Page 4 of 5
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:15 pm
by Calv
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
Posted: Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:58 pm
by Calv
Walker just announced he's staying next season, which I'm very happy about looks like a good prospect
Posted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:03 pm
by Calv
Playoff final is Cardiff v Nottingham tomorrow
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:27 pm
by Calv
Nottingham won the playoffs in penalty shots after a 1-1 draw with Cardiff.
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:35 pm
by Systemfel
They use shootouts in the playoffs?
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:08 pm
by Calv
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.
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:15 pm
by oxenhoper
First time in living memory that Panthers have finished play off champions.
Well done boys........................
Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:13 pm
by Calv
shame there's so little coverage of it here, only BBC radio Nottingham were covering it.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:27 pm
by Calv
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
Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 2:44 pm
by Calv
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.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:02 am
by archibalduk
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
](./images/smilies/wallbash.gif "Brick wall")
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.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:32 am
by laskey 16
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!
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:28 pm
by Calv
I'd rather have everyone play on the same playing field to be fair
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:29 pm
by Calv
we've also re-signed Simon Mangos, the man with the coolest name in british ice hockey
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 12:30 pm
by laskey 16
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.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 1:48 pm
by hluraven
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
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:17 pm
by laskey 16
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.
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2007 6:15 pm
by holydogg
For those interested, there is a 2007 Team GB card set being sold:
Team Great Britain 2007 Hockey Card Set Released
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 8:09 am
by hluraven
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.
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:43 am
by laskey 16
Yep, you understood it through all the waffle!
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:42 pm
by CatchUp
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.
Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:08 pm
by laskey 16
Plenty more where they came from!
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 9:15 am
by archibalduk
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.
Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:07 am
by hluraven
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.
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:02 pm
by Calv
Tony Hand is playing again next season