EHM The Blue Line

Manimal wrote:I'm gonna go watch two games next thursday. There is an Under-20 Super Challenge tournament in Town.
The games I'll see will be Rögle (SWE) versus Jokerit Helsinki (FIN) and home team Färjestad (SWE) against Jungadler Mannheim from Germany.
Maybe I'll try to catch some other games later that week, as well

Sounds great!

Yeah, sounds like good times! (Go easy on the beer!)

Anyone in here gonna follow the Champions Hockey League? Starts this thursday.
I am actually looking forward to it.
International club tournaments/Leagues have not been highly regarded here in Sweden, but I hope it can change.
Several games are on TV or available online (at least here in Sweden) and I might catch a live game here in Karlstad

My favourite team, Djurgården is in a tough Group with Eisbären Berlin, Fribourg-Gottéron and PSG Zlin, but I hope they can move to the next round

Manimal wrote:Anyone in here gonna follow the Champions Hockey League? Starts this thursday.
I am actually looking forward to it.
International club tournaments/Leagues have not been highly regarded here in Sweden, but I hope it can change.
Several games are on TV or available online (at least here in Sweden) and I might catch a live game here in Karlstad

My favourite team, Djurgården is in a tough Group with Eisbären Berlin, Fribourg-Gottéron and PSG Zlin, but I hope they can move to the next round

I think it will be interesting! I remember as a kid following EHL, which is pretty similar to this one. They're not gonna show any games on our free channels here in Finland. But I will still "follow" what happens in the games. I think our Finnish team Kärpät will play "your" Skellefteå in the final. (or do you think AIK won't be that good this season?)

Manimal wrote:Anyone in here gonna follow the Champions Hockey League? Starts this thursday.
I am actually looking forward to it.
International club tournaments/Leagues have not been highly regarded here in Sweden, but I hope it can change.
Several games are on TV or available online (at least here in Sweden) and I might catch a live game here in Karlstad

My favourite team, Djurgården is in a tough Group with Eisbären Berlin, Fribourg-Gottéron and PSG Zlin, but I hope they can move to the next round

It sounds like a great tournament like every European one, but the lack of KHL teams is imho an interest killer

For SaiPa the event is going to be pretty big as it is the first international league the team has participated in. Imo we aren't even in a too though group to win it when everything goes well. Though I have to admit SaiPa's been struggling with scoring in its first three exhibition games and hasn't won any of them but hey, it's the regular season that really matters.

jhcjobpb wrote:I think it will be interesting! I remember as a kid following EHL, which is pretty similar to this one. They're not gonna show any games on our free channels here in Finland. But I will still "follow" what happens in the games. I think our Finnish team Kärpät will play "your" Skellefteå in the final. (or do you think AIK won't be that good this season?)

Skellefteå will not be as dominant as they were last season as they have lost so many guys off the roster. They will still be a good team.
It is very hard to predict who'll win, but I think the Swedish teams are all capable of winning.

Alessandro wrote: It sounds like a great tournament like every European one, but the lack of KHL teams is imho an interest killer

Yeah, it would be great to have the KHL teams take part, but I think it will be difficult to get them into the CHL

I created a little summary about the CHL here: http://thehockeywriters.com/get-to-know ... ey-league/
If you click down the road, "Other posts", you'll find all my translated interview with NHL Russian prospects.

Alessandro wrote:I created a little summary about the CHL here: http://thehockeywriters.com/get-to-know ... ey-league/
If you click down the road, "Other posts", you'll find all my translated interview with NHL Russian prospects.

I came across that site a few weeks ago and read a couple of your articles. They're very good reads indeed.

I'm really looking forward to the CHL. I'm driving up to Nottingham tomorrow to see the Lukko Rauma game. Nottingham have signed a large number of North American players to short contracts solely for the CHL. It seems a shame to put together a roster just for the CHL - I believe in building a team for the whole season rather than grabbing as many imports as possible to compete in the short term. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see some Euro hockey in the UK. It's just annoying I can't make the other two group games (due to a wedding on Sunday and me not having enough annual leave from work to take the Friday off). Thankfully there's a TV channel I'm going to subscribe to which will be broadcasting many of the CHL games!

I see there aren't any Italian teams in the CHL. I take it that means you won't be able to get to any of the games?

archibalduk wrote:

Alessandro wrote:I created a little summary about the CHL here: http://thehockeywriters.com/get-to-know ... ey-league/
If you click down the road, "Other posts", you'll find all my translated interview with NHL Russian prospects.

I came across that site a few weeks ago and read a couple of your articles. They're very good reads indeed.

