Let's take a quick trip across the pond to the NHL where last night the Buffalo Sabres paid a visit to the Verizon Centre in Washington DC to play the Capitals for their penultimate home game of the regular season.
Washington took an early lead in the game through Alex Ovechkin who scored on the powerplay for his 55th goal of the season. The Buffalo side came back just 4 minutes later though and took the lead with two goals within the space of a minute to make it 2-1 Sabres going into the first interval.
Goals at 23:41 and 23:50 both on the powerplay from Semin and Federov respectively regained the lead for Washington. Derek Roy of the Sabres tied the game again on the powerplay with less then 2 minutes on the clock in the second frame. Washington responded just seconds later when Sergei Federov scored his 10th of the year to make it 4-3 Caps.
The third period saw just one goal coming in the last ten minutes from Maxim Afinogenov to push the game into overtime. One minute fifty one seconds into the extra session Jason Pominville put the puck past rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov to secure the win.
As a Capitals fan myself you might be wondering why I'm writing about a loss, the reason in case you hadn't heard was because the 1 point that Washington gained from the overtime loss gave them to 102 points on the season which was enough for the team to clinch their second straight Southeast Division title.
Today also saw a big game in Boston where the Bruins took on the Rangers. It was a closely fought affair with the only goal coming for the home side in the first period when rookie Blake Wheeler netted his 22nd of the year. Boston netminder Tim Thomas put on a first star performance stopping all 31 shots from New York for his 5th shutout this year, he should have plenty more to come in the future as he has recently signed a 4 year contract extension. The game was big news though as it meant that Boston got their 112th point of the season putting them out of reach of the second placed Capitals and therefore clinching the Eastern Conference title.
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Thursday, 2 April 2009
The Beginning of the End?
With the showpiece event of the UK ice hockey calender almost upon us it seems as though the Elite League which recently lost the Basingstoke Bison could be losing even more clubs going into next season leaving the league with as few as 6 teams in a situation similar to that which was seen in the final years of the ISL.
This post from The Hockey Forum would seem to be just another rumor and as they say, no smoke without fire.
"I have put this on here rather than on the rumour thread as I really believe this to be true. I have had some information passed to me today from an unofficial but trustworthy source that Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester are about to quit the Elite League. Apparantly the other 6 had a secret board meeting without those mentioned and placed totally unacceptable conditions on these three clubs that they feel they have no option but to turn down the leagues ultimatums.
Apparantly Basingstoke got wind of this a few weeks ago and that just confirmed their exit. The league appear happy to go with a 6 team league next season. I really cannot reveal my source but those that know me, also know I am not one for rumour mongering or stirring on the forums. I am absolutely shocked by the news and really did not see this coming"
So yet again the Mickey Mouse operation which is ice hockey in this country seems to have messed things up leaving us with only 2 real options both of which have their critics.
The first of which is the case for lowering the number of imports and the wage cap for next season so that the rink teams (Edinburgh, Hull, Newcastle, Manchester) can be more competitive and then hopefully draw in bigger crowds and sponsors with the overall goal of making more money and becoming more stable. This would definatly level the playing field so to speak but in my opinion this shouldn't be considered as an option even if the only alternative is having teams dropping out the league.
Why do I think this I hear you asking? Well a drop in the imports and wage cap will inevitably lead to a worse product being put out on the ice. Now a 6 import league would be fine to watch for £10 a ticket but because of the huge fees the "Big 4" have to pay to rent the arenas there would be no change in price and fans would be left paying the same as they do now for less and lets face it not many people like being ripped off so crowd sizes would go down and the arena teams would be left struggling to make ends meet.
What all this means is the successful teams who have well worked out buisness plans would be made to suffer. Why do these teams have to be held down by ones who are less successful? They are a constant drain on the league and other teams whether it be the fact they need to bend the rules just to compete by having more imports or asking for financial support.
So the other option of dropping down to 6 teams may seem more likely. Only having the big boys in the league could mean for a rise of the wage cap and number of imports which in turn would give us a better on ice product which could theoretically draw in bigger sponsors and set us up for overall better league with potential of expanding the league in the future.
However more likely the 6 team situation would make things worse. Cardiff and Hull wouldn't be able to cope with a rise in the wage cap as well as the big 4 and they would become uncompetitive and start to lose money and be forced out giving us just a 4 team league which would surely make even the most exciting Panthers V Steelers game stale, "Who are Panthers playing this week?", "Sheffield", "But they played each other last week and the week before!". This would probably lead to less casual fans coming to games when it is going to be the same week in week out so again attendences would drop and teams would be struggling!
