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.
Collaring the issues amongst other things
Welcome indeed to my blog, the pre-Christmas edition that is. After having a bit of rant in the last few editions, one about whether or not Cardiff Devils can be 2011 Elite League champions and the others about the Elite League in general and whether or not enforcers are good for the game – well I thought about continuing in the same vein? Since none of you out there are prepared to tell me what you think, I am going to keep this going for at least another edition and chuck some other bits in too. Like all people, I am interested in what you have to say. I’m not as outspoken as it may sound, but please could somebody offer an opinion from their side of the fence?
Another thing that gets me thinking is an issue of collars, should hockey shirts have V-neck type collars or should they have draw strings type ones as sported by the Steelers this season and in the NHL by Boston, the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers, Nashville Predators and Pittsburgh Penguins (the latter three as alternates). I’m lucky to be be honest that I own shirts in both styles, although I am sure I am not alone, but the draw string collar wins hands down as far as I am concerned.
Sure, most jerseys have the conventional V-neck collar but you cannot beat the enjoyment factor of having a draw string collar to fasten. It just feels like proper old school hockey, and in the UK here, we are lucky that CH Sports design shirts in this format. Prior to this season, CH have produced shirts with a draw string collar for teams such as Cardiff, Bracknell, Newcastle and Nottingham and to be honest they look rather cool. But that’s my opinion. If Rhino produced these type of shirts then you can imagine how comfortable they may be. You may digress, so why not argue against me in this topic. I am not mentioning this for fun, because it’s a topic that I think needs discussing as do the previous blogs. All about getting opinions.
With that in mind, it’s also the final blog of the season before the mega crucial Christmas period kicks in. My beloved Steelers, following a 3-0 shut out of the Vipers (sorry Gareth, Ruth, Danny Stewart et al) in Whitley Bay, lie second behind the Belfast Giants and are in an excellent position to kick on from this and deliver some silverware in Ben Simon’s first season at helm. What I like about this season’s Steelers roster is that they are all born winners, and providing it all clicks home and away then who can bet against us? Coventry don’t look as good as they did last season, and the Panthers will probably blow up as usual when push comes to shove like they do every year. Therefore it’s a three man scrap, but a difficult one to call.
Down in the EPL, it’s looking like a three way scrap already with Guildford and Manchester separated by a single point but Basingstoke very close in touch. The top six will remain unaltered as they look although the final standings may change at the end. That then leaves the remaining two slots for the end of season play-offs and with the small manner of just seven points separating bottom placed Bracknell from seventh placed incumbents Telford (Swindon and Sheffield lodged in between), it is anyone’s guess who will make it to Coventry come the second weekend in April.
I’ve not had time to play Eastside recent so the update on this will have to wait for another edition. Enjoy Christmas and New Year (whichever team you support) and I’ll be back again with more musings in 2011.
Yours as always in hockey,
Mark
blog comments powered by Disqus0-3 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
||
| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
||
| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
||
| 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
