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Post by tootootrain on Mar 29, 2014 13:34:49 GMT
I want us in Europe as often as possible and hopefully permanently eventually. Hang on. You want Panthers in a European league, but often bemoan the EIHL for becoming a 'Euro League' due to a perceived bias against tougher/more aggressive players?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 29, 2014 13:01:23 GMT
So there are some owners of clubs within the EPL who would rather stop there than join the EIHL because of the way its set up Then you wonder why Ice Hockey in general hasn't got a big marketable product - because of the 'them and us' situation with the EIHL and EPL etc - something has to be done for the long term financial future of the game To be fair to Guildford, you need to see it from their POV. - As it stands they play in a league where the furthest they need to travel for a game is Manchester and three teams they play against are less than 45 minutes drive away (Basingstoke = about 45 minutes, Slough and Bracknell are about 30 minutes away). - Then you need to factor in the player costs etc. Their Brits are either guys at the end of their careers or kids on the way in, but in both cases the majority of them are part-time players, with 'normal' day-to-day jobs who get a bit of pin money for playing hockey. - All this of course whilst playing out of one of the most expensive areas of the country to live and work in. (I used to live near by Headley, Surrey, I know just how expensive it is to live down there). Now consider if they step up to the EIHL. - Regardless of conference make up, their travel costs would go up. The league would realistically need to expand a fair bit before a North/Midlands/South conference system was practicable, which would likely mean Guildford would slot into the current Erhardt Conference somehow. This would mean trips to Belfast (as its unlikely that Belfast would be put into the Gardiner Conference, they have enough of a bye in the Challenge Cup, giving them an bye to the league title every season wouldn't go down well). Suddenly, rather than Manchester being the furthest they travel, it becomes regular longer distance trips with frequent flights to Belfast and occasional 14-15 hour round trips to Scotland. - Costs will rise, no matter how careful they are with their spending. Debate about who costs more, 'import quality Brits' or imports, aside there will be an increase in costs as fewer 'part time' players could be carried and more imports, with attendant housing costs in an expensive area, will need to be employed to be competitive. - All this whilst playing out of a rink (The Spectrum is not an arena) with a fairly small capacity given the income needs relative to all the above. Yes I'd like to see more teams step up the the EIHL but Guildford have a good thing going on as is, and its easy to see why Manchester looked upon their lot and decided to jump ship too. In the EPL they are the big boys, in the EIHL they'd be another Hull/Coventry/Cardiff.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 29, 2014 12:14:19 GMT
I have to ask whether Guildford have ever been asked about joining the league - they've got a 2000 seater arena & Olympic size pad I really can't see Guildford joining the EIHL given their owner was the #1 agitator fighting against the formation of the league, to the point that its rumoured he even started buying up any website domain names related to "Elite Ice Hockey". He is quite happy with what he has, being one of the big fish in the EPL, with three teams positioned within easy reach in the Thames Valley for natural local rivalries. As for the size of The Spectrum, they rarely fill it and even if they could ram it every game a 2000 capacity take is small fry when you have to consider the increased costs playing in the EIHL would bring, especially given the costs of housing etc in the stockbroker belt.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 28, 2014 19:03:30 GMT
I dont buy the idea that the Phoenix and Bison moved solely due to finances, they very quickly rose to the top of the epl. I think a lot of it was due to the apparent 'big four' domination. They wanted some of that and the only way was to drop down. Fully agree. Phoenix especially were (still are?) owned by a walking ego with ambitions that stretched further than his patience. He wanted silverware, any silverware, and was quite happy to drag the Phoenix into the little pond that is the EPL to go 'pot hunting'.
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new puck
Mar 28, 2014 18:28:32 GMT
via mobile
Post by tootootrain on Mar 28, 2014 18:28:32 GMT
My shot is bad enough without a wonky puck!
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 28, 2014 10:26:50 GMT
Sorry but I still don't like the 2 group system for the Challenge Cup, it almost give the Giants a by every year to the final. Surely it would be better for Hull to stay in its respective conference and give them and the Scots a better chance of making the final? Fully agree. The Giants Challenge Cup bye has and continues to be a joke, even more so when they get to the final playing less games than their opponents. Just how much assistance do they need to win it?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 21, 2014 10:18:39 GMT
Isn't she also suing the Odyssey Trust as facility managers?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 20, 2014 16:18:56 GMT
I know giants fans are normally bitter but this particular on is clearly even worse. Cricket fans bloody love it when the ball goes into the crowd! And that ball can cause just as much damage! I would hardly call someone suing the Giants a "fan" of the club... Not a 'real' fan anyway, eh? Makes you wonder, what could a team get away with doing to a 'fan' before said 'fan' can be allowed to show umbrage against the team, without having their 'fan' status questioned?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 20, 2014 16:12:46 GMT
I guess 'hockeyarenas.net' run to different criteria to the IIHF. There must be some reason the IIHF won't recognise the figures Steelers fans keep quoting. Perhaps freebies don't count. Maybe if the IIHF do a Top 500 next season Steelers might feature somewhere.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 20, 2014 12:07:04 GMT
Team playing in league sponsored by ambulance chasers gets sued. Irony.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 20, 2014 11:31:30 GMT
More evidence that we should be strolling this league every season. Eh? Same way Toronto should win the President's Trophy every season?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 18, 2014 23:05:06 GMT
I didn't think Boxill would make the cut especially just coming back from injury. Also not a single Brit from the EPL either. You rarely see players from second tier leagues in international teams in any sport.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 17, 2014 16:09:05 GMT
Would the league prevent a club from doing what TTT suggests? Could they refuse to register the players or something if you were obviously ducking out of a game? Whether they would or wouldn't is immaterial really, there is more than one way to skin it. Forefit the game, 5-0 or 4-3, it matters not a jott in the league to Panthers. As said though, this is the same league that allowed Hull/Belfast to make up their own CC rules. Forget fielding questions from Giants fans concerning what a Grand Slam consists of, how about how many games to reach a cup final?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 17, 2014 12:13:41 GMT
Should have taken a rec team in Panthers jerseys. Why give Henley the opportunity to make an idiot of himself, or Panthers pick up additional injuries, in such a pointless game?
