Hockey Soapbox - Edition 6

Here’s our sixth week’s Frozen Steel blog fan view on four or five hot topic items. It’s time to get on your soapboxes people!

Contributors this week are: Mark Duell, Phil Beddoe,  Alan Claringbold, Tony (your editor) and Eric Green (who may, or may not, have had some mulled wine before writing his contributions!)

An easy one to start with – what was this week's main talking point in the EIHL – Marsh v Janssen anyone?

• Mark - Cam Janssen v Tyson Marsh. Fair props for Marsh to be a willing combatant but he certainly got owned by Cam. That's what was gonna happen. Top job and I hope DOPS don't take this any further because they do, we could have more repercussions.
• Eric – As it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, it seems that Nottingham are now running DOPS, why? I hear you ask. Well they changed their minds on the Marsh disciplinary and decided to give him to Cam Janssen as an early Christmas gift. Merry Christmas Cam...
• Phil - Probably the Janssen hit that floored Tyson Marsh. Didn't look to be anything wrong with the fight and Marsh looked to get up again with a bit of help but how much of that was retribution for his 5 game ban being reduced on appeal for that bad head hit at their previous game?  Had the DOPS mandated ban stood maybe it could have been avoided later on but the appeals process is there for a reason and just as with refs not calling penalties during games you will always (rightly or wrongly) get players who then decide to take matters into their own hands if they feel the official channels are not doing right by them or their guys
• Alan - Janssen KO-ing Marsh. If Cardiff never appealled the original ban, Marsh doesn't play in that game. Cruel twist of karma in a way. Never nice seeing a guy get sparked like that. That being said, boy oh boy did Janssen ever take care of business!
• Tony – Nothing more to add. Best punch thrown in recent memory, against one of those players we all love to hate. Hope he recovers soon. Shame Panthers used the KO'd picture of Marsh in their press release, but guess GM is old school, and Simmsey would do the same.

If you could change one rule or hockey mantra - what would it be?

• Mark - Ban the 2 min minor penalty for not taking your lid for a fight, it’s the most pointless penalty in existence. I've got the backing of an EIHL stripey on this (name drop: Toby). Just get rid of this rule.
• Tony – So many to choose from: speeding up the face-offs, having to leave the play when your equipment is knocked off, empty net goals inflating player stats and counting on the scoreboard, or only having three men on the ice and no video replays! The one that I’d settle for is giving a point to the losing team if there’s a draw after regulation – there’s not enough incentive to get the win in the final period. So I’d go for three point for the regulation win, two for overtime win, and one for overtime loss, like they do in the IIHC.
• Eric - Over the pond they call it the "holiday period" here in England we call it the "Christmas period". I pretty sure ours is right, so here in The EIHL unlike over the pond in the NHL, can our rules "change back the neutral zones size"? Please it's that narrow now I have problems! A bit like we went decimal. There was nothing wrong with 240 pennies to the pound, half a crown or a ten Bob note. I hate change...
• Alan - Switch to 3 on 3 overtime over here. Worked in the AHL, been insane in the NHL. Would love to see us try it for a season.
• Phil - The one that springs most readily to mind is the illegal equipment call when a stick is pushed back to the goalie by another player after losing it.  I understand why you might not want a player knocking stick down the ice in the direction of other players but when the only person in front of him is the goalie and there's no one near the crease why not just get the stick back to him as quickly as possible so that the game can continue properly and fairly.

Is there one other Elite league player (or recent drop out) you'd love to have in orange this year?

• Mark – I said it Sunday, and I will say it again: David Clarke from them lot down the road. Lethal scorer short-handed, even strength and on power play. Imagine him for us on the latter? Has probably the best one timer in the EIHL with such unerring accuracy. Best Brit forward outside Steelerland.
• Alan - Tricky question. My gut instinct though is Ben Davies. The next Hewitt for me. Gets himself about for a smaller guy and knows where the net is at times as well. That being said, I think Josh Batch has improved 10 fold from a couple of years ago.
• Tony – Another top Brit would be superb, but I'd take pretty much anyone in the Devils top line. If I had to choose it would be Andrew Lord – he would be my captain, and he’d lead the way with his goals and physicality.
• Phil – Ryan Hayes as we are still lacking good goal scoring at times. Would be interesting to see if Hayes can carry his form through to a team where he maybe wouldn't get quite as much ice time as he must be getting at the Caps. Would also be good to see if he can score against the likes of Brian Stewart on a regular basis!  Stewart really is proving to be our Kowalski this year isn't he?
• Eric - Easy!!!  Cam Jannsen : the man is an animal, loves the game, would love him on a line with Desbiens, and like me he loves Christmas, especially if they feed him a Devil.

