The Offical British Ice Hockey Thread

Post by **archibalduk** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:53 am

Yeah I see what you mean about the eyes

To be honest, I've never been a fan of the Phoenix shirts. I think they look cheap because they don't really have any stitch work on them - it's just a printed shirt.

Post by **Calv** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:45 pm

They went for printed shirts last season because the players preferred them to the heavier stitched ones.

Some Phoenix news this week, Basiuk has left to join the Steelers which leaves them with no real tough guy. Basiuk had a hot & cold season last year and often went on wanders, in one match Phoenix were 2 goals up with 2 minutes to go until Basiuk decided to pass to the opposition twice and the Phoenix lost in regulation time. Still he had an awesome shot and stepped up offensively last year compared to his first season.
Phoenix have also signed their sniper for this year, David Beauregard has joined us. Over 600 career goals says it all, especially when you consider the fact that he lost the sight in his left eye during a game due to a high stick. He even carried on playing after the high stick to score on the breakaway before seeking medical treatment

Phoenix have also joined up with the University of Bolton to offer 3 players a year with a place at the university, too late to keep Basiuk, but will be useful for future recruiting.
If Tony Hand gets his next 2 or 3 signings that he wants he will also probably retire from playing and concentrate solely on coaching.

Post by **Calv** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 9:46 pm

Also updated all of the EIHL teams, I'll do the EPL rosters later as well.

crosby87 · Post by **crosby87** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:38 pm

Still no sign of a team in the London area then... thus I still can't follow this league as closely as I'd like... about all I knew is the ex-Knights players, and now Neal Martin's gone too... oh well.

Post by **Calv** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:57 pm

They're still trying to get the Croyden arena planning permission, apparently a decision should be made before the end of july

so there maybe hockey in the London area at some point in the future. Also whoever owns the Kings still lists the Knights/Racers(I forget which one) as one of their assets which indicates that they might be willing to bring it back at some point

Post by **Calv** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:07 pm

The EIHL rosters are nearing completion, with Belfast, Nottingham & Sheffield all completing their rosters.
Basingstoke need at least 5 more players.
Cardiff have signed all of their forwards and will need 1 more defenceman, as well as their backup netminder.
Coventry still need at least 1 defenceman and 2 forwards.
Edinburgh need their 2 netminders and 4 or 5 forwards.
Hull need 1 defenceman and 2 or 3 forwards
Manchester have completed their defence and need 3 or 4 forwards
Newcastle need 1 defenceman and 2 or 3 forwards

Post by **Calv** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:32 pm

Updated the EPL rosters

Also Newcastle sign ex-NHL player Chris McAllister, he's played 301 games in the NHL for Vancouver, Toronto, Colorado, NY Rangers and Philadelphia. A great signing for the Vipers, lets hope his legs don't go though as he's getting on a bit. Although he did spend last year in the AHL so he must still have it

Post by **Calv** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:20 am

Coventry re-sign last years top points & goals scorer Adam Calder, whilst Basingstoke pick up enforcer Jeremy Cornish.
Newcastle will be looking for an extra player after Joel Irving's move has been cancelled due to personal problems

Post by **batdad** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:10 pm

Hate to tell you this Calv...McAllister has never had any wheels. Never. So his legs won't go, cause they have never been there. He is a goon. Period. But over there maybe he can score as much as that superstar Tony Hand.

Post by **Calv** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:02 pm

Perfectly suited for our league then

He's been over here before during the lockout season, playing 14 games for Newcastle managing a mighty 4 assists

Still a big player can only be good for the league and it's reputation.
Also Tony Hand might not be playing next year he may hang up his 65-yr old skates this summer

Post by **batdad** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:55 pm

What? The Great Brit may call it quits? No way, I thought he wanted to be the British Gordie Howe as well as the British Gretzky...

Post by **Calv** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 11:05 pm

NHL.com article on the great one: http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=pag ... eid=366942

Post by **Calv** » Fri Aug 01, 2008 6:22 pm

The News batdad has been waiting for all summer

Only 33 points until his 4000th

Post by **Calv** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 9:32 pm

Calv wrote:The EIHL rosters are nearing completion, with Belfast, Nottingham & Sheffield all completing their rosters.
Basingstoke need at least 5 more players.
Cardiff have signed all of their forwards and will need 1 more defenceman, as well as their backup netminder.
Coventry still need at least 1 defenceman and 2 forwards.
Edinburgh need their 2 netminders and 4 or 5 forwards.
Hull need 1 defenceman and 2 or 3 forwards
Manchester have completed their defence and need 3 or 4 forwards
Newcastle need 1 defenceman and 2 or 3 forwards

Basingstoke have signed their keeper and are probably looking for 2 defencemen and 1 forward.
Coventry have signed their defence and are only looking for a replacement for Sylvain Cloutier on the first line.
Edinburgh need their 2 netminders and 4 or 5 forwards.
Hull need another 2 players
Manchester should announce their final 2 forwards in the next week.
Newcastle need 1 defenceman and 2 or 3 forwards

Post by **archibalduk** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:52 pm

Calv wrote:The News batdad has been waiting for all summer Only 33 points until his 4000th

Yeah I read that news story on the MEN earlier today. Great news - I think he still has at least another season or two in him. I hadn't read that article on the NHL site before, though. A particularly interesting part of the article is:

Glen Sather wrote:"At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well. His intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect," Sather recalled in Hand’s autobiography, "Tony Hand: A Life in British Ice Hockey."

Now that's pretty darn cool!

I might have to see if I can get hold of his autobiography...

