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Post by ginger on Jan 24, 2008 11:58:36 GMT
Iv been watching hockey since 93-94 season.
Since then there have been a lot of changes in the game and obviously the ISL made the standard of hockey improve dramatically, but there have been certain signings made by teams that have forced improved signings by other teams, effectively raising the standard of the league.
The ones over the years that I think made a difference are:
Ken Priestlay - Sheffield
Wayne Cowley - Sheffield
Steve Thornton - Cardiff
Frank Pieterangelo - Manchester
Jimmy Paek - Nottingham
All of them forced other teams into signing better quality players to compensate.
Any others?
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Post by KimThePanther on Jan 24, 2008 21:30:00 GMT
Ken Priestlay - Sheffield Sadly none of us really had the money to compete with that! |
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MP
Paul Adey
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Post by MP on Jan 25, 2008 0:41:32 GMT
Craighead's arrival promted a change of approach I think. The following season coaches were looking for a tough guy who could really play as well.
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Post by ginger on Jan 25, 2008 13:29:42 GMT
Ken Priestlay - Sheffield Sadly none of us really had the money to compete with that! Was quite young back then (12 years old!) so didnt really know the money etc that was going about, but what I would say is that you had at the time Rick Brebant and Paul Adey, who I would have said were on par with Priestlay and Nemeth. Priestlay was probably the best of the four, but Nemeth probably the least talented (still good for the time though!) We were pretty close against each other that season and for the first half the season you guys were pretty much unbeatable. You just had a massive collapse after Christmas which gave us a shot and then Priestlay put in what has to be one of the best performances (for the time) I have ever seen to win the league in LPS. That was when games against you always seemed to matter a lot. Not quite the same anymore, which is a shame. |
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Post by texpef on Jan 29, 2008 9:09:34 GMT
not quite true there Ginger, what we had was an injury to a key import in fact the only injury he has ever suffered til then and since in Rick Brebant, tied up with a league telling us if we played MB in his place they would dock our points. This meant we went to for eg peterborough and got a point when it should have been a comfortable win (remember in those days as now it was the imports than scored the goals and won games and without our KEY import it made a huge difference). This coincided with Sheffield bringing in the most expensive probably still highest ranked player in the league (and with THREE stanley cup rings obviously no slouch) who single handed went on a league busting scoring spree...
Yes the panthers lost the league that season, but without A huge signing like priestley steelers would not have caught us up...
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Fez
Lorne Smith
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Post by Fez on Jan 29, 2008 23:14:15 GMT
For me, the signing of Pieterangelo can easily be traced back to the impact of Robins.
When Trevor came in 96, its hard to quantify just how much better he was than anything else that had ever been seen in the modern era. I've often wondered long and hard about what might have happened if, in the days of 3 imports, a team had gone with 1 n/m, one d and a forward.
I remember Randall's face when I asked him what our new guy was like as we entered the 96/7 season. He told me he'd never seen anything like what the Robber had been producing in training.
When Manchester failed to sign Trevor, they had to move for someone who could compete, hence FP.
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Toneys#24
Robert Lachowicz
At least the hockey's beautiful!
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Post by Toneys#24 on Feb 3, 2008 21:36:07 GMT
Easy one would be the current Te$$ier situation, If you don't get him you look for your version. Sheffield went and got Talbot, we got Mcaslan, Cardiff got Deschaletlets etc. Aslo every team wants to pay whatever for him.
I think the new standard changers will be Wally and Molin. Quick, nimble, sharp and an incredible sense to know where the other is. I think ever team will look scandanavia this summer.
