You may know Tony (@DISGU15ED) as the moderator of the Frozen Steel Forum. Well, he also writes for us on occasion.
Here, he looks at our Brit pack, and compares it to others around the league.
So Uncle Bob started me thinking with his recent Star piece where he makes the case for his home team Steelers, and asks “Does any other Elite League side boast such an array of home-grown talent?”
Well, putting the orange-tinted-specs to one-side, and because we now have only Swindlehurst playing abroad, there’s a wide smattering of top-end Brits across the top teams.
If we start in net, and as much as we love House, we’d trade him for Bowns or Murphy in a heartbeat.
If we’re looking for goal scorers, we’ve got to mention Shields (3rd all time for Team GB), Clarke (7th=), Tait (7th=) and Myers (14th) before we get to any current Steelers, and there’s a lot of goals left in all of them – if they’re too old for you, then I give you Lachowicz, Garside, Peacock, M Davies & B.Davies, all younger than Dowd and all still learning their craft.
At the back, we could choose the Phillips brothers or Richardson, or the youth of Lee, McCluskey, Batch or Sullivan – there’s plenty to choose from even before we look at the EPL.
Turning to Bob’s question, personally I’d choose the Panthers Brit-pack. Lee, Clarke and Lachowicz would walk into any team, followed by a mass of under 25’s headed by Farmer, Boxill, Betteridge, Norton, Oakford and Hook all giving you potential options for the future. If you want it all now, and forget development, then the Giants have Murphy, Phillips, Phillips, Shields, Garside, and Peacock ready to roll heavy minutes today.
I think we’ve got two of the very highest level Brits in Dowd and O’Connor, maybe the top two, but three of the next four are marginal Team GB selections, with only Phillips guaranteed selection for Eindhoven next April.
One final thought, if I were choosing a starting 6 right now I’d have to go for: Murphy, O’Connor, Lee, Lachowicz, Clarke & Dowd – that’s 3 Panthers, 2 Steelers and 1 Giant.
My second six would be Bowns, Richardson, Phillips, Peacock, Myers, Shields – 3 Devils and 3 Giants. I rest my case.
Sorry Bob, but Ben brings us closer to parity, rather than making us number one.
Tell me I’m wrong!
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