What was your favourite caricature face from the Xmas jerseys - or worst if you like?

• Mark - Best one, I loved them all to be honest. But my vote goes to Fretter's cheesy grin. Great idea and something out of the ordinary, hats off proverbially speaking to Ollie Barron: Rhino's creative genius. Well played Ollie!
• Phil – Fretter is the best one, captures the cheery grin well!  The Fitzy one was really well drawn too. Probably the Leggy one that made me laugh the most though!  When I saw the previews I thought Simmsey had one done too and after Sunday's game I now realise that was Pincy's and a pretty good representation!
• Tony – I thought Pinc’s caricature made him look a lot like a beach ball. You can google the YouTube clips on the Steelers account to check them all out
• Alan - Thought Thompsons was funny, as was Fretters. O'Connors was spot on as well as Levi's hair. Not really got a standout/fave one. Loved the entire thing.
• Eric – Sarich's looked good. Hewitts was upside down.... and finally "Legue" Oh my goodness!!!! Bloody scary. Had a Nightmare that night, someone was shouting "he's behind you" for me to then turn and come face to face with that caricature. Needless to say bed needed changing.

Finally, following Fitzy's two year contract extension who would you give the next two year contract to?

• Mark - We've got a few signed up actually. Dowdy's on a new deal which includes next season (Editor : Hope you’re right Mark, but it’s not what Elite Prospects have recorded), and I think Jono will be back: testimonial year. Who next to re-sign? Tough shout but I'll go for Levi Nelson, our energetic number 76. But there's a few I would love to see back already next season. Listen to last week's podcast and you'll find out.
• Phil – Mozzy, his work rate is top notch and his skating makes many opposing players look like bambi in comparison (then sign up Frets, Nelson and Vestberg please!)
• Tony – First, make double sure O’Connor and Dowd are nailed down. Then, I wonder if Fretter will be quite as effective as he is now after another two years, so a one year deal for him. Then if we give another two for Mosienko I promise our family will sponsor his shirt again next year!
• Eric – Got to be Marek Pinc. Just because we can get money out of him. When Disney on Ice visits the arena, at least Tony can get some appearance money out of the organisers, by using him as one of the seven dwarfs (oops!, sorry small people) in Snow White.
• Alan - Levi Nelson. The guy has been an absolute machine over the last so many weeks. Absolutely loving what he has brought to the table lately. Love to see us retain Mosienko's and Desbiens services as well though.

Merry Christmas everyone, hope you have a great Xmas and 2016 is good to all of us.

That’s all folks. Hope you enjoyed reading our thoughts, and we’d love you to get involved too. Help set the agenda for next week with your questions, or even better get involved and give your views as one of the panel. We would love different views and different participants each week. 

Please contact Mark @frozensteelblog or Tony @Disgu15ed, or find us at the game.

Brief Bios of those panellists you’ve just been listening to in the series so far :

Alan is @frozensteelmnl for match night updates and @AwkwardGinge for everything else. Has been watching Hockey for many years, and given half a chance will regale you with tales of the London Knights. Catch him on the Breaking the Ice podcast too.

Bethan represents the younger end of the fan base, after being dragged along to her first Steelers game in 2007 and has loved the team ever since. Follow her on Twitter at @bethan_4

Eric is a season ticket holder and can be found shouting encouragement to our players and scorn at the zebras alongside three generations of his family in block 115. Views can be found @greenbunch257

Mark is one of the main men behind the Frozen Steel blog, being the Editor and Podcast pundit, and has watched the club since its inception. Find him at @hockeybhoy

Phil has been a fan since watching the final game of the London Racers at the Sheffield Arena back in 2005 and has adopted block 106 as his second home. He now wishes he had listened to Elliott Hall and had started watching earlier! Find him on @pbeeodd

Richard is the big man with the big drum who until recently was to be found leading both the Rock the Block choir and his family in 218. Now looking for a new block to call home, his views, and invites to come join you, can be directed to @CaVaLiEr666

Robert is chief architect of steelers-stats.co.uk, the go-to guy for Steelers history from days gone by, and the man behind one of the big White House spotlights! Robert is @steelersstats.

Tony has been watching the Steelers on and off since Tony Hand arrived, and has been a regular for the last eight years or so. Enjoys contributing to the blog with his weekly five things and can be found @Disgu15ed

Thanks for reading guys. If you want to get involved please contact us on twitter or find us on Facebook and like us and leave a comment:-
@FrozenSteelBlog
@FrozenSteelMNL
@hockeybhoy
@Disgu15ed

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