18th September 2008

For all you lovers of ‘play the man not the puck’, this has been a good Elite League season so far.

A couple of punch-ups - to put them politely - the first weekend and a brawl in Belfast last Saturday. I wonder what’s in store this week?

The omens are promising. The Giants meet Rob Wilson’s Vipers again – twice, both on Tyneside - and the Steelers are in Nottingham to face the joint league leaders for the first time this season (but certainly not the last).

Amid much off-season fanfare, the Vipers signed a star-studded line-up, among them 6ft 5in, ex-NHL defender Chris McAllister, top Austrian League goalie Andrew Verner and leading American minor leaguers Todd Griffith and Tyler (Mr Entertainer) Willis.

“These guys weren’t cheap,” said Wilson, though he insisted that his overall budget was “the same, if not less than Hull’s”.

Unfortunately, whatever they cost, they’ve been rubbish so far. The Vipers were hammered 8-2 in the Odyssey, in a game that ended with seven players being thrown out by ref Tom Darnell, including boss ‘Willy’ with 5+10+game.

Rob Wilson, player-coach of Newcastle Vipers, reflecting on the Vipers’ record. (photo: Newcastle Vipers).

Yes, Wilson, now 40, has laced on the skates yet again for what he admits are financial reasons, i.e. the club can’t afford a non-playing coach. As he said, they’re not as rich as Hull.

The under-achieving Vipers have won just one game in four, and the lone victory only came after a shootout in the Metro Radio Arena against the mighty Basingstoke Bison.

But Rob is looking forward to the weekend’s games against Steve Thornton’s Giants who joined the Panthers at the top of the table after their mid-week victory over the Bison.

"Belfast are going to have to batten down the hatches," he said. "We’re not going to be dirty or do anything stupid, we are going to play an honest, hard physical game and get right into the faces of the Giants."

Nottingham Panthers are also keen to play their next games. Riding high with four straight wins, Panthers will be expecting 5,000 or more in the NIC for the Steelers’ game. Next day, they face Midlands rivals and current league champs, the Blaze, in Coventry.

"The entire team is fit and fast and that's why we don't die late in games,” said Panthers’ coach Corey Neilson. “That's all credit to our strength and conditioning coach, Scott Poundall.” Link

Now a word of encouragement to Edinburgh Capitals. Don’t take any notice of my old sparring partner, Nigel Duncan, in the Scotsman. Blimey, Nige, the Caps did beat the Steelers 3-1 in Sheffield on the first weekend of the season. Surely they’re not as bad as you painted them in your post-game piece. Link

Slava Khoulikov of Hull Stingrays and Steve Thornton, player-coach of Belfast Giants, battle for the puck in Sunday’s game in Hull. (photo: Arthur Foster)

That said, sitting in a crowd of 350 in the chilly 3,000-seat Murrayfield rink must skew your view of things. Hull Stingrays are this Sunday’s visitors to Nigel’s ‘morge’ so, much as I love the Packs and ‘Strachs’, Doug Christiansen’s men must stand a chance of a couple of points.

Basingstoke Bison must fancy their chances on Saturday at home to Cardiff Devils. Not only have the Bison got their American netminder Kevin Reiter into the country at last but Cardiff’s Big Blue Tent was closed all week, preventing the Devils from practicing. Link

The Devils drew a sell-out crowd of over 2,000 to their opening game. Now, a fortnight into the season, the rink operators decide to paint some logos in the ice. Nice timing, gents.

In the English Premier League, Guildford Flames used their recent spare time more productively when they went to a training camp in Slovakia.

The enterprising Flames, the Nottingham Panthers of the EPL, were in Trencin, home of Milos Melicherik, their star point-getter for the last five seasons. On their return the Flames will be training on Guildford ice twice a day, supplementing this with off-ice conditioning.

This is all in readiness for the league’s opening weekend. On Saturday Paul Dixon’s men have a difficult first game at home to their local rivals, Bracknell Bees, in the EPL’s version of the Elite’s Steelers-Panthers’ rivalry. The crowd will probably only be 1,800 or so but that’s larger than some Elite clubs attract.

