Great Britain: Hockey in Britain part 3

aphyro

För evigt trogen AIK
May 16, 2013
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Sundsvall
It definitely won't happen within the next 20 years

That sucks would love to see you guys up there with the rest! its a speciall feeling to play against UK!;)

Hmm why do you compete as UK in hockey but England,Scotland,Wales,Scotland in football?

And you could allways try to signe Douglas Murray to your national team:D
 

Siamese Dream

Registered User
Feb 5, 2011
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United Britain of Great Kingdom
I bet it will. The number of teams participating in the elite division will likely have been increased by then as well.

I doubt that, if anything they will reduce the number of teams because it's almost always the same 4 of Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Kazakhstan going up and down every year so they are obviously not good enough to be there.

There is absolutely no indication that GB is moving forward right now while other countries around us in the ranking continue to improve, and when our top league continues to increase the number of imported players.

In the old IIHF format there would have been a chance and GB did come close a few years ago but now the D1A is a very hard group to win and at the moment GB is struggling to even get into it.
 

aphyro

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May 16, 2013
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Sundsvall
I doubt that, if anything they will reduce the number of teams because it's almost always the same 4 of Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Kazakhstan going up and down every year so they are obviously not good enough to be there.

There is absolutely no indication that GB is moving forward right now while other countries around us in the ranking continue to improve, and when our top league continues to increase the number of imported players.

In the old IIHF format there would have been a chance and GB did come close a few years ago but now the D1A is a very hard group to win and at the moment GB is struggling to even get into it.

How com you import alot of players? seems pretty wierd that the clubs can afford that if hockey isnt big in UK? or is ther money to make in your leauge?
 

Urbanskog

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2014
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Helsinki
I doubt that, if anything they will reduce the number of teams because it's almost always the same 4 of Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Kazakhstan going up and down every year so they are obviously not good enough to be there.

There is absolutely no indication that GB is moving forward right now while other countries around us in the ranking continue to improve, and when our top league continues to increase the number of imported players.

In the old IIHF format there would have been a chance and GB did come close a few years ago but now the D1A is a very hard group to win and at the moment GB is struggling to even get into it.

Italy & Kazakhstan and Austria & Slovenia used to your usual pairs of teams relegated and promoted for years but that trend is evidently changing. This year we have Hungary competing in the elite division and Austria wasn't promoted to the elite division for next year. Recently Poland, Japan and South Korea have all been on the verge of being promoted and it seems inevitable that one of them (perhaps not Japan) will finally accomplish that goal soon.

Besides, the overall disparity in international hockey has narrowed considerably since the number of teams last went up. I would be flabbergasted if the number had remained the same or even decreased two decades from now.
 
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Siamese Dream

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Feb 5, 2011
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United Britain of Great Kingdom
How com you import alot of players? seems pretty wierd that the clubs can afford that if hockey isnt big in UK? or is ther money to make in your leauge?

Because there apparently aren't enough quality British players available to meet the fans' unrealistic expectations because the bar was set so high by the now defunct BISL which had an unlimited number of imports.

In terms of attendances hockey does reasonably well but that doesn't always result in participation. Belfast get thousands of people in for their home games but hardly anyone there actually plays and their junior system is tiny and insignificant, no good players ever come from there.
 

Kiev the Great

Registered User
Aug 21, 2014
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Hmm why do you compete as UK in hockey but England,Scotland,Wales,Scotland in football?

Which is some of the problem as there is an English Ice Hockey Association which runs the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tier leagues for England and Wales, but the 2nd tier pretty much runs itself (and is looking to increase the number of imports despite being a 'development league'). Then you have a Scottish association running leagues in Scotland which are probably equivalent of the 3rd and 4th tier in England. Then you have the top division which runs itself and operates in all 4 countries practically independent of governing bodies.

Then you have Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) which is responsible for the national team despite having no say in any of the domestic hockey leagues.
 

aphyro

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May 16, 2013
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Which is some of the problem as there is an English Ice Hockey Association which runs the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tier leagues for England and Wales, but the 2nd tier pretty much runs itself (and is looking to increase the number of imports despite being a 'development league'). Then you have a Scottish association running leagues in Scotland which are probably equivalent of the 3rd and 4th tier in England. Then you have the top division which runs itself and operates in all 4 countries practically independent of governing bodies.

