Changes a Foot For British Ice Hockey

Following on from the news that 4 time Elite League winners Coventry have hit into money trouble their head coach Paul Thompson has now stepped down from his role as the Great Britain team head coach.

Thompson had taken charge of the national programme in 2007 and under his stewardship the national team rose up the IIHF ranking. The greatest achievement was probably the victory over the Ukraine in the 2011 World Championships when his side beat the home team live on Ukrainian television on their way to narrowly missing out on promotion to the full World Championship group.

Thompson added in a statement that he was leaving the post to concentrate on the crises at the Blaze and leaves Ice Hockey UK with a massive task of finding his replacement before the build up to the 2012 World Championships.

A successor however will be had to come by, as currently Thompson is the only British although Corey Nielsen of the Nottingham Panthers could be a frontrunner for the role. Nielsen although born in Canada did represent the Great Britain team in the last World Championships and his side currently sits second in the Elite League.

Another name could be Rob Wilson who has served as Paul Thompson’s assistant and has coached in the Elite League with Newcastle and is well known in the UK with fans and players. However Wilson is currently in charge of Italian side Neumarkt Egna that will make him an unlikely candidate.

Tony Hand’s name could also be on a shortlist. Hand has also been an assistant under Paul Thompson and has coached in the Elite League with Belfast, Edinburgh and Manchester. Like Wilson, Hand is extremely well known within the game and with the players and was also a member of the last Great Britain team to play in the World Championship group. However Hand is currently the player coach of the second tier Manchester Phoenix and like Wilson would find in difficult to watch the players enough times to be able to pick the best squad. 

Ice Hockey UK may opt for a foreign coach and that could open the door to Doug Christiansen of the Belfast Giants.

Two things are for certain. One is that this is a huge job to fill and is immensely difficult given the time with players and lack of funding. The second is that there is not a long list of candidates with the experience, knowledge, success and perseverance needed to kept the Great Britain team moving forward.

Neil Tucker

www.bluelinehockeyblog.wordpress.com

Continental Cup Day 3 – HC Asiago And Donbass Donetsk Qualify!!

The afternoon games in both Group D and E didn’t equate towards the outcome of the qualifiers as Both HC Asiago of Italy and Donbass Donetsk finished off the evening games with the wins that they needed.

Dunaujvaros Acelbikak of Hungary could still qualify from Group D if they beat the Sheffield Steelers of Great Britain in the afternoon face off and they put the pressure on the Italians to win the evening game as they won their game 6-3. Sheffield ran into penalty trouble again towards the end of the 1^st and at the start of the 2^nd. The Hungarians capitalised and scored 6 times before Sheffield pulled 2 back in the 3^rd to make the scoreline more respectable.

This meant Herning couldn’t qualify whatever the outcome of their final game but HC Asiago needed at least a point and they got it despite losing in overtime against their Danish Hosts.

It seemed over the 3 game weekend that HC Asiago had the tougher games but pulled through when they needed to. Their games weren’t decided by refereeing decisions and they fully deserve their place in the Super Finals come January.

Joining them from Group E are the hosts Donbass Donetsk of the Ukraine as they won their evening decider against Rubin Tyumen 3-1. It looked a close game as the 3^rd goal came on an empty net with just 5 seconds left. That means the line up for the Super Final will be Donetsk, Rouen, Asiago and Minsk and will be played over the weekend 13^th – 15^th of January.

Cracovia beat Liepaja 3-1 in the afternoon game of Group E, meaning the Polish team gained some pride and bragging rights against their Latvian counterparts.

- Adam Yates

IIHF Continental Cup Action in Denmark and and the Ukraine

This weekend sees the IIHF Continental Cup hit the later group stages in Herning, Denmark and Donetsk, Ukraine.

There will be 2 groups of Hockey played – each group consisting of 4 teams that won their respective countries league last season.

Group D consists of HC Asiago of Italy, Sheffield Steelers of Great Britain, Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak of Hungary and hosts Herning Blue Fox.

Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak have already played through one group back in October, knocking out the champions of Belgium, Spain and The Netherlands to land their position in the group. The other 3 teams come straight into these latter stages, which is almost a semi final group stage.