Either way everyone seems to end up as losers in this one so lets just hope the league can find a decent solution for once, although something tells me this is unlikely to come from a league who don't even let their fans know the rules by which they play!
With the future of UK hockey at stake the flagship event of the finals weekend this year is a more important advert then ever and you would think the league would try and make the best of it by doing what they did in the first few playoff weekends that were held in Nottingham, set up lots of stalls around the arena either on the olympic rink or outside in Bolero Square to catch peoples eye, make some more money by selling jerseys etc. but I can't help but think I will be disapointed by what will be on offer once more. Each passing year sees less and less value for money and entertainment then ever before despite rising ticket prices (an adult is now £75 for the weekend) it really is an extortionate price for just 3 Elite League games.
None the less I will be at the games this weekend, reporting regularly via twitter (username EIHL_Playoffs) and blogging here with anything I hear over the weekend.
This post from The Hockey Forum would seem to be just another rumor and as they say, no smoke without fire.
"I have put this on here rather than on the rumour thread as I really believe this to be true. I have had some information passed to me today from an unofficial but trustworthy source that Newcastle, Edinburgh and Manchester are about to quit the Elite League. Apparantly the other 6 had a secret board meeting without those mentioned and placed totally unacceptable conditions on these three clubs that they feel they have no option but to turn down the leagues ultimatums.
Apparantly Basingstoke got wind of this a few weeks ago and that just confirmed their exit. The league appear happy to go with a 6 team league next season. I really cannot reveal my source but those that know me, also know I am not one for rumour mongering or stirring on the forums. I am absolutely shocked by the news and really did not see this coming"
So yet again the Mickey Mouse operation which is ice hockey in this country seems to have messed things up leaving us with only 2 real options both of which have their critics.
The first of which is the case for lowering the number of imports and the wage cap for next season so that the rink teams (Edinburgh, Hull, Newcastle, Manchester) can be more competitive and then hopefully draw in bigger crowds and sponsors with the overall goal of making more money and becoming more stable. This would definatly level the playing field so to speak but in my opinion this shouldn't be considered as an option even if the only alternative is having teams dropping out the league.
Why do I think this I hear you asking? Well a drop in the imports and wage cap will inevitably lead to a worse product being put out on the ice. Now a 6 import league would be fine to watch for £10 a ticket but because of the huge fees the "Big 4" have to pay to rent the arenas there would be no change in price and fans would be left paying the same as they do now for less and lets face it not many people like being ripped off so crowd sizes would go down and the arena teams would be left struggling to make ends meet.
What all this means is the successful teams who have well worked out buisness plans would be made to suffer. Why do these teams have to be held down by ones who are less successful? They are a constant drain on the league and other teams whether it be the fact they need to bend the rules just to compete by having more imports or asking for financial support.
So the other option of dropping down to 6 teams may seem more likely. Only having the big boys in the league could mean for a rise of the wage cap and number of imports which in turn would give us a better on ice product which could theoretically draw in bigger sponsors and set us up for overall better league with potential of expanding the league in the future.
However more likely the 6 team situation would make things worse. Cardiff and Hull wouldn't be able to cope with a rise in the wage cap as well as the big 4 and they would become uncompetitive and start to lose money and be forced out giving us just a 4 team league which would surely make even the most exciting Panthers V Steelers game stale, "Who are Panthers playing this week?", "Sheffield", "But they played each other last week and the week before!". This would probably lead to less casual fans coming to games when it is going to be the same week in week out so again attendences would drop and teams would be struggling!
Either way everyone seems to end up as losers in this one so lets just hope the league can find a decent solution for once, although something tells me this is unlikely to come from a league who don't even let their fans know the rules by which they play!
With the future of UK hockey at stake the flagship event of the finals weekend this year is a more important advert then ever and you would think the league would try and make the best of it by doing what they did in the first few playoff weekends that were held in Nottingham, set up lots of stalls around the arena either on the olympic rink or outside in Bolero Square to catch peoples eye, make some more money by selling jerseys etc. but I can't help but think I will be disapointed by what will be on offer once more. Each passing year sees less and less value for money and entertainment then ever before despite rising ticket prices (an adult is now £75 for the weekend) it really is an extortionate price for just 3 Elite League games.
None the less I will be at the games this weekend, reporting regularly via twitter (username EIHL_Playoffs) and blogging here with anything I hear over the weekend.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Goodbye Custard
Leaked pictures from the recent Nottingham Panthers sponsors disco show that the team have got rid of the "gold" home strip this season and have instead opted for a white home shirt, black road one and perhaps most interesting of all a red third jersey!