Then you have Ice Hockey UK (IHUK) which is responsible for the national team despite having no say in any of the domestic hockey leagues.

Sounds like a crap system to have it like that how would you compare your leauge compared to our Swedish SHL and the finns Sm-liiga?

I think it would be much better for UK if you had a max limit of import players to your leauge like maximum 2 foreigners in each team.
 
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AlanHUK

5-14-6-1
Nov 27, 2010
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Nottingham, England
Sounds like a crap system to have it like that how would you compare your leauge compared to our Swedish SHL and the finns Sm-liiga?

I think it would be much better for UK if you had a max limit of import players to your leauge like maximum 2 foreigners in each team.

At the moment if the standard dropped due to having less imports I think everyone outside of Nottingham, Belfast and Sheffield would struggle to get anyone going. Even Sheffield might struggle as until recently they only turned up when the team dominated.

Nottingham and Sheffield seems to be getting their **** together with development more now, and participation is increasing, and thankfully prices have come down a bit now.
 

Kiev the Great

Registered User
Aug 21, 2014
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Sounds like a crap system to have it like that how would you compare your leauge compared to our Swedish SHL and the finns Sm-liiga?

I think it would be much better for UK if you had a max limit of import players to your leauge like maximum 2 foreigners in each team.

The 2nd best league is a 'development' league and has 4 imports and the top tier has now gone to 15 (2 of which must be EU/dual national). Unfortunately dropping to 2 imports would be a seismic change, however there needs to be a drive to lower import numbers, but very gradually. Getting more Brits to a high level though means more funding and more importantly building more rinks/infrastructure, but getting in cheap imports is easier.
 

Dinorod

Registered User
Apr 16, 2015
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0
All GB team suffer because the selection system is seriously flawed. Why?

A majority of players come through the conference system but if you look at how conference works then you will see the flaw.

Conference is supposedly to highlight the best the UK junior system has to offer yet it is full of bias selection opinions certain teams, Div 1 players selected over Div 2 players (regardless of the fact the div 2 player might be better than a div 1 player but can't travel to another team rink to move a division), friends of managers or coaches, relatives and other family siblings. If your lucky you might get some decent quality players show up and not be selected because it may mean you have to drop the coaches son as he isn't good enough.

Next look at the conference itself. It is supposedly to show to national team selectors this is who was good enough this year at various age groups. Now if conference worked as it should then once your selected and play for your national team as in decent ice time then you shouldn't be allowed to represent conference again at any age. Yes your still welcome to trial for national team. All you have to do is look at junior national squads and compare it to conference teams from years gone by. Same names over and over again.

It's simple logic by restricting development at a young age by bias selection and keeping the same members. You are restricting the pool of potential that's available to develop. Jamie Vardy of Leicester City FC summed it up perfectly in an interview by saying 'when selectors originally looked at him he was too small and therefore not good enough' but as he said children develop at all ages and to classify someone at 15 as not good enough is a big mistake.

When it's addressed then things may improve but until it does the same names will carry on performing as they are.
 

Siamese Dream

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Feb 5, 2011
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United Britain of Great Kingdom
Who are the ten best british players to have ever played?

Would Steve Moria be on that list?

I wouldn't count Steve Moria because he was a naturalised player

1) Tony Hand
2) David Longstaff

Then in no particular order: Ben O'Connor, Ashley Tait, Ian Cooper, Stephen Cooper, Colin Shields, Jonathan Weaver, Scott Neil, Stephen Murphy/Stevie Lyle (thought I should include a goalie)
 
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3 Minute Minor

Registered User
Sep 29, 2009
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1. Tony Hand
2. David Longstaff

Easy 1-2, Hand being the G.O.A.T and Longstaff being one of the few regulars in BISL that even managed to get a crack at SHL.

3. Ben O'Connor
4. Jonathan Weaver

I give O'Connor the edge on Weaver due to GB performances. Weaver was a BISL regular too but O'Connor has literally carried GB's offense as a D-man at international events while dominating in Kazakhstan & EIHL.