Group E Consists of Rubin Tyumen of Russia, Cracovia Krakow of Poland, Liepajas Metalurgs of Latvia and hosts Donbass Donetsk.

Like their group D counterparts Dunaujvarosi Acelbikak, Liepajas Metalurgs have also already faced another qualifying group. They defeated the champions of Slovenia, Kazakhstan and Romania to get this far. Both groups kick off Friday and each team plays against each other once, with the team on top of the group come Sunday evening winning through to the Final group stage which is to be held in Rouen, France in January. Rouen Dragons and Yunot Minsk of Belarus are already in that final group so these groups are going to be extremely competitive with only the top spot seeing a team through to the final group. This is a tough weekend for all teams involved as all of them will play 3 games in 3 days.

Whilst bringing you up to date with results from both groups my main focus will be on Group D and Great Britain’s entrant to the competition, The Sheffield Steelers.

Their hosts, Herning Blue Fox have go into the weekend with a roster of 3 Netminders, 10 defencemen and 16 forwards to choose from. In comparison to this, Sheffield go to their Danish Hosts with 2 Netminders (1 being a young upcoming British player who is unlikely to see any ice time), 4 Defencemen and about 11 forwards.

An injury to star defenceman Rod Sarich (Brother of Calgary Flames Corey Sarich) picked up last weekend has seen the Steelers short benched in that area for the weekend. With the team usually running at 5 D, don’t be surprised to see RG Flath moved back there to help out this weekend.

Looking at the Hunarian champions roster, they boast 35 players to have iced already this season and Italy’s HC Asiago have 3 Netminders, 7 Defencmen and 14 Forwards on their books ready to play.

Sheffield certainly head into this tournament with the likelihood of burning out come Sunday.. However, 2 years ago with a similar size roster this Sheffield team surprised a lot of European Hockey fans by winning their group at this stage and headed to the final. That team contained some of the same players who face of in Denmark tomorrow and they have experience and heart which they hope will see them through.

For Sheffield to have any chance of finishing in that top spot again there will be certain players that need to shine this weekend and hopefully they will.

John DeCaro

John DeCaro is the man who will lead the Steelers inbetween the pipes. He is likely to play all 3 games and will huge performances to go with his huge stature in goal. It is DeCaro’s 1^st season in Sheffield after spending his 6 professional years to date in the ECHL, CHL or AHL. The last 2 seasons he spent at Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs before coming over to The Elite League In Great Britain. He currently has a save percentage of 0.935% and a GAA of 2.01 in the 21 games he has played so far.

Jeff Legue

Jeff Legue played the 2005-2006 season in the ECHL for South Carolina Stingrays and Dayton Bombers before heading to Germany the season after for his 1^st taste of European Hockey. He signed for Sheffield in the 2007-2008 season and is now in his 5^th year with the club. That first season brough him 43 points and he has improved on that year after year. He racked up 40 + 40 last year in 56 games and has 29 points in 22 games already this season. This guy has speed and an eye for both a great pass and the back of the net. He will be the Steelers go to guy up front.

Ashley Tait

Tait, like Legue had signed for the Steelers back in the 2007-2008 season. He did move for 1 season over to Ritten Renon in Italy but came back last season and is now the assistant player coach of the team. Tait has played for 20 seasons now in the UK and his experience will be key on the ice if games are close ones. Sheffield have 3 or 4 younger players in the team who have not experienced anything like this and Tait will be the one to keep them going and playing to the best of their ability.
 

Tait is also a point scorer. He has racked up over 50 points in all 3 seasons on the team and is one of the top scorers this year so far as well.

If these 3 players are on their game all weekend and the rest of the team are too, who knows what the outcome of the group will be.

Sheffield are probably the 3^rd favourites going into the group but this is a team that has only lost twice in 16 league games so far and are heading to the tournament with no pressure being put on them to qualify. HC Asiago are have the pressure of being favourites and Herning have the pressure of the home fans. Maybe, just maybe this will play into the Steelers hands.

- Adam Yates