New Season
The hockey season is back, and you can follow it all with us right here on BIH.
Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
Lepine-gate
I was looking forward to putting together a bit of an overview of my very enjoyable experience watching Berlin vs. Hamburg at the o2 World on Friday night but the events that have ensued since my last blog have rocketed their way to the top of the priority chart. I’ll put something together about game night in Berlin shortly but for now suffice to say it sounds as if I had a lucky escape as, by all accounts I’ve heard, had I been at the NIC on Saturday I would probably have exploded.
As I say above I wasn’t at the game on Saturday, sounds like we lost our discipline at the worst possible time and Carson and his friends from up the M1 took full advantage. Now don’t get me wrong, I think Carson knows his stuff, no doubt about that whatsoever, but I have also seen many a Sheffield vs. Nottingham game where his calls are quite frankly ridiculous to the point of being sublime. That’s not restricted to games like this weekend where we’ve lost but many where we’ve won. Our first victory up there last season was gained through a last period display of such quality that even inconsistent calls could not combat our prowess; quite frankly we were just too good for Steelers even when they did have an extra man wearing black and white stripes on their side. For the first two periods of that game we were stemmed from our normal flow by terrible calls, some which came from thin air.
Perhaps this weekend the difference was two fold, Steelers are a much better side than they were last term and maybe we’re not as good. We’re certainly not as good when we’ve got half our roster out through penalties or injury that’s for sure!
I genuinely don’t know what it is with Carson. Maybe he can’t handle the big games. He definitely likes the limelight and loves having the crowd on his back. I’m not going into the various rumours and allegations that do the rounds time after time when he refs the big games versus our bitter rivals as I’ve no idea what is hearsay, what is fact and what is just pure rubbish. All I can say is that something is wrong when one guy is constantly becoming the ‘star of the show’ and it’s not one of the players.
As above I’ll have to refrain from commenting on the main crux of ‘Lepine-gate’ as I haven’t seen the check. What I want to take issue with is the league’s “new technology” that allows them to see things that a normal game tape slowed to 1/32 of its normal speed can’t. Yes that’s right, the league that cannot even configure their website to count cup and league games correctly in a simple database now have technology that is better than that used in many major sports. Amazingly, to date, the league have not released the footage, or stills from the footage, nor have the confirmed the name of the software or technology they are using. I’d love to know the latter; the type of technology they seem to be inferring they have used is very expensive so I can only assume that somebody in EIHL towers has come up trumps on euromillions, either that or someone is very adept at using photoshop.
So to be clear, at the moment we have nothing more in the public domain than the video evidence that our GM and half a dozen others have seen at super slow-mo speed; and they felt it necessary to ask for the match penalty to be reviewed so he could possibly play in tonight’s game in Braehead. Instead he’s got a four game ban.
I’ll be absolutely honest right now and say I am sick and tired of the unprofessional way the EIHL is run, if the ‘footage’ they have used to ban Lepine is released and does indeed show sufficient evidence to ban him for four games then I’ll happily eat humble pie.
As it is I am quickly losing interest in the sport in this country, a sport I love dearly but that is tainted by political infighting, long held grudges and irrational governance. If I wasn’t such an ardent supporter of my club, if Nottingham Panthers were not in my blood, I would not waste another moment getting my hockey fix by watching the Black and Gold. ESPN America and a subscription to LeafsTV look better investments by the week. I suppose I am not doing much to back up my feelings by carrying on attending, but as much as I’d love to say ‘sod you, I’m sick of this, forget it’ I just can’t do it. Not yet anyway.
As I’ve said above, my issue is not with the call, I have not seen the incident, my issue is with the seemingly untouchable manner in which the league continues to operate. Where was the invitation to Gary Moran and Corey Neilson to attend a hearing to present their challenge, views and evidence to the charges levelled at Lepine? A hearing where the league presents their evidence (including their super new technology) and a decision reached? Quite frankly this par for the course, shambles of a situation is the perfect illustration of how this league is run. Pathetic and amateur would be massive understatements.
On top of Lepine-gate we’ve also got a mounting injury list to deal with. Jonathan Zion has now forced his way into the packed injury room as it turns out his groin problem is slightly more serious than was first thought. Add to that the fact that Rob Bellamy is not cleared to play for us yet (no visa I believe) and we’ve got a bit of a problem to say the least. Some mitigation has been sought immediately and added to the roster is 2nd round, 1994 NHL draft pick (37th overall) Angel Nikolov; a Czech defenceman who, despite never fulfilling his dream in the NHL, has some considerable experience in the top European leagues. We’re certainly getting through some players this season and this can’t be doing anything for settling the side down through what is becoming a bit of a rough patch of form. He does look a very good player though,
Tonight is a big game, no doubt about that, we owe Braehead for their win at the NIC late last month and moreover a win will do wonders to calm everyone down after a fairly intense week before our return to home ice on Saturday against Dundee followed by the trip to Humberside on Sunday to face the Stingrays. I won’t be at tonight’s game (I’ll be following it via the excellent TCW Live though) but will be at both weekend games so I’m looking forward to putting the controversy out of my mind and watching some hockey.
If a week is a long time in politics, it is certainly a long time in hockey!
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