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IdyYot
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Post by IdyYot on Feb 5, 2008 0:45:16 GMT
I've often wondered long and hard about what might have happened if, in the days of 3 imports, a team had gone with 1 n/m, one d and a forward. Didn't Durham go with an import netminder in Ron Katerynuk <sp?> in the early 80's...he was a cut above any brit netminder that was around at the time. I'm sure Stef will remember him. I think he ended up at Peterborough as coach. |
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Rich
Paul Adey
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Post by Rich on Feb 5, 2008 8:50:09 GMT
Easy one would be the current Te$$ier situation, If you don't get him you look for your version. Sheffield went and got Talbot, we got Mcaslan, Cardiff got Deschaletlets etc. Aslo every team wants to pay whatever for him. I think the new standard changers will be Wally and Molin. Quick, nimble, sharp and an incredible sense to know where the other is. I think ever team will look scandanavia this summer. I agree re Tessier, maybe thats why we got Gallant for the playoffs... the similarities were pretty huge! Disagree with the euro comment. Its one thing having a couple together on a line but name me a team in britain or the NHL which has toploaded euros and won the league. Ask the Newcastle Jesters or Hull where it gets you |
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Post by ginger on Feb 6, 2008 13:01:33 GMT
not quite true there Ginger, what we had was an injury to a key import in fact the only injury he has ever suffered til then and since in Rick Brebant, tied up with a league telling us if we played MB in his place they would dock our points. This meant we went to for eg peterborough and got a point when it should have been a comfortable win (remember in those days as now it was the imports than scored the goals and won games and without our KEY import it made a huge difference). This coincided with Sheffield bringing in the most expensive probably still highest ranked player in the league (and with THREE stanley cup rings obviously no slouch) who single handed went on a league busting scoring spree... Yes the panthers lost the league that season, but without A huge signing like priestley steelers would not have caught us up... Like I said Tex was quite young back then, so was not aware of the injury to Brebant (may have been at the time but my memory is not quite as good as it was!) etc. Understandable why you slumped, but would have still said you should have beat Peterborough without Brebant. You had a good team that year with Adey, Weber, Hunt, lambert, Premak, Garden, Chuck Taylor. Priestlay was immense and yeah, far too good for the league. And yes we probably broke the bank to get him. But as you said in your post, it was the imports job to score and Priestlay certainly did that. Always helped that he was an absolute joy to watch. Fez, Robbins was immense, but for me Frankie P was always the better netminder. Remember watching games against Manchester and wondering what the hell we had to do to score. He made so many saves that no had any right to make. |
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Toneys#24
Robert Lachowicz
At least the hockey's beautiful!
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Post by Toneys#24 on Feb 9, 2008 17:26:31 GMT
Easy one would be the current Te$$ier situation, If you don't get him you look for your version. Sheffield went and got Talbot, we got Mcaslan, Cardiff got Deschaletlets etc. Aslo every team wants to pay whatever for him. I think the new standard changers will be Wally and Molin. Quick, nimble, sharp and an incredible sense to know where the other is. I think ever team will look scandanavia this summer. I agree re Tessier, maybe thats why we got Gallant for the playoffs... the similarities were pretty huge! Disagree with the euro comment. Its one thing having a couple together on a line but name me a team in britain or the NHL which has toploaded euros and won the league. Ask the Newcastle Jesters or Hull where it gets you I think scandavians and eastern europeans are a little different. Scandanavians are fast, agile players that when put with Can-Am players they are seen as the best players on their team. Examples include: NHL's Mats Sundin, Dan Alfredssen and Panthers players ranging from Wally and Molin to Koivanuro and Ahlroos. |
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Rich
Paul Adey
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Post by Rich on Feb 10, 2008 12:21:32 GMT
Sorry, I generalised all Europeans, I am fully aware of players from scandinavia but as you said they need can-am players with them. You need a core of north americans and brits and bring euros into that, I think panthers have a good balance but I cant see any teams seriously looking at winning anything going out and signing more than 2or3.
