World Championship Preparation

Can somebody post the schedule of the games played by the UK MEN NATIONAL TEAM, in preparation for the coming World Championship?

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Lex1900

As usual, there won't be any preparation games. The team are due to play a testimonial game for Mike Blaisdell on 3rd March, and there is talk of a game against Guildford Flames.

Other than that, the only concession being made to the tournament is that the team will travel out 2 days early for acclimitisation... :(

You gotta love the great preparation for our boys :o( Things need to be a tad more serious and better prepared to get the better results... But good luck to em in advance anyways!

It won't happen until the team owners decide the national team is important. Sadly, most think the national team is unimportant and therefore refuse to recognise the international breaks...


Graham.

The international team is always viewed as a conflict to thier profit making enterprises, how about getting the league structures straight for a start. Maybe looking towards the Swedish systems for pointers

getting league or leagues or whatever sorted would help


good luck any way

The international team is always viewed as a conflict to thier profit making enterprises, how about getting the league structures straight for a start. Maybe looking towards the Swedish systems for pointers
I'd prefer us to look at the Swiss system. A country where the sport is not regarded as mainstream, a country that was in Pool B very recently and only narrowly beat Great Britain in an Olympic qualifier and a country that has managed to elevate it's U-20 squad into one of the best in the world.

Sweden, Finland, Canada, etc haven't had to overcome the same culture issues that we need to. Switzerland has. That's where we need to take our inspiration, and stop this continual hunt in North America for our magical cure.

Graham.

I certainly agree that the Swiss model is the best one for British hockey to follow, maybe we can even have our national team coach back. The one problem with trying the Swiss system is that they can restrict the amount of non-Swiss players whilst that's not possible to do in the UK. Certainly it seems to me that a study and adaption of the central European leagues would be of more benefit than pretending we are Canadians.

The one problem with trying the Swiss system is that they can restrict the amount of non-Swiss players whilst that's not possible to do in the UK.
But we're not allowed the restrictions we already have in place (EIHL's 50-50 rule and the FBNL's 8 import limit), so I don't see why we can't just extend them to the same level as the Swiss have.

FWIW, I believe the Swiss limitations are no more than 5 imports on your books. In the NLA, you can only dress 3 of them a game. In the NLB, you can only dress 2 of them a game.