Rumours have been doing the rounds on various message boards about different changes to the league next season given that it is expanding from eight to ten teams. Below is a look at the majors ones with my thoughts…

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Next Saturday the final four weekend beings and below is a look at the two semi-finals that will take place at the NIC in Nottingham. The four teams competing were the top four teams in the league this season so no upsets and it’s set to truly be a battle of the best.

Coventry Blaze v Cardiff Devils @ 1p.m.

Belfast Giants v Nottingham Panthers @ 5 p.m.

And great news folks, the final itself will be live on Sky Sports 2 at 5 p.m.

With the Breahead Clan joining the EIHL and the number of teams going to nine for the first time since the Giants first ever season in 2000/01 the League has decided to re-format the league set-up and the playoff format. The following is their statement for next season:

NEW FORMAT REVEALED FOR 2010/11 ELITE LEAGUE SEASON
An exciting new format for the 2010/11 Elite League season has been revealed with changes to both the league and play-offs.

The Braehead Clan have just been announced as the latest side to enter the Elite League, and they will join Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Edinburgh Capitals, Hull Stingrays, Newcastle Vipers, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers in a nine-team league.

Each side will play three home and three away against the other teams in the league for a 48-game season. The Elite League campaign will begin on the weekend of 4th/5th September 2010 and end on 12th/13th March 2011.

The top six teams will qualify for the 2010/11 play-offs and will face each other in the round robin format. This will see the sides finishing first, second and third having the incentive of playing three home games and two away, with teams in fourth, fifth and six playing two homes games and three away. Matches will take place between the 14th and 27th March.

The top four will meet in the traditional play-off finals weekend on 2nd and 3rd April 2011, with the two semi-finals on the Saturday and the play-off final taking place on the Sunday.

Elite League chairman, Eamon Convery, said: “We are very excited by the new format for the 2010/11 season. The addition of Braehead is great for the sport and I am sure supporters will be thrilled with the changes we’ve made.

“Play-offs are always one of the most important and exciting times in the season and this new longer format is sure to excite every hockey fan. There’s now added emphasis on the league season with nine teams battling it out for six spots and then jostling for position in the top three, to claim that all important extra home game.”

A further press release will be issued in due course with regards to the 20-20 HockeyFest and the Challenge Cup.

I like it. Especially the playoff format though to be fair it couldn’t have gotten much worse than the format for the past few years were you could effectively win the playoffs without winning a game (tie you two leg qualifier game and go through in a shootout, tie your semi-final and win in a shootout and do the same in the final!). Hopefully the Giants finish better in the standings though than the last time it was a nine team league when they came 6th – their worst ever league finish, though granted in their first ever year.

The revolving door that is the British Elite League is turning again as teams continue to move through on an annual basis. Teams come and go in this League quicker than a British summer and this summer we’ll see a new team arrive which always makes for more welcoming news than hearing of someone else dropping out. The Breahead Clan, based in Glasgow, Scotland will become the 9th teams in the League and will play out of a neat 4,000 seater stadium.

Top level British Hockey isn’t a new thing to Breahead. The Ayr Scottish Eagles moved their briefly for the 2002/03 season before folding when they couldn’t bring disgruntled Ayr supporters with them. Now, eight years on, someone else is hoping to make it work with a fresh start entirely.

I for one hope it works. An extra team in this league is no bad thing and an extra team so close to Belfast is certainly welcome. It could spark a new rival for ourselves as well as for Edinburgh and Newcastle who are sure to benefit with another team in their vicinity.

Just last year Basingstoke and Manchester dropped out of the League and while teams like Hull have arrived in recent years there was always rumors of someone stepping down a level or folding entirely – see the London Racers. Of course this doesn’t guarantee a 9th team because if this summer is like every single other in Elite League history there will be dark rumors of teams leaving, rumors that will stretch across every single team, but hopefully like with other summers, we weather the storm and open up a new season with a nine team Elite League.

www.braeheadclan.com

I got the recent edition of the Elite Stats Weekly e-mail into my inbox this evening which is packed full of information on teams and players across the Elite League. I had a skim through and even used some of the numbers to help me get the site back up-to-date but also seen some interesting statistics that I had a closer look at.

