Great Britain: EIHL discussion thread

[AlanHUK]

I'm going to try and do this each week, if anyone can think of things to add to the overview let me know.

Elite League Standings
[table="head;title=list"]Team|GP|W|L|OTL|SOL|Pts

Belfast Giants|12|8|2|0|2|18|
Sheffield Steelers|13|8|4|0|1|17
Nottingham Panthers|12|7|3|1|1|16
Dundee Stars|12|7|4|0|1|15
Coventry Blaze|11|6|2|2|1|15
Braehead Clan|11|6|4|1|0|13
Cardiff Devils|12|5|4|1|2|13
Fife Flyers|9|6|3|0|0|12
Hull Stingrays|12|2|6|0|4|8
Edinburgh Capitals|12|3|8|0|1|7
[/table]​

This weekends Fixtures

Fri, Oct 19,
(Challenge Cup) Cardiff 3 at Sheffield 4 (SO) - GWG - Drew Fata
Man of the Match Awards : Stuart MacRae(CAR), Drew Fata(SHE)
Attendance: 3,246

Sat, Oct 20
6:30 pm
Dundee at Hull
7:00 pm
(League + Cup)Fife at Braehead
Sheffield at Coventry

Sun, Oct 21
6:00 pm
Nottingham at Cardiff
Coventry at Edinburgh
Hull at Sheffield
6:30 pm
Fife at Dundee

 

[clatchie]

Being more up to date than the EIHL site confused me for a moment. Then again, having CC games doubled up with the League and the like confuses me too, which is why I love this blog post.

It's not perfect, but it's a better idea than what we have.

 

[Alpine]

Any predictions on Belfast in Europe this weekend?
Given the opposition I'd say they make it to the next qualifying tourney

 

[Siamese Dream]

Any predictions on Belfast in Europe this weekend?
Given the opposition I'd say they make it to the next qualifying tourney

The teams from Romania and Netherlands they should beat easily. Landshut will be a tough game.

 

[Alpine]

The teams from Romania and Netherlands they should beat easily. Landshut will be a tough game.

But the Champs of UK should be able to handle a Bundesliga 2 team don't ya think?

 

[villevalo]

But the Champs of UK should be able to handle a Bundesliga 2 team don't ya think?

Last seasons Belfast team would have had a better chance, this years maybe less so.

 

[Siamese Dream]

But the Champs of UK should be able to handle a Bundesliga 2 team don't ya think?

Bundesliga is a good league, it's around equal to the EIHL

 

[PuddlesTheDuck]

Our teams seem to do well and get through to the next round.

I went to Bolzano a few years ago to see the Steelers play HYS Den Haag, Maribor and Bolzano. Beating the Italian champs, with some of their top players was great.
It was pretty cool that it was just down the mountain from Ritten where Ashley Tait was playing so I got to go up and watch him play as well, then some of their fans came to see us play against their rivals Bolzano.

If nothing else the Continental Cup is pretty cool for the fans.

 

[Siamese Dream]

If they do make it through to the next round, they'll have to play the VHL champions

 

[howeaboutthat]

CNN report about Anthony Stewart

 

[PuddlesTheDuck]

If they do make it through to the next round, they'll have to play the VHL champions

The year we got through we played a team from Minsk (I can't remember their name off-hand), Rouen and Red Bull Salzburg.
Some serious opposition there.

 

[PuddlesTheDuck]

Well Belfast are smashing Geleen in the 1st game 4-0 and its only the 1st period!

 

[villevalo]

8-0 end of second and Belfast have whacked their back up in

 

[Siamese Dream]

And some guy in some thread the other day was trying to argue with me that the Dutch league is almost equal to the EIHL...

 

[Beville]

Bundesliga is a good league, it's around equal to the EIHL

I'd say it's got one up on the EIHL...

As for Geleen, once had a hockey tournament there in Under 14s... I asked one of the hometown kids for a fight and he bailed

 

[howeaboutthat]

I'd say it's got one up on the EIHL...

As for Geleen, once had a hockey tournament there in Under 14s... I asked one of the hometown kids for a fight and he bailed

Fighting in an under-14 game is hardly smart, usually a match penalty and a minimum of 2 game ban isn't it?

Even proper fighters like Probert knew when and when not to fight.

 

[PuddlesTheDuck]

Sounds like Belfast have been seen to tonight.

