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Stewart’s UK Ice Hockey Blog - The Archive - 2006

This week (19th December 2006) Stewart reports on Division I of the World under-20 Championships where Britain's hard work over many years on training young players finally paid off with a bronze medal - and a brush with gold.
Britain’s dream of cracking the line-up of the World Championships’ elite group took a big step forward after the surprisingly good performance of their under-20 team in Italy.

In case you haven’t read about this remarkable international feat elsewhere - as usual Ice Hockey UK put out no information - GB won the bronze medal in Div I of the World Junior Championships, only losing to Austria in the last period of the Gold Medal game.

Victory in that game - they lost 5-3 after leading 3-1 - would have taken them where no GB under-20 side had been before, into the world’s top ten. But as the teenagers only won Div II last year, the bronze was amazing enough.

Actually, this fine effort shouldn’t be as unexpected as many fans seem to think it is. Regular readers of the junior international reports in The Ice Hockey Annual will be well aware that GB has been raising some highly promising young players. Our under-16s and under-14s have been winning tournaments in Europe and North America for quite a while now.

URQUHART LEADS EXPERIENCED COACHING TEAM

Good coaching and goalies are especially important. Head coach Mike Urquhart and his assistants, Peter Russell (formerly with Cardiff Devils) and Paul Heavey (also Cardiff plus Ayr Scottish Eagles and Sheffield Steelers) have years of experience between them.

Our young goalies are particularly skilled. The senior team has relied on a trio of talented native stoppers in recent years - Stephen Murphy (now in Edinburgh), Stevie Lyle (in France) and Guildford’s Joe Watkins.

But I predict they’re soon going to be pushed for their place between the pipes by Bracknell’s Nathan Craze and this year’s under-20 pair, Stephen Fone of Coventry Blaze and Martin Clarkson who is currently captaining his team in Lake Placid, USA. The duo achieved a joint 92.61 save percentage.

Still only 17, Clarkson’s talent is scary. The second youngest player on the squad, he has the ability to go further than Lyle, his fellow Welshman. He’s lucky enough to be playing in one of the best junior leagues in America where he’s on the ice six days a week.

Contrast this with Sheffield native Fone, 19, who plays back-up with the Blaze and has yet to ice in a game this season. Shame, but not every kid can afford to go abroad to further his hockey education.

GB’s leading scorers all play for EPL teams. Top was Bracknell’s Shaun Thompson with four goals and six points, followed by Sheffield Scimitar Robert Dowd and Guildford’s Ollie Bronnimann.

GB MOST PENALISED TEAM!

But this is a team sport and the bronze was very much a team success. Britain’s powerplay was the best in the tournament and their penalty killing ranked number two. Oh yes, and we were - of course - the most penalised nation in Italy with an average of 27 minutes a game, led by Bronnimann with 26 minutes.

With all due respect to the ambitious new coaching staff of the GB senior team, I believe this performance by our youngsters is the most exciting thing to happen to our ‘national programme’ for a long time.

I hope I’ve persuaded you that it was worth clearing the decks for this great international event. There’s just room to mention that GB coach Paul Thompson and his Coventry Blaze beat GB assistant coach Tony Hand and the Manchester Phoenix over two legs to reach the final of the Challenge Cup.

Ninth-placed Edinburgh Capitals (without GB under-20 Mark Garside) upset league leaders Belfast Giants 4-3 after a shootout in the Odyssey Arena. Jason Silverthorn netted Caps’ winning shot.

And Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers kept losing and Basingstoke Bison kept winning.

I wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and a happy, hockey New Year.
(12th December 2006) Stewart tries to look for good news to suit the Christmas season but finds only the success of the GB under-20 team in the World Junior Championships to cheer him.

The season of merriment and good cheer is fast approaching so I’ll try not to add to the current gloom about falling crowds and lack of TV coverage. (When the usually chirpy Steve Clarke sounds depressed in Powerplay, you know things must be bad!)

First, let’s clap the positive bits about that new rink in Cardiff Bay, you know the one that eventually opened four days late without showers, and seats with dodgy sightlines. (I said positive, Roberts. Sorry.)

