I wrote this article over on my PRBSPORTS.COM site on the new 20-20 hockeyfest the Elite League have set up for this coming season.

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The British Elite League have come up with a funky new tournament that has been created to excite the fans and give them a chance to see every single player in the eight team league in one single day. They are calling it 20-20 Hockey fest in a competition that has straight knockout, two period, no clock stop hockey. It kicks off on the Sunday morning of the 4 October 2009 in Sheffield with quarter-final games lasting exactly 40-minutes with the winning team moving on to the semi-final and so forth. It’s a brand new form of hockey play and one that could very well take off if it proves to be successful. It is hard to see how it won’t be good to watch.

It’ll be short, sharp hockey with, you would imagine, an offensive edge to it as teams try to beat the non-stopping clock to out score each other. It’ll be interesting to see how that works with penalties and other stoppages in play and if teams leading try to kill time in some form or another. It’ll still be exciting and a rare chance to see a hockey trophy being played from start to finish in one day.

Whether it works or not remains to be seen but if it does work and it does become a regular feature look for other leagues to sit up and take note. Wouldn’t that be an interesting ‘side’ tournament in the middle of the NHL season over two weekends with week one being divisional 20-20 competitions across the league followed by the divisional winners and an over all final at some designated venue the weekend after. A bit far away maybe, but I’m looking forward to seeing how this one goes in Sheffield none-the-less.

On the subject: 20-20 Hockey Fest | ALL SUBJECTS |

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