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Been a tough summer for UK hockey. Alex Graham and then Mike Hammond. I'd fully expect our game to do something fitting for both players, Maybe have a nod to Hammond on the GB home jersey and Graham on the away one for May's top tier world championships.

Big changes in the league too. The change in ownership at the Clan is long overdue. Things had stagnated long before the Lasse Uusuvirta fiasco. By most benchmarks Chalmers should have been sacked long before last season. The Uusivirta incident was unbelievably badly handled, but you hear conflicting rumours about Chalmers' involvement in the whole thing. Having Murph on board as some kind of consultant is no bad thing - he should be able to improve our poor media output and act as a useful link between the club's local management and the owner. I think we've recruited relatively well, but so have a couple of teams. I can see us finishing anywhere between 4th and 6th and as long as we're competitive every game then I'll be happy. We've got a long way to go before we're a real power in UK hockey. The non-hockey business needs a lot of work in order to provide the funding that'll support the kind of teams that Cardiff can build playing in a similarly sized barn. In the mean time I just want to see committed, competitive hockey.

Fully intend to make a few trips down to Dumfries this year. Solway stepping up to the NIHL National is a really interesting move. I think they've built a decent roster - combination of guys who have served them well and some really impressive new faces. If Solway works then I wouldn't rule out an Edinburgh side playing at that level in the future. Or maybe even an option for Fife and Dundee to drop down? I'll admit to having a soft spot for the Stars. It's my favourite place in Britain to watch hockey, I think their media output is really well done and games against the Stars in recent years have tended to be quite combative affairs. I'd hate to see them drop down a level and I hope that they can keep EIHL hockey in Dundee. 

Ordered my tickets for Mannheim tonight too. I'm hoping to make 2 trips over this season, so my first trip will take in games against Iserlohn and Berlin. I'm not convinced that Die Adler have built a title winning roster this year. I don't think we've got a properly lethal goal scorer. But we'll be competitive and we'll be there or there about. 

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On 28/08/2023 at 15:42, BallochSonsFan said:

 

Fully intend to make a few trips down to Dumfries this year. Solway stepping up to the NIHL National is a really interesting move. I think they've built a decent roster - combination of guys who have served them well and some really impressive new faces. If Solway works then I wouldn't rule out an Edinburgh side playing at that level in the future. Or maybe even an option for Fife and Dundee to drop down? I'll admit to having a soft spot for the Stars. It's my favourite place in Britain to watch hockey, I think their media output is really well done and games against the Stars in recent years have tended to be quite combative affairs. I'd hate to see them drop down a level and I hope that they can keep EIHL hockey in Dundee. 

 

I noticed Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock and Blackburn taking part in a "Northern League". Feels like it could be a tester for a longer term league. There are the usual complaints about Southern teams in the NIHL having to travel to Dumfries, so I think Dundee would be considering going to a different planet for them. I'd like to see a 3-5 import pro/semi-pro Northern League 

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3 hours ago, Torpar said:

I noticed Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh, Kilmarnock and Blackburn taking part in a "Northern League". Feels like it could be a tester for a longer term league. There are the usual complaints about Southern teams in the NIHL having to travel to Dumfries, so I think Dundee would be considering going to a different planet for them. I'd like to see a 3-5 import pro/semi-pro Northern League 

The NIHL National has admitted Solway this season. So we've got tier 2 hockey in Scotland. Solway moved up from NIHL 1 North (tier 3) where they played the likes of Blackburn and Whitley Bay. The Northern League is a kind of add on competition. Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy and Kilmarnock will still play SNL. Blackburn will still play NIHL 1 North. But they'll also play in a side tournament against each other.

I'm not really a fan of these kind of add on competitions. If Solway works and they can get round the politics of the people involved with the current Edinburgh/Murrayfield Racers then I'd rather see a 2nd team added to the NIHL National. Edinburgh should be able to sustain it. But that also raises the prospect of Fife Flyers having a league they could drop down to.  I also think that both Blackburn and Whitley could be viable NIHL National sides. Both have rinks with the capacity.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 31/08/2023 at 18:33, BallochSonsFan said:

The NIHL National has admitted Solway this season. So we've got tier 2 hockey in Scotland. Solway moved up from NIHL 1 North (tier 3) where they played the likes of Blackburn and Whitley Bay. The Northern League is a kind of add on competition. Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy and Kilmarnock will still play SNL. Blackburn will still play NIHL 1 North. But they'll also play in a side tournament against each other.