Manchester’s Tony Hand made a bit more hockey history with the first goal in the new building, Cardiff’s Max Birbraer scored his first ever hat-trick, and Dion Darling chalked up his first marker for the Devils.

That little effort by TH, MBE helped to put him back on top of the league’s scoring chart with 35 points (eight goals and 27 - count ‘em - assists). Not bad for a 39-year-old author, eh?

It was the goalies who made the news last weekend when there were three shutouts in nine games. Basingstoke’s Curtis Cruickshank blanked Manchester Phoenix for his second whitewash and sixth win since joining the Bison from Newcastle Vipers.

By the by, Vipers’ fans can’t blame netminding for their team’s dismal performances as Cruicker’s replacement, Peter Aubry, is the league’s leading stopper with a tasty 91.9 save percentage.

ROVER’S NO DOG IN GOAL

But the cageman making the biggest ripples is Nottingham’s - I’ll take a run at this - Rastislav Rovnianek. You’ll never guess - he’s Slovakian. More than that, the 36-year-old was once his country’s number one keeper.

‘Rover’, or whatever his team-mates have dubbed him, could be the man to lead the Panthers out of their terrible post-Continental Cup slump. He had a shutout on his home debut (3-0 over the Bison) after helping his side to a 5-3 defeat of the Devils down the Bay.

Despite the season, there’s not much goodwill in Sheffield Arena. The Steelers, the most decorated team in British ice hockey, are having a ‘mare this year.

After Dave Matsos’s team crashed twice in Edinburgh to run their losing streak to four games, the first year coach was hauled up before GM Mike O’Connor and, worse, the omnipresent Dave Simms (whoops, swallowed a dictionary. It means the Brummie pops up everywhere these days).

Afterwards, Simmsy told the local paper: “The message from the owner, Bob Phillips, myself [!] and Mike is that we expect the coach to do something about the situation. And if that means player changes, we’ll be 100 per cent behind him.”

Merry Christmas, Steelers.

GB’s YOUNGSTERS ON WINNING TRAIL

I’ll have to look farther afield to give you some genuinely good news. How about Britain’s under-20s winning their first game in the World Junior Championships? Yup, it’s true. Our brave lads whupped the Norwegians 4-3 in a thriller in the Div I games in Italy.

Guildford’s Ollie Bronnimann, a Swiss-Brit, scored twice, and though they outshot us 38-14, Coventry goalie Stephen Fone kicked out 35 Norwegian shots.

If you remember, Mike Urquhart’s lads were promoted last year after winning all five games in Div II. But Div I is much tougher and everyone would consider it a real achievement if GB just stayed up. The way these things work, one win can be enough. Cross your fingers.

Finally, I hope this amusing item will help to put you in a Christmassy mood. Paddy O’Connor, the owner of Newcastle Vipers, the league’s last placed team, has decided on his Christmas present - it’s putting on some decent music in the arena. Apparently, the fans complained about last weekend’s choice which included a dated - but horribly apt - track from the Rocky Horror Show.

“What we want are songs which the crowd really enjoy. That way, we’ll create the best possible atmosphere,” said Paddy. But he added realistically: “Music is not usually my department. Winning games is hard enough for us.”
(5th December 2006) The decision to accept two teams without rinks has backfired on the Elite League as Cardiff Devils' first game is cancelled amid a flurry of bad publicity and Manchester Phoenix's new building may not open before the end of the season.

The fiasco of the cancelled Devils-Vipers game in the not-quite-completed-even-though-it’s-three-months-late-already new ice rink in Cardiff Bay could have severe repercussions throughout the Elite League.

On Saturday, 2,000 fans (‘the game’s a sell-out’, was Devils’ proud boast) turned up to watch the contest - Devils’ first home game of the season - only to find that referee Matt Thompson had decided that the ice was unfit.

And from the photo on the BBC News website, he seems to have been entirely justified in taking that decision.

However, that wasn’t how the builder saw it. Steve Rattle, the managing director of Ice Associates, which was contracted by the Cardiff council to construct the ‘temporary’ rink, insisted: “I didn’t think there was a problem with the ice in the first place. Any potential problems could have been solved. The workforce was devastated by the referee’s decision to call the game off.”

