Wonder if he even thought that is was fun to play without any competition?
Edit: Don't like the coach's mentality either
Probably not, a lot of guys from B league clubs move to A league if they're dominating (connolly moved to chelmsford), better for their development as well, and means its easier to get into conference/england teams. As for the coach, there aren't a lot of good junior coaches really, most are just parents of players
Also a non-hockey related question: you speak very good English, as do many other Swedes. Does everyone get taught it in school and how often do you have the lessons?
Also a non-hockey related question: you speak very good English, as do many other Swedes. Does everyone get taught it in school and how often do you have the lessons?
We have english lessons from the 5th grade onward. Probably 3-5hs a week.
Probably not, a lot of guys from B league clubs move to A league if they're dominating (connolly moved to chelmsford), better for their development as well, and means its easier to get into conference/england teams. As for the coach, there aren't a lot of good junior coaches really, most are just parents of players
Also a non-hockey related question: you speak very good English, as do many other Swedes. Does everyone get taught it in school and how often do you have the lessons?
Personally I have English lessons twice a week. In elementary school you have it more often, usually three times a week.
An other thing is that English is that, if you take hockey for an example, the terms and such are much cooler. The Swedish words for the same things are often very lame. The result is that I use much English terms and words at the rink, even if not everyone understands what I'm saying. But inch by inch the guys learn
Personally I have English lessons twice a week. In elementary school you have it more often, usually three times a week.
An other thing is that English is that, if you take hockey for an example, the terms and such are much cooler. The Swedish words for the same things are often very lame. The result is that I use much English terms and words at the rink, even if not everyone understands what I'm saying. But inch by inch the guys learn
What are examples of hockey terms you think sound "cooler" in English? everyone here seems to say all hockey terms in a Canadian/American accent
What are examples of hockey terms you think sound "cooler" in English? everyone here seems to say all hockey terms in a Canadian/American accent
Oh, sorry for not being so clear, I don't mean the English accent in particular, I mean if you translate them in to Swedish. "Crash the net" and "coast to coast" are just two examples who sounds ridiculous if you translate them.
Oh, sorry for not being so clear, I don't mean the English accent in particular, I mean if you translate them in to Swedish. "Crash the net" and "coast to coast" are just two examples who sounds ridiculous if you translate them.
That's why I choose to use the English terms.
Yeah I know what you meant, I was just saying the accent thing is what everyone in England does at hockey. Like in general conversation we wouldn't say stuff like "buddy" but at hockey we always say it, one of the favourites is "ohhh five hole!!" with American accent, "nice pass/shot buddy!" Is another common one
Yeah I know what you meant, I was just saying the accent thing is what everyone in England does at hockey. Like in general conversation we wouldn't say stuff like "buddy" but at hockey we always say it, one of the favourites is "ohhh five hole!!" with American accent, "nice pass/shot buddy!" Is another common one
I see, but I think British English sounds much more nice than American English in general. It's just when you play hockey American is better.
A question about your junior leagues.
You have U18 and U20? How many teams are playing, and what standard do the leagues have?
A question about your junior leagues.
You have U18 and U20? How many teams are playing, and what standard do the leagues have?
We don't have a U20 league, juniors only goes up to U18's. The leagues are split up into North and South conferences, with an A and B league in each conference. In U18's South A has 10 teams and South B has 6 teams. North A has 9 and North B has 7. The reason for the uneven numbers is because some clubs don't have enough players to be able to have a team, so the B league usually has less teams. They don't play many games, they play each other once home and once away, though in South B this year they play each other 4 times since there are only 6 teams.
Honestly, the standard is not very good, it has completely diminished since I played. The first year I played 18's we won the South A league, then lost to Sheffield in the national final. My team had guys I have mentioned previously like James Griffin and Joey Lewis, and 4 others from that team have played for GB U18's or U20's since. The Sheffield team that beat us had 8 players who have played for GB 18's or 20's.
I think the reason the standard is dropped is because back then your junior team was your main priority, but now a lot of the best players are contracted with the Senior team so don't play juniors at all. The leagues are also very uncompetitive all the way through from U10's to U18's. Bristol in the U18 A league have a goal differential of -176 in 8 games, after being promoted from the B league. This often happens because a stronger group of players wins the B league and the club gets promoted, but then those players are too old to play for that team anymore, so the much weaker class of players has to play in the A league.
Here is a link to the junior page on the English Ice Hockey Association website, where you can see all the league tables and results if you're interested http://www.eiha.co.uk/Leagues/Juniors.aspx
We don't have a U20 league, juniors only goes up to U18's. The leagues are split up into North and South conferences, with an A and B league in each conference. In U18's South A has 10 teams and South B has 6 teams. North A has 9 and North B has 7. The reason for the uneven numbers is because some clubs don't have enough players to be able to have a team, so the B league usually has less teams. They don't play many games, they play each other once home and once away, though in South B this year they play each other 4 times since there are only 6 teams.
Honestly, the standard is not very good, it has completely diminished since I played. The first year I played 18's we won the South A league, then lost to Sheffield in the national final. My team had guys I have mentioned previously like James Griffin and Joey Lewis, and 4 others from that team have played for GB U18's or U20's since. The Sheffield team that beat us had 8 players who have played for GB 18's or 20's.
