I'm still gobsmacked nearly 24 hours on - CN's not fit to lace the skates of Weber and co as a player. Still, he won us the league as coach so he deserves respect and accolades for that - but to retire the #77?! Madness.
Why isn't he? That's a genuine question, not an arsey one.
We have 5 retired jerseys now, obviously Rippingale is retired for a different reason and rightly so, but the other 4 are for their achievements in the Panthers jersey. So I did a little research after I read your comment just to A) Pass the time on a Saturday evening with no hockey & B) To see if your comments are justified by statistics.
I went onto Elite Prospects and picked out the Top 10 of everything, Games Played, Goals Scored, Assists Scored & Points Scored, and within this I picked 17 players that deserve the recognition that they have within this great organisation.
Something that I found extremely interesting, as well as staggering to me, is that Greg Hadden doesn't feature in the Top 10 of any of the above. I really thought he'd have been in there, but he wasn't, so I digged his stats up as well to help this debate.
Games Played:
Randall Weber played 592 games in 17 seasons.
Ken Westman played 537 games in 11 seasons.
Chick Zamick played 516 games in 9 seasons.
Les Strongman played 502 games in 12 seasons. (This includes two different 1 game seasons)
David Clarke played 443 games in 9 seasons.
Lorne Smith played 421 games in 8 seasons.
Matthew Myers played 414 games in 8 seasons.
Paul Adey played 409 games in 12 seasons. (This includes his 1 game in 03/04)
Marc Levers played 384 games in 8 seasons.
John Bremner played 352 games in 11 seasons.
Corey Neilson played 352 games in 7 seasons. (This includes his 9 games this season)
Ashley Tait played 343 games in 10 seasons.
Simon Hunt played 325 games in 12 seasons.
Nigel Rhodes played 273 games in 9 seasons.
Greg Hadden played 272 games in 7 seasons.
Gavin Fraser played 271 games in 10 seasons. (This includes his 1 game in 92/93)
Terry Kurtenbach played 244 games in 7 seasons.
So with those stats he played the same amount of seasons as Greg Hadden, if you include this year’s 9 games, and played 80 games more. Why isn’t he fit to tie his skates based on this?
Goals Scored:
Chick Zamick scored 656 goals at 1.3 Goals per Game.
Paul Adey scored 584 goals at 1.4 Goals per Game.
Les Strongman scored 398 goals at 0.8 Goals per Game.
David Clarke scored 245 goals at 0.6 Goals per Game.
Randall Weber scored 216 goals at 0.4 Goals per Game.
Terry Kurtenbach scored 198 goals at 0.8 Goals per Game.
Ken Westman scored 182 goals at 0.3 Goals per Game.
Nigel Rhodes scored 168 goals at 0.6 Goals per Game.
Gavin Fraser scored 152 goals at 0.6 Goals per Game.
Simon Hunt scored 140 goals at 0.4 Goals per Game.
Greg Hadden scored 135 goals at 0.5 Goals per Game.
Ashley Tait scored 122 goals at 0.4 Goals per Game.
Matthew Myers scored 89 goals at 0.2 Goals per Game.
Lorne Smith scored 85 goals at 0.2 Goals per Game.
Corey Neilson scored 75 goals at 0.3 Goals per Game.
Marc Levers scored 55 goals at 0.1 Goals per Game.
John Bremner scored 40 goals at 0.1 Goals per Game.
So on this basis Corey has scored the least out of the 4, but he was a defenceman and his Goals per Game is 0.1 away from Randall Weber and 0.2 away from Greg Hadden. Why isn’t he fit to tie their laces based on this?
Assists Scored:
Chick Zamick scored 546 assists at 1.1 Assists per Game.
Paul Adey scored 520 assists at 1.3 Assists per Game.
Randall Weber scored 356 assists at 0.6 Assists per Game.
Les Strongman scored 332 assists at 0.7 Assists per Game.
Terry Kurtenbach scored 283 assists at 1.2 Assists per Game.
Ken Westman scored 269 assists at 0.5 Assists per Game.
Corey Neilson scored 260 assists at 0.7 Assists per Game.
Nigel Rhodes scored 220 assists at 0.8 Assists per Game.
David Clarke scored 209 assists at 0.5 Assists per Game.
Ashley Tait scored 187 assists at 0.6 Assists per Game.
Matthew Myers scored 186 assists at 0.5 Assists per Game.
Gavin Fraser scored 161 assists at 0.6 Assists per Game.
Lorne Smith scored 149 assists at 0.4 Assists per Game.
Greg Hadden scored 131 assists at 0.5 Assists per Game.
