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.
Who's ready for the NHL?
Sorry for the delay in the next installment, I’ve been swamped moving house and job hunting. But enough of me, here comes the hockey! We’re going to take the whole of the Western Conference in one go, bit of a tall order, but the season starts this weekend!!
I would like to start with a nod in the direction of the Edmonton Oilers. I wrote previously in this blog about the New York Islanders illustrious history and subsequent decline, well the Oilers have taken this further, much further.
Between 1984 and 1990 they won five Stanley Cups. A run down of their team is like a whose who of hockey for the 80s. Gretzky, Messier, Fuhr, Kurri. The NHL itself recognizes this team as a dynasty team.
But in 1989 came what is now referred to simply as “The Trade”. The Oilers send Gretzky to Los Angeles. Often seen as a watershed moment in the sport (mainly because if Gretzky was tradable then nothing was off the table), some members of the Canadian parliament even tried to bloke the move. Despite winning one more cup without No 99, the team inevitably began to drift apart. Since then success in Alberta has been a pretty blank canvas. They have finished bottom of the Western Conference for the last two seasons.
So the only way is up right? Well yes, but not just by default. The Oilers have had the number 1 pick in the last two drafts bringing Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to Edmonton. Last year Hall grabbed over 40 points before his rookie season was cut short following an awkward fall after a fight.
This years No 1, Nugent-Hopkins, is not expected to feature much early doors, its felt he doesn’t quite have the stature for the NHL quite yet. But when the inevitable injuries begin to litter the treatment room he will get his chance.
Backing up these two, Jordan Eberle, Magnus Paajavi, and Sam Gagner are all young players with decent points totals so far in their careers, a break out season for one or both or these guys could see the Oilers make big strides up the table.
Adding baulk in defense over the summer should give this young team some stability, and leeway to make a few mistakes going forward. But goaltending does look to be a weakness. Nikolai Khabibulin is 38 and has won less than twenty games in the last two years with the team. Is back up is the decent, but not explosive Devan Dubnyk, whether he is ready to pick up the slack, or weather the competition between the two can improve both may go a long way to determining the teams success this season.
I also want to have a look at the team where Gretsky headed all those years and trades ago. Los Angeles. It may not be the most obvious place to have an Ice Hockey team (although there are even more curios places in the NHL) but the Kings are another team on an upward trajectory. A dogged and hard working team they comfortably made the playoffs last year only to be knocked out in the first round in the battle of California by the San Jose Sharks.
Many teams have struggled over the years to lay down roots in Los Angeles. Inward migration from other parts of the US and beyond mean many people in the town have deeper connections with teams from elsewhere, resulting in as many ‘away’ fans at many games as home fans.
Despite this the Kings seem settled in the town, and all though not playing the type of hockey you would of thought would go down well with the locals success does help to make people blind to your failings.
As you would expect from a ‘defend first’ team, their stars are behind the blue line. Drew Doughty is the big name in town. Although still technically a restricted free agent, and not enjoying a great season last year most people are expecting to him to bounce back this year, and for that to be with the Kings.
Jonathon Quick in net is their second star. Last season he benefited immensely from having an able back up and therefore cutting his workload to 61 games. A lesson many other teams in the league could do with heeding.
They have gone out and added to their roster this summer, but added players to fit into their system, while also adding a sprinkle of stardust and some points. Mike Richards and Simon Gagne look good fits into the organization.
It’s a team and a style that although not pretty could very see them be extremely effective when it comes to the hard work of next spring.
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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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
