Playing Catch-Up...again.

Believe it or not it's actually been a fairly quiet Friday and first half of Saturday-as noted by the fact that for once I didn't have to make five posts in the space of twenty-four hours just in order to keep up with the speed of information coming out onto the Internet. However, several things of note have happened in both the EIHL and the EPL, so here's a brief summary before I take a few hours off to watch the rugby this evening (come on England!) :)...

Hiking for Hockey is called off: See this post (scroll to the bottom) for the original idea from Rick Strang. He's now called it off, however, saying in a statement on the Hockey Forum that it just wouldn't be right to do now that Basingstoke are safe. Which is his decision...When I find a text of the full statement to link to, I shall place it on here.

Thornton to Sweden?: The rumours around players leaving the Bison just won't die-the latest one going around sees Steve Thornton wanting away from the Bison, with Sweden being quoted as the destination. At the moment, the 34 year-old centre is staying put, but there will no doubt be a queue of EIHL teams looking to go after the skilful ex-Belfast and Cardiff forward should the slightest hint of his becoming available surface.

Changes at Romford: Moving down to the EPL, Norm Pinnington has moved from the Isle of Wight to Romford in one of a raft of player changes this week in Essex. Mark Williams is said to be on his way out due to the well-known personal animosity between the two big bruisers, and there is much discussion as to just exactly where the Raiders will go from here threading through the EPL forums.

Meanwhile, back in Basingstoke...The statement from the Taylors which I analysed in detail here has not gone down well amongst the Bison fans, with more questions than answers (some of which I mention in the analysis) being raised ahead of tonight's game against the Bison. While the immediate survival of the Bison is by all accounts assured, there is a fast-developing rift between the ownership and fans. David Taylor was interviewed last night on BBC Radio Berkshire, available here. It's an interesting listen if you're a Bison fan...

And across the pond...First NHL mention-mainly just to check on how my Pens are doing...especially after their 6-4 come-from-behind win against the Leafs last Saturday, they do Carolina 4-3 again last night...Things are looking good in Steeltown for us long-suffering (well, ever since I've been watching, anyway) Pens fans...:)

And finally, a bit of blatant self-promotion: This site has been up and running properly for a week, after a few months or so of preparation, working out of format, etc. When I set it up I expected maybe 150 hits in the first week. As of today, there've been nearly 600. I'm overjoyed that people are coming to read what, at the moment, is essentially the ramblings of one hockey fan, and I thank every single visitor. If you've got any ideas for features etc that I've missed out or have an idea for something that I can discuss in a blog post which I may not be touching on, then feel free to use the email link at the side of the page...and keep coming back, cause I shall keep trying to improve the coverage of British hockey now that I know there is clearly a fair few people out there who want to read it.

And, as always, keep your eye on the puck...

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.