And no, hindsight isn't a wonderful thing, I expressed such views pre-game.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 17, 2014 10:54:38 GMT
Surely if Henley was binned before any ban was levied, under the Hull precedent, any subsequent ban would follow him out of the league?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 15, 2014 14:22:26 GMT
I would rather ring the panthers hotline for the score than go and pay to watch this game. Don't be too optimistic now will you... Its not often, if ever, I agree with 'Pantherdman' but this is the most rubbery of dead rubber games for the Panthers. I'd rather Neilson took a team of rec players in Panthers jerseys than risk picking up yet more injuries playing a nothing game. And before anyone counters with "game experience/etc", Coventry have no love for Panthers, they're unlikely to go easy, especially as Coventry still aren't completely safe for the play-offs. Is "game experience" worth more potential injuries at this point of the season? So, optimistic about what?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 19:30:27 GMT
Having no connection to British hockey at all before 2005ish I must say I'm quite amazed at how such a minor incident has led to the continued usage of fairly inflammatory, in the circumstances, language such as "never forgive, never forget" and seems to be the almost sole basis for an extremely one-sided 'hatred'. This though isn't what has peaked my interest in this thread. No my interest was peaked by the use of the term "serious concussion" in relation to the alleged injuries sustained by Schulte.
As someone who works in Critical Care I'm always wary of 'fans' quoting such terminology, especially when, from the evidence available, it doesn't appear that the alleged injuries match up.
"Serious Concussion" is generally considered a concussion graded at grade III under either the Cantu or Colorado scales. Given that Schulte appears to skate off the ice relatively unaided in the footage provided in this thread I'd suggest there is little to no chance that he suffered "serious concussion" as under both scales such a conclusion would have required a period of immediate unconsciousness, followed up by occurrences of amnesia.
To switch away from my professional side now, the fact that it seems so much 'hatred' is attached to what was really an unremarkable incident fairly well underlines the pathetic nature of this one-way hate-fest and indeed its continued trotting out perhaps undermines the reputation it seems some hold for Schulte. Apparently he is/was a 'hard man', yet it seems that some Belfast fans hold onto a belief that this incident, one in which he suffered no serious injury, was seemingly a major incident in his career and thus one worthy of building a fiction around with which to try and create a rivalry.
Rivalries need to form naturally. Trying to force one into being in an attempt to be anything other than the 'grey man' team of British hockey will undoubtedly fail, or at most lead to what 'we' have (a one-sided obsession) because its built on easily undermined foundations with very little substance.
Well done for winning the league BTW.
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 13:45:17 GMT
Is anyone going to answer my quite simple question? I'll ask it again. How many games did he miss? He missed 6 games that season all due to a knee injury so he didn't miss any games from the 'sucker punch. So not a 'serious concussion' at all then? Won't somebody think of the children?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 12:58:49 GMT
lol "this Paxton guy". I did wonder after your 'delicate flower' comment. Paxton Schulte is considered to be one of the best enforcers to play in this league. Is anyone going to answer my quite simple question? I'll ask it again. How many games did he miss?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 12:25:25 GMT
Anyone know how many games this Paxton guy missed?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 11:59:17 GMT
Apart from the serious concussion to Paxton Schulte. How many games did he miss?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 11:10:16 GMT
Is that it! Hardly Bertuzzi/Moore stuff. Was their delicate flower hospitalized? 5 game ban for sucker punch 2 games for man handling the ref 1 game for travesty of the game news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/2412189.stmOld time hockey at its best No significant injury to the Belfast player though right?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 10:47:38 GMT
I'm not sure if they boo him but there were some fairly choice comments on KOTG when he was appointed in the summer. "Awful appointment" "Never forgive" "Terrible, terrible appointment" "NFNF" "His shirt has been retired and he'll be coaching us, seriously." "I'm sorry but no, if 30 people applied then there are 29 better suited" "That man as our coach" "Captain Custard" "Never forgive, never forget" "Stench of custard" "Stink of his past existence" "Dirty custard with a poor CV" A funny bunch..... I bet they all love him now though right?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 10:08:15 GMT
That's it.... 12 years ago and the Panthers coach? A certain Paul Adey. Gees those folk in Ulster get their Panthers in a wad over the smallest of things. Do they boo Adey every game then, given he put the players on the ice?
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Post by tootootrain on Mar 13, 2014 9:44:19 GMT
Is that it! Hardly Bertuzzi/Moore stuff. Was their delicate flower hospitalized?
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