Our resident newbie Martyn Royce has become a proper student on the game, doing proper research into the sport, and he's becoming properly devoted. It's grand to see.
However, he has a few things that he's not too sure about, and he's written them down for your perusal. Some of them I could have answered myself, but I thought I'd open it up to the floor and allow you, the Frozen Steel-reading public, to answer them instead. I'll give you details of how at the bottom.
Firstly, my thanks again must go to those of you who had a read of my previous blog. I received some tremendous feedback and support from you all and it's quite humbling to find a slot in this family of yours so quickly. I was void of any computer or laptop on Friday night during Ingolstadt's deciding play-off tie at Berlin, a match which they won in overtime to set up a best-of-7 series against Krefeld. Unknowing of this lack of device, Liam kindly sent me a link to the game that I couldn't realistically watch with the dodgy phone signal on my train up north to see Kel. My ERC Ingolstadt app (entirely in German but I really don't give a damn) was feeding me updates in tandem with Liam, and I looked like a right nonce celebrating pretty loudly on Leeds station when I heard the news of our victory. That's how excited I am with this sport already. Just look at what you've all done to me.
Despite this giddiness, my knowledge of the game is still very small. Nay, too small. I want that to change in the not too distant future even though we are rapidly approaching the end of the season. Much in the same way as I started following rugby league, I did so towards the end of the season with very few chances to catch the sport live. I sadly can't make it to any Steelers game at the Motorpoint for the remainder of this season, though I will still be coming along to Hull this Sunday for my first taste of the sport as an actual Steelers fan. Therefore, with little opportunity to learn with match time, I wanted to get another blog composed so as to engage with you all some more.
Whilst learning a fair bit already in the two hours of competitive hockey under my belt thus far, there are still some things which confuse me. I want to get these things off my back and get some answers so that I don't have to ponder on the 'simpler' stuff much longer. Therefore, this blog is composed of ten questions from the focal point of a fan who doesn't know a lot yet. I should stress that these questions are in no particular order of importance; I am as curious with the first question as I am the last. I might have come up with a gem of a question without even realising it, or I may have posed a question that I really should have known the answer to already. All the same, your help would be appreciated. Imagine me as a hitchhiker stood on a roadside with a sheet of used card with 'Sheffyuld' spelt wrong written on it - I know where I want to go, but I need a little help in getting there.
So here we are. Ten questions to get your teeth stuck into. Let's see what you make of them.
1) Why is it Hull that get dumped in what is otherwise a Scottish conference?
This question isn't one that I require a specific answer to. What I'm actually asking, rhetorically, is how exactly does a conferencing system serve a purpose in a country as small as the UK? You have one conference that effectively encompasses the four Scottish clubs with the fifth pretty much 200 miles from its closest conference 'rivals'. The other conference spans three separate countries and yet to me just feels like 'the rest of the teams' despite hosting four of the biggest and best teams in the competition. Whilst I know that playing in a 'Scottish' conference might minimise mileage costs for the four teams involved, what position does that put Hull in having to regularly undergo such arduous away journeys? It just makes little sense to me and I really would like someone to enlighten me on this because, right now, the most obvious answer to the question is 'I haven't a clue'.
2) Why is Finals Weekend not held at a neutral arena?
I'm already well aware of this being a question asked by a great many fan. I've nothing in principal against the Nottingham Panthers and to have some form of a dedicated ice sport facility in England is not to be sniffed at. However, when the host is a successful club such as the Panthers who are more than capable of making it to the Finals Weekend, something just isn't right. We have a number of neutral venues that could hold the event, the NIA in Birmingham and the new First Direct Arena in Leeds being just two that would be ample hosts. Should any Scottish club make it to Finals Weekend then the travelling fans already have to put up with a lengthy journey to get there. It surely wouldn't be difficult finding a suitable venue. I can only assume that cost is an issue here, but for what is ultimately your biggest weekend of the year it should only be fair that all fans of all teams have as unbiased a venue as possible.
3) How come the goals are so tiny?
Something struck me in both matches I have seen so far. When match assistants removed the goals from their slots between periods in order for the rink machine to work its magic, the goals look quite normally proportioned. However, bring out a goalkeeper in all of his protective regalia and place him between the sticks and all of a sudden it looks miniscule. How players make such accurate shots into such a small area is astounding really, especially considering how high scoring some matches can be. Much like the dimensions and definitions of a football pitch, I'm quite sure nothing will change any time soon regarding this. All I'm saying is that the size of the target area for teams, at least compared to some other sports, seems ridiculously small.
4) What is the logic behind the number of games played during the course of a season?
Across all leagues, the number of games played in a season is really quite high. I've read on this blog somewhere how the repetition in fixtures can get tiresome during a season. Why, then, are there so many in the first place? I know that you play each team twice home and twice away in a season, but I've yet to research exactly how fixtures are determined in the first place aside from these 38 (maybe the start of next season would be the ideal time to get this into my head). Is it simply to get more cash through the turnstiles to pay players? I know player burnout probably isn't a major issue with substitutions taking place with their still baffling frequency, but what else warrants quite so many matches over the space of 7 months? Don't get me wrong - it helps newer fans like me to attend a game at any given location and absorb more of the sport. For the more dedicated fan, however, this still takes up quite a wedge of time.
5) Could a 'Magic Weekend' style event at a neutral arena be good for the game?
Those of you who are rugby league fans will be aware of the 'Magic Weekend' held during the late May Bank Holiday weekend. This is a two day event bringing together all 14 Super League teams each playing an extra regular season game at a neutral venue. The event has now settled at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester and is seen as a weekend break of sorts for rugby league fans across the country. The value of the sport on offer is just fantastic - with season ticket holder discount I managed to watch three full games of rugby league on the Sunday for just £15. I, for one, would happily pay more than this to watch a day's action at a like for like event in ice hockey and it would be a tremendous way for neutrals to come into the sport. My only concern would probably be quality of the ice towards the second day of competition. I don't know what you can and can't do with a sheet of ice overnight and if it can be restored to an 'as new' condition with intensive treatment. This aside, what's stopping this happening?
