elite hockey league

[NI44 0]

hi i was wondering what the general consensous about British hockey is over in America and canada thanks for all your help

cheers

[hocckey77 0]

I doubt many people here think to highly of hockey there. Didn't a few NHL goalies come from britain though?

I never thought there was too much hockey there mainly because the sports i think of when i hear britain is cricket. rugby and soccer.

[rossb 0]

it is growing rapidly though

[NI44 0]

I doubt many people here think to highly of hockey there. Didn't a few NHL goalies come from britain though?

I never thought there was too much hockey there mainly because the sports i think of when i hear britain is cricket. rugby and soccer

Unfortunaletly it seems like alot of people think that, Hockey is getting alot bigger over here, in our team nearly every player has had NHl expierence and some big names have played here.

i hope that British hockey gets a bigger profile over there.

do you know any players that have played over here?

[rossb 0]

This year the Belfast giants had Mel Angelstadd, big fighter in the AHL, Shane Johnston, boston university, Curt bowen drafted detroit but only played one game, Paul Kruse two years ago who played 10 seasons roughly for calgary

[hocckey77 0]

I doubt many people here think to highly of hockey there. Didn't a few NHL goalies come from britain though?

I never thought there was too much hockey there mainly because the sports i think of when i hear britain is cricket. rugby and soccer

Unfortunaletly it seems like alot of people think that, Hockey is getting alot bigger over here, in our team nearly every player has had NHl expierence and some big names have played here.

i hope that British hockey gets a bigger profile over there.

do you know any players that have played over here?

didn't byron dafoe come from there? and david abescher(sp)?

I just don't see it as a major hockey area because it never seems to get ridiculously cold and lakes and ponds freeze over, unless they do and i don't know about it.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

This year the Belfast giants had Mel Angelstadd, big fighter in the AHL, Shane Johnston, boston university, Curt bowen drafted detroit but only played one game, Paul Kruse two years ago who played 10 seasons roughly for calgary

Ryan Kuwabara, a player who played in the AHL played for the Belfast Giants. He sold me a stick. :)

[jrhky36 1]

steve thomas is from somewhere in gb.

rod langway was born over there somewhere.

[Chadd 916]

hi i was wondering what the general consensous about British hockey is over in America and canada thanks for all your help

cheers

Most Canadians only acknowledge that hcokey exists in the US because we have most of the NHL teams, you should hear most of them complain about that. Forget about anywhere else. :P

[JR Boucicaut 3777]

Yeah Dafoe is from the UK...Aebischer is Swiss.

[Aussie Joe 0]

Mark Messier's dad Doug, played for the Nottingham Panthers back in the day. All whilst getting a University education too.

[biff44 0]

Hockey is a local phenomena. If you are at your Junior training camp, and a guy shows up from Latvia or Russia and plays like a Tasmanian Devil, you start to think "gee, players in Latvia must be pretty good for this guy to have those skills". I have seen perhaps 200 Junior games over the last few years, and I do not remember one player from the UK. So, at least for the Northeast US, I would say we do not think much of the program.

Why are you not sending over more players?

[#28tz 0]

Because of the lockout we had players like Nick Boynton , Eric cairns, scott nicholl,

Rob Davison, Wade Belak and a few others in the UK its was great for the game over here.

[Fletch 219]

Theo Fleury just signed to play there today -

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?ID=131575

[NI44 0]

i am soo happy theo is my favourite player of all time to have him in belfast wil be amasing, i can not wait i just hope he is as good as i remember him :D :D

anyway -

Why are you not sending over more players?

to be honest our players prob wouldnt be good enough for the standard that you guys play but maybe in a few years, our league consists of mainly american or canadian players but there are a few good british players

has any one ever seen british hockey??

hopefully with the arrival of theo our profile will raise and the intrest of the sport will incresase

[fedorov#91 0]

This year the Belfast giants had Mel Angelstadd, big fighter in the AHL, Shane Johnston, boston university, Curt bowen drafted detroit but only played one game, Paul Kruse two years ago who played 10 seasons roughly for calgary

Jason Bowen, played for Philly and Tony Hand I think played for the oilers also he was the first british player to be drafted or something like that! are you from belfast?

[NI44 0]

im from belfast and play hockey, are you from around there? do you play?

[ShaneyB 0]

the reason that theres not much british players in the nhl is because not much people like hockey here and most dont even know that britain has teams and leagues. and mainly because the junior teams only train maximum twice a week and most teams only once.

[NI44 0]

i play and train 4 times a week

[fedorov#91 0]

My roller team only trains 1 a week sometimes twice

[Adam91 0]

IMO england is one of the worst Elite Leagues in Europe. I'd have to guess its comparable to a 2nd division league in the better European hockey countries (Sweden,Finland etc.) Steve Thomas was born over there but didn't grow up there same for Own Nolan(Ireland)

[NI44 0]

Adam91 where are you from, have you ever seen british hockey, what are you talking about. My mate was talking to bobby Ryan a few months ago and he says the elite league is renouned as one of the toughest leagues about and roughest too

sort it out son

[EricG. 0]

IMO england is one of the worst Elite Leagues in Europe. I'd have to guess its comparable to a 2nd division league in the better European hockey countries (Sweden,Finland etc.) Steve Thomas was born over there but didn't grow up there same for Own Nolan(Ireland)

Sweden and Finland hardly have the "better" second divisions. Germany probably has the strongest second league in Europe, followed by Russia. Swiss and Swedish second divisions aren't bad, but that's about it.

The Elite Ice Hockey League has gotten much better, but right now it can't compete with top leagues in Europe (Russia, Sweden, etc.). The country doesn't know the game well enough yet.

[rossb 0]

yea the elite league is quite a good standard and if anyone hasnt seen it dont say bad stuff about it lol. you would be suprised. you can expect to see some good players come out of ireland in the next 10 years, our junior teams have a lethal coach and there is actually alot of talent, we just dont understand the game as weel as you guys in canada as yous are brought up with it. like i would have to kinda study the game. But i want to come over to university in canada and mabey play 2nd or 3rd division college, it is my dream to be a pro hockey player.

[Adam91 0]

Adam91 where are you from, have you ever seen british hockey, what are you talking about. My mate was talking to bobby Ryan a few months ago and he says the elite league is renouned as one of the toughest leagues about and roughest too

sort it out son

Sorry NI44 I haven't personally seen any games but I know a guy who coached in the league for a few years and he said the talent isn't bad but not great.