The situation regarding imports in British ice hockey has never changed in nearly thirty years nor will it. Players come and go according to pound signs make no mistake about it. Also make no mistake that if those you believe to be top quality were anywhere near as good they would never set foot in Britain save for NHL exhibition games, they are here because they are not good enough at home.
Governance of the sport will not change either, those interested in ice hockey over here are in it for buisiness not the love of the game and those who could make a difference dont know or care about ice hockey.
Put in very simple terms the only ones who can regulate british ice hockey are the paying customers, if you pay elite league prices you feed the greed, try supporting local teams in local rinks and they might improve. Thats not guaranteed but the superleague and elite leagues have provided second rate foreigners with good money and huge ego trips for what in return.
If you think what you watch is good I can only assume you never had the pleasure of watching real british ice hockey, you missed a treat!
Posted 19:35 2nd November 2008
Kevin O'brien says...
Until the sport of Ice Hockey in this country gets it's act together at ownership level, has a single governing body and is then able to apply for funding through lottery grants etc.... it will remain a minority sport and this type of thing will continue to prevail.
Where the owner of one team is in a postiion where he can threaten to sue the league (and effectively himself) because of a disagreement over the way the league is managed it will never establish any sort of credibility.
As a team game it ranks in the Premier League, as an organisation the Conference is probably too high for it.
Posted 15:37 29th October 2008
Kirk Anderson says...
Okay, well, I can understand to a certain level the fact that the teams are upset about this situation. Were they bound to contracts? Or did they just leave? In the NHL a little while ago, Alexander Radulov, of the Nashville Predators tried to leave part-way through a contract to play in the KHL and the Predators went to the IIHF and they made Radulov stay in the NHL. The Predators subsequently suspended him for the entire 08-09 season without pay. So, why can't the Elite League do this? If the players leaving aren't bound by contracts, who can hold anything against an athlete wanting to play at the top level? You can't honestly tell me that if I were a footballer my dream would be to play League 1 football, rather than in the Premier League.
Also, the bmibaby Elite League teams should not be importing as many players. They should instead be growing British talent. Team GB hasn't made the Olympics in 58 years, this league should be growing the game through local players not trying to bring in foreign players that aren't good enough to play anywhere else.
Posted 04:40 27th October 2008
Mitchell Stewart says...
Seriously, you are not going to be able to stop players quitting to go to the CHL or AHL. These are farm teams for NHL franchises, and the lure of the prospect of the NHL is too strong, especially for a Canadian. This league can't pay the amounts necessary to keep even middle-of-the-road players.... it works the same as football. The bigger leagues get the better players, and everyone wants to play in the big league.
Posted 23:28 24th October 2008
John Cruse says...
There is nothing clubs can and will ever be able to do to stop this from happening. I love how all the clubs whine and complain but when they want a player out, they don't hesitate to throw him out in the street with no job.....it works both ways guys; sorry, you can't have a one-way street on this one.....
Posted 23:48 22nd October 2008
Marc Twaite says...
Can i just say in reply to Mr Simmes that i agree totally with what you say, but i'm afraid the standard of player your watching right now is not going to get any better. Surley it would make sense to pay 7 imports a salary of 10 and then you would see a better player come to play in this country. But then the Bmi Elite League would complain that the British players are asking for too much money! Isnt that the idea for our guys to be getting a salary to live on and to support there families. Surley the British players come first and apart from the very talented British players that play roles, entertain, have passion and play for the National team GB then the younger guys would get the chance to play a regular shift to develop there game. The old saying is that the cream will always rise to the top, but you need the milk to support the cream. There are some excellent players in the Elite League but there are some awful players too. So why overload the squad with imports like the above that's mentioned and have young British players learn their trade and be given the chance. Before you know it we will be in the 2012 Olympics and i dont think my old coach Mr Thompson would be very happy if he had very few good British players to chose from. Take action now or this will eventually bite you Elite League!
Posted 20:12 22nd October 2008
Davey Simmes says...
To be honest, I couldn't care less,If you go for bottom of the market players, this is what you get. Pay peanuts and your almost certainly going to get monkeys.
Posted 16:25 21st October 2008
Steve Garner says...
I am a massive fan of the Manchester Phoenix and am still appalled now at Grant Jaccobson's behaviour. He just came over for a month of training then disappeared back to the club he came from to start the CHL season as if nothing had happened leaving us completely in the lurch for a good week or two. We are through it now and have had a few fantastic results but this needs to be stopped now. There are too many players doing this. The BMI Baby League I feel should start helping the clubs with these contracts as with certain players they are obviously not worth the piece of paper they are written on. The players who do this should be made to pay the costs the club paid to get them in the country but I fear this will never happen
Posted 05:18 21st October 2008
Marc Twaite says...
Can i just say that because the Bmi Baby Ice Hockey Elite League is self Governed, surely these problems regarding players being able to move to other teams when not happy is acceptable. If There was a independant Governing body that issued the players contract's and having an understanding on the correct ruling on itc cards and work premits, there wouldnt be such a problem. Maybe if the Bmi baby Elite League directors would listen to the Goverment and turn up to meetings called by the Minister of Sport then these situations would be looked at before the season starts. Players have to think of thereself and there families, so if a better oppertunity came along for them how can the Elite League stop them! If the teams were stable financially and had correct insurance for serious injuries then these players would not not leave anyway. Id like to think that one day the Bmi baby Elite League and its directors that Govern the sport will wake up and think of the saftey, security, development and future of ice hockey in this country and then we might see imported players to a very high standard wanting to come and play in this country and stay. But when you have directors just thinking of there next weeks salary you cant blame the player for leaving can you.
Marc Twaite
Comments (9)
Jim Clark says...
