At 90 mph, the Puk Hurts…

Season Review. 

Well, for me, the season got under way on April 16^th, 2012, when I handed over 640 quids worth of used, non-sequential, grubby notes to Tony Smith (I actually handed them over to Andy, but that’s just a technicality). This is quite a substantial sum of money to someone on my meagre pension.

Within a couple of weeks of this momentous event, all of a sudden, a major announcement from the EIHL, dampens my spirits profoundly for the upcoming season. The league structure is to be split into 2 separate conferences. Straight away, I’m wondering if I can get a refund. I don’t like conference systems, I never have, I probably never will, especially when you are splitting up just a handful of teams. Ten teams, split into two groups of five, one called Gardiner and one called Erhardt. The names could have been different, for example, they could have been called “Top 5” and “Bottom 5”, “Strong” and “Weak” or maybe, “North” and “South”, or how about, “Scottish (and Hull)” and “Everyone Else”, then at least the names would reflect the member teams. Then, to just put me even more on a downer, the EIHL announce the rules governing the playing sequence for the conference and inter conference matches. Each team to play their own conference teams four home and four away, and to play inter conference teams two home and two away. Anticipation of an exciting season is already ebbing away as I can see boredom creeping in with so many visits by the same teams. After years of being told “the league need to work forward to make sure that we don’t get back to the scenario of just five teams competing with each other over and over”, in one fell swoop, they have achieved just that. Two separate conferences of five teams competing with each other over and over. The Scottish teams through their crying and dummy throwing have managed to get a manipulated league which now serves as an extended version of the Challenge Cup groups. They wanted to join this league, but as soon as they did, then decided to throw all of their toys out and begin shifting the blame to the big boys who were already here first, (and yes, Edinburgh, I am thinking of you at the moment). If you can’t play in the big pond, then bugger off back and swim with the tiddlers, but don’t jump in head first and then start whining that it’s too deep. By all means, come and play, but be ready to play for a full season and an equal number of times against every other club in the playground. Also, the excuses of wanting to  even up the playing field to give the smaller clubs a chance of getting to the play-off weekend, doesn’t really cut it anymore does it, as none were there this year, but on looking back at last year, there seems to be an infiltration by Hull to the weekend, who are this year included in the Scottish conference (they must have loved all the extra travel costs). So, looking at the line ups from last year, a smaller team got through to the final weekend without the help of any conference set up, but this year, a smaller team didn’t.

Bingo, that worked!!!

NOT!

I force myself to start thinking “Give it a chance” and await the announcement of players being signed. But then, the kick in the teeth and I know the season is all downhill from now. The Challenge Cup groups are announced, and apart from Hull and Belfast being swapped, the other teams in our group are the same as our conference group, so another home and away against the same teams. Belfast must be jumping with joy at the prospect of their free ride. So now, with league and Challenge Cup games, we have the prospect of five home games against the likes of Cardiff, Coventry, and Nottingham…. Yawn…. And most of these will be on the season ticket. Including Challenge Cup games on the season ticket, to me, cheapens the value, especially if they are towards the end of all group matches. If, like we did this season, the team storms the group, then the last couple of games are meaningless, as you can come no higher than first in group. So the end result is getting, what in reality, are nothing more than dead rubber, practice games. The number of times playing and seeing each team will, no doubt, for some, get very repetitive, and take a lot of the atmosphere away from the game. It will end up getting stale, regardless of how much certain noises try and spin it or hype it up.

Then, just when I think it can’t possibly get any worse, the games schedule is announced. Good grief, I despair. Most of the other conference games are at Ice Sheffield, so won’t be covered by the season ticket, there are more Sunday games than Saturday games, also, there are two or three mid-week games, and to cap it off, we already have some Challenge Cup games listed.

The lack of other conference games at the Arena, means only one visit by certain teams on the season ticket, and a couple of teams that won’t even visit the Arena. After already paying out to see the Arena games via the season ticket, I am unable to justify the cost of going to Ice Sheffield to try and see other teams which could, in a way, break up some of the relentless boredom, which I expect from seeing our own conference teams over and over. Having to put up with so many Sunday games is something I will never relish. A few, fair enough, as to fill in the schedule, we will always have some, but when there are more Sunday games than Saturday, then to me, the value is lost, as with some members of my close family regularly working on Sunday, this now detracts from the “Family sport” so intensively pushed forward by the club and the league, because, now, they simply won’t be able to attend, especially as this is made even worse by the stupid face off time of 5:00 pm.