I’ll be among them. Whoever you’re supporting, enjoy the game.

(11th September 2008) Stewart returns from a long break to find that little has changed in the wacky world of British ice hockey. There’s still too many goons and, despite the addition of another wealthy owner to the Elite League’s ranks, nothing is being spent on polishing the sport’s tarnished image.

Here we go again. After a fairly traumatic summer settling into our new palace by the sea - well, cosy flat – and producing the first ever colour edition of The Ice Hockey Annual (out next month), it’s back to the wild and wacky world of British ice hockey.

Where do I start? The Elite League’s loss of an airline sponsor, confusion over how many refs the league wants, a quiet coup at the top of Ice Hockey UK, Basingstoke Bison almost miss the starting gun, a couple of English Premier League clubs losing their sponsor and Chelmsford Chieftains losing their league place.

Still, there was some good news on the player front. Tony Hand is back as player-coach of Manchester Phoenix, at the ripe old age of 41 (bet he’ll still win the Annual’s trophy as the top scoring Brit), and Dan (bad penny, good scorer) Tessier is back in England with the Panthers this time.

Dan Tessier (Sheffield Star)

And for those of you who subscribe to Sky Sports, the Elite League will be back on your screens every week starting on Friday (3.30 and 10.00 p.m.) with last Sunday’s game in Nottingham between the Panthers and Hull Stingrays.

But the man making the most news has been the Elite League’s new owner. Wealthy Australian Matt Burge took control of Cardiff Devils, sorry Next Generation Cardiff Devils, at the back end of last season.

Matt created so much publicity for his team in a few short months that the Devils’ first league game against the Steelers was a sell-out with 2,000 fans packing the Big Blue Tent.

David Clarke returned from a season in the Italian League to score five goals  for Nottingham Panthers in two weekend games, all on the powerplay

On the ice at the weekend, there was the inspiring result (to lovers of the underdog) of Sheffield Steelers 1, Edinburgh Capitals 3, (link) and the somewhat less inspiring sight of a game being forced to finish after only two periods when the ice became unplayable. This minor disaster happened in the ill-fated ‘temporary’ rink in Altrincham. (link)

But the real disasters were the unsavoury incidents that took place in Cardiff and Nottingham. (link) (link) (link)

Regular readers know my feelings about goons. This sport is rough enough without employing players purely for their pugilistic skills.

Sheffield’s Randy Dagenais who was injured in a collision  with Devil Brad Voth in Steelers’ 2-0 victory in Cardiff Bay on Sunday (Sheffield Star)

But what is almost worse is that players and coaches went public with inflammatory comments about these incidents - some in the national Daily Star - that in a well-run sport would immediately incur a fine for ‘bringing the game into disrepute’. (link) (link)

OK, maybe this is asking a lot these days. But it’s time to put a stop to these nasty ‘bush league’ affairs which play into the hands of the league’s critics who say they are just a cheap way of drumming up publicity.

Far better, surely, to employ a proper marketing person to polish up our game’s tarnished image.

This came in from the league on Thursday evening only hours after I'd posted this blog.

The league's statement sets the right tone though it shows what a difficult line ice hockey treads when it allows players like Kozak and Voth into the sport in the name of entertainment. And a warning to the clubs not to air their grievances in public might not have gone amiss.'

 

(30th January 2008) The bmibaby Elite League is talking about increasing the number of imports. Is this a return to the Superleague era, asks Stewart.

The week’s big talking point is the Elite League’s latest wizard wheeze (revealed here) which could take us straight back to the Superleague era.

Those who know me will know just how much I love this idea. It’s been explained to me that with 15 ‘imports’ and a strictly enforced wage cap (another story for another day), teams will not be held to ransom by Brits who are not as good as they think they are. (Not quite the language used but you get the drift).

If this rule is adopted by the league, my betting is that the only Brits to get a regular spot on an Elite roster will be the very best ones - the Taits, Weavers, Hands and Clarkes - while the less talented will be forced to drop down to the English Premier or out of the sport altogether.

As in Superleague, our own brave boys would be squeezed out of our ‘top league’. This is the drawback with running a pro circuit in Britain which can’t afford to pay its players a living wage.