The only time you see more than that on a team is when teams pick them up because they are cheap but ultimately they go back to signing North americans ala Hull and caps
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Post by pantherfan on Feb 11, 2008 22:57:42 GMT
Easy one would be the current Te$$ier situation, If you don't get him you look for your version. Sheffield went and got Talbot, we got Mcaslan, Cardiff got Deschaletlets etc. Aslo every team wants to pay whatever for him. I think the new standard changers will be Wally and Molin. Quick, nimble, sharp and an incredible sense to know where the other is. I think ever team will look scandanavia this summer. I agree re Tessier, maybe thats why we got Gallant for the playoffs... the similarities were pretty huge! Disagree with the euro comment. Its one thing having a couple together on a line but name me a team in britain or the NHL which has toploaded euros and won the league. Ask the Newcastle Jesters or Hull where it gets you They don't get much bigger then the Red Wings, true there not toploaded but they still dominate and have the most euros of any NHL team I think. |
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Rich
Paul Adey
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Post by Rich on Feb 11, 2008 23:38:36 GMT
I agree re Tessier, maybe thats why we got Gallant for the playoffs... the similarities were pretty huge! Disagree with the euro comment. Its one thing having a couple together on a line but name me a team in britain or the NHL which has toploaded euros and won the league. Ask the Newcastle Jesters or Hull where it gets you They don't get much bigger then the Red Wings, true there not toploaded but they still dominate and have the most euros of any NHL team I think. Perfect, Id hoped someone would fall for that. The past few years the core has changed at Detroit from Canadian to european, their stars are the euros. Then...Come big games and playoffs they bottle it. They are a huge club and guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg are great talents but have they won a cup since they have been there? Look at the Ducks when they won the cup last season. Selanne was a big part but it was the grinding Canadian 3rd line that won them the cup. Putting guys like Getzlaf, Macdonald,Moen etc out to snub the oppositions first line was the biggest single factor to them winning the cup |
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Post by pantherfan on Feb 12, 2008 0:40:51 GMT
Damn you... But you still said the league and not the playoffs  , although I do agree when the intensitey goes up for the play-offs alot of europeans become smaller factors for their teams I think Lidstrom is the only Euro to win the Conn Smythe (in recent times at least) and to say that 4-5 have won the Hart trophy shows that. |
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Rich
Paul Adey
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Post by Rich on Feb 12, 2008 12:00:57 GMT
Haha fair enough Dont get me wrong, 'euros' have a part on most teams, I just cant see a mass scouting mission of scandinavia by every team in the EIHL this summer |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2008 16:48:05 GMT
Didn't Durham go with an import netminder in Ron Katerynuk <sp?> in the early 80's...he was a cut above any brit netminder that was around at the time. I'm sure Stef will remember him. I think he ended up at Peterborough as coach. When I saw this thread that was the first name that I thought of. I remember seeing him for the first time; first import goalie and looking very solid indeed. I was therefore a bit surprised when I looked him up in my books and found he only finished third in the league averages for 1982/83 (behind Terry Ward of Billingham and, top of the pile, our very own Chris Keward). But he did look good. He went to Peterborough the next season in Heineken League 1 and again failed to finish as top goalie, beaten into second by Jeff Johnson at Altrincham. Interestingly Durham tried the import goalie route again in 1983/84 with a guy called Andy Marhoffer. However, after being unflatteringly described by his coach as '..unable to stop a beachball in a breeze..' ;D he was released and they went back to home grown. I think it was easier for players to make an impact in the 1980s when most Brits were still amateur and trained at midnight twice a week. If you extend this to pairs of players (as most teams signed two import forwards each season), the stand-outs are Halpin and LeBlanc at Dundee in 1982/83, and Salmon and Conway at Ayr in 1985/86 who, in 35 games combined for 237 goals + 244 assists = 481 points. I.e. they AVERAGED just under 7 goals a game, unthinkable these days. They were unstoppable, and the fact we no longer see that sort of dominance by two players these days is, in my view, a good thing. |
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IdyYot
Jade Galbraith
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Post by IdyYot on Feb 13, 2008 20:10:35 GMT
And not forgetting Stoyanovic (however ya spell it) and Brown, another feasome duo from Fife.
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Rich
Paul Adey
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Post by Rich on Feb 14, 2008 9:33:00 GMT
It seemed to me like guys were coming over around 93/94 that were changing the standard. Instead of imports going club to club and teams being happy they seemed to start looking further afield.
In the response to the title id say:
Ken Priestlay
Doug Smail
Mike Blaisdell
Just because of their NHL credentials. Sure, there are plenty of names in this thread considered to be changing the standard but from what I have read and what I remember at that age they were some of the first genuine NHL experience players?!
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Toneys#24
Robert Lachowicz
At least the hockey's beautiful!
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Post by Toneys#24 on Feb 16, 2008 22:59:43 GMT
Haha fair enough Dont get me wrong, 'euros' have a part on most teams, I just cant see a mass scouting mission of scandinavia by every team in the EIHL this summer I don't think anyone would expect that but Scandanavians will feature more than ever next year I think. Last season i remember we looked into being a farm team for a swedish club. Don't know what happened to that but it shows teams are interested from Britain. Another standard changer for nest year may be Andrew Sharp from Romford. British enforcer that every team could scramble for making room for another import. Although he himself may not directly change the standard, the other import may do. I'd take him any day, but only if he stopped firing pucks at other players. |
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, although I do agree when the intensitey goes up for the play-offs alot of europeans become smaller factors for their teams I think Lidstrom is the only Euro to win the Conn Smythe (in recent times at least) and to say that 4-5 have won the Hart trophy shows that.