No NIHL1 Team Next Season?

[Finny]

First, apologies for not posting this in the Rumour Thread but I thought that it deserved it's own thread if true.

Has anyone else heard rumours over the past couple of days that the Devils' NIHL1 team is going to be scrapped for next year? Surely to do so would be madness - especially if the rumours of a smaller EIHL budget are also true?

We had these rumours a couple of years ago and they turned out to be true, though in the end the club changed their mind and kept them. And it was extremely fortunate that they did because we ended up having a terrible injury crisis and the ENL1 side (as it was then) came to our rescue. Players like Harding and Chris Jones stepped up and ended up staying with the EIHL team.

This year we've called up NIHL1 players time and time again like never before. I reckon this year alone we called up 12 players from them, with another 6 who have joined the EIHL team over the past couple of years like CJ.

My stats don't always include where we called up brits from, but it has to be around 30 players over the past 3 or 4 seasons. Can we really afford to lose a resource as important as that?

Have there been any signing announcements regarding the NIHL teams? Would we expect to have by now?

 

[fried egg]

It would be a disaster to lose them, but the fact of the matter is they are just not supported enough. I watch them quite a bit and NIHL 2 and the value for money is superb. We have had players like Davies, Piggott, Quinny, CJ, Harding all pass through there into the first team in the last couple of years. My main concern would be the knock on effect to the juniors, players like Buglass need to cut their teeth somewere and the step up from NIHL 2 to the first team is too big. Surely if we need to cut a team it would be NIHL 2 not NIHL 1 ? Either way that's not good news if true.

 

[showboat]

We have been lucky to run a 1 and 2 side for all players to continue playing,

but to progress i feel you have to play in the top flight ( like all sports ), so the step up

is not to great, does the dcf just want to run an nihl 2 team ? time will tell , WD

 

[Skate_It_Off!!!]

As far as I understand NIHL2 pay subs and are self-financing whereas NIHL1 has players who are exempt from subs.

For the past 2 seasons NIHL 1 have only been able to train on one evening per week due to lack of funding.

 

[The Snab]

It would be a disaster to lose them, but the fact of the matter is they are just not supported enough. I watch them quite a bit and NIHL 2 and the value for money is superb. We have had players like Davies, Piggott, Quinny, CJ, Harding all pass through there into the first team in the last couple of years. My main concern would be the knock on effect to the juniors, players like Buglass need to cut their teeth somewere and the step up from NIHL 2 to the first team is too big. Surely if we need to cut a team it would be NIHL 2 not NIHL 1 ? Either way that's not good news if true.

And not forgetting that Jordan Powell, Chris Hart, Louie Lockwood and Jamie Hayes were called up.
It'll be a massive blow for development if NIHL1 is pulled as it is a huge step up from 1 to Elite or even EPL .

As for funding the players fund their away trips, insurances and kit and not so long ago players were driving their own vehicles to away games because the bus was to expensive # commitment

 

[hockeyhead29]

On the other hand you have to wonder how sustainable nihl1 is anyway. Slough jets have stepped down from the EPL and the likelihood is they will be playing in Nihl1 next year. This means that the number of professional teams in nihl1 will increase and the gap between the top four or five will increase even further than it already has. I can see it becoming a growing trend for some of the teams that struggle financially in the epl to drop down to nihl1 and pushing some of the smaller teams into nihl (and creating a stronger nihl2 league).

 

[Kipper]

I believe there will be a NIHL1 team next season. Whether it comes under the auspices of DCF/ Devils is unclear

 

[hockeyhead29]

Does that mean someone is trying to take the nihl1 team away from club ? Wouldn't they need nihl2 as its usually their fees that pay for nihl1 ?

 

[Whoopie]

I agree with "The Snab". If there was no NIHL 1 what would happen to the under 18 development players? Would they "jump" to EPL before Joining the Elite team? If the nearest EPL team is Swindon what is to say that they will return to Cardiff?

