British hockey has ever done (I'm not a supporter of an EIHL team either). The cap being a manipulatable (not breakable - that's a different thing) agreement is probably the best way to do this, as was your point originally I think.

laskey 16 · Post by **laskey 16** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:43 am

Yep, you understood it through all the waffle!

Post by **CatchUp** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:42 pm

laskey 16 wrote:Yep, you understood it through all the waffle!

And here, fellow North Americans, is a prime example of an excellent English expression.

laskey 16 · Post by **laskey 16** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:08 pm

Plenty more where they came from!

Post by **archibalduk** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:15 am

Manchester Phoenix will have an pseudo-affiliate team (for want of a better phrase) in the English National Ice Hockey League next season. This will in effect be what their under-19 team was last season. Their U-19 team is being replaced with an U-18 team. That sounds like a good setup for developing players but I do wonder where they're getting all of this money from.

hluraven · Post by **hluraven** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:07 am

Most ENL teams are self-funding. The players pay to play, and a few get at most equipment and minor expenses paid for. I would hazard a guess that all the senior Phoenix will pay for is ice time and the shirts.

Post by **Calv** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:02 pm

Tony Hand is playing again next season