The situation regarding imports in British ice hockey has never changed in nearly thirty years nor will it. Players come and go according to pound signs make no mistake about it. Also make no mistake that if those you believe to be top quality were anywhere near as good they would never set foot in Britain save for NHL exhibition games, they are here because they are not good enough at home. Governance of the sport will not change either, those interested in ice hockey over here are in it for buisiness not the love of the game and those who could make a difference dont know or care about ice hockey. Put in very simple terms the only ones who can regulate british ice hockey are the paying customers, if you pay elite league prices you feed the greed, try supporting local teams in local rinks and they might improve. Thats not guaranteed but the superleague and elite leagues have provided second rate foreigners with good money and huge ego trips for what in return. If you think what you watch is good I can only assume you never had the pleasure of watching real british ice hockey, you missed a treat!
Posted 19:35 2nd November 2008
Kevin O'brien says...
Until the sport of Ice Hockey in this country gets it's act together at ownership level, has a single governing body and is then able to apply for funding through lottery grants etc.... it will remain a minority sport and this type of thing will continue to prevail. Where the owner of one team is in a postiion where he can threaten to sue the league (and effectively himself) because of a disagreement over the way the league is managed it will never establish any sort of credibility. As a team game it ranks in the Premier League, as an organisation the Conference is probably too high for it.
Posted 15:37 29th October 2008
Kirk Anderson says...
Okay, well, I can understand to a certain level the fact that the teams are upset about this situation. Were they bound to contracts? Or did they just leave? In the NHL a little while ago, Alexander Radulov, of the Nashville Predators tried to leave part-way through a contract to play in the KHL and the Predators went to the IIHF and they made Radulov stay in the NHL. The Predators subsequently suspended him for the entire 08-09 season without pay. So, why can't the Elite League do this? If the players leaving aren't bound by contracts, who can hold anything against an athlete wanting to play at the top level? You can't honestly tell me that if I were a footballer my dream would be to play League 1 football, rather than in the Premier League. Also, the bmibaby Elite League teams should not be importing as many players. They should instead be growing British talent. Team GB hasn't made the Olympics in 58 years, this league should be growing the game through local players not trying to bring in foreign players that aren't good enough to play anywhere else.
Posted 04:40 27th October 2008
Mitchell Stewart says...
Seriously, you are not going to be able to stop players quitting to go to the CHL or AHL. These are farm teams for NHL franchises, and the lure of the prospect of the NHL is too strong, especially for a Canadian. This league can't pay the amounts necessary to keep even middle-of-the-road players.... it works the same as football. The bigger leagues get the better players, and everyone wants to play in the big league.
Posted 23:28 24th October 2008
John Cruse says...
There is nothing clubs can and will ever be able to do to stop this from happening. I love how all the clubs whine and complain but when they want a player out, they don't hesitate to throw him out in the street with no job.....it works both ways guys; sorry, you can't have a one-way street on this one.....
Posted 23:48 22nd October 2008
Marc Twaite says...
Can i just say in reply to Mr Simmes that i agree totally with what you say, but i'm afraid the standard of player your watching right now is not going to get any better. Surley it would make sense to pay 7 imports a salary of 10 and then you would see a better player come to play in this country. But then the Bmi Elite League would complain that the British players are asking for too much money! Isnt that the idea for our guys to be getting a salary to live on and to support there families. Surley the British players come first and apart from the very talented British players that play roles, entertain, have passion and play for the National team GB then the younger guys would get the chance to play a regular shift to develop there game. The old saying is that the cream will always rise to the top, but you need the milk to support the cream. There are some excellent players in the Elite League but there are some awful players too. So why overload the squad with imports like the above that's mentioned and have young British players learn their trade and be given the chance. Before you know it we will be in the 2012 Olympics and i dont think my old coach Mr Thompson would be very happy if he had very few good British players to chose from. Take action now or this will eventually bite you Elite League!
Posted 20:12 22nd October 2008
Davey Simmes says...
To be honest, I couldn't care less,If you go for bottom of the market players, this is what you get. Pay peanuts and your almost certainly going to get monkeys.
Posted 16:25 21st October 2008
Steve Garner says...
I am a massive fan of the Manchester Phoenix and am still appalled now at Grant Jaccobson's behaviour. He just came over for a month of training then disappeared back to the club he came from to start the CHL season as if nothing had happened leaving us completely in the lurch for a good week or two. We are through it now and have had a few fantastic results but this needs to be stopped now. There are too many players doing this. The BMI Baby League I feel should start helping the clubs with these contracts as with certain players they are obviously not worth the piece of paper they are written on. The players who do this should be made to pay the costs the club paid to get them in the country but I fear this will never happen
Posted 05:18 21st October 2008
Marc Twaite says...
Can i just say that because the Bmi Baby Ice Hockey Elite League is self Governed, surely these problems regarding players being able to move to other teams when not happy is acceptable. If There was a independant Governing body that issued the players contract's and having an understanding on the correct ruling on itc cards and work premits, there wouldnt be such a problem. Maybe if the Bmi baby Elite League directors would listen to the Goverment and turn up to meetings called by the Minister of Sport then these situations would be looked at before the season starts. Players have to think of thereself and there families, so if a better oppertunity came along for them how can the Elite League stop them! If the teams were stable financially and had correct insurance for serious injuries then these players would not not leave anyway. Id like to think that one day the Bmi baby Elite League and its directors that Govern the sport will wake up and think of the saftey, security, development and future of ice hockey in this country and then we might see imported players to a very high standard wanting to come and play in this country and stay. But when you have directors just thinking of there next weeks salary you cant blame the player for leaving can you. Marc Twaite
Posted 08:31 16th October 2008