North Americans enjoy coming here for a year, getting £300-500 a week, a place to lay their heads (and their girl friends) and a car to get around in. But Brits can’t live on this sort of money unless they have a second job. And there’s no time for that and playing in a professional circuit.

(If my analysis is wrong, I’ll be delighted to hear the league’s thinking. As always, I’m at stewice@aol.com.)
 

Player of the Week There’s only one possible choice. Tony Hand MBE played his 1,000th league game on Sunday - an all-time British record - scoring a goal and, of course, an assist for Manchester Phoenix. Now in his 27th year in senior hockey, the Great Brit One has 3,006 league points (including 1,120 goals). Our photo shows Tony receiving his MBE from HM The Queen in January 2004.

PRO LEAGUE DIVIDES ICE HOCKEY

This is just one of the reasons I’m uneasy about a pro league in this country. It also divides an already minor sport into warring factions while doing little to address the most vital issue - how to develop better home-grown players.

So I was glad to see that some effort is being made in this direction, and by the coach of an Elite League club. According to an article in Powerplay, Coventry Blaze’s Paul Thompson’s coaching clinic (www.paulthompsonscoachingclinic.co.uk) has been given ‘workshop status’ (whatever that is) by the English and Scottish IHAs.

The clinic is not directly involved in coaching our kids but in coaching their coaches who too often are just willing and not very able parents.

I’m not familiar with junior coaching organisations. I only see the end product. But I do know that the standard of coaching our youngsters receive varies enormously from club to club. So anything that can improve matters has to be welcomed.

A fine, if unwanted, example of the sport’s Warring Factions is the news that ice hockey’s movers and shakers are meeting this week with the Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe.

Going to the Trafalgar Square offices of the Dept of Culture, Media and Sport are Frederick Meredith of the world governing IIHF; Ken Taggart, Bob Wilkinson and Neville Moralee of the English Ice Hockey Association (parent body of the English Premier League); and Joanne Collins of the players’ union, IHPAGB.
 

Photo of the Week Basingstoke Bison’s Derek Campbell steam-rollers a Newcastle Viper in Vipers’ 4-1 win in Hampshire. Photo: David Taylor.

SPORT DISCUSSES HOT TOPICS

On the agenda are the recommendations made by sports consultant, Neil Tunnicliffe, after his extensive interviews with a number of ice hockey people. There are several hot political topics on Mr T’s list which is why a couple of the Warring Factions were missing from this week’s get-together.

I understand that Ice Hockey UK and the Elite League are to meet the Minister in a week or two. Congratulations, gents, on showing to someone trying to help you that your sport’s organisation is a complete shambles.

The GB 33 are off to the Euro Challenge in the Mont Blanc region of France next week (Feb 5-8). Sadly, I shan’t be able to make it as all the hotels were booked but you can follow the team’s progress on www.bbc.co.uk or http://www.icehockeychallenge.net/index.htm.

With three games in three different rinks and players flying in and out of France to make sure they don’t tire themselves out for their club sides (shades of Pool A ’94), the organisers have a logistical nightmare on their hands.

But at least Thommo will be able to run the rule over guys who might not otherwise have had a look in. Good luck to him and all the players.

I’m away for the next few days, visiting former GB and London Knights’ coach, Chris McSorley, whose Geneva Eagles (http://www.geneva-hockey.ch/) are now the second most successful team in Switzerland. What a huge loss he’s been to the sport here.

Back in two weeks.

(23rd January 2008) Among the big spenders and little spenders of the bmibaby Elite League, the Bison Ten have a little budget but big hearts, says Stewart.

The Elite League rightly likes to point out how competitive their teams are, with any side able to beat any other on a given night.

But with the crowds and the budgets varying enormously (as we’ve said before, and can’t say often enough) the gap between the leaders, Coventry Blaze, and the last place Hull Stingrays, has now widened to a chasm.

In the ten-team league table, nearly 40 points separate Rick Strachan’s battling Stingrays (21 points from 37 games) from Paul Thompson’s all-conquering Blaze (58 from 35).