Colin Shields is leading the Elite League in points scoring with 81 in total, five ahead of Jade Galbraith (the leagues primary set-up man with 57 assists in 49 games) of Nottingham and nine up on Greg Chambers of Coventry. Shields is on a torrid pace and if he keeps up the current rate of scoring he should finish the regular season having played 64 games and scoring 45 goals and 101 points, smashing any previous Giants records for goals and points in a season. He is second in goal scoring with 36 to Coventry’s Luke Fulghum who sits on 40 goals.

Jeff Szwez is another Giants player leading a category with six short handed goals, one ahead of Jeff Legue of Sheffield. David Clarke of Nottingham leads the league in powerplay goals with 14. Evan Cheverie is Mr. Clutch for the Giants with five game winning goals – Adam Calder leads with eight.

Then there is the physical side of the game with penalty minutes and Sean McMorrow of the Giants leads that category also with a massive 344 in total, 40 ahead of Brad Voth of Cardiff who sits on 314. Third place is ex-Giant Jeff Hutchins all the way down on 197. At this current pace Sean McMorrow looks set to hit 458 penalty minutes for the year which is a staggering number considering the all-time record by a Giants player in a season is currently Paxton Schulte with 424 from 2003/04.

Between the pipes the Giants come out top again through Stephen Murphy who leads the league in save percentage with a total of .922 ahead of Peter Hirsch of Coventry on .919 and Michel Robinson of Newcastle on .914. Murphy also leads in goals against average with 2.30 ahead of Kevin St. Pierre of Nottingham on 2.80 and ex-Giants tender, Stevie Lyle now of Cardiff on 2.82.

So what about team stats?

Ask any Giants fan and they’ll tell you the penalty killing is pretty good but the powerplay is awful and the stats don’t lie. The Giants have the third worst powerplay in the Elite League with a 17% hit rate compared to the leagues best of 23.4% from Sheffield. It’s surprising that considering the Giants are actually second in the standings with Sheffield second last. Shorthanded the Giants are much stronger coming in second best in the league on 83.9% behind Sheffield who sit on 84.4%. Very very strange Sheffield leading both powerplay and shorthanded categories yet struggling so much in the standings overall.

In goals per game the Giants are always high on the charts. Ever since the teams inception in 2000/01 the team have always been known as an offence first team and one that has been high up, if not leading, the goals per game ratio. This year is no different with the team currently second in goals per game with 3.9, just 0.2 behind Coventry who lead on 4.1 goals per game. At home the Giants are averaging an impressive 4.5 goals per game - not bad from a Giants team who some fans believe are lacking up front.. For what it is worth the Stingrays bring up the rear with a poor 2.5 goals per game. The Giants also lead the shots on goal totals with an average of 37.6 per game and sit second last in penalty minutes per game with 22.7 dispelling theories that the referees in the league are anti-Giants or that the team are ill-disciplined.

Perhaps looking for a fellow and regular dance partner, Giants enforcer Sean McMorrow has welcomed tough nut Mike Sgroi to the Sheffield Steelers calling him “an excellent addition to the Steelers team and a great signing for the Elite League.” Sgroi comes with a reputation of being a guy who can fight and play a bit and should add to the entertainment factor in games between the Giants and Steelers. With the Steelers struggling so far this season, especially domestically, their coach Dave Matsos has looked to shake up the line-up. Brad Cruickshank has moved to Coventry and Sgroi comes in to replace him. The Steelers organization has obviously seen what a McMorrow can do for entertainment with the fans both home and on the road and have looked to bring in someone of a similar ilk. McMorrow himself was full of praise while taking a not-so-subtle dig at his big rival Brad Voth.

“What kind of guy is he? perhaps the complete opposite of a Brad Voth, Mike Sgroi is a team guy, he puts his team first not him self, he will entertain the fans, protect his team mates and do whatever is best for his fellow players, not necessarily what is best for him self, he is the real deal,” clearly letting us know what kind of player he thinks Voth is at the same time and no doubt sparking their rivalry more.

“Mike is respected by many NHL and AHL tough guys as a clean fighter, he is an honest tough guy, sure he knows his role but he wont cheap shot a guy, he won’t try and beat a guy when he is down, the fans of Sheffield are in for a treat, he is the perfect player for the Steelers and the perfect player for our league,” said McMorrow, again pointing a finger towards Voth who McMorrow feels jumped him the last time they played.

