Elite Ice Hockey League

[BallochSonsFan]

Solway v Blackburn was a decent game. A few guys in the Sharks squad who have EIHL experience. Wallace and Senko played in Edinburgh. Speirs and Kerr have been called up by Clan for a few games. Buesa is on a traineeship with the Clan.

Its a shame that we don't have more NIHL clubs in Scotland. It's a good level of hockey - better than SNL - that offers a reasonable chance for prospects to get game time. Its good to watch and if it was in the right location then it could be a good draw.

Would be even better to have at least 1 tier 2 team in Scotland to offer a proper pathway for player development.

 

[gavin_3110]

On ‎29‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 10:44, BallochSonsFan said:

Solway v Blackburn was a decent game. A few guys in the Sharks squad who have EIHL experience. Wallace and Senko played in Edinburgh. Speirs and Kerr have been called up by Clan for a few games. Buesa is on a traineeship with the Clan.

Its a shame that we don't have more NIHL clubs in Scotland. It's a good level of hockey - better than SNL - that offers a reasonable chance for prospects to get game time. Its good to watch and if it was in the right location then it could be a good draw.

Would be even better to have at least 1 tier 2 team in Scotland to offer a proper pathway for player development.

 

I watch Paisley Pirates and there's quite a big difference between the teams even within the league which can make it a bit of a non event, can't be much fun for teams like Kilmarnock who get obliterated when they come up against the top 4 or 5 teams.

Some of the teams like Pirates, Aberdeen and even North Ayrshire have good facilities and established infrastructure behind them. The subsidiary teams of EIHL clubs are obviously part of clubs with experience competing in a UK wide league. A couple of them might be interested in competing at the lower end of the British setup. Still a bit of a stretch and not without risk.

I do like watching the EIHL, but it's very shallow. No issue with foreign players, but 14 devalues the competition a bit in my opinion.

[#Gary]

Clan have parted company with Jeff Ulmer. Won't be surprised to see 1 or 2 more follow him out the door.

[BallochSonsFan]

Had to be done.

Before the 3 games at the weekend, Ulmer had 1 goal and 4 assists in 10 games. 5 points in his first 10 games seems a pretty solid return but it doesnt really tell the full story of his start at the Clan. By all accounts he was the marquee summer signing, even ahead of Jay Rosehill, and it was expected that he would deliver offensively. 1 goal from 10 games isnt delivering. How many of those 4 assists were first assists and how many were seconds? His overall play never really caught the eye and he looked to be a bit surprised at just how competitive the league has been right from the start.

He's not the worst. Daniel Ahsberg is still without a single point in 13 games. To put that into perspective, even the 4th line Brits have at least a point and so does Brit D Zach Sullivan. Ulmer can perhaps feel a bit sore that he was the first player to be cut. That doesnt mean that he didnt deserve to be cut, but I'd expect at least 1, and possibly 2, to follow.

I think Hendrikx will be gone before the end of the month. I'm not convinced that he wants to be here. Its clear that he still holds a grudge that he wasnt brought back to Cardiff and I don't want players at the Clan who don't want to be there. I also think Ahsberg will be gone if he can't find some major offence in the next couple of games. That gives us the option of moving Rosehill back to play as an offensive defenceman and signing 2 new forwards to try to spark our misfiring attack or replacing like for like with 1 at each end of the ice and keeping Rosehill on a forward line.

Its clear that the start to our season was unacceptable. I feel a bit for Ulmer because he wasn't the worst player but 1 goal in 10 simply isnt good enough from a supposed marquee forward. Right now we're heavily reliant on Pitt and Beca to make something happen. Leavitt has a couple too but we're struggling for genuine secondary offence to help our Pitt and Beca. Ulmer wasnt doing it and he had to go. Ahsberg should be very worried about his Clan future right now.

[MP_MFC]

Ahsberg is a weird one. Looked good in pre season and often looks like he can do something when skating out wide or getting into positions but when it comes to the final pass or shot it's nowhere.

Feel sorry for Ulmer, seemed like a really nice guy but perhaps the legs were going and he was struggling more than he expected with fatherhood to balance a change to his game and his life.

Hendrikx has so far been really a non entity for us, if he goes, his best contribution was absolutely wiping out the Caps player in the 2-3 defeat.

[gavin_3110]

 Went to the Caps v Clan game on Sunday night.

Both teams looked pretty poor at the back, poor Plewsy and the big 44 got an absolute roasting.