The Blaze steam-rollered the injury-hit Cardiff Devils 5-1 (away) and 8-1 (home) in back-to-back games and are well on their way towards a third league title in four years.

Thommo’s team are five points clear of their nearest challengers, Belfast Giants, who extended their winning streak to 13, a record for the Elite this season. But Giants have only the slimmest chance of catching the Blaze who have three games in hand.

Though the low budget team owners might not agree, at least this way the fans get to see the occasional feats of giant-killing.

Edinburgh Capitals (21 points) didn’t quite kill off the Sheffield Steelers (48) in their home-and-away contests. But they knocked ‘em about a bit in two titanic tussles and came away with a point.

The first game in Scotland went to a shootout before Steeler Doug Sheppard notched the winner for a 4-3 win. The next night, Ryan Finnerty broke a 1-1 tie in the 50th minute for a 2-1 Sheffield victory.
 

Player of the Week All the Bison Ten (plus keepers Curtis Cruickshank and Dan Green) deserve the accolade this week for their superb team spirit.  But as the rules demand one player, we’ll pick their skipper, Brad Cruikshank, who was man of the match with a hat-trick in their narrow home defeat by Nottingham Panthers and netted the winning shot in their come-from-behind victory at Hull Stingrays. Photo: David Taylor.

Pic of the Week Young British goalie, Steven Fone, played in the last period for Coventry Blaze in their second game against Cardiff Devils, an 8-1 win. Photo: Mark Tredgold.

TESSIER BACK WITH THE STEELERS

Steelers’ GM, Mike O’Connor, was full of praise for Doug Christainsen’s men. “The way Capitals played, I can’t believe they’re in ninth place,” he said.

No more has been mentioned, by the way, about the ‘two weeks’ notice’ dished out to the whole Sheffield club by owner Bob Phillips over a fortnight ago. There’s a surprise (not).

But there were surprises when Phillips sacked their popular enforcer Jeremy Cornish and brought back former Steeler, Dan Tessier.

Tessier broke his two-year contract at the end of last season for a better paying job in Germany, but that club and his subsequent North American team later released him. According to the rumour mill, the Canadian forward had been asking £900 a week in Britain.

The other giant-killers, or at least giant-worriers, are the eighth place Basingstoke Bison (29 points). The Bison Ten, as they’ve been dubbed, due to injuries and budget restrictions, had another battling weekend, this time almost murdering fourth place Nottingham Panthers (45).

In a wild five-goal last period, the Bison led twice through Brad Cruikshank before Panthers escaped with a 5-4 victory through Corey Neilson and Ryan Shmyr.

The game was played in front of Basingstoke’s largest crowd of the season so far. There were 1,225 fans in the Fridge, prompting one Panthers’ fan to remark: “There were over 4,000 in the NIC last week and no one said a word.”
 

Coventry Blaze forward Michael Tasker, 34, waves farewell to the Skydome faithful on 13 January after a 17-year career in British hockey. He was forced into premature retirement by injury. Photo: Mark Tredgold.

‘BAVY’ BOOSTS THE BISON

While it’s no coincidence that Basingstoke’s support has gone up by a remarkable 71 per cent since Tomas Enerston took over the club in early November, I must put in a word here for the team’s cheerleader, Darren Bavister.

Adorned with a ginger fright-wig, ‘Bavy’ works the crowd superbly from his DJ’s box. He excelled himself when the Panthers’ game was late starting, running round the stands, throwing sweets to the fans and encouraging the Mexican Wave.

The atmosphere at recent Bison games has been deafening, giving the depleted team just the boost it needs. At home, it's the ‘Bison Eleven’. Put your hands up in the air!

It was the Never-Say-Die Ten (plus reliable keeper Curtis Cruickshank and his back-up, Dan Green, of course) in Hull the next day when they fought back from 6-4 behind to beat the Stingrays 7-6 on Derek Campbell’s tying goal (at 59.39) and Brad Cruikshank’s winning penalty shot.

This time nine goals (count ‘em) were scored in the final session (actually in 12 minutes, 30 seconds), with ‘Rays' four in seven minutes being sadly in vain.

