WC: Team GB 2019 Roster
- Thread starter GBHockey
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Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Absolutely, the best British Born and Trained player in this roster is probably Ben O’Connor or Robert Dowd, but I’d say they’re quite far from Tony Hand quality. The best player in the selection is either Mike Hammond or Brett Perlini (Brendan’s older brother).
Billingsley and Lake are brand new additions to Team GB with both only becoming eligible this year having now played two seasons in the UK and having a British Passport, despite having not been born nor trained here in the UK.
I’d expect Coyotes Prospect, Liam Kirk to appear in the other exhibition games and more than likely make the final roster. He’s doing well with Peterborough in the OHL.
robertmac43
Forever 43!
- Mar 31, 2015
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The entire roster is taken from the domestic league, correct?
Are there 2 domestic leagues in the UK? I was just there on a trip in November and was intrigues at hockey in England.
Are there 2 domestic leagues in the UK? I was just there on a trip in November and was intrigues at hockey in England.
ChaiTiefling
Registered User
Technically four - EIHL, NIHL1, NIHL2 and SNL, however Elite is the only pro league. We've been missing a functional second tier since the EPIHL collapsed in April 2017, possibly even since the BNL's demise in 2005.
All these players are on EIHL teams, yes. There may be additions from overseas once we get to the tourney itself, this likely isn't the final list.
robertmac43
Forever 43!
- Mar 31, 2015
- 25,535
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Interesting this will be a fun team to follow this coming year. I would love for hockey to grow in GB as it would have great implications on the overall growth of the game.
MeHateHe
Registered User
- Dec 24, 2006
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I think it's a mistake to play club teams in advance of the championship. Even if they get beat up a little bit, playing national sides will better prepare them for the pace and style they will see at the WCs.
Friar85
Registered User
- Dec 16, 2013
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Why hasn’t a GB team been playing in some of the EIHC tournaments? You see the French, Italians, Hungarians, Austrians, Slovenians, Koreans, etc putting together teams and competing in most of the international breaks but the British don’t. Is it funding?
I think they have been invited to International Competitions/Tournaments but they just don't seem to accept them. I think it's a case of the domestic league, EIHL, having no winter break at all as well as there not being much funding for Team GB.
The EIHL play every week September thru Early April, with no real break. The longest break a team could get is generally 5 days but that isn't massively frequent. Especially over Christmas/winter, there will often be teams playing 3 or 4 games a week.
Politics is what is holding Team GB back, the IIHF have offered several times to assist with development and other things but GB just don't want it. The players currently in the GB setup are the best there's been for a long time, but they will still get hammered at the Championships and more than likely hammered by the KHL teams during the exhibition games. I'd be surprised if we don't get relegated and then I'd say the chances of us being promoted to the top tier again are maybe 40%. There are a small handful of good potential players coming through but not enough to sustain GB at the top level. GB are very much a team who will be back and forth between D1A and D1B.
I like to make a comparison between hockey and rugby in Finland and GB.
Namely, in Finland hockey is a main-stream spectator-sport when as rugby is an esoteric sport and you will be hard-pressed to find people in Finland who know anything about rugby.
In GB it is the other way round concerning those two sports.
Namely, in Finland hockey is a main-stream spectator-sport when as rugby is an esoteric sport and you will be hard-pressed to find people in Finland who know anything about rugby.
In GB it is the other way round concerning those two sports.
Lol I remember this guy, he played for the Canucks Young Stars team a few years ago
Interesting! Can you please tell more about? Which kind of help was offered by the IIHF? Who refused this help?
stastny12
Registered User
Saw them played last year. Definitely don't have needed quality to keep themselves in elite group. I hope that they show me I'm wrong. It's really good to see some unusual hockey countries.
Yeah, GB will definitely be relegated and they might actually be relegated next year as well to go to Division 1B. GB doesn't have a youth programme. It will be impossible for them to get into the top flight for real without schooling players a whole better than they do now.
It was a few years ago now, I remember Rene Fasel commenting during a press conference at some point I think, stated that they'd offered some assistance to IHUK (Ice Hockey UK) and they'd turned it down. I can't remember the exact issue but I remember there being some GB fans disappointed.
This is an article where Fasel discusses things slightly: https://www.thenational.scot/sport/...ic-exit-confirms-the-need-for-unified-vision/
If we were going to do that we might as well rename ourselves Team British Empire as half the roster is Canadian and American!A potentially daft/nitpicking question: shouldn't it be "Team UK", not merely "Team GB", if the roster includes players from Belfast Giants?