The black jersey in my opinion is the best looking of the lot. It has the most recent incarnation of the Panthers logo which has been used since 2003 which a lot of people don't seem to like for some reason, they seem to have got the wrong idea that the Panther is hiding but never mind! If you look closely at the jersey it sees the return of sleeve numbers as well which have been absent on the shirts this year. The number is 5, perhaps meaning that David Clarke will be back in Nottingham colours next year which is always good news.
The white home jersey at long last brings back a logo with the team name and more importantly it has Nottingham on it! Too many times have I been abroad and asked where GMB is! As for the design of the shirt it's a nice clean simple one which looks pretty good although my only complaint is the shoulders seem too plain, maybe some stripes would have been good? Any way it's good to finally see the back of the awful custard jerseys that we've been forced to see at the NIC all too often since the move to the arena, the teams colours are supposed to be black and gold!
Now this jersey is well interesting shall we say? It too bears the new Nottingham Panthers word mark logo but the obvious difference is it is bright red! It's a nice shirt and I'll admit it's growing on me but hopefully the colour is a bit off in the photo, if not why can't the Panthers pick normal colours?
Also I couldn't leave this without saying Gary Moran looks very dodgy in the photos!
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Elite League Round Up
Last weekend saw the end of the Elite League regular season. The teams went into the weekend with only 1st and 4th place teams Sheffield and Belfast locked into their positions leaving a lot still to play for.
On Saturday the Edinburgh Capitals beat the Manchester Pheonix 6-3 to secure 2 points which was enough for them qualify for the playoffs as the Cardiff Devils beat Hull 5-2 to put them out of contention for a place in the postseason. The game between the Giants and the Blaze was an important game for fans of the Nottingham Panthers such as my self as if the Blaze failed to pick up at least 3 points from their weekends action then the Panthers went on to win in Cardiff on Sunday they would become the runners up with the Coventry side taking the number 3 spot.
The games scoring was opened by the Blaze on a powerplay goal by Barrie Moore (23rd) at 2:20 but the news from the Skydome soon had put smiles on the faces of Panthers fans when the Giants stormed to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first with goals from Steve Thornton (17th), Evan Cheverie (32nd) and Mark Morrison (8th). The home side fought back and hit 3 unanswered goals in the second period from Jonathan Weaver (23rd), Mathias Soderstrom (6th) and Dan Carlson (23rd). The third period looked like it would come and go with no further scoring until the visitors called a time out and pulled netminder Stevie Lyle in favour of the extra attacker which led to a goal by Bobby Robins (27th) just 23 seconds from time to push the game into overtime. The Giants just didn't have it in them and the Blaze scored to take the game 5-4 with Jamieson (3rd) getting the game winning goal.
The other match on Saturday night was between the Steelers and the Bison. League Champions Sheffield unsurprisingly won 4-0 on home ice to give netminder Jody Lehman his 9th shut out of the season. The following night the two teams travelled to Hampshire to finish off the double header, the Steelers coming away with a 5-3 victory to extend the Bisons losing streak to 27 games.
Earlier tonight the Bison confirmed rumors by announcing that next season they will be playing in the EPL and not the EIHL. More info can be found here - http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0903&item=13&option=n. It looks unlikely that the team will be replaced and so there is a very good chance that the Elite League will be playing with just 9 teams next year.
The Newcastle-Coventry game on Sunday night gave a surprising result when the Vipers took a 2-0 lead in the first which would prove too much for the Blaze to overcome with Andrew Verner having another excellent game in net facing 43 shots. The final score stood at 3-2 putting the Blaze on 78 points meaning that Nottingham could still take second place if they could beat Cardiff. Newcastle's win put them beyond the reach of Edinburgh who beat Hull 8-5 in their last game of the season.
The loss to Edinburgh the night before also meant that despite Manchester's 4-3 OT win against Belfast the Pheonix couldn't leapfrog the Devils so the final standings were all sorted with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd spots.
Due to the Coventry loss in Newcastle the Panthers were still in the hunt in what was a crucial game in Cardiff. Both the Devils and their visitors came into the game on impressive 5 game winning streaks. The first period was a closely fought affair with neither team getting a goal despite each side having 3 powerplay opportunities each. The second frame saw the home team capitalise on two of their powerplay opportunities within a matter of minutes to take the lead. In the final period a give away at the Nottingham blue line allowed Brad Voth to walk in and put the puck past goaltender Michel Robinson for his 16th of the year and to end the hopes of the large numbers of Nottingham fans who had travelled only to see the visitors throw away a chance at 2nd place in the league.