Purely for information, you might like to know that a previous company in which Mr Rattle was involved, Gaul & Co, went into receivership in 1991 after building the under-sized rinks in Gosport, the Isle of Wight and the now demolished one in Aldershot.

AN ICE ASSOCIATES RINK IS FOR CHRISTMAS

Since then, however, I believe he has had some success in assembling a number of Christmas rinks in towns up and down the country. No doubt there will be some legal niceties for the council to sort out with Mr Rattle in the fullness of time.

Meanwhile, the Devils’ fans quickly decided that Planet Ice were to blame for the farce. PI have the contract to run the rink on behalf of the council so were first in the firing line when the game was called off.

The company issued a statement, three days later, making it clear that the ice was laid by the contractors, Ice Associates, and that the building had not been handed over to them.

The Vipers were unhappy, too. Their coach, Rob Wilson, hinted in a national newspaper that his team wanted the points from the game: “The cost to the club and our fans will run into thousands. Something should be done.”

The league have asked their chairman, Eamon Convery, to investigate the circumstances which have brought the league - and the sport - a lot of bad publicity. (Typical of those b’s in the media to ignore our game all year and then print the bad news, eh?)

HAS NO ONE IN THE LEAGUE TRIED TO GET A ROOF REPAIRED?

The farce is also making everyone feel uneasy about Manchester Phoenix’s new home as it’s being constructed by the same firm, Ice Associates. I don’t mean to kick a man when he’s down, but who on earth thought it was a good idea to admit two teams to the league without rinks and rely on the same builder to put them up?

“Not a problem, guys. I know a man who assures me he’ll have it up and running by Tuesday week, guaranteed.” Dear me, has no one on the league ever tried to get a leaky roof repaired or a drain unblocked, let alone import a prefabricated ice rink and have it erected on time?

After it was revealed that the Altrincham Ice Dome would not be ready until 28 January, the league issued a bold statement of confidence - ‘The Board and all the clubs are 100 per cent behind Neil [Morris] and the Phoenix’. Do they really still believe in a builder’s promise? Safer, surely, to believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden.

For what it’s worth, I have a good source in the town who’s been told by a friend involved in the Ice Dome project that it’s extremely doubtful if it will be open by the end of the season.

Let’s hope that by the time you read this, the Devils will have successfully played their first home game in Cardiff Bay (scheduled for Wednesday). While everyone else has been busy denying responsibility, the delays weren’t the fault of a side that's played remarkably well so far, considering their plight.
This week (28th November 2006) Stewart wishes the underrated Devils good luck in their new rink on Cardiff Bay and reports on the 'revolution' in play in the NHL during his visit to New York.

I’m writing this in my hotel room on Long Island, having seen two New York Islanders’ games and one in Madison Square Garden featuring my beloved Rangers. Are you jealous? Am I bovvered?!

But thanks to the marvels of modern communications, I’ve been able to keep track of the league and was delighted to see that my ‘other’ team, Basingstoke Bison, won their third game on the trot while I was watching the Islanders.

From the reports I’ve read, Bison’s 4-3 win over Cardiff Devils was a very competitive game. The losers, who won’t play their first real home game until this weekend, could be the most underrated team in the league. They’ve lost only four of their 12 league games and thanks to the league’s unbalanced schedule, they have eight games in hand over the league leading Belfast Giants.

The Devils will be following a strange but well established tradition in our top league when they host Newcastle Vipers in their new rink on Cardiff Bay.

STRANGE TRADITION OF LATE OPENINGS

If memory serves, they will be joining London Knights of the old Superleague and Guildford Flames in playing their first home game in mid-season in a just barely completed rink. I hope that the relief of finally having their own home ice will overcome any last minute snags for the Devils and their long suffering fans.

No such wackiness on this side of the Atlantic, of course. My most striking impression of the NHL is just how good it is. That may sound like a statement of the bleeding obvious, as Basil Fawlty says, but ‘zero tolerance’ has revolutionised the game so much that I only now can I see how bad it used to be.

When I was lucky enough to see some Stanley Cup games here in the 1990s, I can remember feeling disappointed. Is this the NHL? Not very good is it, I thought. Now it’s clear how much of the speed and skill was being sucked out of the game by all the clutching and grabbing, etc.