Post by **Calv** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 12:19 am

archibalduk wrote:
Calv wrote:The News batdad has been waiting for all summer Only 33 points until his 4000th
Yeah I read that news story on the MEN earlier today. Great news - I think he still has at least another season or two in him. I hadn't read that article on the NHL site before, though. A particularly interesting part of the article is:

Glen Sather wrote:"At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well. His intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect," Sather recalled in Hand’s autobiography, "Tony Hand: A Life in British Ice Hockey."
Now that's pretty darn cool! I might have to see if I can get hold of his autobiography...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tony-Hand-Life- ... 184&sr=8-1

Post by **Calv** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 5:05 pm

Calv wrote: Basingstoke have signed their keeper and are probably looking for 2 defencemen and 1 forward.
Edinburgh need their 2 netminders and 4 or 5 forwards.
Manchester should announce their final 2 forwards in the next week.
Newcastle need 1 defenceman and 1 or 2 forwards

Coventry, Cardiff and Hull have all completed their rosters now.

Post by **Calv** » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:30 pm

Basingstoke are probably looking for 1 defenceman and 1 forward.
Edinburgh need their 2 netminders and 2 or 3 forwards.
Manchester should announce their final forward in the next week.
Newcastle need 1 defenceman and 1 forward

The rosters are almost finished now

Post by **Calv** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:07 pm

Manchester have completed their roster with the signing of Kyle Bruce and Nottingham's Chris Richards pulls out of his contract before the season starts leaving the Panthers in the hunt for a new centre.

Post by **Calv** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:50 pm

The EIHL are bringing in the 4 official system for the new season, so there will be 2 refs and 2 lino's each match.
Nottingham sign Dan Tessier to replace Chris Richards

Post by **Calv** » Thu Aug 21, 2008 4:35 pm

Sponsors of Telford, Eurologix have pulled out in the first year of their 3 year deal leaving the club in financial troubles. They're looking for about £30,000 sponsorship otherwise the EPL will be another team down.....

Post by **Calv** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:33 pm

In the past week Telford fans have managed to raise £20,000 for the club and they will be playing in the EPL next season which is great news, hopefully they can find some solid sponsors and move up to the EIHL in a few years(which is their plan)

Post by **Calv** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:03 am

And another team teeters on the edge....
From the owner of Basingstoke

This is the hardest thing I have had to write in a long time.

This week has been a complete disaster, from beginning to end! We started off by losing support from not one but two companies on Tuesday, support we had been counting on and whose income we had included in our budget.
With a lot of twists and turns we managed to get it almost back on track for today, only to be hit one more time. Zoom has just gone public with the news that all services have been cancelled. How does that affect us? We are the only team flying in our players next week. This was with a sponsorship deal that many teams in the league had. We can not use it any longer and will now have to pay for the flights instead, adding another £6-9 000 to an already large hole in the budget.
The knock on effect during late afternoon and early evening today (Thursday) meant that support we had agreed on to help ease Tuesday’s losses was no longer enough, and the company offering it realized this and pulled out. We are now not only short of the cost of the flights and freighting of equipment, we are now short of the financial backing we needed.
The reality is as follows:
We are now short almost £30 000 to have ice hockey in Basingstoke. What is worse, we need it by Sunday to have a chance of getting up and running for next weekend. Not an easy task, but it can be done.
We need your support now more then ever. Any help will be much appreciated, given that we have such a short time to solve this. I will update you all on Friday evening with the latest developments and see if we can get a meeting together for Sunday. The Supporters Club are being informed and any help you can give will be organized through them.
I can put the blame for this mess on no one other than myself. I have said it many times before, if there is a better person to run this team then I am willing to hand it over; I have no other interest then seeing the Bison play, with me involved or without me. Right now the only thing important is to have our team on the ice next weekend!

All the best

Tomas

Post by **Calv** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:19 pm

Well the Bison managed to secure about £25,000 of donations and they'll be playing this weekend and every weekend during the season. Their players are being flown in today and tomorrow, great news

Post by **Calv** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:25 pm

You don't see this very often in professional sport, a great gesture from the Devils' owner

The Cardiff Devils are proud to have provided substantial, immediate five figure cash injection that will enable the Basingstoke Bison to compete in the BMI Baby Elite League next season.

Cardiff Devils owner Matt Burge commented: “I am delighted to be able to help Basingstoke out in this way. We need to look at the bigger picture and the impact of no Bison team in the Elite League would have been severe; it would have not only been terrible news for Bison fans, but the league as a whole.”

Following the collapse of Zoom airlines, the possibility of no Elite League ice hockey in Basingstoke had become very real. As part of their sponsorship deal with the Bison, Zoom had been scheduled to fly the new team to the UK; an obligation they could not fulfil following their collapse. However, fans can now look forward to a ten-team league with Basingstoke an integral part of that next season.

Burge continued; “At Cardiff, we have felt the repercussions from the collapse of Zoom, but Basingstoke suffered severely. They now have the foundations in place to build a sustainable future, which is so vital to clubs throughout British ice hockey. However, the goodwill stops at the plexi; we’ll be looking forward to smashing the Bison all over the ice when we play them.”

Bison owner Tomas Enerston said; “The Cardiff Devils have demonstrated the true spirit of our great game. Their incredible support is a huge contribution, not just to Basingstoke, but the whole league. It also ensures that top level ice hockey will remain in the South of England. We will be forever grateful”

“The Devils new owner Matt Burge has shown he recognises the importance of a strong Elite League to the game as a whole in the UK, by helping us during this tough time. The Devils are our local rivals, but also our great friends and I am very much looking forward to our two clubs continuing both our rivalry and friendship this season” said Enerston.

The Devils are also offering Bison fans a 4 game flex ticket for each of their games against the Devils at the Cardiff Bay arena. Bison fans can attend all four games for just £40 as part of the Devils’ 4 for £40 offer.