I think the reason the standard is dropped is because back then your junior team was your main priority, but now a lot of the best players are contracted with the Senior team so don't play juniors at all. The leagues are also very uncompetitive all the way through from U10's to U18's. Bristol in the U18 A league have a goal differential of -176 in 8 games, after being promoted from the B league. This often happens because a stronger group of players wins the B league and the club gets promoted, but then those players are too old to play for that team anymore, so the much weaker class of players has to play in the A league.
Here is a link to the junior page on the English Ice Hockey Association website, where you can see all the league tables and results if you're interested http://www.eiha.co.uk/Leagues/Juniors.aspx
Ouch, -176... Can't be that fun to play for Bristol.
I see that the teams are very uneven skill wise. The best for everyone would be to bundle all the best teams from both north and south together and make a new league. Like the Superelit in Sweden but with U18's instead of U20.
I also see that it would be impossible due to the longer travels, and everything else that get much more expensive if you would create a new junior league.
It's a shame that the juniors don't get higher priority. If you have a better standard at the junior level, you will eventually not have rely on imports to be a good team at the senior level.
Use a majority of British players that are products from your own junior team and spice it up with some imports instead.
Ouch, -176... Can't be that fun to play for Bristol.
I see that the teams are very uneven skill wise. The best for everyone would be to bundle all the best teams from both north and south together and make a new league. Like the Superelit in Sweden but with U18's instead of U20.
I also see that it would be impossible due to the longer travels, and everything else that get much more expensive if you would create a new junior league.
It's a shame that the juniors don't get higher priority. If you have a better standard at the junior level, you will eventually not have rely on imports to be a good team at the senior level.
Use a majority of British players that are products from your own junior team and spice it up with some imports instead.
Not at all, and I have to line their game in Swindon tomorrow
The system and structure is certainly very flawed but it would simply be too much effort for the governing body to change it, they're pretty useless. They've been talking about extending the age groups back to U19's though, they got rid of U19's in 07/08 because of some stupid legal thing about 19 year old adults playing against 15 year old kids.
There often isn't any incentive for clubs to develop kids within their system, because they will just get poached by teams in higher leagues. They just put out the best possible team they have now in order to win, which often means taking a kid out of juniors to play for them because they're good enough. James Griffin played top minutes in the EPIHL full time since he was 16, and didn't play juniors, because the team knew they would only have him for a couple of years before an EIHL team signed him
Not at all, and I have to line their game in Swindon tomorrow
The system and structure is certainly very flawed but it would simply be too much effort for the governing body to change it, they're pretty useless. They've been talking about extending the age groups back to U19's though, they got rid of U19's in 07/08 because of some stupid legal thing about 19 year old adults playing against 15 year old kids.
There often isn't any incentive for clubs to develop kids within their system, because they will just get poached by teams in higher leagues. They just put out the best possible team they have now in order to win, which often means taking a kid out of juniors to play for them because they're good enough. James Griffin played top minutes in the EPIHL full time since he was 16, and didn't play juniors, because the team knew they would only have him for a couple of years before an EIHL team signed him
Must be exciting
In the U20 league I play in you are allowed to have 5 under aged players (born 94' and earlier) and 5 over aged ( born 91' or later). Don't know how old you can be at max.
If you extend the age groups back to u19, maybe you could extend u16 to u17? To prevent the age differences to derail, maybe you could do a similar thing like the one I wrote about above. That a maximum of maybe 5 players that are under aged are allowed to play with the older players. But maybe there aren't enough players to do a such thing?
In the U20 league I play in you are allowed to have 5 under aged players (born 94' and earlier) and 5 over aged ( born 91' or later). Don't know how old you can be at max.
If you extend the age groups back to u19, maybe you could extend u16 to u17? To prevent the age differences to derail, maybe you could do a similar thing like the one I wrote about above. That a maximum of maybe 5 players that are under aged are allowed to play with the older players. But maybe there aren't enough players to do a such thing?
I did hear something about reverting to odd number age groups being a possibility, but I highly doubt it will happen.
The rule for playing up to 18s from 16's is you have to be 15, there certainly wouldn't be enough players for certain clubs if you restricted the number who could play up
I did hear something about reverting to odd number age groups being a possibility, but I highly doubt it will happen.
The rule for playing up to 18s from 16's is you have to be 15, there certainly wouldn't be enough players for certain clubs if you restricted the number who could play up
Ok, yeah, that was what I thought. About the amounts of players.
Do you have any clue about how many registered hockey players the uk have?
That weren't that many. The biggest sports in the Uk are football, rugby, cricket. Am I right?
Where is hockey placed? Compared to sports like athletics, basketball, other wintersports like snowboarding and skiing, and different kinds of fighting and wrestling. Water- and horse polo and golf
That weren't that many. The biggest sports in the Uk are football, rugby, cricket. Am I right?
