What’s your take on this

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #1
Myself I think this season has been one of the least entertaining seasons for awhile, there’s no characters at all in the league the Faryna,s, Fitzgerald’s, Keefe,s etc, etc, no longer exist, they are now like Dinosaurs. We all accept fighting is not the be all of the game, but how crummy watching hockey players turning the other cheek, and four Neanderthals trying to destroy the game, and trying to make it their show. The game has good speed, good skill, but if you dare to look at a opponent with a glare your binned. I love this sport with a passion, and have done since 1986, but it’s getting sour, and fairly boring at times, and I hate saying that and am certainly not trying to start a negative theme, but I think it’s very true that a huge part of the entertainment on game night is slowly slipping away. This isn’t a knock to our team, it’s a general consensus about this league, over to you.
 

jenks33

Well-Known Member
#2
I don’t know about anybody else but when I sit down and watch an NHL game I must say to myself at least a dozen times “ That would be a penalty in the Elite League”. I appreciate I’m comparing our officials to the best officials in the world but it’s still very frustrating. Do I blame our officials entirely? Absolutely not. Another thing i notice more in the NHL is the lack of whining from supporters and players whenever a player is touched. Don’t get me wrong it happens but not half as much as over here. I find supporters in our league (including us) plus the coaches are up in arms far too often about fairly small incidents. So I do feel sorry for the officials at times. You watch a match in Fife, it’s a great barn but their fans jump up and scream for a penalty for the slightest touch. It’s definitely a football fan mentality which you don’t necessarily get in the NHL. It’s so refreshing when you watch a challenge cup final or the play off weekend when generally the whistle is put away.
 

Mooney#16

Well-Known Member
#3
It’s a thinker. Myself I think it’s a culmination of a number of things. Fighting has near enough been officiated out of the game by the instigator rule. The onus is then to play fast but physical hockey. In many leagues now that is what you see but in the EIHL even the physicality is seemingly being officiated out of it. That coupled with a league that has more and more parity in 5 v 5 hockey and sees special teams winning games players seem very reluctant to throw hits for the fear it will cost there team. However the players themselves are also a lot more skilled at trying to evade hits now which doesn’t lend itself to seeing a demolition derby. I mean genuinely try and go and hit Gleason Fournier. Very hard thing to do he is so agile on his edges. Ice hockey has seen huge change as a sport and EIHL really reflects that. The sterilisation clearly turns some people off but you have to either find a way to enjoy modern hockey or you will fall out of love with it.
 

Diablo3

Well-Known Member
#4
I get what you are saying, and while I don't mind the occasional retribution, I don't want to see that all the time. We have had a few periods lately where we have just tilted the ice against the opposition, that kind of hockey I love.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
#5
I think if you grew up in an era of a sport when there were hard men, less rules, more flowing game and refs who were happy to let a game flow then it was a great era to be a supporter.
These days in almost every sport the rules and regulations are making most of them dull to watch.
The younger supporters coming through now with families won't know any different as this is the era they are growing up with.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #6
But hockey is a minority sport in the UK, it has to have something that sets it apart from other sports, and those differences are slipping away, I ain’t talking about brawls, bench clearances, pre meditated nonsense, but the entertainment element is being sucked out of it. Rugby is a far tougher sport than hockey today, without a doubt, as I have said there’s no characters today, and it’s getting very stale unfortunately, be honest how many games have you gone home this season thinking what a game, be honest.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#7
Hockey in the U.K. is being dictated by a small group wanting a family oriented sport & atmosphere. It’s as simple as that. Whilst it’s a minority sport, it’s a business that has to be profitable to survive, but it’s target demographic is wrong. To which feeds down to the style of players & reluctance to change officiating method.
 