Cleaning up the game has also proved that it’s the (East) Europeans who have most of the speed and skill. It’s ensured that Russians like Alex Ovechkin and Maxim Afinogenov could one day become as legendary as Canadians like Gordie Howe or Bobby Orr.

In the first game I saw – Islanders v Pittsburgh Penguins – I was expecting Penguin Sidney Crosby to be the main man. Unfortunately, he was out with a groin injury. Instead, one of the game’s official stars was Brendan Witt. Remember him?

BRACKNELL’S WITT NOW KEY ISLANDER

You’re forgiven if you don’t. Defender Wittt played only a handful of games with Bracknell Bees during the NHL lockout before suddenly returning to the States when his house caught fire during a hurricane on the Florida coast. He spent the rest of the season rebuilding his home.

After kicking around the NHL last year, he signed for the Islanders in the summer and has become one of their key players as they’ve surged to the top of the Atlantic Division. The first night I saw him, he had an assist, a fight and put their leading forward, Evgeni Malkin (another great Russian player), into the boards and out of the game.

Brendan may be ruthless on the ice but, as so often with hockey players, he was warm and friendly when I chatted to him afterwards. He recalled his time with Bracknell fondly and sends his best wishes to the club and the fans.
This week (21st November 2006) Stewart takes a look at teams without rinks.

 You could be forgiven for thinking that Manchester Phoenix received some bad news during the first interval of their game against Nottingham Panthers in iceSheffield.

The Phoenix, who have been homeless since July 2004, held a 3-0 first period lead on goals from their player-coach Tony Hand (2) and Derek Campbell. But then they appeared to go into shock as the Panthers outscored them 4-1 to force overtime and then won in a shootout.

My guess as to the reason for Manchester’s collapse is only half true. They did hear some bad news, but it came a couple of days earlier. The construction of their new rink in Altrincham has been delayed again, this time due to heavy rain (there’s a surprise, in Manchester!).

When I read the club’s announcement, it was even worse than that. The roof hasn’t even been fitted, so I’ve no idea how the contractors expected to have the rink up and running by early next month, as they originally predicted.

Looking at the photos of the site on the club’s forum, there’s just some steel beams poking up on two sides with one lonely crane in the middle. While the Devils’ new rink in Cardiff Bay is almost complete and the team should be able to play their first game there on Dec 2, the Altrincham Ice Dome has been constantly plagued by setbacks.

WHY DID ELITE ALLOW TEAMS WITHOUT RINKS?

Phoenix’s owner Neil Morris was due to have a meeting with the contractors on Tuesday for an update on the progress they’re making - or otherwise. But it doesn’t take a genius, let alone a builder, to tell you that the team will be lucky to move into their new home before the end of January.

All of which leads me to the question which has been bothering me since the summer. Why does a so-called professional league allow two clubs in who don’t have home rinks? Doesn’t sound very professional to me.

The usual answer is that the teams are scared they’ll lose their fans. Tosh. Where do ice hockey fans come from? Are they a rare species who can’t be replaced? In Altrincham’s case, the answer is especially daft as the town is miles from the MEN Arena where the whole Manchester Storm ice hockey thing began.

If a new ice rink is properly promoted, people will come along. If they enjoy the hockey, they’ll tell their friends and very quickly a whole new following will have built up. This turnover of fans happens all the time, even with existing rinks.

TONY HAND’S BOOK OUT SHORTLY

But time out. I must give credit here to Neil Morris and his colleagues for their tremendous hard work and dedication in finding a new home for the Phoenix. When you’ve finished up there, Neil, and enjoyed a well earned rest, perhaps you’d like to come south to Brighton. We’ve been waiting 40 years for our new rink. We need someone dynamic like you.

Meanwhile, Tony Hand must be wishing he’d postponed writing his autobiography, A Life in British Ice Hockey (Tempus Publishing), which comes out next month. I’ve had a sneak preview of the book (I can recommend it) and Tony reckons his last two seasons were difficult - in Belfast with all the travelling from his home in Edinburgh, and then in the Scottish capital with their tiny budget. But this season must be worth a book in itself.

