Now is the winter of our discontent

by Craig Simpson

by Craig Simpson

When the world of British ice hockey goes into meltdown, which it is apt to do from time to time, it’s generally during the off-season when to be honest there’s not a lot else happening.

This year, though, appears to be different.

The very public problems at both Coventry and Cardiff appear to have spurred the EIHL bosses into a root-and-branch review of the league and its membership by all accounts.

A source involved in the EIHL advised British Ice Hockey on Friday of the meeting of clubs – details of which were published on the BIH Twitter and Facebook.

The ‘big six’ had a get together and talked about import levels, spending levels and most controversial of all perhaps – the make up of the League.

Six team league? You’re having a laugh!

Well maybe, maybe not.

It’s sure that the coming weeks will be fraught with emotions on all sides, with everyone trying to do what is best for their clubs at this particular moment in time.

Whether it’s six, eight, ten whatever the make up of the EIHL going forward it has to be sustainable for ALL member clubs, not just those at the top.

The ‘Save the Blaze’ campaign of the last week brought back memories of last season in Viperland when Paddy O’Connor stopped funding the club. Now, as we found then, the support of the ice hockey community was brilliant – however it is very much a trick that can be used one time only.

The extra income from Saturday’s game may settle a few bills, keep the club going for another week but then you have to do it all again – it’s very draining for those involved and difficult going back to the well time and time again asking for more support from the same people.

While I was writing this news came through that Paul Thompson had stepped down as GB senior mens coach to fight the cause for the Blaze – that’s more for another blog.

The point is, Save the Blaze isn’t just this weekend, or this month – it’s from now till the season end and possibly beyond and there is no guarantee in its success.

I wish the Blaze fans well and hope they have a team for this season and beyond. And I hope that whatever comes of the latest round of ice hockey musical chairs, there are no clubs disappearing and no fans left without a team to support.

And yes, there’s just a little bit of sadness that it’s taken until one of the League’s powerhouses faces financial calamity for the League to realise they need to look at the costs of Elite League hockey. And that they didn’t heed the warnings from other owners as long as four years ago.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Cardiff	3-6	Nottingham
24th March 2013 18:00
Edinburgh	4-2	Dundee
24th March 2013 18:00
Hull	4-1	Coventry
24th March 2013 18:00
Sheffield	2-3	Belfast
24th March 2013 17:00
Coventry	2-4	Belfast
23rd March 2013 19:30
Fife	4-1	Braehead
23rd March 2013 19:15

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Nottingham Panthers	52	42	10	1	232	111	85
2	Belfast Giants	52	37	15	5	191	132	79
3	Sheffield Steelers	52	35	17	3	184	133	73
4	Coventry Blaze	52	24	28	6	155	180	54
5	Cardiff Devils	52	21	31	8	160	168	50
6	Fife Flyers	52	23	29	2	153	175	48
7	Edinburgh Capitals	52	22	30	4	149	184	48
8	Braehead Clan	52	20	32	6	163	200	46
9	Dundee Stars	52	19	33	6	138	194	44
10	Hull Stingrays	52	17	35	9	137	185	43

Peterborough	v	Swindon
11th November 2012 17:30
Sheffield	v	Milton Keynes
11th November 2012 17:30
Guildford	v	Basingstoke
11th November 2012 18:00
Bracknell	v	Slough
11th November 2012 18:00

Telford	4-1	Manchester
11th November 2012 17:30
Sheffield	6-3	Bracknell
10th November 2012 19:30
Manchester	7-5	Peterborough
10th November 2012 19:00
Basingstoke	3-1	Guildford
10th November 2012 18:30
Slough	2-0	Milton Keynes
10th November 2012 18:30
Swindon	4-2	Telford
10th November 2012 17:45

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Manchester Phoenix	16	12	4	1	67	48	25
2	Basingstoke Bison	16	12	4	1	48	29	25
3	Milton Keynes Lightning	16	9	7	1	45	42	19
4	Bracknell Bees	17	9	8	1	62	66	19
5	Guildford Flames	16	8	8	2	73	54	18
6	Slough Jets	15	8	7	0	49	43	16
7	Swindon Wildcats	18	5	13	5	54	67	15
8	Sheffield Steeldogs	15	7	8	0	45	64	14
9	Peterborough Phantoms	16	6	10	1	50	55	13
10	Telford Tigers	13	3	10	0	32	57	6

Coventry ENL	v	Trafford
10th November 2012 17:00
Telford	v	Whitley
10th November 2012 17:30
	v	Blackburn
10th November 2012 19:00
Sutton	v	Sheffield
11th November 2012 14:30
Whitley	v	Coventry ENL
11th November 2012 17:00
Blackburn	v	Stars
11th November 2012 17:45

Sutton	4-4	Whitley
4th November 2012 19:30
Stars	4-5	Blackburn
4th November 2012 18:30
Telford	0-7
4th November 2012 17:30
Stars	4-0	Telford
3rd November 2012 18:30
Trafford	3-3	Sutton
3rd November 2012 17:15
Stars	6-1	Trafford
28th October 2012 18:30

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Solway Sharks	11	10	1	0	50	15	20
2	Billingham Stars	11	9	2	0	55	20	18
3	Whitley Warriors	10	7	3	0	36	32	14
4	Sutton Sting	9	4	5	2	29	33	10
5	Blackburn Hawks	7	4	3	2	20	23	10
6	Sheffield Spartans	11	3	8	0	32	44	6
7	Trafford Metros	11	2	9	0	28	48	4
8	Coventry NIHL Blaze	7	1	6	2	18	37	4
9	Telford Titans	3	0	3	0	0	16	0

Solent	1-10	Wightlink
2nd September 2012 18:30
Invicta	7-2	Milton Keynes
2nd September 2012 17:15
Romford	7-6	Streatham
2nd September 2012 17:15
Milton Keynes	2-5	Bracknell
1st September 2012 19:00

	Club	GP	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Wightlink Raiders	1	1	0	10	1	2
2	Invicta Dynamos	1	1	0	7	2	2
3	Bracknell Hornets	1	1	0	5	2	2
4	Romford Raiders	1	1	0	7	6	2
5	Streatham Redskins	1	0	1	6	7	0
6	Milton Keynes Thunder	2	0	2	4	12	0
7	Solent & Gosport Devils	1	0	1	1	10	0

Flintshire	7-2	Kingston
2nd September 2012 18:45
Lancashire	0-9	Flintshire
1st September 2012 17:45
	4-7	Nottingham
1st September 2012 17:00

	Club	GP	W	L	GF	GA	Pts
1	Deeside Dragons	2	2	0	16	2	4
2	Nottingham Lions	1	1	0	7	4	2
3	Fylde Flyers	1	0	1	4	7	0
4	Hull ENL Stingrays	1	0	1	2	7	0
5	Blackburn Eagles	1	0	1	0	9	0

Lee Valley	8-13	Slough
2nd September 2012 17:15

	Club	GP	W	L	OL	GF	GA	Pts

Now is the winter of our discontent

British Ice Hockey

Elite League

Premier League

Partner Information