Steelers beating the Blaze 3-0 away in the 3rd.

Hull beat Dundee 4-3.

 

[Siamese Dream]

But the Champs of UK should be able to handle a Bundesliga 2 team don't ya think?

Apparently not

hate to say I told you so

 

[PuddlesTheDuck]

Dark Magic must be at work, turns out Tom Sestito is far from a laughing stock and John DeCaro somehow managed a shutout

 

[clatchie]

Still lost his fight though.

That wasn't a bad performance by the Blaze... ok it was. But it was a better away game from Steelers. Finnerty seems to have learned how to coach, because that was the perfect game. Kept Blaze to outside, forced the dump and chase etc.

 

[Siamese Dream]

An article about Matt Beleskey, focused on Coventry and Edinburgh following their game

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/10/22/british-fans-relish-chance-to-see-nhlers

You would think a Toronto newspaper would get right which EIHL team Wade Belak played for. I also like how they described Edinburgh's player recruitment as "Troll Eastern Europe"

 

[Jossy99]

Dundee sign former Ontario Reign forward Tim Kraus

 

[clatchie]

After all hell broke loose post-game, Olson got escorted off the ice and was attacked by a fan. http://www.cardiffdevils.com/news/devils-news/cardiff-devils-club-statement/#.UI3CU2GITWk.twitter]Cardiff statement.Per Dave Simms' twitter:

David Simms ‏@Simmsey Didn't see the incident on the Cardiff bench with Franny, Egerner and Olson, that lead to the @deeds2424 and @BennyOlson fight

led off the ice where a fan had breached security and attacked Olson - no question, no debate. I was 3 feet from it.

In my view @BennyOlson acted in self defense and struck out at the fan. I grabbed the fan pulled him over to one side,

Still no security interested and he walked off through the stewards / security without anyone taking any notice. Match pen for @BennyOlson

I can't see how this will stand though @BennyOlson acted in self defense.

 

[3 Minute Minor]

I'm not a big EIHL follower by any stretch, but I do love me some GB National Team. Now that Ben Bowns is actually getting starts in the top league over there, how is he looking compared to Murphy?

Of course you have to take into consideration Murphy plays on a much much better team.

Quick stat break down:
Stephen Murphy is 9-3-2 with a .925Save% and a 2.04GAA. Murphy also faces 27.2 Shots against per game.

Ben Bowns is 4-7-4 with a .895Save% and 3.72GAA. Bowns faces 35.7 Shots against per game. That's a significant difference from Murphy's work load on a nightly basis.

Considering the key stats (Save% and GAA) they look worlds apart but all things considered it actually looks like Bowns could be closing in to Murphy's level. He looks like he's proving he deserved a starting job in the EIHL at 21.

I just want to avoid people telling me the numbers because they don't mean much when the guys are in 2 very different situations lol. My point of posting is to find out who looks like they could be the better goalie when it comes time to compete for GB?

From my computer desk in Canada I can guess Murphy's the present and Bowns is the future but I want to know what first hand observers think. Is it almost time for the future to be now?

 

[Siamese Dream]

I'm not a big EIHL follower by any stretch, but I do love me some GB National Team. Now that Ben Bowns is actually getting starts in the top league over there, how is he looking compared to Murphy?

Of course you have to take into consideration Murphy plays on a much much better team.

Quick stat break down:
Stephen Murphy is 9-3-2 with a .925Save% and a 2.04GAA. Murphy also faces 27.2 Shots against per game.

Ben Bowns is 4-7-4 with a .895Save% and 3.72GAA. Bowns faces 35.7 Shots against per game. That's a significant difference from Murphy's work load on a nightly basis.

Considering the key stats (Save% and GAA) they look worlds apart but all things considered it actually looks like Bowns could be closing in to Murphy's level. He looks like he's proving he deserved a starting job in the EIHL at 21.

I just want to avoid people telling me the numbers because they don't mean much when the guys are in 2 very different situations lol. My point of posting is to find out who looks like they could be the better goalie when it comes time to compete for GB?

From my computer desk in Canada I can guess Murphy's the present and Bowns is the future but I want to know what first hand observers think. Is it almost time for the future to be now?

Murphy is definitely the better goalie right now, plus he has the advantage of experience. Anyway, GB are not known for playing the kids over players they've trusted for years.

Bowns might be given a start against Romania to rest Murphy for the Japan game, we'll have to wait and see.