If you read the message boards across the Elite League then it will come as no surprise to you that the EIHL looks set for major shake up’s this coming summer. It wouldn’t be an off-season in British Hockey without rumors, lack of answers, thoughts, theories and wild suggestions but this time the rumors seem strong and the possibility that we’ll be watching a six-team Elite League next season, down from a ten-team league this year, is very real.

Basingstoke is already gone and Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh look set to follow. Finances as always are the reason for the moves and with the credit crunch in full swing these four teams have clearly felt the pinch.

Most of the rumors suggest that Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh were looking for everyone to agree on a big cut on the imports limit while also cutting back on the wage cap. Of course the big teams like Belfast, Sheffield and Nottingham strongly disagreed knowing this would turn away quite a lot of fans who wanted to see a above average standard of hockey. Belfast, Sheffield and Nottingham along with Coventry and Hull of all teams had a meeting without the other four teams and decided they would rather press on with six teams with better quality than ten with a lower standard.

These are all rumors right now, of course though it seems certain teams are releasing info via ‘well connected’ fans on message forums. Everyone is just left wishing their respective teams would come forward and let them know the state of play. Especially given that many fans are holding onto their season ticket money for next season until they hear exactly what is going on.

So what would I rather see? What would be better?

Well the simple trade off is this: Six teams at a higher standard but playing the same teams all the time versus ten teams at a lower standard but much more variety in games.

For me it is a no brainer.

The league can survive on six teams and the fans can survive watching the likes of Nottingham every week. Sure how badly did numbers decrease when Edinburgh and Basingstoke come to town anyway? The only real shame would be losing a newly build rivalry with Newcastle and the Christmas double header in Edinburgh. Maintaining a good standard of hockey is a must for the arena teams that rely on a strong support coming through the doors every week.

I am just glad this is happening now and not in the early stages of next season. Better to lose any dead weight now than to have teams put together very subpar teams next year just because they feel they have to enter the league and end up having in effect a six team league – six competitive teams and four whipping boys.

A simple argument for the six-team league is that the NHL survived that way for years and many fans from them days said it was better than it is now. Sure they played each other lots but the talent pool is high.

In many ways that can be applied to a six-team EIHL. There would be four teams worth of imports looking a job which would surely constitute a higher quality of import across the six teams left when the teams selected their import players.

Same goes for the British players. One of the complaints among fans when the import level was decreased was that teams then had to select a British player for the sake of it – often someone who wasn’t really up to the standard. He would sit on the bench all night anyway forcing the lack of imports to play more and the upshot meant so much ice time for certain imports that they were even more prone to injuries. One look at the Giants injury list this season seems to suggest there is some truth to that. Other teams might agree.

With four teams dropping out that drops the number of British players in the league from about 70 in a ten team league to about 42 in a six team league. The most talented would remain and so would aid the quality of the league.

I can certainly understand some fans point of view that watching the same teams week in and week out would get annoying. I know many fans complained about that back in 2003 when a few teams dropped out leaving us a five team league for over half-a-season. People will also ask how the playoffs would work in a six team league . . . would all six make it or would it just go straight to the final-four? My answer to that is to look at what the NHL did in its original six days.

Another rumor going around is that to combat teams playing the same teams so often is that the league schedule would be simply reduced. Frustrating for the hockey addicted fan indeed who wants as many games as possible, but all it would likely do is cut out mid week games, allow players more times off (the injury factor again), and create a more intense season with less games meaning so much more. Hey, it works in College Hockey in North America were seasons are often very short, playing only on weekends.

As Bob Dylan once sang, “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind”.

That is certainly the case here and knowing the history of this league and its off-seasons well from past experience; do not expect to get the answers from your respective clubs anytime soon. In the memory of summer 2003 it could be August before we know exactly what is going on.

On the subject: EIHL Shake Up, Off Season, Rumors | ALL SUBJECTS |

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