Where is hockey placed? Compared to sports like athletics, basketball, other wintersports like snowboarding and skiing, and different kinds of fighting and wrestling. Water- and horse polo and golf
It's hard to put the sports in order because some sports have more participation but others get more TV coverage.
Wikipedia tells me the ranking for TV viewing from a 2003 poll was:
1) Football
2) Rugby Union
3) Tennis
4) Cricket
5) Athletics
6) Snooker
7) Motor Racing (Formula 1)
8) Rugby league (much more popular in the North)
9) Boxing
10) Golf
11) Darts
I don't think that ranking will have changed much, snooker will have fallen down the list and been overtaken by Formula 1, Rugby League and boxing, UFC (fighting) is rapidly growing in popularity now, Horse Racing gets a lot of TV coverage if you count that as a sport.
Hockey probably has the most viewing and participation of all the winter sports though. I know there are a few dry ski slopes in the country but there aren't any close to where I live.
It's hard to put the sports in order because some sports have more participation but others get more TV coverage.
Wikipedia tells me the ranking for TV viewing from a 2003 poll was:
1) Football
2) Rugby Union
3) Tennis
4) Cricket
5) Athletics
6) Snooker
7) Motor Racing (Formula 1)
8) Rugby league (much more popular in the North)
9) Boxing
10) Golf
11) Darts
I don't think that ranking will have changed much, snooker will have fallen down the list and been overtaken by Formula 1, Rugby League and boxing, UFC (fighting) is rapidly growing in popularity now, Horse Racing gets a lot of TV coverage if you count that as a sport.
Hockey probably has the most viewing and participation of all the winter sports though. I know there are a few dry ski slopes in the country but there aren't any close to where I live.
Haha, snooker.. Has to be the sleepiest sport ever
Haha, snooker.. Has to be the sleepiest sport ever
I actually used to enjoy playing snooker when I was younger, would spend hours in the snooker club with a couple of my friends. Though my sports studies teacher in college always said "anything an 80 year old man can beat me at, isn't a real sport"
I actually used to enjoy playing snooker when I was younger, would spend hours in the snooker club with a couple of my friends. Though my sports studies teacher in college always said "anything an 80 year old man can beat me at, isn't a real sport"
I admit that it's quite fun to play, but when snooker is on eurosport, I just jawn. It's not a crowd pleasing sport.
Off topic: My U-18 team finally got it's roster added to eliteprospects tonight, after a long struggle
What are the chances of anyone on your team becoming stars in Sweden or being drafted?
Also, a player in Division1 south has been given a five year suspension after spearing an opponent in the face and breaking his jaw!
The chances of someone being drafted are very small I think. But actually, we have a guy who played for our club earlier who got drafted this year. But I would say that high level div1/ Allsvenskan isn't something impossible. We are a very young team that's trying to move up tu J18Elit from J18div1.
The chances of someone being drafted are very small I think. But actually, we have a guy who played for our club earlier who got drafted this year. But I would say that high level div1/ Allsvenskan isn't something impossible. We are a very young team that's trying to move up tu J18Elit from J18div1.
What!? O my god ..
Realistically what do you think is the highest level you could reach as a player?
Yeah, I read that he got 20 games for spearing + 3 years for violent conduct + 2 years for 'bringing the game into disrepute'
There was also a bizarre incident last night, where a friend of mine, a linesman, was ejected from the game by his referee, for making hand gestures to Romford Raiders fans during the game. If you come over here and play in Division 1 you'll make good friends with this lot, they're a friendly bunch he said they were calling him a variety of names during the game including racial slurs and told the ref who did nothing about it, and in the end he had enough and turned around and "blew kisses to them" he says. Security told the ref he had made "hand gestures" to fans, and the ref sent him off the ice
Realistically what do you think is the highest level you could reach as a player?
Yeah, I read that he got 20 games for spearing + 3 years for violent conduct + 2 years for 'bringing the game into disrepute'
There was also a bizarre incident last night, where a friend of mine, a linesman, was ejected from the game by his referee, for making hand gestures to Romford Raiders fans during the game. If you come over here and play in Division 1 you'll make good friends with this lot, they're a friendly bunch he said they were calling him a variety of names during the game including racial slurs and told the ref who did nothing about it, and in the end he had enough and turned around and "blew kisses to them" he says. Security told the ref he had made "hand gestures" to fans, and the ref sent him off the ice
It's hard to say, my goal is Allsvenskan. So div1/Allsvenskan.
I think he's worth it.
That was something I've never heard before! The referee has to listen to his linesmen, they are a team for them self.
During my game yesterday, three players on my team, including myself, got a 10 for abusing the ref. One got sent off. It was a chaos game. First of all, the ref came 45 minutes late, and the linesmen were players from our oppositions senior team. After a minute we played 3on5 after two embarrassing calls, and it just kept on that way. And when the team we played against scored 2-1 when they had a delayed penalty against them, I blacked out, screaming right into his face wondering if he was completely retarded. After discussing it with his linesmen for like 10 minutes he finally realized that he couldn't allow the goal. But for me, it was already to late. Nothing to be proud of, but I couldn't take it anymore. We lost the game 3-2 and I scored a goal and an assist.