Finally, Tony Hand is scheduled to appear in his 1,000th league game on Sunday, playing for and coaching Manchester Phoenix against the Panthers.

I wonder if someone from Ice Hockey UK Towers is going to rise from their slumbers and tell the world of The Great Brit One’s latest feat. Or will they waste another fine PR opportunity? Answers on a postcard, please.

(16th January 2008) It’s character building playing pro hockey in Britain, says Stewart.

Last season it was Cardiff Devils and Manchester Phoenix who went through hockey hell, waiting half the season or more for their own rink and then finding it was a ‘temporary permanent’ one when it turned up.

Before that, it was the London Racers wandering around the capital trying to find a decent sheet of ice.

No one can say playing professional ice hockey in Britain isn’t character building.

This season’s characters are Basingstoke Bison, on their third owner in less than a year, playing in front of one of the Elite League’s smallest crowds and with a scarcely affordable budget.

Add the league’s current injury scourge and the team could be forgiven for just going through the motions. But that’s not the way hockey players are made. The bigger the obstacles it seems, the better they play.

All this is my rather long-winded way of breaking the news that the Bison, with only ten out-players, were the first team to rack up double figures in the league this season with a 10-2 annihilation of last place Edinburgh Capitals.

Naturally, Bison’s owner Tomas Enerston, was over the moon, Brian, about the result. His team’s gutsy determination to rise above their troubles is rubbing off on Tomas - or perhaps it’s the other way round.
 

Player of the Week Peter Campbell, Belfast Giants, hit a hat-trick against Sheffield Steelers and tallied eight points in Giants’ weekend victories. Belfast are on a ten-game winning run while Campbell is third in league scoring, five points behind the leader, Ed Courtenay, his team-mate and coach. Photo: Michael Cooper.

BOSS WAVES TEAM OFF AT 2.30 A.M.

Either way, in his long and interesting email to fans - a fine piece of PR - Tomas pointed out that the Bison had also travelled to Belfast only two days earlier (they lost 7-4), flying out to Northern Ireland at 2.30 a.m. What’s more he was there to see they all got on the plane!

How did Capitals take their embarrassing defeat? Player-coach Doug Christiansen preferred to concentrate on the next night’s game when his men made a startlingly quick recovery to shut out Nottingham Panthers 3-0.

“JF Perras [Caps’ goalie] played fantastic,” he told the Scotsman, “but the whole team deserves credit. It was a remarkable turnaround from Saturday.” Then he added: “We threw the video of our game at Bison away.” Who can blame him?

The Bison’s fortunes also went into reverse on Sunday with a 7-3 defeat at Newcastle Vipers. But Mr Enerston won’t be throwing the video of that game away. Instead, he’s found an ingenious way of turning recording tape into pound notes.

“[Player-coach] Ryan [Aldridge] always gets a copy of the game,” said Tomas in his email, “so I thought it would be good if we gave the fans who couldn’t travel a chance to see the game.”

Tuesday night was ‘away game’ night in the rink’s bar. Who wanted to watch a game where the result - a loss - is already known? We’ll see, but for the fans surely it’s a good way of showing solidarity with their team.
 

Shot of the Week Basingstoke Bison show their winning desire as they attack JF Perras in the Edinburgh Capitals’ goal during the Bison’s record 10-2 home win. Photo: David Taylor.

BOTTOM THREE TEAMS IN KO SEMIS

Back with the Capitals, their win in Nottingham gave them a crumb of comfort as it moved them off the bottom of the table for the first time since October, to be replaced by the hapless Hull Stingrays.

Before the playoffs, Capitals and Bison, along with the Stingrays, will feature in the last four of the KO Cup. Another upset. The bottom three teams all in with a chance of silverware. Who says this league isn’t competitive?

There’s just room to congratulate Newcastle Viper Shaun Johnson who was scheduled to play his 1,000th game during the week, and the 33 players who’ve been selected to play for the GB senior team in France in three World Championship warm-up games next month. Full squad here - http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/news/detail.php?id=5552.

