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20 years, was BIH better of worse?
Twenty years ago, was ice hockey better or worse than today? asks Stewart Roberts, editor of The Ice Hockey Annual.
The new season of Elite League highlights is underway on Sky Sports, and while the actual game clips leave a bit to be desired (see later), I'm enjoying the quiz (don't ask how I'm faring) and the questions put to Rick Strachan.
Nottingham's assistant coach was asked this week: 'Has the game changed for better or worse since you came here [in 1990-91] and, if so, how?'
Rick's reply was: "The game was amateur then. The players practiced twice a week at 10.30 at night. Now it's fully professional with the players practicing five times a week, during the day, and in the gym.
"So it's improved. It's a better standard, better to watch. British ice hockey as a whole has come in on leaps and bounds."
True enough. I reckon the speed and skill on display at Guildford, where I go regularly these days, is far higher than it was in, say, the Wembley finals 20 years ago. Not as physical, perhaps, but technically light years ahead - especially the netminding.
Given the huge changes in the sport in the intervening decades, I thought it would give older fans a nostalgia kick and enlighten the newer ones if we took a peek at The Ice Hockey Annual for season 1990-91 to see in what other ways the game has altered since then.
►The league and play-offs were sponsored by Heineken lager and the cup by Norwich Union insurance.
►The Wembley weekend attracted over 25,000 fans.
►BBC Grandstand screened four live games during the season.
►The British Ice Hockey Association, which ran the whole sport, imposed a limit of four non-British trained players on each team.
►Durham Wasps won the Heineken League, Premier Division by 15 points from Cardiff Devils. Humberside [Hull] Seahawks won Division One.
► After play-offs, Bracknell Bees and Humberside Seahawks were promoted to the Premier Division.
►The top five scorers in the Premier Division were, in order: Rick Brebant (Durham Wasps), Claude Dumas (Whitley Bay), Danny Shea (Peterborough Pirates), Steve Moria (Cardiff Devils), Tony Hand (Murrayfield Racers).
►Brebant scored - wait for it - 209 points in 35 games. Seahawk Scott Morrison did even better in Div One with 220 points, also in 35 games.
►The rinks attracting the biggest crowds were, in order: Nottingham (average 2,868), Cardiff (2,498), Durham (2,480), Bracknell (2,361) and Fife (2,334).
►Britain finished fifth in Pool C of the World Championships in Copenhagen. Hand was the top scorer with 21 points (nine goals). The team had six dual nationals.
►At Swindon in January 1991, Zoe Hathaway became the first woman to referee a top league game.
►Blackburn Arena opened in November 1990 and Sheffield Arena in July 1991.
►Richmond Flyers played their last ever game at the end of the season. The rink was scheduled to close at the end of 1991.
►Soviet league champions Moscow Dynamo played six games in Britain.
►Best quote - "I reckon I'll play for another three or four years but after that, who knows?" Tony Hand who was reported to have applied to join the police force in July 1991.
For me, the year 1991 was most noteworthy for the opening of the sport's first major arena in Sheffield, an event that was to be as important to the Nineties, and beyond, as Heineken had been to the Eighties.
So, was ice hockey better or worse 20 years ago – or just very different? You decide.
Before ending, I must return to the Sky Sports show. Some fans have complained that the presenters are talking too much. Dave Simms' response should be of concern to us all.
"The show is as good as the [game] highlights," he said. "Anna [Woolhouse] and I were only on as much because some clubs sent very little footage or poor quality footage. If you want less of us then the clubs should invest in sending good quality stuff through."
This is shocking as Rapid Solicitors have just come on board to help with the costs of producing the programme so the league can continue to have this important exposure. And the fans, too, are paying good money for the privilege of watching on Sky Sports.
So please sharpen up your act, folks, otherwise we're going to be condemned to hearing even more from Simmsy every week….!
If you'd like to read more about our sport's history, copies of back issues of The Ice Hockey Annual are available at www.icehockeyannual.co.uk.
The Ice Hockey Annual 2011-12 is available now to pre-order via BIH.
Guaranteeing you the cheapest price on the internet at £9.45 with free P&P.
To pre-order your Ice Hockey Annual please click: http://bit.ly/osSKGV
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| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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- 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