5. Colin Shields

NHL draft pick that dominated in EIHL

6. Stephen Murphy
7. Stevie Lyle

Murphy did it by going to Sweden and had a slightly better GB career, Lyle managed to get in via BISL but didn't have the longevity.

8. Robert Dowd
9. Ashley Tait

Dowds tough to put on the list but tougher to leave off. He's easily the most talented 20something GB forward right now but he has greatly underachieved which is frustrating. Tait is the EIHL leading scorer & was one of the few regulars in BISL that could actually chip in offensively but was never really dominant for GB.

10. Ben Bowns

I think he honestly has the potential to finish in the top 5 of this list eventually so I put him on it anyway.



A lot of recency bias, I know, but it's tough to put a guy on the list that destroyed BHL in an era where guys were putting up 200 points in 40 games
 

Eye of Ra

Grandmaster General of the International boards
Nov 15, 2008
17,963
4,454
Malmö, Sweden
Thanks for responds.

I have another question, is there any chance to see full EIHL games anywhere on internet/youtube? Found a lot of matches from diffrent leagues, but nothing from EIHL.
 

3 Minute Minor

Registered User
Sep 29, 2009
5,183
831
Thanks for responds.

I have another question, is there any chance to see full EIHL games anywhere on internet/youtube? Found a lot of matches from diffrent leagues, but nothing from EIHL.

During the season you can see games via individual teams webcasts but there isn't much in terms of youtube/archived webcasts.

You can find some highlights on youtube such as:
Blaze TV (Coventry) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnlMpAwrdE4
Steelers TV (Sheffield) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ctwskk19ZM
 

Kiev the Great

Registered User
Aug 21, 2014
83
14
Thanks for responds.

I have another question, is there any chance to see full EIHL games anywhere on internet/youtube? Found a lot of matches from diffrent leagues, but nothing from EIHL.

This is the only full game from last season that I believe is on (or that I can find). It's the challenge cup final. Not actually watched the video as I was there, but I seem to remember people moaning about the quality which is unfortunate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUB9daelK-U

however you can get highlights from any of the following channels:

League Account with Extended Play-offs Highlights - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpH6zwxhL_KXlt5AkgjFTw

Then all the teams:
Dundee Stars - https://www.youtube.com/user/dundeestarstv
Nottingham Panthers - https://www.youtube.com/user/NPanthersVideos
Belfast Giants - https://www.youtube.com/user/BelfastGiantsTV
Sheffield Squeelers - https://www.youtube.com/user/sheffieldsteelersihc
Braehead Clan - https://www.youtube.com/user/BraeheadClan
Edinburgh Capitals - https://www.youtube.com/user/EdinburghCapitalsTV
Fife Flyers - https://www.youtube.com/user/FIFEFLYERSTV
Manchester Storm - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIJU4dWZJarOem5sm-MrnCA
Coventry Blaze - https://www.youtube.com/user/Blazeonthefly
Cardiff Devils - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf443iLS7VVZa3V9QRH0Zmw
 

CalUK

Registered User
Feb 16, 2015
188
22
Scotland
The EIHL needs more teams. I know more are coming, but in my opinion there is a bigger market for Ice Hockey in UK, it just needs the investment. There are plenty of people I know who would get into hockey and are looking for alternatives to football. Lucky for me my local area has an EIHL team, but many do not, including the UKs two biggest cities, Birmingham and London.
 

ukyote

User, Interrupted
Dec 19, 2005
382
1
London, England
The EIHL needs more teams. I know more are coming, but in my opinion there is a bigger market for Ice Hockey in UK, it just needs the investment. There are plenty of people I know who would get into hockey and are looking for alternatives to football. Lucky for me my local area has an EIHL team, but many do not, including the UKs two biggest cities, Birmingham and London.

I agree. It's stupid that I can't watch EIHL in London, where 10m other people live (many from hockey-loving countries).

I live pretty near Streatham so I can go and watch them, though. Nice new rink too! :)

:popcorn:
 

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