I'm not really a fan of these kind of add on competitions. If Solway works and they can get round the politics of the people involved with the current Edinburgh/Murrayfield Racers then I'd rather see a 2nd team added to the NIHL National. Edinburgh should be able to sustain it. But that also raises the prospect of Fife Flyers having a league they could drop down to.  I also think that both Blackburn and Whitley could be viable NIHL National sides. Both have rinks with the capacity.

The NIHL national is quote a commitment by players. Last season they had a regular season of 56 games. So would be playing 2 matches most weekends and the travel involved. SNL as far as I'm aware is pretty much amateur and NIHL is semi pro so would be significant even paying minimum wage to 20 players and staff for their time over the weekend and training. I would expect many who play SNL who have jobs, studies, family commitments would struggle and so would need to find other players to fill the gaps.  Can't really see southern teams in that league being that keen and much more northern teams in the league unless it adopted a conference system so they only need to visit some teams maybe once in the season.

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7 minutes ago, grazza said:

The NIHL national is quote a commitment by players. Last season they had a regular season of 56 games. So would be playing 2 matches most weekends and the travel involved. SNL as far as I'm aware is pretty much amateur and NIHL is semi pro so would be significant even paying minimum wage to 20 players and staff for their time over the weekend and training. I would expect many who play SNL who have jobs, studies, family commitments would struggle and so would need to find other players to fill the gaps.  Can't really see southern teams in that league being that keen and much more northern teams in the league unless it adopted a conference system so they only need to visit some teams maybe once in the season.

 

Solway will be a very good tester. If it works then there's no reason for Edinburgh or Kirkcaldy to be significantly more difficult for teams than Dumfries is. Solway were down in Leeds last night and are hosting them tonight. Leeds are throwing money around and probably won't be NIHL long term. I could also see Hull trying to step up to the EIHL again. There's also MK to consider. The Sharks have built a decent roster. Kept a lot of their NIHL 1 North sside. Guys like Struan Tonner and Stevie Murray. But some of the players they brought in for NIHL proper look really good. John Dunbar joining them was genuinely impressive.

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On 16/09/2023 at 02:29, grazza said:

The NIHL national is quote a commitment by players. Last season they had a regular season of 56 games. So would be playing 2 matches most weekends and the travel involved. SNL as far as I'm aware is pretty much amateur and NIHL is semi pro so would be significant even paying minimum wage to 20 players and staff for their time over the weekend and training. I would expect many who play SNL who have jobs, studies, family commitments would struggle and so would need to find other players to fill the gaps.  Can't really see southern teams in that league being that keen and much more northern teams in the league unless it adopted a conference system so they only need to visit some teams maybe once in the season.

SNL is all amateur or pay to play, (I played a whopping 4 games in that league) The "imports" on the teams are usually students or foreign workers. 

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  • 1 month later...

Glasgow Clan 5-6 Fife Flyers (after shootout).

Gutter to lose the equalising goal with 12 seconds left and come up second best in the shootout but a great night regardless and a wildly entertaining game. 

Inept officiating throughout. Referees seemed to only see about half of what was going on. Just added to the entertainment. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Took in last Friday's Glasgow Clan vs Belfast Giants game.  Third time I have seen The Clan, once at Manchester Storm.  Storm are probably my nearest top-class team, but I am not following them for obvious reasons!  Clan look much-improved and it was a great atmosphere.  Hope they keep getting good crowds.  Very friendly supporters and Braehead is a quality venue. I usually watch Deeside Dragons in NIHL 1 North so was made up with the level.  Saying that, I originally used to watch probably the worst team in NIHL 2 and just like live hockey.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
21 hours ago, Craig fae the Vale said:

Glasgow Clan 4-1 Fife Flyers tonight at Braehead. 

Not a classic by any means but a good win. We brought a friend along for her first taste of live hockey and she was absolutely hooked and already looking forward to our next game!

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I'm currently enjoying a nice pint after fife beat Glasgow 7-4. Cracking game, and fife well worthy winners. I'm a happy man.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Glasgow Clan 0-0 Guildford Flames 

I have seen something tonight I never thought I'd see, a goalless ice hockey game. First leg of a two legged semi-final tie that will be scored on aggregate, so no overtime or shootout, so no goals it was.

Despite finishing scoreless it was a wildly entertaining game. Fast paced and full of needle for the full sixty minutes. Hopefully Clan can pull off a win in the return leg to reach the final.

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