Thank you for posting the link. Unfortunately I can see two of similarities with the way of thinking dominating in the Italian hockey:
1. the more Canadians in the national team, the more chances to archive goals. This is not necessarily true, because the skills needed to perform at World Championship and to be successful in the domestic league are not the same.
2. only an high level of imports guarantees a high-level of the game, every fan wants to see a winning team playing entertaining hockey, therefore the more imports in the team the more fans in the arena. This is also not entirely true, because some fan likes more franchise players fighting on the ice than spectacular players waiting for an offer from a better league.
EIHL seems to me a business without a real passion for the game of hockey, what if one day the business is over?
This is exactly how it is unfortunately!
There's probably two or three teams in the league who prioritise hockey over the business side of things. One of those is Cardiff and they're on track to win their third league title in a row (league is prioritised over playoffs here).
The other big teams such as Nottingham, Sheffield and Belfast are all business first, results second.
The fans in the UK are pretty passionate about the sport, and if their team is underperforming they'll make the team well aware. But as the owners tend to be business before sports fans, the complaints usually fall on deaf ears.
3 Minute Minor
Registered User
- Sep 29, 2009
- 5,201
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This is misleading. The IIHF offered to assist with development of a new governing body because IHUK has absolutely zero affiliation with the junior program (EIHA & SIHA). These associations actually voted to merge into a new governing body and the work is apparently taking place to do so right now.
A potentially daft/nitpicking question: shouldn't it be "Team UK", not merely "Team GB", if the roster includes players from Belfast Giants?
They play for Belfast, they're not from Belfast.
They have a youth programme. It's not great but they have one. It developed a player like Liam Kirk so... it exists. And they are actually getting better results at U18/U20 than most of this GB Senior team ever experienced.
If we were going to do that we might as well rename ourselves Team British Empire as half the roster is Canadian and American!
Half the roster is not Canadian and American.
For example you marked Brett Perlini and Jackson Whistle as dual nats. Both of these players played in the EIHA junior setup. The only differences between O'Connor and Perlini are their birthplace and Perlini found a little more success in NA. Perlini was born in Canada to Fred Perlini but moved to England as an infant and grew up British. They both left at the age of 14 for Ontario. O'Connor went OHL route, Perlini went NCAA.
Perlini and Whistle were both eligible for the GB U18s and U20s but skipped the tournaments.
Tim Billingsley, Dallas Erhardt, Mike Hammond, and Ben Lake are the only 4 that never grew up in GB although Hammond was born there.
Cardiff is maybe the most business-first team these days. It was their managing director that coined the term (or at least popularized it) "The EIHL is not a development league." and his teams have backed up that statement. They had one of the most promising young British D-men sign with Cardiff and they put him on the 4th line as a winger. 2 years later and he's back in Scotland trying to re-discover his game after totally losing his identity in Cardiff. Not to mention Josh Batch who was making the GBs regularly for a couple of seasons before Cardiff moved him to the 4th line wing role as well.
Sheffield under Thompson was ready to sacrifice business for hockey and the fans ran him out of town months after they had the first British trained NHL draft pick. Nottingham has the most used Brit-pack in the league with the likes of Perlini, Farmer, Lee, Betteridge, Lachowicz.
snipes
How cold? I’m ice cold.
- Dec 28, 2015
- 56,205
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They should naturalize or grant citizenship to some Canadians to join their team.
Given the close ties between the two countries it should be easier than other nations.
Given the close ties between the two countries it should be easier than other nations.
So you Think Samuel Duggans move to Cardiff is a bad choice?
People was talking about him, being the biggest talent in British hockey sine Tony Hand.
Now his numbers are very limited.
I hope Russell will take a look at Scott Conway. His numbers in NCAA er very promising. He sould be a part of the national programme.
People was talking about him, being the biggest talent in British hockey sine Tony Hand.
Now his numbers are very limited.
I hope Russell will take a look at Scott Conway. His numbers in NCAA er very promising. He sould be a part of the national programme.
You have to play two years at a domestic league to be able to play for a country. I doubt that there are Canadiens/American who would be able to give Team GB a significant boost would do that, they'd rather stay in NA or join a European league which pays better salaries.