So the final table looked like this
Team GP W WOT L LOT Pts
1 Sheffield 54 35 6 6 7 89
2 Coventry 54 34 4 14 2 78
3 Nottingham 54 33 4 13 4 78
4 Belfast 54 29 6 15 4 74
5 Cardiff 54 21 7 19 7 63
6 Manchester 54 22 5 23 4 58
7 Newcastle 54 14 7 29 4 46
8 Edinburgh 54 18 1 29 6 44
-------------------------------------------------
9 Hull 54 13 3 33 5 37
10Basingstoke 54 5 3 43 3 19
On Saturday the Edinburgh Capitals beat the Manchester Pheonix 6-3 to secure 2 points which was enough for them qualify for the playoffs as the Cardiff Devils beat Hull 5-2 to put them out of contention for a place in the postseason. The game between the Giants and the Blaze was an important game for fans of the Nottingham Panthers such as my self as if the Blaze failed to pick up at least 3 points from their weekends action then the Panthers went on to win in Cardiff on Sunday they would become the runners up with the Coventry side taking the number 3 spot.
The games scoring was opened by the Blaze on a powerplay goal by Barrie Moore (23rd) at 2:20 but the news from the Skydome soon had put smiles on the faces of Panthers fans when the Giants stormed to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first with goals from Steve Thornton (17th), Evan Cheverie (32nd) and Mark Morrison (8th). The home side fought back and hit 3 unanswered goals in the second period from Jonathan Weaver (23rd), Mathias Soderstrom (6th) and Dan Carlson (23rd). The third period looked like it would come and go with no further scoring until the visitors called a time out and pulled netminder Stevie Lyle in favour of the extra attacker which led to a goal by Bobby Robins (27th) just 23 seconds from time to push the game into overtime. The Giants just didn't have it in them and the Blaze scored to take the game 5-4 with Jamieson (3rd) getting the game winning goal.
The other match on Saturday night was between the Steelers and the Bison. League Champions Sheffield unsurprisingly won 4-0 on home ice to give netminder Jody Lehman his 9th shut out of the season. The following night the two teams travelled to Hampshire to finish off the double header, the Steelers coming away with a 5-3 victory to extend the Bisons losing streak to 27 games.
Earlier tonight the Bison confirmed rumors by announcing that next season they will be playing in the EPL and not the EIHL. More info can be found here - http://www.bstokebison.co.uk/news.php?ymid=0903&item=13&option=n. It looks unlikely that the team will be replaced and so there is a very good chance that the Elite League will be playing with just 9 teams next year.
The Newcastle-Coventry game on Sunday night gave a surprising result when the Vipers took a 2-0 lead in the first which would prove too much for the Blaze to overcome with Andrew Verner having another excellent game in net facing 43 shots. The final score stood at 3-2 putting the Blaze on 78 points meaning that Nottingham could still take second place if they could beat Cardiff. Newcastle's win put them beyond the reach of Edinburgh who beat Hull 8-5 in their last game of the season.
The loss to Edinburgh the night before also meant that despite Manchester's 4-3 OT win against Belfast the Pheonix couldn't leapfrog the Devils so the final standings were all sorted with the exception of the 2nd and 3rd spots.
Due to the Coventry loss in Newcastle the Panthers were still in the hunt in what was a crucial game in Cardiff. Both the Devils and their visitors came into the game on impressive 5 game winning streaks. The first period was a closely fought affair with neither team getting a goal despite each side having 3 powerplay opportunities each. The second frame saw the home team capitalise on two of their powerplay opportunities within a matter of minutes to take the lead. In the final period a give away at the Nottingham blue line allowed Brad Voth to walk in and put the puck past goaltender Michel Robinson for his 16th of the year and to end the hopes of the large numbers of Nottingham fans who had travelled only to see the visitors throw away a chance at 2nd place in the league.
So the final table looked like this
Team GP W WOT L LOT Pts
1 Sheffield 54 35 6 6 7 89
2 Coventry 54 34 4 14 2 78
3 Nottingham 54 33 4 13 4 78
4 Belfast 54 29 6 15 4 74
5 Cardiff 54 21 7 19 7 63
6 Manchester 54 22 5 23 4 58
7 Newcastle 54 14 7 29 4 46
8 Edinburgh 54 18 1 29 6 44
-------------------------------------------------
9 Hull 54 13 3 33 5 37
10Basingstoke 54 5 3 43 3 19
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Alexander the Great - Too Hot to Handle
Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season earlier this week in the Capitals 5-2 road win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This makes him the only Caps player to ever score 50 goals in 3 seasons and he is also one of only two active players in the NHL, alongside Teemu Selanne, to have three 50 goal seasons.