Talking of books, I’m off to the Big Apple next week with Martin Harris, the author of another good read, Homes of British Ice Hockey (also published by Tempus). I’m taking my trusty laptop with me, so I’ll be able to give you a flavour of the game as it’s played in the world famous Madison Square Garden. And, thanks to modern technology, I’ll still be keeping my eye on the Elite League.
This week (14th November 2006) Stewart applauds the sacking of an imported goon and urges the sport to use the new 'zero tolerance' standard to re-think their player recruitment policy.

I’m all smiles this week. One of the league’s imported ‘goons’ has been fired, or to use more PC language, released. Canadian Simon Rizk of Hull might not have been one of the league’s most brutal bone-crushers but he only scored one goal in eight games. What a waste of an import spot.

It makes you wonder how these guys get work permits to play here. Occupation? Ice hockey player. Reason for coming to the UK? To beat the cr-- out of other ice hockey players.

Stingrays’ coach Rick Strachan must be smiling now, too. He never wanted a goon in the first place. He brought in Rizk only because the other Elite teams employed one.

Now, thanks to zero tolerance all teams are realising that ice hockey can be quite a skilful game and there’s no place for the Rizks of this world.

Rob Wilson, the coach of Newcastle Vipers, is learning this truth the hard way as he foolishly kept most of his enforcers from last year. Now the Vipers are propping up the rest of the league and some of their fans have cheekily put Newcastle's most notorious hard man, Andre Payette, up for sale on eBay.

(Here - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320048812413)

BRITS USED TO BE THE FIGHTERS

I’m well aware that hockey is a hard, physical game and that some players don’t in the least object to a little set-to. But in the Golden Era of the Heineken League, it was the Brits who did most of the fighting and the Canadians who were brought in to add the silky skills, men like Steve Moria or Rick Brebant.

It all went wrong, of course, when a few misguided men with too much money decided to turn the game pro and form a Superleague. We won’t go there now, I still find it too upsetting.

My tip to clubs wailing "how can we attract fans when they can’t see a fight?" is to spend most of your budget on three or four skilled foreigners who can put the puck in the net, stick to home-grown netminders and let’s see plenty of goals. Your Brits will learn good habits from the imports and the fights will happen, anyway.

Come to think of it, wasn’t that the recruitment policy in the Heineken League? And believe me, the crowds were a darn sight bigger in those days.

After getting that off my chest, you might be surprised to hear that I went to Basingstoke for the visit of the Hanson Brothers of Slapshot movie fame. My excuses are that my friends - not as averse to violence as me - wanted to go; it was a very funny film; and the night was in aid of charity.

‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ RESULT OF 30 YEARS OF TURNING BLIND EYE

It also reminded me that in the 1970s when Slapshot was made, the sport was just starting to turn a blind eye to all sorts of fouls - an unwanted by-product of NHL expansion in the 1960s - a slide which wasn’t halted until last season. To see some videos of ‘old time hockey’, go to http://video.google.com/nhl.html). Essential viewing for all hockey buffs.

No Publicity, Please, This Is UK Ice Hockey - the latest in our occasional series is the failure of the governing body, Ice Hockey UK, to widely publicise the GB under-20 team which was selected this week for next month’s World Junior Championship (Div 1) in Italy. At least, I’m blaming Ice Hockey UK, but aren’t Coventry Blaze supposed to be in charge of GB’s publicity now? Oh no, that’s only the senior team. Hmm.

I’ll leave you with the latest candidate for The Ice Hockey Annual’s Quotes of the Year. This from Dave Matsos, coach of Sheffield Steelers, ordering his men to relax before their big game against Cardiff Devils this weekend - "Get hockey out of your minds, take a break, go away with the wife, the girlfriend… or both. If you're staying at home hide the skates, throw them in the garage, put your feet up."
This week (7th November 2006) Stewart is surprised by Sheffield Steelers' astonishing loyalty to their new coach and annoyed by the Elite League's secrecy.

As many of you are kind enough to tell me, one of the most popular items in The Ice Hockey Annual is our Quotes of the Year page. Well, Bob Phillips, owner of Sheffield Steelers (and husband of the Cardiff Devils’ owner), has already earned his place in next year’s book with his astonishing comment that Steelers’ first year coach Dave Matsos has a ‘job for life’ in Sheffield.

