I would like to start this blog with some attrition. Following my previous comments about Frank Doyle's move to Cardiff and why I found it unpleasing that he had seemingly reneged on a contract to potentially sign with the Steelers a number of days later, a number of people pointed out to me that it may well have been written into his contract that a free university place was available.
Not wanting to be known as one of those people who can't acknowledge when they are wrong, should it have been part of Doyle's contract that he was entitled to a university place which was subsequently withdrawn then I understand why he would have decided against moving to the Devils. I had a very interesting debate on Twitter the day my last blog was published where I tried to convey that it was a shame that seemingly one of the major lures for players who come over here is the education that can be offered and not necessarily the on ice product. People commented that as a league we are unable to offer the money to players that the European leagues can and that free education goes some way to counter that disparity. Although I understand the logic behind that, it still leads me to question the commitment of players on occasion when maybe they are reaching the end of their careers and the course on offer at the local uni is more of an important factor than the actual team they will be playing for. The Elite League and British Ice Hockey in general needs to raise its stature and importance so that perhaps somewhere down the line teams will firstly remain solvent and stable and secondly be able to afford a higher calibre of player.
Now I will be the first to admit I don't have all the answers as to how we achieve this, the setting up of the conference system has for now made the on ice product more exciting whilst helping some teams maintain financial stability, however I think it is time to look at the cup system.....
Last season as winners the Panthers played 14 games to win the Challenge Cup. Of these 14 games, 3 doubled up as league fixtures so there were essentially 11 additional fixtures added into the domestic league season. I think there is an argument to be made that this is too many and that the initial group stages where only the bottom team gets knocked out is largely a pointless exercise. So I had a couple of suggestions which may freshen up the competition whilst reducing the number of games played and these were:
1. All 10 Elite League Teams are drawn to play against each other from 'the proverbial hat' as they do in football. The initial round consists of a two legged tie. The five winning teams then enter a round robin stage however instead of playing the other four teams home and away, the fixtures are halved by playing home fixtures against half of the group and away fixtures against the other half. Each team in the group will have played four games, two home and two away. Lastly the top two finishing teams then play a two legged final. By the end of the competition, the winning team will have only played 8 games. I think the advantages here are that by the competition being shorter it may eliminate any doubling up of fixtures whilst the excitement will be added by the randomness of the draw.
2. My second idea, although I am unsure how feasible this is, is to open up the cup competition to all professional Ice Hockey teams in the country like the FA Cup. Qualifying could take place early on in the season until there are enough teams to stage a knockout tournament with two legged ties being played throughout the competition. I don't know whether the possibility of getting the Premier League clubs involved has been looked at before but if only they were involved, all that would be needed would be a way to get 20 teams down to 16. Perhaps one way of doing this is by allowing the top 6 finishing teams in the Premier League to qualify.
I don't think anyone would argue that whilst the Blaze enjoyed a fair amount of success under the stewardship of Paul Thompson whilst he was head coach, they had been under a slow decline for the past couple of seasons and a change was needed. I like the guy and what he has done for the sport in this country and I was one of a few who wanted his final send off to be with a play off final appearance. In has come Matt Soderstrom and so far I have been impressed with his recruitment to date this summer despite the recent disappointment of Schutte leaving for an alternative job opportunity back home. Back are Henrich, Egener and Olson from last year whilst Soderstrom has added some further quality in the signings of McMillin, Michael Henrich, Harvey, Ginand and new netminder Mike Zacharias who I suspect will only have to turn up to be more effective that Hirschy! Add to that returning Brit Ashley Tait and I think we could have an interesting 4 way title fight on our hands next season.
I only have one small concern. Thompson has now become Assistant Head Coach of Troja-Ljungby in Sweden but is still part owner and director of hockey operations at the Blaze. As head coach he is not going to be an easy act to follow, similar to that of David Moyes following Alex Ferguson at Manchester United (although I appreciate we are not talking the same scale) but I feel that for Soderstrom to have any sort of success next season and possibly and season afterwards he needs to do what he can to step out of Thompson's shadow. I am not going to comment on exactly what happens behind the scenes at Coventry, because I can't, but I hope that director of hockey operations is where is ends for Thompson and that Soderstrom is left to put his own personality on the Blaze team this season.
Lastly on a side note, I see alot of fans were berating the Steelers a while back for publicising the news that Lee Esders would not be resigning for them and joining Finnerty up in Braehead before Braehead had even announced the deal. It seems this week though that the Panthers may have joined in the acts of a classless nature as Peterborough have confirmed that Marc Levers has signed for them next season. Although I couldn't see anything on Marc's twitter feed to confirm or deny this, I wouldn't have thought that the Phantoms would be publishing this unless it was true. Many of you will have your own thoughts about Marc and his qualities but nobody can deny he has been a great servant to the club and at least deserved a piece on the official website thanking him for his service to the club. But it's ok, there is at least deals with Jurys Inn and Pizza Express.
So despite the fact I thought that he probably should have left last summer in order to find more regular playing time, I will do what the official site hasn't.............
Thank you Marc Levers for your professionalism, dedication, hard work and years of service to the Nottingham Panthers. You will be missed by many fans and I for one wish you the very best of luck in Peterborough.
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