Edinburgh were well on top for the first 10 minutes but when Clan scored, one team woke up and the other's heads went down, Clan bullied them. Took Edinburgh to get a goal back with about 15 to go to get back at it, looked a different team for the 35 minutes in between...

Braehead definitely less than the sum of their parts, look good on paper but every time I've seen them they've looked pretty lethargic and devoid of ideas (apart from last night!). When the caps get into their stride they're a good side to watch, hopefully keep the team together and make they playoffs. There are some really promising youngsters, Ferguson, Plews and especially Jay King will all continue to improve.

[#Gary]

Superb from Clan tonight. 6-3 flattered Flyers.

 

Played it physical tonight and it worked. MOTM could've gone to any of about 6 or 7 players.

 

Hammond looks an excellent signing, and hopefully Ahsberg can improve now that he's off the mark with his first points and goal tonight. 

 

Worst officiating I've seen since I started watching ice hockey though...

[MP_MFC]

Think this was the Braehead Clan advertised pre season. Fast breaking, hard hitting and free scoring with all lines contributing. 17 goals in 3 games. Long may it continue.

[#Gary]

One step forward, two steps back. 

 

Last night was probably the worst I've seen since I started going around this time last year.

 

Ahsberg is surely on the way out... benched for most of the game and then given some 4th line minutes when the game was beyond us.

[invergowrie arab]

Hockey's a load of shite.

Dundee have big big problems in front of net at the moment. Want to score in dirty areas and won't shoot from blue line.

[#Gary]

Big changes needed at Braehead!

 

How shite must Fife be...

[invergowrie arab]

Braehead bottom of the league.

 

Pleasing

[Ludo*1]

Just started getting into this. Went to my 2nd ever game of Ice Hockey last week, I don't know the rules, and I'm a complete novice. My first game is not something I can even remember, so technically I'm counting this one as my first 'experience'. Thoroughly enjoyed watching Dundee Stars vs Sheffield Steelers.

There was one point in the game though that left me scratching my head, Stars done a switch of players as the Steelers were attacking and basically left them to have an onslaught on the goal in which they duly obliged. If that sort of thing happened at Dens there'd be shouts for Hartley's head.

Anyways - really enjoyed the atmosphere and the game in general and plan to make it a regular thing as the missus seems to be enjoying it as well.(Well, semi-regular - funds will dictate how many games I attend). Planning on heading tonight for the Stars game against Coventry Blaze.

I've been scouring the internet trying to learn about the game and teams in the league and the players that play for Stars so that I have at least enough base knowledge to recognise who's shit, who's good, who to keep an eye on, rivalries etc but it's proving much more difficult to find information than about football so if anyone could give me a few pointers or a rundown that'd be massively appreciated!

What should I expect from Coventry? And the more info y'all can give me on Stars players, coaches etc the better!

Cheers in advance.

 

[Ludo*1]

Smashed Coventry 5-1. Couldn't believe how comfortable it was.

In Weavers Mill (Pub beside Dundee Ice Arena) there's a few Coventry fans going tonto about their board.

Massive support compared to Sheffield who I thought were supposed to be the bigger team?

[#Gary]

Clan keep referring to themselves as "Glasgow Braehead Clan" recently and it's doing my nut in. 

[tigerton]

Clan keep referring to themselves as "Glasgow Braehead Clan" recently and it's doing my nut in. 

We do love tragic catchphrases that the marketing team wheel out. Not sure what was the worst, probably Castle Clan.

[Ludo*1]

Dundee Stars beaten on penalties. Decent point as the Stars looked to be outclassed throughout IMO (Bearing in mind I struggle to grasp the rules of hockey).

On that point - why does the keeper sometimes go on the bench? What's the shtick there?

[MuckleMoo]

Dundee Stars beaten on penalties. Decent point as the Stars looked to be outclassed throughout IMO (Bearing in mind I struggle to grasp the rules of hockey).

On that point - why does the keeper sometimes go on the bench? What's the shtick there?

Teams loosing by the odd goal will more often than not pull the net minder in the last few minutes and put on an extra attacker in the hope of tying the game. Usually ends up with the other team scoring but the reasoning is that there is not that much difference losing by 1 or 2 goals

[invergowrie arab]

On 11/18/2016 at 14:31, Ludo*1 said:

Just started getting into this. Went to my 2nd ever game of Ice Hockey last week, I don't know the rules, and I'm a complete novice. My first game is not something I can even remember, so technically I'm counting this one as my first 'experience'. Thoroughly enjoyed watching Dundee Stars vs Sheffield Steelers.

