2018/2019 will be best year yet
- Thread starter BrianParker
- Start date
I would say the overall standard is better now, perhaps only except goaltending although we have some strong goalies now too around the league, so that may be debatable also. We had Lyle, Herlofsky, Caprice back then and there were some great netties around the rest of the league during ISL days such as Cowley, Pietrangelo, Robins etc. No doubt plenty of players back then could still perform at this level. The likes of Thornton, Hodge, Matulik, Moria, Lindman, etc etc would grace any team now, but overall, for me, the current league has at last surpassed ISL standard, particularly with some of the new additions this coming year around the league who have real pedigree. I thought last year the overall standard reached a plateau somewhat, but this off season I think the EIHL has kicked on again.
The ISL v EIHL debate is always an interesting one. For me, the ISL is still stronger. Let’s not forget, in those days teams were stacked with 20 imports and only the best brits (Coopers, Hand, Chinn, Longstaff, Stoney and a couple of others) made the lineups. The Brit’s in the league today would have been left out wholesale (apart from maybe Richie, O’Connor and Shields).
I think any ISL side would beat an EIHL side - think of the squads that Ayr, Sheffield had (who were overall strongest throughout the ISL era).
I think the gap had closed, but for total squad depth, the ISL would still be better in my eyes.
I think any ISL side would beat an EIHL side - think of the squads that Ayr, Sheffield had (who were overall strongest throughout the ISL era).
I think the gap had closed, but for total squad depth, the ISL would still be better in my eyes.
It’s always an interesting debate. Not having been around for the ISL I can’t speak to the caliber of player (NHL/AHL experience) but I can guarantee that the quality of player is better now just based on where hockey has gone over the last 30 years. If you tracked the speed of play, 13-14 year old kids in Canada playing at the top level are playing faster than NHL’ers were in the 80’s. that’s an incredible stat but it’s true. The game and the players playing it are far superior to in the past but it’s all relative within each era so you can debate it either way.
Been meaning to re read this book for a while but just got around to scanning it to a PDF to read on the fly via my phone/tablet.
It’s the 1998 book; A Game of Three Halves: British Ice Hockey's Changing World by Liam Sluyter.
Excellent book, giving an insight into ISL hockey behind the scenes, great read.
The book is twenty years old, not commercially available any longer and out of print for sometime, so I doubt there will be any IP/Copyright issues in sharing it here, but Mods feel free to delete the post if you see fit.
Enjoy! https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/8595b919-351c-43a5-a6fd-9df73ff19d9a
It’s the 1998 book; A Game of Three Halves: British Ice Hockey's Changing World by Liam Sluyter.
Excellent book, giving an insight into ISL hockey behind the scenes, great read.
The book is twenty years old, not commercially available any longer and out of print for sometime, so I doubt there will be any IP/Copyright issues in sharing it here, but Mods feel free to delete the post if you see fit.
Enjoy! https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/8595b919-351c-43a5-a6fd-9df73ff19d9a