Forgive another Bison plug, but I was heartened to see that their Toronto-born forward, Greg Chambers, 25, currently among the top ten in the Elite’s scoring charts, has made it into the squad.

Chambers and Peterborough’s Nathan Rempel are the only two British players who’ve learned their hockey abroad, unless you count ex-GB defender Mike O’Connor’s son, Ben, now with Edinburgh, and Newcastle’s Colin Shields both of whom have spent considerable time on North American teams.

These are the experienced players that GB needs if they are to continue their climb back up the slippery world rankings.

(9th January 2008) Only Tony Hand’s record points haul has brightened a week of gloomy stories from the bmibaby Elite League, says Stewart.

In a festive spirit of goodwill, last week I tried hard to be up-beat about the game. But this week the Elite League has let me down as almost all their news has been bad.

News - Cardiff Devils “need £18,000 to finish the season”.

Stewart says - Devils’ dodgy finances have been plastered all over the local press ever since the Superleague days. The latest chapter in this sorry saga even made the pages of the national papers.

I don’t know who’s to blame and, frankly, I’ve given up caring - along with most other non-Devils fans. Please, guys, fix this fast and in private. Or we’ll let Brad Voth loose on you.

News - Sheffield Steelers’ boss, Bob Phillips, threatens every player and staff member with the sack when the league runners-up lose two games in a row, 7-1 and 4-0. (http://www.thestar.co.uk/icehockey/39Steelers-players-are-letting-down.3646898.jp)

Stewart says - Is ‘e ‘avin a laff? ‘E’s ‘avin a laff. This is the sixth club to issue this public warning. It’s an empty threat from desperate teams hamstrung by budgets so tight they can’t afford squads deep enough to bench under-performing players.

 

Player of the Week Slava Koulikov, Hull Stingrays. Russia-born, British trained forward was passionately involved in his team’s 5-3 defeat of Manchester Phoenix in the first leg of the Knockout Cup after six straight league losses. He scored four points (one goal) and was thrown out at the end of the game for arguing with the ref.

WORST EVER INJURY CRISIS

News - Almost every team has an injury problem. This is contributing to the shorter than short benches and is probably the worst any of us have known. Just one example - the Devils have “four serious knee injuries and two broken feet”, according to their player-coach Brent Pope.

Stewart says - As well as wages being cut to the bone, so are rosters, while the decision to pay as little as possible for imports means that some overseas players inevitably come here with pre-existing injuries.

Elite teams also play the longest schedule in Europe. Newcastle Vipers, for example, played six games in nine days over the Christmas holiday.

With league (54), Challenge Cup (8), playoffs (4) and KO Cup (6), some sides could end up playing as many as 72 games. Last season, no one played more than 64.

News - Eight of the ten teams played games in the Knockout Cup. Belfast Giants and Nottingham Panthers have opted out.

Stewart says - Is this competition really necessary? Well, according to Tomas Enerston, Basingstoke Bison’s new owner, it’s essential for his club’s financial health.

He was as much relieved as delighted when his team upset the odds to beat Cardiff Devils and won through to the cup semis. “This will mean at least one extra home game with the income that brings,” he told me.

 

Shot of the Week Basingstoke Bison keeper, Curtis Cruickshank, who kept his second clean sheet of the season with 35 saves as Bison overwhelmed Cardiff Devils 6-0 in the first leg of the KO Cup. Photo courtesy of David Taylor.

MIND THE GAP

News - Ten times as many fans (6,575) watched Steelers at Panthers as were at Bison’s game against the Phoenix (726) on the same night.

Stewart says - No wonder some of the big clubs can afford twice the budget of the smaller sides, as Tomas pointed out.

The Cardiff-based, Sweden-born businessman has been on the scene for only a few weeks but it’s long enough for him to believe that the wage cap (£5,700 a week after tax) must be reduced - and strictly enforced - if the smaller teams are to compete on equal terms and, more importantly, to survive at the top level.

In the light of my comments earlier about the consequences of having tight budgets, the league urgently needs some lessons in economics.

