Ben O'Connor. That goal and what it means.

Mooney#16

Mooney#16

Well-Known Member
#1
Thread starter #1
First of tip of the hat to you Ben O'Connor. That was as skillful and ballsy a move as I've seen and to pull it of you deserve all the plaudits coming your way.

Now just to rehash an old arguement. The future of hockey in this country revolves around the success / failure of the national team not the EIHL. With one move O'Connor just put ice hockey into everyone's living room this morning and spread the word around the globe. It's a magical demonstration that an import laden top tier has a defined ceiling in growth but a talented GB player can capture the media attention instantly.

The sad reality is O'Connor went to Kazahkstan to be coached and play to the required level to get that good. It would be false to call him a GB developed product. The proof is there. The players have the talent. The framework is broke and the EIHL is not a good enough league. I hope this really is a wake up call to the money men and policy makers. Back the national program.
 
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Devilsdude4

New Member
#3
#3
See I have nothing against what your saying, but i wouldn't watch ice hockey in Britain if it were mainly British players,i think there are only 10 to 20 really good players in the eihl that are are British, and the rest are garbage,
so unless there's 8 or more imports in a team I wouldn't go,
 
Devil_Abroad

Devil_Abroad

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
I used to watch it in the days of 3 imports, then 3 imports and an import who had a great great grandparent who was Scottish or whatever....

Though the standard compared to outside UK was poor, the hockey itself was just as exciting.

If you have a level playing field between the teams then the product looks after itself. If you have 2 or 3 teams dominating because they have the funds to buy the best of the pool then the product suffers.

We need a product where teams can compete and so spread the talent but also where teams feel able to invest in UK youth structure

It's a difficult nut to crack but one I'm sure that those with hockey backgrounds are working hard to bring about

Can't say how amazed I am by the skill, speed, and coaching displayed by the Brits

Loving it




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Finny

Finny

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
Mooney#16 said:
The sad reality is O'Connor went to Kazahkstan to be coached and play to the required level to get that good. It would be false to call him a GB developed product. The proof is there. The players have the talent. The framework is broke and the EIHL is not a good enough league. I hope this really is a wake up call to the money men and policy makers. Back the national program.
Click to expand...
Aren't you contradicting yourself there though?

You say we need the EIHL to be of a higher standard, and then seem to be suggesting we need less imports - which would lower the standard of the EIHL?

For me, players like O'Connor and Batch have done the right thing by going over to N. America in their early teens. Junior Development over there is so far ahead of us it's a no brainer for anyone who wants to take the sport seriously

When O'Connor returned, the EIHL wasn't as high a standard as he wanted and so went elsewhere. Presumably after returning to the UK this year he felt the standard was high enough for him to stay.
 
Mooney#16

Mooney#16

Well-Known Member
#6
Thread starter #6
It would be a contradiction if I wanted the import level to drop today but I don't. What I want is the EIHL though to cease with this arms race on imports that see all top level revenue essentially put into foreign players pockets and in reality taken home to Canada. I want there to be real terms inward investment from the top to assist in kick starting change to youth development. Funding for ice time, facilities on and off ice and more specifically inward investment into coaching and expertise.

I want a system that will provide a succession of 20 year olds who can skate to professional / international standard with the fitness to compete for a full 60 mins. Who can stick handle well enough to carry a puck in transition and have the physical skill to protect the puck and play the body at the highest levels. When that system is in place then I want to see the import level reduced. However with a view that the overall standard is still on the rise. The GB team improves. Interest, revenue and sponsorship increases. Your standard of import to the league increases and GB players improve further. End result you have a sustainable system built from the bottom up with a improved top tier with a far more even split and a GB team knocking on the door of Pool A and Olympic qualification that the BOA are prepared to get behind.

I know I'm a broken record on this but I love the sport not just Devils. Thinking beyond my 2.5 hours entertainment a week I want the sport to fulfil its potential in this country. An EIHL filled with imports is not a progressive future.
 
K

kivo1889

New Member
#7
#7
Last night I watched a show on ITV 1 that featured some kids from an estate in Nottingham somewhere, were being taught by Torvill and Dean to put on an period break ice dance routine at the NIC. It was Panthers v Devils, and the game and audience shots had quite a lot of screen time. I'd guess it would have been watched by a million or more people as it's on terrestrial TV. Many of whom probably had no idea that ice hockey was played in front of 5,000 people in the UK (thankfully they didn't go to a Caps v Hull game in front of 500 people!).

