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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