Ice Hockey Thread

[suttontennis]

Cardiff Devils win the end of season playoffs, beating Sheffield 3-1 in the final. They complete the treble of League Championship, Conference title and playoffs and therefore will be Britain's representative in the Champions Hockey League next season. Been the best team for a couple off years now.
Belfast Giants won the Challenge Cup and therefore will qualify for the Continental Cup, the equivalent of the Europa League.
Edinburgh Capitals managed to win just 5 games all seaon, and finished a massive 31 points behind the next placed team. Its so disappointing to all those who enjoy British Ice hockey that a team playing in their Nations Capital can perform so poorly over a number of years (been last placed for over 5 years) and generate such poor crowds, max 750-1000 per game. The Rugby Ground want to buy the Ice Rink for development, but there is a covenant preventing it being sold. Perhaps the owners are waiting for the Rink to fall down.

[Hawkeye]

Congratulations to the GB Mens' team who came from 2-0 down, including an equaliser with 15 seconds to go, to get the draw they needed to win the Group B play-offs and advance to the world's elite for the first time since 1994.

[suttontennis]

It's a rather frightening prospect to think that a team of mostly British trained players, many of whom were taught probably no more than twice per week when they were growing up, plus a small handful of British qualified Canadian born players, will be taking on the world's best. But that's why they play the game, for the chance to compete at the highest level. the current talk among British fans of the game is whether the team should be loaded up with more overseas born players who may qualify as British, but have never played over here, or to stick with the players that earned the promotions. I'm with the latter, I see there is nothing to be gained by introducing players who haven't previously played for the GB setup and who are only interested in playing this one event. Then when we are relegated again they disappear, leaving those players who made way less than inclined to come back into the team.

[suttontennis]

For those interested, The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) begins the Elite Series, a 4 team event commencing this Saturday.
The teams involved, Manchester, Coventry, Sheffield, Nottingham, play each other 'home and away' twice, although the entire event is taking place at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham. There will then be a semi final, and final.
Primarily, the purpose of the event is to generate revenue for the clubs involved, and allow the GB players to get match practice before the World Championships. All matches are being streamed live, no on site spectators allowed.

[suttontennis]

For those interested, The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) begins the Elite Series, a 4 team event commencing this Saturday.
The teams involved, Manchester, Coventry, Sheffield, Nottingham, play each other 'home and away' twice, although the entire event is taking place at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham. There will then be a semi final, and final.
Primarily, the purpose of the event is to generate revenue for the clubs involved, and allow the GB players to get match practice before the World Championships. All matches are being streamed live, no on site spectators allowed.

The event was won by my team, Nottingham Panthers who beat Sheffield in the final. The most positive news from the event is that rigorous testing meant no-one tested positive for covid19 during the event.