I'm really looking forward to the CHL. I'm driving up to Nottingham tomorrow to see the Lukko Rauma game. Nottingham have signed a large number of North American players to short contracts solely for the CHL. It seems a shame to put together a roster just for the CHL - I believe in building a team for the whole season rather than grabbing as many imports as possible to compete in the short term. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see some Euro hockey in the UK. It's just annoying I can't make the other two group games (due to a wedding on Sunday and me not having enough annual leave from work to take the Friday off). Thankfully there's a TV channel I'm going to subscribe to which will be broadcasting many of the CHL games!

I see there aren't any Italian teams in the CHL. I take it that means you won't be able to get to any of the games?

Thank you for reading my articles. I'm published in also other resources (a few years ago I even wrote an article for The Hockey News).
However, if you don't have a favorite NHL team there isn't much to read in my articles, I fear.

By the way, there definitely is an Italian team in the CHL, HC Bolzano. However, I don't care much about this competition due to the lack of KHL teams. And anyway Briancon or Switzerland teams are much closer to me than Bolzano.

And as I said you elsewhere, take with yourself an umbrella for the Lukko game
Well, as an Englishman you most likely take it with yourself everytime anyway

Alessandro wrote:Thank you for reading my articles. I'm published in also other resources (a few years ago I even wrote an article for The Hockey News).

I too have been reading your thehockeywriters articles! And I think I've seen your work in hockeysfuture too

Alessandro wrote:However, if you don't have a favorite NHL team there isn't much to read in my articles, I fear.

I'm not sure what you mean...do you mean your articles usually concern Russian "NHL prospects" and not coverage of European/Russian Leagues?


From my side of the world I can follow the KHL a bit (especially via the "Daily KHL Update" on YouTube), and the KHL website gives me stats/standings...alas for the European Leagues (like the SHL and Liiga) there's not much available in English...I'm not sure if there'll be anything available for the CHL

Alessandro wrote:Thank you for reading my articles. I'm published in also other resources (a few years ago I even wrote an article for The Hockey News).
However, if you don't have a favorite NHL team there isn't much to read in my articles, I fear.

By the way, there definitely is an Italian team in the CHL, HC Bolzano. However, I don't care much about this competition due to the lack of KHL teams. And anyway Briancon or Switzerland teams are much closer to me than Bolzano.

And as I said you elsewhere, take with yourself an umbrella for the Lukko game
Well, as an Englishman you most likely take it with yourself everytime anyway

I hadn't noticed Bolzano in there!

Yep, umbrella is packed (literally and figuratively!!!)! This is why I am a bit frustrated to miss the two other group games - because it's unlikely they'll make it past the group.

Your interviews and articles are interesting. I drift in and out of the NHL a little bit now. I was a much more avid follower until the most recent lock-out. The lock-out has made me feel somewhat apathetic towards the league. That said, parts of British hockey aren't much better right now.

nino33 wrote:

Alessandro wrote:Thank you for reading my articles. I'm published in also other resources (a few years ago I even wrote an article for The Hockey News).

I too have been reading your thehockeywriters articles! And I think I've seen your work in hockeysfuture too

Yes, I write for Hockey's Future too. Unfortunately, HF's mother company cut down the fundings, therefore there will be less writing from country writers. I scheduled an interview with Calgary Flames prospect Rushan Rafikov, it will have to wait.

Alessandro wrote:However, if you don't have a favorite NHL team there isn't much to read in my articles, I fear.

nino33 wrote:I'm not sure what you mean...do you mean your articles usually concern Russian "NHL prospects" and not coverage of European/Russian Leagues?

Yes, I mean that. I usually publish interviews with Russian prospects. For example, my latest piece is an interview with Leafs' Rinat Valiev: http://thehockeywriters.com/rinat-valie ... -prospect/ I'm not sure you can be very interested if you're not a Leafs fan or a prospects geek.

A Finnish article listed their Top 10 CHL winner candidates as following:

1. Kärpät Oulu
2. Färjestad BK
3. Växjö Lakers
4. Tappara Tampere
5. Frölunda Indians
6. ZSC Lions
7. Luleå Hockey
8. PSG Zlin
9. Lukko Rauma
10. Kölner Haie

The Nottingham - Lukko game was remarkably closer than what I expected. It took a little while for the Panthers to get into the game, resulting in Lukko getting two early goals. However, once they got into it, they played remarkably well and tied it 2-2 in the second period. Both teams had good chances to take the lead in the second. However, in the third, the Panthers ran out of gas and Lukko won 4-2. It's not surprising the Panthers ran out of gas - as expected, Lukko were clearly the better team technically and tactically.

I'm pretty glad I couldn't make the Lulea game (Panthers lost 1-10). I understand from my brother that many of the goals were deflections off sticks and skates - and it didn't help that injuries forced them to run three lines against Lulea's four. Nonetheless, a real thrashing.