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august04

Well-Known Member
#9
Hockey in the U.K. is being dictated by a small group wanting a family oriented sport & atmosphere. It’s as simple as that. Whilst it’s a minority sport, it’s a business that has to be profitable to survive, but it’s target demographic is wrong. To which feeds down to the style of players & reluctance to change officiating method.
I absolutely agree with this. The EIHL game is being sanitised on and off the ice by owners who seem more intent on turning ice rinks into kids crèches on match nights, and our own management is as much to blame as anyone for this. And the product over here is becoming less and less entertaining year on year, despite what they’d have you believe - in part by removing the “edge” from our game. Most games for me this season have been a little “meh” and frankly quite boring. Average skill levels with no real physicality anymore doesn’t make for good watching unfortunately.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#15
I absolutely agree with this. The EIHL game is being sanitised on and off the ice by owners who seem more intent on turning ice rinks into kids crèches on match nights, and our own management is as much to blame as anyone for this. And the product over here is becoming less and less entertaining year on year, despite what they’d have you believe - in part by removing the “edge” from our game. Most games for me this season have been a little “meh” and frankly quite boring. Average skill levels with no real physicality anymore doesn’t make for good watching unfortunately.
100% correct. The EIHL has become boring and I think the NIHL has a far more entertaining product these days.
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
#16
Hockey in the U.K. is being dictated by a small group wanting a family oriented sport & atmosphere. It’s as simple as that. Whilst it’s a minority sport, it’s a business that has to be profitable to survive, but it’s target demographic is wrong. To which feeds down to the style of players & reluctance to change officiating method.
I don't know how on the one hand one can accept it's a business and then on the other hand state the target demographic is wrong.
Most teams (outside Scotland?) are seeing growing gates showing the target demographic is right from the owners perspective.
Yes, the game has/is changing but this is a global thing. Maybe being a small leauge the way change is managed is different to some of the larger leagues but the gates suggest the sport is going in the right direction from a business perspective.
Those who want a different type of game to the current one need to accept this (and yes this may be reluctantly). The increasing spectator numbers suggest though that this is being accepted and, I would guess, there are plenty of people replacing those who no longer go to hockey because of the changes
 

Ocko

Well-Known Member
#17
It is boring. I’ve not got a season ticket this year because I’m deployed (I still watch most on webcast), have I missed it? Other than spending time with my son and grandfather - probably not.

I actually think we’re one of the more physical teams in the league. But that is hardly a great endorsement. The officials/way officials are directed is killing the game. Every big hit is called (Fournier vs Coventry last weekend prime example). I think DOPS and the refs are on a different page. DOPS are actually fairly lenient and lend themselves to the North American game however refs are forever calling everything.

Only the owners of teams can do something about it and they aren’t for some reason. Same as the instigator rule, almost everyone hates - so get rid of it. It’s the leagues choice after all, but for some reason they don’t.
 

RTfarty

Active Member
#19
Around the roundabout we go again..
  • No, it isn't quite what it used to be
  • The game is moving on
  • Player safety is important
  • Owners are not telling players to play with 'less edge'
  • UK crowds and participation in the sport are growing
RE: Ice rinks being turned into crèches. Kids are the future of the game. The more that go on to play the game, the better chance it has to grow in the UK.

See you all in 3 months?
 
#20
It used to be a case that we would talk about games through the week and to friends and family, for the last few seasons as soon as I leave the rink I don't even think about hockey until I'm back in the rink for the next game.

I think the problem with our league and the apathy towards hockey now from quite a few is the fact that we change our rule and regulations to align with what the NHL is doing but the problem with that is that if you take fighting and physical play away from the NHL, you're left watching the best ice hockey players in the world playing against each other, if you do the same over here you're left with very average players with one or two exceptions playing very average hockey.

If every team was made up of Fournier's on defence and Joey Martins as forwards then that would be game worth the entrance fee but we don't and I think that's where the problem is over here, block 13 is a perfect example of where hockey is now, the atmosphere was always generated by the game itself (I'm not saying there weren't rubbish atmospheres too), now while block 13 has been a fantastic addition in my view and I hope it can grow, we have had to manufacture this "fake" atmosphere to give games a bit of life
 
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