EIHL/NIHL Cup competition?

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #1
Instead of the Challenge Cup would a Cup competition between all league teams be better like the F.A. Cup.

There may be giant killing game (Not aimed at Belfast), some up and coming talent could be spotted, could give the smaller teams some extra revenue. may get to see Petr Cech in action.

A shock final of Bracknell V Cardiff.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#2
Cech plays for Guildford in NIHL2 which is below NIHL1 which is below NIHL which is below EIHL.

Sounds a nice idea, but a loaded EIHL side with the amount of imports permitted would destroy an NIHL team. It would hardly be entertaining - unless you like watching one sided drubbings.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #4
OK so what if the EIHL teams didn't enter until NIHL were down to their last 8 or last 4? Look at some of the upsets in football and rugby.
St. Peters beat Cardiff RFC in 1993 and at that time Cardiff were the team at the top of their game with Welsh internationals. St Peters were part time players made up of painters, shop workers, solicitors etc and Cardiff the week before had beaten Plymouth 107-3.
Wrexham beat Arsenal in 1992. Arsenal full of world class internationals with Wrexham being in the lowly fourth division.
Upsets can happen.
We get given the chance to play against the best teams in Europe, why shouldn't the NIHL teams be given the chance to play against the best teams in Britain?
Lets be fair we've seen some shocking games over the years, real bore fests, maybe these lower teams may not have the skill but i bet they'll give it their all.
Rutkis plays for Swindon on a dual, Stevie Lyle played his last four seasons at Swindon, so they can't be that bad
 
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BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#5
It does need a revamp to play guidford and coventry 4 times in a group stage was farcical tbh, i would go with 10 teams at start of season , draw 2 groups of 5 random , play each team home and away and top 2 go through to semis
 
#7
OK so what if the EIHL teams didn't enter until NIHL were down to their last 8 or last 4? Look at some of the upsets in football and rugby.
St. Peters beat Cardiff RFC in 1993 and at that time Cardiff were the team at the top of their game with Welsh internationals. St Peters were part time players made up of painters, shop workers, solicitors etc and Cardiff the week before had beaten Plymouth 107-3.
Wrexham beat Arsenal in 1992. Arsenal full of world class internationals with Wrexham being in the lowly fourth division.
Upsets can happen.
We get given the chance to play against the best teams in Europe, why shouldn't the NIHL teams be given the chance to play against the best teams in Britain?
Lets be fair we've seen some shocking games over the years, real bore fests, maybe these lower teams may not have the skill but i bet they'll give it their all.
Rutkis plays for Swindon on a dual, Stevie Lyle played his last four seasons at Swindon, so they can't be that bad

Max Birbraer also plays for Swindon. So does Chris Jones (I think).

I watched quite a bit of NIHL towards the end of last season, a team made up of EIHL fourth liners would thrash a top NIHL team like Telford/Swindon etc.

However, if the gulf wasn't so big then I'd love the idea of a mixed cup competition. It would be interesting to see more teams as opposed to Blaze and Flames umpteen times a season.
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
#8
It does need a revamp to play guidford and coventry 4 times in a group stage was farcical tbh, i would go with 10 teams at start of season , draw 2 groups of 5 random , play each team home and away and top 2 go through to semis
This is far too logical (particularly the concept of a draw for the 1st round) but would not help gate revenues. Except may be those that don't like the cup might appreciate it more if it was more focused and a proper knockout as opposed to engineered,unbalanced mini leagues

Don't forget this is the EIHL we're talking about so let's just dream unless COVID-19 forces a shortened season
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #9
I do get the gulf thing but who knows, every dog can have its day in a one off game.

Lincoln in the national league beat premiership Burnley
Non league Sutton beat top flight Coventry.
First Division Newcastle were beaten by Southern league Hereford

Anything can happen on the day.

We as supporters would love to see our team play against a NHL side (never going to happen) even though we know we'd get hammered, we'd still like to see it, that would be like Oxford City Raiders against us but the smaller team fans would still like to see it just in case of the upset.
its the David and Goliath story.
 
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#10
Excellent point regarding us vs a NHL team. On that note, a top EIHL team playing against a minnow would likely attract a bumper crowd and a bit of a pay day for them. Im all for that, I'd love to see the sport grow in the UK and the EIHL expand :)
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #11
Lets face it, Ice Hockey with all its new rules and regulations is still more exciting than football and rugby.
Football now is almost a non contact sport as players fall over a blade of grass that's too long and rugby will become touch rugby in time, so ice hockey in the UK does deserve to become bigger.
 

tim78

Well-Known Member
#12
I like the idea of the challange cup starting in the nihl and those top 4 being added to a new style eihl cup. I know they re going to get drummed but it offers the lower league the opportunity to see the step up without commitment. I'm sure the same was said about the eihl in the chl.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#13
I’m surprised the league hasn’t looked at expanding the challenge cup to include a few French teams. That would be good exposure for all teams concerned plus the travel costs would be fairly similar to EIHL away games. I’d imagine a lot of U.K. fans would want to see their team in action on the road and vice versa for the French.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#14
I’m surprised the league hasn’t looked at expanding the challenge cup to include a few French teams. That would be good exposure for all teams concerned plus the travel costs would be fairly similar to EIHL away games. I’d imagine a lot of U.K. fans would want to see their team in action on the road and vice versa for the French.
That’s a very good call, more fans would be into that i think, as opposed to the NIHL.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #15
I’m surprised the league hasn’t looked at expanding the challenge cup to include a few French teams. That would be good exposure for all teams concerned plus the travel costs would be fairly similar to EIHL away games. I’d imagine a lot of U.K. fans would want to see their team in action on the road and vice versa for the French.
As a competition that's a nice idea but its not accessible to everyone the same as CHL, those types of games come at a cost for travel and accommodation with spends. With having an all UK competition it can be a one day road trip.
A UK team in the CHL puts the EIHL in the shop window but we need to lift British ice hockey to a higher level and having a comp to include all teams like football does with league cup and F.A. cup may bring more interest from UK sports fans.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#16
It’s like everything - pay your money and make your choice. A flight to Scotland/Belfast v a flight to France. The difference isn’t going to be huge. You’d likely stay the night in Scotland/Ireland as you would France. A lot more interesting and competitive than seeing us hammer Telford, Swindon, Peterborough etc 20-0. One sided hammering are not going to lift the British games - that’s going back to the 1980’s again!
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #17
I get what your saying but again its not about the difference in flight prices to France, Scotland or Belfast, these trips aren't affordable to everyone. Family of 4, 4 seats on flight, 2 rooms, 4 lots of spends, 4 tickets, these are expensive away games.
Cardiff to Telford one car, one day as only over 2 hours away and minimal spends.

I think the NIHL teams should be given the chance to play for a place in a cup competition against the EIHL teams.
Lets not forget we lost 9-2 to Frolunda and were massively outplayed and the score could have easily been more but we got the chance to play against the European elite and hopefully cause an upset, shouldn't the NIHL teams get a similar chance?
Its a knockout competition anything could happen.

If a smaller team say has 100 hard core fans who watch their team week in week out, then a bigger team visits and 500 turn up to watch, isn't that good exposure for the game no matter what the score?
You see these minnow football teams who terraces are normally empty packed out and extra seats added when a bigger name team visit, can't be a bad thing.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #19
But in that competition didn't some of the lesser teams finish above the EIHL teams? Think it was more like a league than a knockout competition.
 
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