According to the Sheffield Star, Mr Phillips told Matsos: “I hope you stay at the club for as long as I’m involved here.”

Even though the owner knew the coach from his playing days in Cardiff - he retired last season after being injured - this seemed a bit strong as Steelers had won only six of their 14 league games at the time. But the one-time Team Canada attacker earned some real respect after the Steelers eliminated their great rivals, Nottingham Panthers, from the Challenge Cup.

Incidentally, although there were murmurs from some fans of ‘not them again’, the two games drew over 10,000 fans, proving that this long-running rivalry is the biggest in the UK (though hardly in Europe as the Panthers like to boast).

NO EXCITEMENT, PLEASE, WE’RE THE ELITE

The Steelers were the last team to win a semi-final place, Coventry Blaze, Hull Stingrays and Manchester Phoenix having already qualified. Now for the semi-final draw. A bit more excitement, eh?

Well, you can trust this game’s authorities to take the fun out of anything. Not only did no one know when the draw was to take place, the media weren’t told when it had been made - at least not until hours afterwards - and then the official statement didn’t reveal who made it.

One reporter who’d heard that Manchester had been drawn to play Coventry rang Phoenix coach Tony Hand to confirm the story, only for Tony to say he’d heard nothing.

Then again, when you've heard who did make the draw - the league's auditor, Sean Donaghy - it's hardly the stuff to make the back page lead of your favourite newspaper. Still, it’s cheaper than flying the four clubs’ reps to a meeting, I guess.

There is a serious point to be made about this sort of unnecessary secrecy, a regular league failing. Some fans immediately thought the draw had been fiddled because, well, because some fans will always think like that. Not doing everything up front simply encourages the conspiracy theorists.

DID CLOUTHIER ‘GOUGE’? WHO KNOWS?

The league made a similar hush-hush move only a few days earlier when Steelers’ enforcer Brett Clouthier had his one-game ban for a match penalty doubled by the league. Why? Who knows? No statement was issued by the league.

The suspicious fans reckoned it was because he allegedly gouged the eye of Belfast’s Shawn Skiehar in a fight. But if that were true, then surely a longer suspension than two games was warranted. As the league didn’t see fit to clarify the situation, despite watching the game video, the player is now blackened by this possibly unfounded rumour.

Remember my rather harsh comments last week on the absurdity of putting out ‘exclusive news’ of our national team on local radio? Well, it occurred to me later that this is actually being realistic. After all, it’s hard to get national publicity for our sport (I know it shouldn’t be, but there it is) but with the Coventry Blaze management now effectively in charge of GB, it’s only natural that they would use their local contacts.

And as Dave Simms, the GB’s publicity man, said: “There is no such thing as regional radio these days. Although it’s BBC Coventry and Warwickshire that will produce the show, it can be picked up world-wide.”
This week (31st October 2006) Stewart admits to enjoying watching the last place Basingstoke Bison and is puzzled by the decision to release the latest news of our national team exclusively to a local radio station.

Here we are, two months into the season. What do I think of it so far? First, a confession. I’ve seen all my games (except those in the Continental Cup) at Planet Ice Basingstoke, not exactly the league’s flagship building but they always treat me well.

Incidentally, I notice that PI have taken to naming the place rather grandly ‘the Arena’. Nice try. The locals still call it The Fridge and more recently The Fog due - I’ll be kind - to global warming which has caused such misty conditions that the players are inclined to disappear as they move up ice.

Anyway, most of the league’s teams have been to Basingstoke now and my overall impression is that the Bison are one of the most entertaining sides, even though they’re rock bottom. No ‘goons’ for coach Doug Sheppard, unless you count Brad Cruikshank, and I don’t. You don’t want to mess with him, certainly, but he’s a goal scorer this year with seven in 12 games and only 62 penalty minutes.

Bison don’t play defensive hockey, either. OK, they’ve conceded fewer goals than Sheffield Steelers who are six places above them but they’ve scored six more than Coventry Blaze who are seven rungs higher. That stops the fans nodding.

