Here’s our eleventh 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, Robert Newbolt, Tony (your editor) and Phil Beddoe.
The normal starting point –Without
dropping too many F-bombs, what’s your hot topic item from the EIHL this week?
Mark -
It is an Edinburgh Caps thing for me. As much as I am amazed at Chubak's stat
against Cardiff in the BBT; I'm going for Riley Emmerson's commitment to his
club's cause. The man played a period and half with a broken arm! What a
warrior. Hats off the big fella!
Phil - I'd
be worried if I were DOPS as they've had a couple of bans reduced on appeal now
which raises a big question for me - Does this lessen DOPS authority and their
efforts to improve safety when multi-game bans start getting reduced to just
one game with players then knowing they may get off comparatively easy for
something on appeal? A better
explanation of why a ban is reduced on appeal would also be good to see as DOPS
explain their decisions in the videos Seth does but we don't always get given
reasons for the changes the appeals panel make.
Robert
- The issue of the Challenge Cup. The three F’s (Farse,Fiasco,Fail) Time to
re-think or scrap it.
Tony –
Excluding the issues covered below I think it’s the continued fall-out in
Edinburgh. With another forward leaving and Emmo injured, then their season
that started with so much promise, and the heady heights of fourth in the
table, seems to be destined for the usual basement bottom finish. Huge
disappointment for most fan’s ‘second club’.
After a double defeat by Coventry, are
the Steelers now out of title contention?
Phil - It
ain't over till it's over! Although we
are now relying on Clan and Devils dropping points if we are to stand a chance.
Mark -
I think so sadly, we seriously need both Cardiff and the Clan to collapse big
time to allow us to retain the title. But then again, we were in this position
last season weren't we? With the injuries still in the stands, it's harder this
time and is gonna see us fall short.
Tony –
If we have to rely on Brad in net, then we’re probably out of it. Even with a
first draw n/m we are relying on Clan choking (again) against their
in-conference foes, and the Devils having a barren period (which they must do
at some stage this year surely). However, extrapolating the table based on
results so far suggest we only need a couple of unexpected wins in the run-in
to catch up the lost ground.
Robert
- Only Steelers supporters gave them a chance before this weekend but what with
the gap at the top increasing and Braehead’s run in (they play Edinburgh and
Manchester twice each still) even I can’t see a way back for Sheffield.
From the outside what are your thoughts
on the CC semi-final date / venue situation?
Phil - Well
that created a lot of fuss didn't it! A
poorly worded EIHL release from earlier last year didn't help with the
confusion amongst fans either. I guess
in the end Panthers claimed their NIC date was the only one they could get ice-time
for and with them having the choice of leg due to the draw it didn't leave
Steelers with much of a choice when it came to our own dates. At least we did have Ice Sheffield to
fall-back on when the Arena couldn't give us ice for the game but it does make
me wonder what both teams would have done if we didn't have the use of Ice
Sheffield.
Tony –
Rather proves that we can’t ever contemplate an extended play-off series to
ever be organised at short notice doesn’t it. Even the normally unflappable
Okey was ranting about the Panthers and how we would return that ‘favour’ in
this week’s programme notes.
Mark -
Steelers blaming Panthers, Panthers fans blaming us. It's the fans who are
suffering here for petty bickering. With nothing on at arena apparently on
23/2; why are we playing at IS then? What's done is done but it's the latest embarrassing
situation for the EIHL. Let battle commence!
Robert
- There was much talk about this, but leaving aside the slip-up that the EIHL
have made regarding home and away ties, it seems there is much more to this
than we are being told. It is noticeable that Nottingham have made no official
statement to attempt to counter the remarks of Dave Simms. This in itself leads
me to believe there was some truth in what he said.
And finally, as we contemplate the
requirement for a league title * footnote, should we now scrap the conferences?
Robert
- The conference system as a whole is a good idea, as it is much easier for
teams and fans to travel. However I, and
I suspect the league, feel it is in need of tweaking. Either swapping Belfast
with Manchester (this would be easier for Irish ferry travel) or having three
points for Cross-conference games. I think the latter may be unwieldy and a
simple swap may be best. It would also help the new club Manchester to grow
because their attendances should grow significantly.
Mark -
Yes. The league is not strong enough to have conferences like this. One big
league is the only answer for a 10 strong team. You need at least 20 teams to
make conferences work correctly I think, and that will never happen. Perhaps a
financial subsidy for travel costs to the lesser Scottish teams will help
soften the financial blow if we go back to one big league. But changes need to
be made.
Phil - If
the conferences are here to stay no matter what in order to keep some of the
teams in business then I quite like @We_Are_Steelers idea of making it 3pts for
a cross conference win (compared with 2pts for a win in conference) as it makes
those lesser played games more valuable and might even increase their
attendances meaning more revenue for the clubs too.
Tony –
No I don’t think we need to scrap them, as it seems to work well financially
for almost everyone, but tweaks are needed as we need a fair and un-biased
scoring system for the main competition. Maybe combine this change with
different a different Cup system in the first half which is played mainly
in-conference, and a league played nationwide?
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
Check out the Frozen Steel Podcast
Or Email the team at frozen.steel.91@gmail.com
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