News - Newcastle Vipers were knocked out of the cup - by the cellar dwelling Edinburgh Capitals. see link

Stewart says - How much more can the Vipers’ faithful take? The team have already dropped from second to sixth in less than two months. Coach Rob Wilson’s days are surely numbered - especially after his boss, Paul Ferone, gave him the dreaded ‘vote of confidence’ before the weekend.

Enough, I hear you cry. There must be some good news. Well, Mr Enerston told me the Sky TV deal has been good for the league with the viewing figures ‘above estimates’. Unfortunately, he was not allowed to tell me just what they are.

And our own Great One, Tony Hand MBE, scored his record 3,000th league point. His next target is 4,000 lifetime points in all official games, provided the 40-year-old doesn’t carry out his threat to retire.

If we have another week of disasters like this one, the Elite League will be forced into retirement long before Tony is.

(2nd January 2008) This is the time of year when we traditionally look back at the past 12 months and forward to … what?

First, here’s The Ice Hockey Annual’s awards for achievements in the last 12 months (not just the first half of this season). And woe to those who say ‘there can’t be many of those’. My New Year resolution is to be kind to the folk who run our game. (A new sport for you, dear reader, is to see how long it takes for me to break it.)

I’ll start with my nominations (in alphabetical order) for Person of the Year:

● Eamon Convery, the Elite League chairman, for negotiating a three-year deal with Nottingham’s National Ice Centre for the league’s playoff finals.

● Tomas Enerston for saving Basingstoke Bison and Katie Eleftheriou for ditto Bracknell Bees. Here’s wishing them and their new teams success and a long life.

SIMMSY OUT TALKS 'EM ALL

● Dave Simms for his commentating on Sky TV. We all know Simmsy can talk - he has even more opinions than me - but when it comes to describing the finer points of the game, with a few Kylie in hot pants-type comments thrown in, I reckon he’s the best we’ve had in years - and I can go back to Alan Weeks in the 1960s.

● Paul Thompson for his coaching with GB and Coventry Blaze. The Blaze have the Elite League’s best record over the last calendar year and in April GB moved up two places in the world rankings.
 

Player of the Week Doug Christiansen, Edinburgh Capitals’ player-coach, who led his team with a hat-trick in their 7-3 crushing of Newcastle Vipers. Photo courtesy of Edinburgh Capitals.

Team of the Year

● Coventry Blaze - see above.

● All the Elite League teams - apart from Belfast Giants, Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers - for surviving in a ‘pro league’ despite rotten crowds and, in some cases, less than elite facilities.

● Guildford Flames for their consistent professionalism, on and off the ice.

Quote of the Year

So many to choose from but here’s some I especially enjoyed:

“Basingstoke is a sleeping giant… There is so much potential there. We’re aiming to generate income of between £50,000 and £70,000 by [selling] merchandise.” David Taylor, Bracknell Bees’ owner on taking over the Elite’s Bison in the 2007 off-season. (Daily Star)

“The problem with ice hockey in Britain is that teams don’t own their facilities like they do in other countries. You’re always handing money over to someone else. It’s also a minority sport and wage bills are often high.” Ken Taggart, chairman of the English IHA, on the Bracknell Bees’ troubles.

‘Cowmeadow put out to grass’. Headline on a story in the Swindon Advertiser about Wildcats’ winger, Lee Cowmeadow, recently announcing his retirement after 17 years.
 

Shot of the Week Greg Owen beats Manchester Phoenix keeper, Scott Fankhouser, for Basingstoke Bison’s third goal in Bison’s 5-4 home win. Photo courtesy of David Taylor.

OLD ROBERTS’S ALMANACH

Now to consult Old Roberts’s Almanach for 2008 and see what might be ahead. Despite some reservations, it seems the Elite League is secure for quite a while with a three-year NIC contract, over five years left on the bmibaby sponsorship and, according to Dave Simms, Sky happy with the league’s TV games.

There’s also a chance that the sport’s power brokers will get round a table in the New Year, as requested by the Minister for Sport, and discuss ways to resolve their differences and how to take the game forward.

Wow! My New Year’s resolution has held up this far. Before I crack, let me wish you all a healthy and prosperous New Year, and here’s hoping it’s a successful one for your team, your league and your governing body.