BISON LOSE THEIR MARKETING MAN

What I also like is that the Bison have a marketing man, Phil Andrews, a British-Canadian who doubles as secretary of the British Universities Ice Hockey Association.

At least, they did have a marketing man. Phil left the team at the weekend ‘to spend more time with his family’. The tale he gave me was slightly different, but the point is that the Bison have lost a personable guy who was making some useful contacts.

These included the Canadian High Commission, Coutts and Co, the high class bankers, local TV, and unusually, the BBC’s R&W campaign to improve reading and writing skills among adults. (I only mention this last, of course, because The Ice Hockey Annual is involved.)

The biggest event that Phil pulled off was to attract the Hanson Brothers of Slapshot fame. They’ll be appearing in Basingstoke on November 8 and the place is almost sold out already.

It could be that Phil is not lost to the league entirely, however. By the time you read this, he may have been sent to Coventry - in the nicest possible way, of course.

This brings me rather neatly to the marketing of the New GB team which is now being run mostly by the people at the Blaze. Their coach, Paul ‘Thommo’ Thompson is the GB coach, one director, Andy Buxton, is the team manager and another director, Mike Cowley, is a member of the sport’s governing body, Ice Hockey UK.

GB NEWS? ONLY IF YOU LIVE IN COVENTRY

While it’s early days yet - the World Championships aren’t until April - I’ve been impressed by the marketing skills shown by the new boys. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised by this as they’ve marketed the Blaze well in Coventry.

Led by the inimitable Brummie, Dave Simms, we’ve had a stream of press releases keeping us informed of everything from Thommo’s appointment to the news that Planet Ice have agreed to let the national team have the use of the Coventry rink for their World Championship warm-up games. Good grief, some of the news was even printed in a couple of national dailies.

In fact, the new GB back office team have been so good at this that I wondered if my e-mail box had seized up this week when I’d heard nothing from them. Then I discovered, almost by accident, that their next announcement would be made ‘exclusively’ on BBC Radio Coventry.

Why this backward step, gents? Surely, any news about a national team should be made in the national media. Perhaps Phil can give them some tips, always assuming he went there, of course.
This week (24th October 2006) Stewart describes how 'zero tolerance', recruitment from Eastern Europe and good defence is helping to bring success to underrated clubs, Hull Stingrays and Edinburgh Capitals.

Just how strong is the Elite League this year? On the evidence so far it’s hard to tell but here’s a few pointers.

I submit exhibit A. Two of the league’s supposedly weaker members, Hull Stingrays and Edinburgh Capitals - who are delighted if a thousand fans turn up for their games - are holding their own against the established sides.

The Stingrays, along with Coventry Blaze, qualified for the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Sunday. OK, it was only on a last-gasp goal by Kevin Young, and it was against fellow ‘weaklings’, the Capitals, but the win knocked out the big arena side, Newcastle Vipers.

Hull’s coach, Rick Strachan, was full of it on Monday morning. “A lot of people had written us off at the start of the season but we’re continuing to prove them wrong,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we get in the semis, I’m confident we can beat anyone.”

Bring on exhibit B. The equally underrated Capitals inflicted the first 60-minute defeat on Nottingham Panthers this season, 2-1 in a defensive game at the National Ice Centre. It was also the Capitals’ first win in Nottingham in their eight-year history.

PANTHERS HAVE POST-CONTINENTAL CUP SYNDROME

For my next exhibit, may I remind you that the Panthers were hammered three times in Europe while two seasons ago, they never lost a game. By the by, like many of their predecessors, they’re currently suffering from post-Continental Cup syndrome. They were topping the league before going to France and were without a loss in regulation time, but they’ve managed only one point in the two games since their return.

Exhibit D is the wage cap. Each team, according to unofficial sources (the league never reveals details of its business to its customers), is allowed to spend around £250,000 a season on players, an increase of £30,000 over last year.

My betting is that this in itself has not made much diff. As far as I know, it’s the first increase since the league was formed in 2003 and is really only to compensate for inflation. But coupled with the withdrawal of the league’s subsidy to its smaller clubs, it’s put a lot of pressure on coaches to recruit well.