6) What can be done to bring new fans into the sport?
The Elite League boasts a very interesting and perhaps little thought of stat. With the exception of the Fife Flyers, based of course in Kirkcaldy, the entire league is formed of clubs based in cities. Further still, only Glasgow features from the 'Big 4' city list also including London, Birmingham and Manchester. I'm aware that Manchester ultimately have a desire to return to the top flight of ice hockey, but the potential fan base in the nine cities presently represented alone is absolutely enormous. We have literally millions of people combined living in these cities who have never watched ice hockey before, and just a handful of those people would make the Elite League so much bigger and better. The atmosphere at a half full arena is still fantastic to be a part of, but just imagine if every Elite League arena was full week in week out. 13,000 people regularly crammed into the Motorpoint in Sheffield. As I mentioned in my first blog, ice hockey is a cheap and fun sport to watch - why aren't we plugging the hell out of it?
7) Why is the play-off series so short in comparison to the NHL and European leagues?
I already appreciate that the standing of the Elite League in comparison to other major European leagues leaves a little to be desired. However, the end-of-season playoff structure being as small and quickfire as it is has confused me a lot. The DEL have a 7v10, 8v9 round, best of 3, followed by quarter finals, semi finals and a final which are all best of 7. The DEL champions have to participate in no less than 12 games and as many as 24 in order to win the title. Over here? 4. Just 4. Whoever you are and wherever in the top 8 you finished, it's still only 4. Why on earth is the gap so sizable? If the league wants to be taken more seriously then should you not make your teams sing for their supper a little louder when you're at the business end of the competition? All the toiling and pain endured in a regular season coming down to just four hours of hockey... that seems rather too little to me.
8) Are any top Elite League teams capable of beating some of the bigger teams in Europe?
Given how dominant they've been this season, and having had in-person experience of a DEL match, it made me wonder what would happen if you pitted a mid-range team like ERC Ingolstadt up against the Belfast Giants. Is that a relatively close match up or are British clubs still well off the boil here? I can't comment at all on the actual answer, but it did at least make me think a little deeper on the European appeal of our sport. I'm aware of European club competitions that exist much in the same way as UEFA's Champions League and Europa League do, but through a little Wikipedia research I see the skew in countries who regularly do well in these competitions is heavy. On that basis alone I would probably guess that Elite League teams would get gobbled up for breakfast coming up against some of Europe's bigger teams. However, I've only one league, and indeed just one match in that league, on which I can make a comparison.
9) Will expansion help or hinder the Elite League in its current state?
This is something which again I've done a little bit of Wikipedia snooping on. I have seen suggestions that Manchester Phoenix are vying for a Elite League spot in the near future to emulate their previous guise at the Manchester Storm and also that we may see a Dublin team in seasons to come. Quite how true these are I still don't know, and I'm sure you can appreciate I once again have hardly the requisite knowledge to comment. However, let's look at the ten teams we have so far. They might have a slightly odd geographical spread in terms of mileage, a spread which makes ice hockey fans in the south east and south west of England beam from ear to e- oh wait, no it doesn't. Whilst I may jest, no other sport collectively has England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland being represented in any top flight. That is a boast-worthy stat in its own right, but there are plenty of other arenas and teams throughout the UK that could become a focal point for the sport in years to come.
10) Why, with the exception of Belfast home matches, is the national anthem played before games begin?
This may be controversial, but here me out. When I attended the Stingrays v Steelers fixture on March 8th, there was a minute's silence held prior to face-off for somebody whose name escapes me. After this minute's silence, with everyone still rightly upstanding, I hear the national anthem playing. At the time I thought this was being played for the person whom we fell silent for. Upon further research, however, I discovered that this is in fact a common occurrence at Elite League matches outside of Belfast. I could really do with a little help here - I'm indifferent when it comes to the monarchy, but what on earth is it played for? Is it supposed to create a sense a pride and passion for the teams/fans? Is there some historical reasoning behind it? I was absolutely stumped by it. If anything, at least as a first timer, I found it a little bit cheesy. Ultimately, this is a club sport. I wouldn't expect Land Of My Fathers to ring out at a Devils home fixture because I'm watching Cardiff, not Wales. I'm watching Sheffield, not Great Britain. I'm watching Dundee, not Great Britain. Someone tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't get this?
Right, there we have it guys. Help me out here - I'm sure some of you could write entire blog posts on a few of these questions, but any answer at all would help me enormously. Just as importantly, have I got anything here totally wrong? It may not necessarily be a bad thing if I have - perhaps I've picked up on something that new fans often get wrong to start with? I'm sure Liam will pop my Twitter name at the bottom of this if you want to get in touch that way. Alternatively, for those of you going to Hull on Sunday, come grab me! Find me and educate me. Make me your pupil. Tell me what your views are on some of these topics. Do excuse me if I'm still looking like an excitable puppy, but that's what ice hockey is doing to me right now. Every day is Christmas Day, and I only hope I can pull my third cracker on Sunday evening.
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Again, big thanks to Martyn. It reminds me of my early days of being a fan, being so excited about every aspect.
So the floor is yours, Internet. You can tweet your answers to Martyn @MartynDRoyce, or if you want to go into detail, email your answers to frozen.steel.91@gmail.com and I will pass them along to Martyn, or may even publish the best ones. Furthermore, there will be a topic on the Frozen Steel Forum, discuss it on there.
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