Simon Hunt scored 101 assists at 0.3 Assists per Game.
Marc Levers scored 99 assists at 0.3 Assists per Game.
John Bremner scored 86 assists at 0.2 Assists per Game.
So on this basis Corey has scored less assists than Weber but in less game and his assists per game is 0.1 better than his and 0.2 better than Hadden’s assists per game. Why isn’t he fit to tie their laces based on this?
Points Scored:
Chick Zamick scored 1202 points at 2.4 Points per Game.
Paul Adey scored 1104 points at 2.7 Points per Game.
Les Strongman scored 730 points at 1.5 Points per Game.
Randall Weber scored 572 points at 1 Point per Game.
Terry Kurtenbach scored 481 points at 2 Points per Game.
David Clarke scored 454 points at 1 Point per Game.
Ken Westman scored 451 points at 0.8 Points per Game.
Nigel Rhodes scored 397 points at 1.4 Points per Game.
Corey Neilson scored 335 points at 1 Point per Game.
Gavin Fraser scored 313 points at 1.2 Points per game.
Ashley Tait scored 309 points at 1 Point per Game.
Matthew Myers 275 points at 0.7 Points per Game.
Greg Hadden scored 266 points at 1 Point per Game.
Simon Hunt scored 241 points at 0.7 Points per Game.
Lorne Smith scored 234 points at 0.6 Points per Game.
Marc Levers scored 154 points at 0.4 Points per Game.
John Bremner scored 126 points at 0.3 Points per Game.
So on that basis Corey’s Points per Game is exactly the same as Randall Weber’s and Greg Hadden’s. Why isn’t he fit to tie their laces based on this?
Achievements Won:
Corey Neilson has won 3 Challenge Cups, 3 Playoffs, 1 League Title, 2nd All Star Team 07/08, 08/09, 10/11, 1st All Star Team 11/12, EIHL Select vs Boston Bruins 2010 & Countless “Top Scoring Defenceman” honours in the EIHL.
David Clarke has won 4 Challenge Cups, 3 Playoffs, 1 League Title, EIHL MVP 04/05, 1st All Star Team 09/10 & Countless “British” honours in the EIHL.
Marc Levers has won 4 Challenge Cups, 2 Playoffs & 1 League Title with Panthers.
Matthew Myers has won 3 Playoffs, 3 Challenge Cups & 1 League Title.
Randall Weber won 4 Benson & Hedges Cups & 1 Playoff.
Simon Hunt won 4 Benson & Hedges Cups & 1 Playoff.
Greg Hadden won 2 Benson & Hedges Cups.
Ashley Tait won 1 Benson & Hedges Cup with Panthers.
Paul Adey won 1 Benson & Hedges Cup.
Terry Kurtenbach won 1 Playoff.
Nigel Rhodes won 0 Trophies with Panthers.
Gavin Fraser won 0 Trophies with Panthers.
John Bremner won 0 Trophies with Panthers.
Chick Zamick’s Achievements aren’t acknowledged on Elite Prospects I’m afraid.
Les Strongman’s Achievements aren’t acknowledged on Elite Prospects I’m afraid.
Ken Westman’s Achievements aren’t acknowledged on Elite Prospects I’m afraid.
Lorne Smith’s Achievements aren’t acknowledged by Elite Prospects I’m afraid.
On this basis Corey has won 7 trophies in the PLAYING career (This does include this year’s League Title) with Panthers, and countless “personal” awards within the league.
Adey won 1 trophy in his playing career with Panthers, Hadden won 2 trophies in his playing career with Panthers, and Weber won 5 trophies in his playing career with Panthers and all of them have won 0 “personal” awards within the league, unless they haven’t been acknowledged on Elite Prospects too.
Why isn’t he fit to ties their laces based on this?
Like I said this isn’t some sort of witch hunt on Weber or Hadden or anyone else. But it is interesting what statistics can bring up. The other thing that I think is worth noting is that Corey went on an unbelievable run of games played without missing one. That in it’s own sense is a pretty incredible feat.
Corey Neilson deserves to have his shirt retired based purely on his playing achievements. The fact that he has won so many of the EIHL’s trophies whilst he has been coaching Panthers is an added bonus. If Corey was still just a player and not a coach then I for one would still hope that Panthers would retire his jersey when he retired from the team/game.
There are a lot of Panthers “Legends”, many that I have never seen play so can’t comment on them personally, but to say that Corey does not belong up their with Rippingale, Weber, Hadden & Adey is ridiculous in my opinion.
Corey Neilson is a Panthers legend!!