I like to think that we at FSB are a welcoming, friendly bunch. We welcome contributions from all over the ice hockey world, even from our nearest and not-so-dearest down the M1. But the Panthers entering the CHL is a pretty big occasion in my eyes, and so I asked friend of the blog (kinda, a bit, we talk on Twitter, you know the score) Tom from Panthers Banter if he'd give us his thoughts on the draw.
What Have We Got To Lose?
Firstly I'd just like to say a huge thanks to Liam and the Frozen Steel Blog for inviting to me to share my thoughts on the Panthers up and coming European adventure in the Champions Hockey League.
Now I'm gonna start of by admitting that I don't follow much hockey outside of the EIHL. Bearing this in mind here's my take on it...
Once it was announced that the Challenge Cup winners would be offered a place in the Continental Cup, I don't mind saying I was disappointed. Selfishly as it seems, I always saw the Continental Cup as a hindrance during the league campaign. 3 games in 3 nights plus travel to then be asked to play against potential league challengers is a huge ask for any club. I mean let's face it, a 3 day weekend against Edinburgh, Dundee and Fife is challenging enough! It proved to be very challenging last season (despite how close we came to getting through) although I do know the fans that went loved the experience.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the event in Nottingham and that game against Riga will remain as one of my top 3 games from last year. However a season focused on the league again was something I was looking forward to. Until the wildcard happened...
My very first thought was "oh no. I thought we'd dodged a bullet not having the Continental Cup". Again, yes it's selfish but that was just what was running through my mind. That was until I got into reading about the Champions Hockey League.
As more info came out, the more I was warming to the idea. The main positive to me was the fact that most of the games in the group stage will take place in Pre-Season, giving us chance to gel as a team competitively before the league campaign starts and it also doesn't interfere as much in our season, plus, the games are separated out and therefore players aren't physically drained afterwards. Not only this, but the exposure for the Panthers, the EIHL and recruitment potential, not just for Panthers but for the rest of the league is mouth-watering.
Now the draw itself.
44 teams entered and we were ranked 44th. We were the last team to be drawn into a group. See where I'm going with this? I promise you now there isn't a (sane) Panthers fan out there who will be thinking that we will get through the group. And rightly so. These teams are the best Europe has to offer. I, like many others, was just hoping we got an 'exciting' draw with one of the 'big' teams included.
And so after much confusion in the draw, it was finally complete. We had been drawn against Hamburg Freezers (Ger), Luleå Hockey (Swe) and Lukko Rauma (Fin).
Immediately after that draw had been complete, Twitter exploded for me with pictures and videos of the fans and arenas of these teams and boy do they impress. The Hamburg intro itself is something quite extravagant. I had fans from all these teams interacting with me and each team welcomed the others and tweeted of their excitement (I do love Twitter sometimes). I have no idea what they expect from UK hockey and how they view our league and it's players, but it was strikingly obvious that many were excited by the idea that they could come to Nottingham and watch their team play hockey!
With all these positive messages being traded back and forth between the teams and fans involved, it struck me. This IS a good thing. This IS something worth playing in, regardless of our quality in comparison to others. Coldplay once sang "if you never try, you'll never know" and that line could not be more appropriate here.
Are we gonna win the competition and see the Panthers pocket €1 Million? The chances are we probably won't. But this competition will let fans see how hockey is around the world and how some of the best teams in Europe do business. And there is absolutely nothing wrong in that.
Like I said at the start, I hardly watch any hockey outside of the EIHL so for me it's going to be an eye-opening experience and I will probably keep updated with the way these teams perform in their respective leagues.
I just hope that the Panthers can promote these games in such a way that they get the attendance and support they deserve. Not just from Nottingham, but from the rest of the EIHL.
In my eyes it should be seen as the EIHL entering Champions League Hockey, being represented by the Panthers. I'm sure there will be a fair few fans of the other EIHL teams joining us in the NIC to share this experience with us.
Bring on the Freezers! (Not something I type very often)
P.S. Apologies for the Coldplay reference.
Tom
@NPanthersBanter
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