Money, Money, Money...

...And so to the meaty stuff.

The trouble with hockey here in the UK is that it is, at the moment, something of a minority sport. And thus teams tend to run on tight budgets. And when they either exceed or simply can't make enough to meet those budgets, we lose teams, which results in a fanbase with nothing to to on their weekends and all the problems associated with losing a team. In North America and Canada you have to be from Winnipeg, Hartford or Quebec to understand what this feels like, I suppose, although there seems to be a fair movement around of ECHL teams-and there's the whole Pens and Nashville problems going on at the moment, which I would comment on if I knew more about them, but that's a separate post. Back to the UK. In this part of the world teams tend to disappear with alarming regularity (in the past few years we've had Manchester disappear and then return, London die, reform and die again, interleague strife (which you'll hear more about, cause it's a running theme here in the UK) and endless rumours of teams dying and then not dying (like Belfast a year or two ago, who were saved from the brink).
We're barely a month into the new season, and already the vultures of rumour are circling again-this time around the Basingstoke Bison. Bison have been around for YEARS, and have always played in the same league as the Blaze ever since the latter moved to Coventry. They've got a knowledgeable bunch of fans, a rink which...well, it's got "atmosphere" even if you could never see the other end from the old away block, and a team which generally has finished around mid-table, plugging away and not doing too badly. In fact, some Coventry fans joke the season hasn't really started until we make the trip down south to see our team play badly and still manage to get a point or two in early September.
Anyway-this season they've signed a competitive roster, with some very well-known (in Britain) players like import (Canadian) Steve Thornton and British international goalie Stevie Lyle. Everything seemed hunky-dory until a week or so ago, when reports started appearing that Bison were in trouble and Belfast and Cardiff (both traditionally big teams who've had a bad start this time round) were after their players, who were supposed to be leaving at any time. Admittedly these reports appeared in the media IN Cardiff and Belfast, so could just be a bit of a cover-up, cause the Belfast fan-base in particular are a bit pissed off at the moment with their team, and screaming for changes. But now there are rumours and counter rumours flying, with the latest being posted on the forums today saying that Lyle has already gone across the water to Belfast. Now this is worrying-Bison are traditionally a well-run and stable team, so just about everyone in the EIHL is hoping that these rumours are unfounded. I'll keep you up to date with news, views and my own personal take on it...but that is all for now.