Definitly a cause for celebration? Of course. His goal and celebration can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-h2sNu5mZc&feature=related
It's sparked a lot of controversy that's for sure. It will be interesting to see what ex NHL coach Don Cherry has to say on the matter during his segment "Coaches Corner" on Hockey Night in Canada as Cherry has recently criticised Alex for his celebrations and some hockey fans, including myself seem to think that this particular one was a response to this critic who is well known for not liking the european hockey players and if Ovechkin was a Canadian I'm sure he'd love it!
Non the less I hope it doesn't become a regular thing and it was just a one off as I really don't want to see the players turn to NFL style celebrations.
Definitly a cause for celebration? Of course. His goal and celebration can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-h2sNu5mZc&feature=related
It's sparked a lot of controversy that's for sure. It will be interesting to see what ex NHL coach Don Cherry has to say on the matter during his segment "Coaches Corner" on Hockey Night in Canada as Cherry has recently criticised Alex for his celebrations and some hockey fans, including myself seem to think that this particular one was a response to this critic who is well known for not liking the european hockey players and if Ovechkin was a Canadian I'm sure he'd love it!
Non the less I hope it doesn't become a regular thing and it was just a one off as I really don't want to see the players turn to NFL style celebrations.
A Busy Week in New Jersey
There's been an awful lot going on this week in the NHL the most notable story of course was Martin Brodeur's record breaking game on Tuesday night (St.Patricks Day about which I'll be ranting about in the next few days!) at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey . The Devils came out with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks (incidently this is the most common scoreline in all of his games with 99 of the wins being 3-2) to give the Canadian born netminder his 552nd NHL victory to make him the winningest goalie of all time as he passed the record of 551 wins set by Patrick Roy. The game last night against Minnesota gave Brodeur 553 wins and also his 101st shutout which is important as he now moves closer to passing the record for most shutouts which was set by Terry Sawchuk at 103.
Brodeur has also been in the news after being ordered to pay $500k year in alimony to his ex wife, Melanie DuBois. Something like this shouldn't get in the way of the hockey though so I'll leave it at that (more can be read here if you must though - http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/story/11523547)
Another record fell this week in New Jersey in the form of the franchise points scoring record previously held by John MacLlean (701 points) was broken by Patrik Elias who assisted Brian Gionta's shorthanded game winning tally in the second period to get his 702nd NHL point.
Brodeur has also been in the news after being ordered to pay $500k year in alimony to his ex wife, Melanie DuBois. Something like this shouldn't get in the way of the hockey though so I'll leave it at that (more can be read here if you must though - http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/story/11523547)
Another record fell this week in New Jersey in the form of the franchise points scoring record previously held by John MacLlean (701 points) was broken by Patrik Elias who assisted Brian Gionta's shorthanded game winning tally in the second period to get his 702nd NHL point.
Friday, 20 March 2009
To say I only had one lecture, today couldn't have been much more stressfull! Running around trying to finish one piece of coursework I had to go to the lab to check on my E.coli from yesterdays genetics practical and then straight onto an ecology one! Who thought university would be this much work?
Anyway tonight see's the arrival of what should be a good weekend, I have roller training tonight and then a double dose of hockey to come on Sunday night with the Panthers in town to take on the Devils followed by a Redhawks game against Nottingham Mavericks D team.
When I get the game sheet from last night I can stick together a match report for you all to read! All I can remember from off the top of my head is we won 5-1, I faced 24 shots and that the ice in Stretham is possibly the worst that I've ever played on! more to follow later.
Anyway tonight see's the arrival of what should be a good weekend, I have roller training tonight and then a double dose of hockey to come on Sunday night with the Panthers in town to take on the Devils followed by a Redhawks game against Nottingham Mavericks D team.
When I get the game sheet from last night I can stick together a match report for you all to read! All I can remember from off the top of my head is we won 5-1, I faced 24 shots and that the ice in Stretham is possibly the worst that I've ever played on! more to follow later.
Slight Hitch
Ok due to a small problem with adsense being registered to my gmail account and the old blog (www.thomas-o-martin.blogger.com) being under my hotmail account I've had to start again here! Off to bed now but will sort things out in the morning including a match report from the Imperial game.
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