[Chris71]

Re: elite league ice hockey : Mon Feb 04, 2013 4:41 pm  

One of The 18th Men wrote:

Sorry if I'm resurrecting a dead thread but I've only just found and thought I may as well share my love of the EIHL! I have been a Stingrays fan since roughly age 9, and try to attend games regularly, in fact I'm off tonight to watch the mighty Stingrays take on Coventry Blaze! Any other Hull fans lurking on this forum?

Used to be Seahawks, Hawks fan both home & away without fail then the Thunder home and occasionalyl away but then decided enough was enough.

Only been to a small handful of games since.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:41 pm  

I go fairly often to watch Basingstoke in the EPL, same division as Manchester. I keep an eye out for Manchester.

The standard of the EPL is not exactly the NHL, but it's a lot of fun, especially if like me you think the fighting is a bit stagey- it's discouraged in the EPL but does break out every few games when they actually mean it.

Shame the import level is so high in the Elite League- that's what pushed Manchester, Basingstoke, Bracknell and Guildford out, and sent Newcastle under.

[Chris71]

Re: elite league ice hockey : Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:42 am  

Urmston Wire wrote:

I go fairly often to watch Basingstoke in the EPL, same division as Manchester. I keep an eye out for Manchester.

The standard of the EPL is not exactly the NHL, but it's a lot of fun, especially if like me you think the fighting is a bit stagey- it's discouraged in the EPL but does break out every few games when they actually mean it.

Shame the import level is so high in the Elite League- that's what pushed Manchester, Basingstoke, Bracknell and Guildford out, and sent Newcastle under.

Thats why I stopped going after Sheffield ruined it all and a certain player who threatened the then BIHL with court action for restriction of trade for dual nationals. That and the fact at one point the GB team had a total of 2 genuine British players in it and they chose Bill Morrison as the GB no.1 for me totally destroyed the sport in this country and it has since struggled with the top flight league itself going t!ts up twice.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:21 pm  

Urmston Wire wrote:

I go fairly often to watch Basingstoke in the EPL, same division as Manchester. I keep an eye out for Manchester.

The standard of the EPL is not exactly the NHL, but it's a lot of fun, especially if like me you think the fighting is a bit stagey- it's discouraged in the EPL but does break out every few games when they actually mean it.

Shame the import level is so high in the Elite League- that's what pushed Manchester, Basingstoke, Bracknell and Guildford out, and sent Newcastle under.

Basingstoke seem to be our (Phoenix) bogey team this year.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:18 pm  

Karlos13 wrote:

Basingstoke seem to be our (Phoenix) bogey team this year.

They're having a good year- and it's nice to see that it's quite tight at the top, especially compared to the level above.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Sat Feb 16, 2013 12:36 pm  

Chris71 wrote:

Used to be Seahawks, Hawks fan both home & away without fail then the Thunder home and occasionalyl away but then decided enough was enough.

Only been to a small handful of games since.

Ah, my Father and my Uncle used to go to almost all the Seahawks home games and some of the closer (Sheffield, Nottingham) away games. It was them who got me into hockey during one of Stingrays early seasons (Think it was 2006-7) back when we had Slava Koulikov and Tom Chamberlain.

Got myself a puck at the last game though

Re: elite league ice hockey : Mon Apr 08, 2013 11:06 am  

Clean sweep for Nottingham. Very impressive.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Mon Apr 08, 2013 1:22 pm  

Hate the Panthers with a passion. Almost as much as I hate the Steelers, probably hate them both the same.

[Chris71]

Re: elite league ice hockey : Tue Apr 09, 2013 10:30 am  

WireFanatic III wrote:

Hate the Panthers with a passion. Almost as much as I hate the Steelers, probably hate them both the same.

Hmmm quite.

The finals will always be a joke until played at a neutral venue back at Wembley arena would be good but will never happen.

Thats the problem with the EIHL when you have people like Neil Black & Dave Simms involved as the sport will never truly progress as they tend to only look after their own clubs interest instead of the sport as a whole.

Re: elite league ice hockey : Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:06 am  

Chris71 wrote:

Hmmm quite.

The finals will always be a joke until played at a neutral venue back at Wembley arena would be good but will never happen.

Thats the problem with the EIHL when you have people like Neil Black & Dave Simms involved as the sport will never truly progress as they tend to only look after their own clubs interest instead of the sport as a whole.

Spot on. As far as I am concerned, there's a desperate need to reduce the import numbers. That way we can have a league that actually means something and has a decent geographical spread- the idea that Coventry is the southernmost team is a joke. I did once read that Neil Black said he had no interest in Guildford joining- Guildford are probably the biggest team outside the EIHL but can't afford that level as it stands.

Reduce the import levels, bring back Guildford, Basingstoke and Manchester and you've got a far more credible league and sport.