McMorrow went on to say what many of us believe, ”The fans in this league deserved to be entertained, I try and do that and so will Mike Sgroi. The Steelers have a good man, a tough man and a good hockey player, the City will love him.”

Voting is complete for the starting line-ups for the EIHL all-star game on 27 January at Ice Sheffield and the announcements of who has made the team, especially from the Giants, has raised some eyebrows, but reminded us the risks involved with fan votes.

Stephen Murphy, Colin Shields and Jeff Szwez all made it, and rightly so, but Sean McMorrow, enforcer for the Giants and a fan favorite, has also been voted onto the team and while McMorrow is great to watch, even he would admit that he is a little out of place on an ‘all-star’ team in that sense of the word.
But then again, this is a popularity contest among EIHL fans and people want to see McMorrow and while he won’t fight or even hit, no doubt he’ll be entertaining in some capacity.

The Elite British All-Stars, coached by Sheffield’s Dave Matsos, will be back-stopped by Stephen Murphy of the Belfast Giants. Patrolling the blueline will be Coventry’s Jonathan Weaver and Stevie Lee from the Nottingham Panthers. Completing the line-up are forwards Colin Shields (Belfast Giants), David Clarke (Nottingham Panthers) and Lee Esders (Hull Stingrays).

The Overseas All-Stars, will be coached by Nottingham Panthers’ Corey Neilson. In-between the pipes will be Peter Hirsch of the Coventry Blaze, while defencemen Dominic D’Amour (Nottingham Panthers) and Adam Knight (Hull Singrays) have been selected at the back. Belfast Giants’ enforcer Sean McMorrow and team-mate Jeff Szwez will be joined by Panthers’ leading goalscorer Jade Galbraith to complete the line-up.

— eliteleague.co.uk, 6 Jan’10

Some fans will be frustrated about fan voting making a mockery out of an all-star game, but lets face it, this isn’t a serious game – it’s a gimmick – so why not have some fun with it by indeed letting fans vote. The rest of the teams will be selected by the respective coaches and I would expect the import all-stars to win pretty comfortably.

By the way, is there a skills competition?

News has been coming out of Edinburgh and Newcastle this week that both teams are maybe not doing so well financially with Edinburgh pleading for their fans to turn out and show support while Newcastle have revealed this could well be their last year in the EIHL. The current economic climate of which I don’t claim to be an expert on but which I know isn’t going well, has kept fans at home and forced teams to perhaps tighten their belts. Unfortunately for some teams the belt doesn’t get any tighter and they are still losing cash and the upshot of it all is a worrying thought for the EIHL as a whole.

Last year we had ten teams but dropped to eight this season with Manchester and Basingstoke dropping down a level and I’m not sure the league could realistically survive in anything less than an eight team league. Potentially losing Edinburgh and Newcastle would take us to a six team league and while there is no hard evidence I imagine Hull and Cardiff are hardly rolling in cash either. The option for them to head to the EPL along with the likes of Edinburgh and Newcastle might be temping and could leave us with just four EIHL able teams. A no go.

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You’ve all seen the videos by now or at least if you haven’t seen the video you have surely heard of the incident. If you haven’t seen the video it’s worth a quick look but the camera angle is terrible and you don’t see the violence that brought the game into such disrepute that the infamous ‘Travesty of the Game’ penalty was handed out to two players. Brad Voth and Adam Knight went at it behind the players benches on their way to the dressing rooms after being ejected from the game for an on ice brawl moments earlier. Everyone tried to wade in by climbing the plexiglass behind the benches as punches were traded and even a stick thrown in spear like fashion from ex-Giant Curtis Huppe. It dragged the game into the gutter and the EIHL have handed out bans like they were going out of style.

The following is the statement from the EIHL: Read More»

It is scary to think that the Elite League is going into its 7th season in a few weeks time. It only seems like a few years ago that the ISL was wrapping up, were were panicking about the future of our team and then we were getting used to the fact that British born players would be all over the ice, including boys from Belfast. It has been quite a run for the EIHL which has turned out to be much more successful overall than the ISL was and it has created many memories and historic moments for many teams. To celebrate some of the leagues history the EIHL yesterday released some of its all-time stats including points, goals, assists and penalty minutes. It makes for good reading but none of the names that make the list are a big shock. Here is a look at the top man in each category and then a further, more in depth look, at the goal scoring category.

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