This season we did not have Scarborough, Fisher or Osman. The talented Adam Wood left to go travelling early on in the season. The majority of the players (as far as I am Aware) are working and are having to pay towards bus fares to away games. Not all of them are able to travel to away games. I believe the position in the league would be better if more players were able to go to away games. It is not easy or guaranteed that the top teams will secure a win at home. Cardiff finished a respectable 5th or was it 6th? Certainly not bottom 2. That's not bad considering a few players with injuries and Wilkinson's rather large ban for coming back onto the ice in flip flops!!!!!

Not forgetting that when a player is called up by the Elite this leaves one less to travel, one less to contribute to the points and contribute to the cost of the bus !

There are some players who will not get into the Elite team. However they have the experience on the ice and this must benefit the development players.

For those who support NIHL 1 it is great value for money. It is good hockey and entertaining. I believe it serves a valuable purpose and hope it will still be in existence in September.

 

[Chevy]

I'm a big fan of the ENL 1 team, but to be fair when push comes to shove not many travel away, some have work, some use work as an excuse, if you read the hockey forum Cardiff are renowned for travelling light, using the under 21 ENL2 players to make up the numbers, we have good players but not always committed

 

[Armchair Coach]

I hope there will be an NIHL1 team next season. As Whoopie says, they are good value for money and there have been some very entertaining games over the years.

Can they compete with the top quasi professional teams? Yes to a degree, Will they ever win the league/playoffs? Unlikely unless something radical happens - which like most things in life comes down to money.

They showed they are capable of wins against the top sides this year (at home), but their Achilles heel is the inability for some players to be able to commit to away games, which means the less experienced developing players get called up to only feature in away games - that's a scenario that will only ever alienate the desire of the developing players from wanting to play, as their reward for playing the away games is not to feature at home games, or if they do, they ride the pine for the majority of the game and ice time is limited to crossing to the penalty box to serve a bench minor.

One observation is that in previous seasons the NIHL have always produced a Match Programme - something that if I recall correctly, was only done for the last game this season. I know from my experience with the Junior teams, producing a simple programme and raffle prizes has helped finance a junior team's entry to a summer Tournament - ok £450 may not sound a great amount, but then we were only selling to immediate family members of home and away supporters (top end numbers approx 45) and only 9 home games - the NIHL play 27 home games with crowds, which on occasions can be upwards of 100 people. The Maths is quite simple. It simply needs some people to volunteer to help out the existing stretched resources.

 

[James]

I assume the lack of programme was down to Arms no longer playing for the Devils.

 

[Paul Sullivan]

I assume the lack of programme was down to Arms no longer playing for the Devils.

Arms was a fantastic servant to the setup on and off the ice, but actually the reason for no programmes was closer to home. The Club were going to print the programmes for the NIHL1 team (they offered to do it) but never actually did get around to it. Shame really as, with a sponsored colour photocopier and (and supplies) all it would have taken was the effort to run them off.

Programmes can make a very big difference to the finances of each game too, so they were definitely missed.

It's not the only time things have been promised and not delivered but it was the easiest one to make happen. And as the nature of this thread shows, very little assistance or love has come the way of this very valuable asset of the Club. I could be wrong but I think the last article on the main website about the NIHL team is around January of 2013, which tells a story (or not) - pun intended.

 

[showboat]

Paul you are correct, this season they could not get there games on the devils website to attract people,
it was all word and mouth or social media, totally abandoned by the club , unless they are short and asked to
provide players to cover. it was commom knowledge that pope and elson did not like nihl 1,
as i have said previously we watched many games from a very committed team who seem to have drawen the short straw,
Kipper i heared a similar thing ?

 

[hockeyhead29]

That's far from true, Brent has been and continues to be a big supporter of Nihl1 whilst Jamie Elson focussed on the 18s and the age groups below. The bigger question remains, is the club getting rid of nihl1 or as kipper mentions is someone going to take nihl1 and run it themselves sway from the club.