There was one point in the game though that left me scratching my head, Stars done a switch of players as the Steelers were attacking and basically left them to have an onslaught on the goal in which they duly obliged. If that sort of thing happened at Dens there'd be shouts for Hartley's head.

Anyways - really enjoyed the atmosphere and the game in general and plan to make it a regular thing as the missus seems to be enjoying it as well.(Well, semi-regular - funds will dictate how many games I attend). Planning on heading tonight for the Stars game against Coventry Blaze.

I've been scouring the internet trying to learn about the game and teams in the league and the players that play for Stars so that I have at least enough base knowledge to recognise who's shit, who's good, who to keep an eye on, rivalries etc but it's proving much more difficult to find information than about football so if anyone could give me a few pointers or a rundown that'd be massively appreciated!

What should I expect from Coventry? And the more info y'all can give me on Stars players, coaches etc the better!

Cheers in advance.

 

Good man, you will love it. Stars big rivals are the Fife Flyers although all the east coast Scottish teams thoroughly dislike Braehead. Not too much beef with capitals, maybe because of the mutual Fife dislike.

We dont really have anyone who is shite per se but lots of Stars fans losing patience with Tanaka. Fans favourites would be Joe Fallon who is the best goalie in the league and Justin Faryna who was our main point scorer and fighter last year.

Marc Le Febvre is the coach. Seems to be doing a decent job. Out of all the teams ourselves and edinburgh have by far the lowest budgets so being competitive is the aim of the game, Like Dundee or United we are never going to win the league but a cup is a slim possibility. Dundee's main chance of silverware is the conference which is a mini league within the league for us, Braehead, Fife, Edinburgh and Manchester.

The biggest budget teams are (arguably !!!) Nottingham, Sheffield and Braehead, then Cardiff and Belfast, then Coventry and Fife, then Manchester, Edinburgh and Dundee. Nottingham average around 4500 fans Edinburgh and Dundee under 1000 although we get around 1500 to Fife games.

If you want to keep up to date the Stars social media accounts are really good and there is an excellent podcast once a week.

The switch of players you mentioned was just a shite attempt at a change of shifts. The idea is generally to that when the puck is deep in the opposition zone.

On 11/18/2016 at 22:19, Ludo*1 said:

Smashed Coventry 5-1. Couldn't believe how comfortable it was.

In Weavers Mill (Pub beside Dundee Ice Arena) there's a few Coventry fans going tonto about their board.

Massive support compared to Sheffield who I thought were supposed to be the bigger team?

You missed the Sheffield support the week previous. Coventry were on a triple header so playing Dundee on Friday, fife tonight and Edinburgh tomorrow.When the southern clubs have big Scottish weekends like that they bring a couple of hundred fans. When it is just a standard game they might only bring a dozen. Sheffield were on a Scottish weekend the week previous and brought even more than what Coventry did.

1 hour ago, Ludo*1 said:

Dundee Stars beaten on penalties. Decent point as the Stars looked to be outclassed throughout IMO (Bearing in mind I struggle to grasp the rules of hockey).

On that point - why does the keeper sometimes go on the bench? What's the shtick there?

Two reasons. If there is only a minute or two left you can pull the goalie and put an extra skater on and try and get a goal. This is risky though and can lead to the opposition getting an empty net goal. During the game this may be because your team has a penalty advantage. If a penalty is called the ref will raise his arm and as long as you have puck posession the ref will play advantage. You can take your goalie off risk free here and put on an extra out skater as if the opposition touch the puck the ref blows for the penalty so they can not score.

I wouldnt say Stars were outclassed exactly. Giants had 37 shots to our 29 which indicates they had slightly more of the play but that is to be expected. Think of it as Celtic coming to Dens and you sit back and hope to nick a goal. The last 3 weeks Stars are unbeaten in regulation time against the top 3 teams in the league so really punching above our weight. Challenge now is to take that from into games against conference rivals. Again to use a football analogy its like getting good results against top 6 teams but needing to get results against the teams in and around you.

Edited November 19, 2016 by invergowrie arab

[invergowrie arab]

So Cowick casually punched a linesman last night. No penalty, scores a goal MOM.

Only in the EIHL.