That and Ben's goal on BBC breakfast TV are just the kind of coverage the EIHL needs.
 
G

Gospel

Active Member
#8
#8
The game of ice hockey will not get funding as its a minority sport. It will continue to be a minority sport until it gets more exposure on tv, newspapers and sports magazines. To do that teams need to be doing something 'special' or out of the ordinary, ie, NHL'ers signing, etc

When the game has that publicity, more funding will be forthcoming then they can look at reducing imports.

Things like this wont help get the exposure of terrestrial tv http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-32351933
 
Mooney#16

Mooney#16

Well-Known Member
#9
Thread starter #9
There are many so called minority sports in the UK many with lower participation and audience figures but they still get their cut on BOA funding and also gain blue chip sponsorships because they support the grass roots of there sport and are able to compete at or near the top of their sports.

We have just played an entire domestic season of EIHL hockey with not a sniff on the mainstream media. Hell they don't even report on the sport on sports personality of the year. Yet GB win three games on the bounce at the worlds with O'Connor pulling an elite dangle and they feature on BBC breakfast sport supplement two mornings in one week. Marketing gold. No amount of gimmicks at EIHL level can get that headline exposure.

Hockey has to start to look out for itself in this country not plead poverty and cry minority. There is a domestic financial pot. How it is spent is the key. They can't just wait for funding to arrive. They need to find a way. The resistance to change has now led to this situation with IHUK having their hand forced by IIHF over the U20 league.
 
G

Gospel

Active Member
#10
#10
Im pretty sure that most clubs, no matter what league, have made contact with numerous companies of all levels seeking sponsorship, without much success. That tells me they don't want to touch ice hockey with a barge pole at present as they will get nothing from it, so its no wonder there's no funding coming from other sources.

Without more media coverage nothing will change. You can bang on about lowering import levels all you want but it wont happen nor will it increase the skill levels of the GB players.

Quality imports = better games, better games = bigger crowds, bigger crowds = media coverage, media coverage = yet more supporters/players, more players = potential change.
 
dave

dave

Well-Known Member
#13
#13
I think we have to look fuller into the EIHA set up and the coaching at the junior club levels.
If I was a youngster now and wanted a career due to the coaching standards then abroad would be a better option both before reaching the level of Elite league and further. Maybe in a few years the Benefits of the OHA scheme will see that bridge gapped in development in the UK. Again this only benefits the GB programme more in the longer term.
 
Bails77

Bails77

Member
#14
#14
For me, being out of the game for a while, it's just great to see a British team of which nearly all are British born and play in the UK and are playing excellent Hockey. I remember in years gone by where the national team was stacked with plastic Brits which for me did nothing for the game or the national teams identity and probably deterred businesses from investing in the sport. If this team can go on to achieve something in this tournament it will be fantastic and hopefully raise the profile to where it deserves to be.
In regards to the structure of the game in is country it is really crying out for some investment from major television companies and from the government. If only to support the juniors to come through so that they can compete at a high level. I was reading an article on the IIHF website, Jim Paek says they have the same problem in South Korea whereby the structure once a player reaches their teens falls short. They've got the added challenge of preparing for a Winter Olympics in 3 years time
Aside from the politics hats off again to the GB team and the coaching staff, awesome!!!!!
 
I

Ibbz9

Active Member
#15
#15
There are a load of reasons that may or may not be hindering the development if Brits. A player aged 16+ in this country is usually starting to think about their career path. There is often pressure from parents regarding education/college/university. This is where the drop off usually happens. Hockey, by many, is not considered a career path. The North American college system offers a way to combine both but there is not really that option in the UK. Not too many families could afford to send their son to a US university to go down this route.

It would be nice if clubs offered their uni places to Brits but in reality, they can attract better overseas players with this type of sponsorship.

To the Brits that chose the hockey path, those that go abroad to play generally improve a lot and usually hold their own. The downside is not many stick it out over a long period of time. In recent years Longstaff and Clarke played and did very well in Sweden and Italy. I know injuries played a part but it was only for one season.
 
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