The players Nottingham had signed especially for the CHL weren't all that impressive (and it was a Brit that scored both goals against Lukko).

archibalduk wrote:The players Nottingham had signed especially for the CHL weren't all that impressive

I wonder if the team had much practice time together? And I wonder if the recent signees had much experience outside of NA?

The thoughts (not having played together/not having played overseas before making things more difficult) came to my mind I think because I was watching some of my hockey DVDs this summer, including a few games from when Canada returned to the World Championships in the late 1970s (when Canada quickly learned "throwing players together who didn't normally play together" didn't work very well! HaHa)

That's exactly my thought about throwing together a bunch of players and expecting them to deliver right from day 1. Especially as the CHL has started about 3 or 4 weeks before the regular season (i.e. 3 or 4 weeks less practice than usual). That said, it was actually a bit fortunate that they did have the larger roster because they have been suffering from a number of injured players and would have struggled even more without the additional depth.

It reminds me a bit of what happened last year at Nottingham. They kept losing their import players to long-term injury and so had to continually release them and sign new players. As a result, the team never clicked and they had one of their poorest seasons for a long time.

Something I forgot to mention yesterday: The change in size of the neutral zone following the IIHF rule changes was very noticeable last weekend. The neutral zone is now noticeably narrower. It's hard to say what effect this had on the game, but it certainly helps the PP.

Finnish SM-League has finally kicked off for all the teams and I thought I'd post my regular season prediction I made about a week ago:

1. Kärpät
2. Lukko
3. TPS
4. Tappara
5. HIFK
6. SaiPa
---
7. Blues
8. JYP
9. HPK
10. Ässät
---
11. Pelicans
12. Ilves
13. KalPa
14. Sport

Kärpät, Lukko and TPS seem to be the strongest teams according to their rosters but then again that means nothing on the ice. Tappara is close to them but has lost some of its players and their head coach. SaiPa has a better roster than last season when they finished 4th but that was also overachieving. Blues and HIFK are very close to SaiPa's position and any one of them could even be in the top 3 when they get their game together. They all at least have great coaches.

JYP's roster isn't as good as it has been during the past seasons so I expect them to fall a bit now. HPK, Ässät and Pelicans are tightly fighting for the last ''Wild Card -round'' place with very even rosters. At the bottom of the pack are Ilves, KalPa and Sport which of Sport (as the financial promotion team) seems to be ultimately really weak though they truly have the surprise on their side. Ilves and KalPa are in deep waters and need some wins right in the beginning of the season to win the fans behind them or else they may be left fighting for nothing during the spring.

I posted those two lists of NHL prospects playing in the top two European leagues:
All NHL prospects in the KHL: http://thehockeywriters.com/thws-list-o ... n-the-khl/
All NHL prospects in the SHL: http://thehockeywriters.com/thws-list-o ... 5-edition/

ForNever wrote:Finnish SM-League has finally kicked off for all the teams and I thought I'd post my regular season prediction I made about a week ago:

1. Kärpät
2. Lukko
3. TPS
4. Tappara
5. HIFK
6. SaiPa
---
7. Blues
8. JYP
9. HPK
10. Ässät
---
11. Pelicans
12. Ilves
13. KalPa
14. Sport

Pretty decent order. I would put TPS a few positions lower. Same with Blues, they never seem to make it. JYP maybe a little bit higher.

Well then again Blues was 6th last season and also went all the way to game 7 against Lukko in the quarter finals, and they also won two silvers a few seasons back (nobody really ever remembers silver teams).

Alessandro wrote:I posted those two lists of NHL prospects playing in the top two European leagues:
All NHL prospects in the KHL: http://thehockeywriters.com/thws-list-o ... n-the-khl/
All NHL prospects in the SHL: http://thehockeywriters.com/thws-list-o ... 5-edition/

This is great stuff Alessandro!

Is there anything similar for the European/Russian prospects playing in the CHL (WHL-OHL-QMJHL)?
It'd be really helpful for researching (I'm working on the Major Junior Leagues for the TBL Rosters, currently working on the QMJHL)

ForNever wrote:Well then again Blues was 6th last season and also went all the way to game 7 against Lukko in the quarter finals, and they also won two silvers a few seasons back (nobody really ever remembers silver teams).

Also Blues is the only team to ever come back from a 3-0 count to win a series 4-3. In the playoffs.

Don't count out the Blues!

Espoo!

nino33 wrote: Is there anything similar for the European/Russian prospects playing in the CHL (WHL-OHL-QMJHL)?
It'd be really helpful for researching (I'm working on the Major Junior Leagues for the TBL Rosters, currently working on the QMJHL)

I have a list of all CHL Imports, but no report on them