This was the major reason why the league applied, successfully, to the Immigration Department to be allowed to bring in imports from lower North American leagues than they did last term. As the league says, this makes their money go a bit further, though, as the Panthers can testify, they’re still a long way behind much of continental Europe.

CLARKE IS TOP GOAL SCORER

How do our own brave boys compare with this new breed of imports? Well, the league’s top goal scorer is David Clarke, an Englishman who has 12 in ten games with the Panthers. Another Brit, Newcastle’s David (Lobby) Longstaff, is only three points behind the leading scorer, Belfast’s Mark Dutiaume, a Canadian. Lobby’s English team-mate, Jonathan Weaver, is also among the top ten marksmen.

My final exhibit is ‘zero tolerance’, or NHHG - no holding, hooking or grabbing - as I prefer to call it. This has probably had more influence on this season’s standard of play than any of the earlier exhibits.

Those underrated teams, Hull and Edinburgh, recruited their imports mainly from Eastern Europe where speed ‘n’ skill is rated more highly than bash ‘n’ crash so they are adapting quicker to the new rules standard. Combined with a disciplined system - or boringly defensive as some fans complain - that, more than anything else, is what is bringing these clubs success.

This week (17th October 2006) Stewart takes a look at Nottingham Panthers’ latest venture into Europe and urges the GB national team to learn from it:
 

Nottingham Panthers surprisingly failed to win a game in the Continental Cup although Mike Ellis’s team was one of our best prepared sides of recent times.


The Cup is the junior of the two Europe-wide competitions organised by the governing IIHF (the six-club European Champions Cup is the big one) and the UK have been entering teams for over 20 years, with varying success.


But I can’t think of a previous team which has made such an effort to do well.  Ellis and his assistant, defenceman Calle Carlsson, flew to Denmark to scout the Danish champs and would have gone to Salzburg to see the Austrians in action if their plane hadn’t been so badly delayed.


The Panthers also enjoyed a pre-season training camp in the French Alps taking on two European sides.  It helps that the Elite League’s wage cap - whatever it is these days - doesn’t apply to outings like these.


Moreover, unlike previous entrants, the Panthers were actually the current league leaders when they left for Rouen, France.  Normally, last season’s league champs are invited and by the time the tournament comes round in the autumn, the team has changed personnel and dropped off the pace. 


NO MONEY WORRIES FOR PANTHERS


In fact, the Panthers finished third last term and only went to France because both the league winners, Belfast Giants, and the runners-up, Newcastle Vipers, declined their invites due to the cost.  With a wealthy owner and the largest fan support in the UK, finance isn’t a worry for Nottingham.


Boosted by the memory of their last trip over the Channel two years ago when they never lost a game, and with an attacking team ready for the world of zero tolerance which also suits the European style, the Panthers set off with high hopes of doing well again. 


What went wrong?  At its simplest, the opposition was the best a UK club has come up against in the past few years.  They were fitter, faster and more numerous than the Panthers, icing four lines to Nottingham’s two-and-a-half. 


Ellis, who had expected to beat the hosting Rouen Dragons in the opening game, was shocked when they lost 6-2, then crashed 4-2 to the Danes, SonderjyskE, and 5-2 to Salzburg Red Bulls, who went on to win the tournament. 


“They were scary,” said Ellis after the Salzburg game, though he could have been referring to any of their three opponents.  “They’ve shown us we have to take our fitness up to another level.  I reckon we’re already one of the fittest in the league as we’re able to train virtually every day, but as soon as we get back we’ll be working even harder.”


THE LESSON OF THE CUP - GB MUST GET FITTER


He took some positives from the tournament.  “It was a good bonding experience,” he said, “and our young Brits, James Neil, James Ferrara, James Cooke and Geoff Woolhouse, will have learned a lot.”  Sheffield born goalie Woolhouse played the whole game against the Danes and did so well he won man of the match.


While it was surprising that the continental teams were so much stronger this time, it’s no secret that European budgets are four or five times higher than UK clubs’.  This applies to national squads, too, and will be GB’s problem in April’s World Championships.  However much it changes its coaches and its roster, it still has virtually no funds.


But money’s not everything.  If every player who fancies his chances with GB heeds this warning from the Continental Cup and gets down the gym fast and often, our national team can still climb the world rankings.

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