Midweek Musings...

Right-decided. Tomorrow (probably mid-evening as I may well be out all day) you get the EIHL review. I know I've been promising it all week but it's actually a lot harder than I thought to sum up ten different seasons in a punchy, interesting way. Besides, this column will contain a bit of a rant anyway...you have been warned.

People Like Us: It seems the fashion for blogging UK hockey has begun to spread, as while browsing on the Hockey Forum last night I found the F-Block Blog, which now means that two teams in the EIHL have their own specific blogs, in Check To The Head (Edinburgh) and now Hull-the blog is named after the notorious (well, in Hull Arena at least) F Block. It's just starting out by the looks of things, but looks promising...

GB v Korea update: As I write, GB are 3-1 up with nine minutes or so to go, and look like they're on their way to their first win in the competition, which would put them on four points thanks to the somewhat strange scoring system used (3 for a regulation win, 2 for OT win, 1 for OT loss)-which is a decent mid-table position (fourth) with two games to play...the game has now finished 4-1, which isn't a bad result but is only really what's expected against the team just-promoted from Div II

Lee Mitchell returns to Hull:...much to the relief of Stingrays fans, who were convinced he was heading north to Newcastle. One of the best young Brits in the league returning to one of last season's worst teams-who says we need a draft? :)

Wage Cap Wonder: You know that rant I warned you about? Here it comes...

According to those who attended the Cardiff fans' forum held this week, all the EIHL clubs recently held a meeting in order to sort out the plans for next season, agree on the wage-cap etc. However, two teams did not attend the meeting in Sheffield, both citing travel issues. Care to guess which two?...
Yep, one was Edinburgh-this is fair enough.


Got the other one yet?


Nope, not Belfast....


Not them either....


It was Nottingham. Yes, that's the same Nottingham that, according to the AA, is all of 43 miles away-less than an hour's travel. I accept that Neil Black himself may have been busy on that day, but surely there's someone in the Panthers' organisation that can stand in his stead when it's the future of the league his team play in that's being decided. Although, given that Black has publcly stated that the wage cap means nothing to him, perhaps it's no surprise that no-one from the Cats could trouble themselves to actually take part in discussions...

Some may see this condemnation of the Panthers as somewhat hypocritical, given that "my" team are good for saying one thing and doing another (as seen when publicly stating they wouldn't appeal against the sanctions levelled at Belfast for playing an ineligible player and then doing so a few weeks later, followed up by a snipe or two in the local press as seen here-particularly that end comment, which just smacks of victim syndrome) but anyway-the point does remain that the Panthers are among the most vociferous of complainants when they think a wrong has been committed against them. Clearly, however, deciding not to take part in discussions which are supposed to be for the good of the league doesn't really count as a wrong when you're one of the biggest teams and your venue is host to the showpiece weekend of the season.

The good news for league parity, though, appears to be that the wage cap has actually dropped slightly for next season, which means no more throwing money at players in order to monopolise the best Brits-not if you want a decent roster as a whole, anyway. Given that the Devils were apparently only the fifth highest spenders in the league with their (pretty expensive-looking) roster, it'll be interesting to see just what effect this so-called tightening-up has on the really big spenders...

There's your Midweek Musings for another week...keep keeping your eye on the puck...