So far, it’s not exactly looking promising, at least not to me, and all this before we even get a team signed.

Oh well. The season tickets had been bought, and as I waited for the season to start, players were announced one after another. Some sounded good, some sounded average, some were coming back from last year. Would they make a team of hard hitting, exciting, win hungry players. Only time would tell.

Fast forward to the games and we all know how they went. Some disappointing performances, gave some very disappointing results. The few games where the promised hard hitting, exciting teamwork materialised were few and far between and this non-commitment cost us any chance of getting in front. By Christmas, I was getting annoyed at the results as well as getting depressed with seeing the same repetitive games.

Then, 2 days after Christmas, what the hell? Complete destruction of Nottingham, by a team I hadn’t seen before.

But, not to worry, normal service was resumed the following weekend. Back to the non-commitment and the lack of passion. We were winning games, we were losing games, but there was little to get excited about. Games we should have controlled were thrown away and when we needed to make games count, they went beyond reach. The season drifted beyond us. Obviously, by this point of the season, Tony Smith was less than impressed as a warning about heads could roll being published in the local rag.

All that remained was to see how well we could play in the two cup competitions. The Challenge cup games were played by a different team. As already stated, we dominated our group for the Challenge Cup and moved easily onto the quarter-final against Dundee. So for this game, we again struggled and ended up losing. The second leg at Ice Sheffield, which I decided to attend and all of a sudden, it was team 2 that turned up. Dundee destroyed and a move on to the semi- final with a match up against Braehead. Both games won to set up a final against our nearest and dearest. Another anomaly I have never agreed to, a final played over 2 legs. So a final and then a final final. Well, as group leaders we had home preference so should have played the final final at Sheffield, but no, Nottingham were allowed to piss us off and take control of something they should never have been allowed to. More bullshit from a joke of a league, gifting games to Nottingham, probably to appease them for years of falling apart at the seams due to their own ineptitude to play for a full season. So into the first leg and lo and behold, we die. So, regardless of which order the games are played, we decide we are not really going to turn up and end the night being 3 goals behind in our own shed. Again, not good enough. The second leg in Nottingham, too much to do, but at least we put it on the ice, and came away with a win, but as I said, too much to do. The trophy went to Nottingham. The same week they managed to do something, which had evaded them for over half a century. They had done the unthinkable. They had won the league.

Two trophies in Nottingham, and just one tournament left. One that has been a joke for some time now. Played in the neutral venue of Nottingham, this can only be the Play Off weekend. We need to get there, no matter what, and with a third place finish in the league, we get a home and away quarter final match up against, what has been, a rather poor Coventry Blaze side. We win in Coventry and lose in Sheffield, albeit in overtime. But disappointing all the same, as Coventry have struggled all season. Maybe they just want to see if they could salvage something from what has been close to a disaster for them. But what is it with our team, not being able to put many convincing wins down in front of their own fans in their own barn. Pretty much the story all season, let’s not play for the home crowd, but we can pull it back while on the road. Disappointment spread to just about every Steeler fan with that result. Again, no Steeler team in Nottingham. By now, I don’t really care who wins what, as I fully expect Nottingham to take the remaining cup in the neutral venue, which is used year after year, although Nottingham fans swear that, no way does it give their team any advantage what-so-ever. Hahaha, keep trying, as you must be the only fans of any team playing any sport in the world that actually believes any crap like that, why do teams clammer for home advantage in so many different sports.

So, that’s it.

Season over.

So how did we do? Crap, worse than last season.

Was it exciting? No, not really, small bursts of what could have been, but nothing sustained from game to game.

Was it worth the money? No, not in my opinion.

Am I bitter? Damn right, I am. I want my team to play. The shirt isn’t a gift to keep them warm, it’s a uniform to have pride in.

Will I be back next year? The way I feel at the moment, I very much doubt it.

Am I disappointed? Yes, very.

 

If I do come back, I expect a hell of a different team, and a hell of a different attitude from players, coaches, managers, and a hell of a lot less spin and more truth as to what should be put on the ice. This season was full of bullshit all round, and it leaves a very bad taste. From start to finish, it did nothing for me, from the rubbish conference set up, to the manipulation of games, to the disappointment of not being able to compete, to the players seemingly not bothered, and to being 640 quid lighter with nothing even remotely resembling value for money.

 

At the moment, I DO NOT BELIEVE.