Good points but i cant help thinking Tony Hand is / was a one off, hard to believe he turned down a contract at Edmonton Oilers during their peak trophy laden era. Theres also a counter arguement that the imports help raise our players skill levels and the product wouldnt be as attractive to punters with mostly Brits. Though all sides have good Brit players and some are as good as anyone on their team there wouldnt be enough top level ones to go round to run the top leagues at the current skill level. My team only has 2 imports allowed but if i was allowed to choose i would want to see more imports, probably be happy to pay more to fund it too. What would be a good idea in the Elite and EPL imo is force top sides to have a minimum of 1 or 2 under Brit 21's on each team getting regular ice time.

Never went to see the Knights in the Superleague, remember seeing their DLR train and the ads but never got around to going, wish i had now. Would have loved the level of play, im told there was plenty of AHL's making up the squads, but its easy to see how ot collapsed with 18 or so imports per side it must have cost a fortune to run.

Btw ESPN are showing KHL games as from Wednesday, I've just signed up, Ovechkins Moscow side is first UP iirc.

Heroin and Japanese pornography.

No the Heroin is for use during the season!

Quote BroncOnIon="BroncOnIon"Keep looking at the club site in the (usually vain) hope that some snippet of information may appear. Two weeks-worth of nowt currently. www.londonbroncosrl.com/news/4639.php'" Well, it's happened today. Positive stuff too. www.londonbroncosrl.com/news/4641.php Already subject of two other threads so nothing to add here.

Quote BroncOnIon="BroncOnIon"Keep looking at the club site in the (usually vain) hope that some snippet of information may appear. Two weeks-worth of nowt currently. www.londonbroncosrl.com/news/4639.php'" Well, it's happened today. Positive stuff too. www.londonbroncosrl.com/news/4641.php Already subject of two other threads so nothing to add here.

A bit of non league football, occasional Dulwich Hamlet games as I watched them in my London days, and other matches as they catch my eye. I may be at Maidstone v Dulwich this Saturday but it's not looking promising. A few matches at Aldershot Town, I live three mins from the ground these days. I'm another ice hockey fan and can be found at a few of southern rinks supporting Telford Tigers when they visit, I grew up down the road from the rink. Being the only supporter owned team in senior hockey and having no sugar daddy means a constant struggle at the bottom of the league but I do get to enjoy the odd good day turning over one of the big paying teams. Basingstoke v Telford is another possibility for Saturday, I doubt it will be an away win.

I may be going if that helps you make your decision

I'm firmly in the 'stops players developing' camp on that one. Although you might be right about Hand being a one off, I just think a lot of players stopped developing at the age of 18 because they ended up sitting on the bench watching Canadians instead of actually getting ice time.



IIRC the old BHL had higher average attendances than the Elite League has now.



Might have to keep an eye out for the KHL then, what the NHL situation.

Watching old Wigan videos with wirequin.

Joeo- No point watching current ones as it will bring to much disappointment



Join Listy and watch Leeds- You will see cups being lifted.

Just got back from a whistle-stop tour of Blighty....the rest of the off season will be in awe at the sheer genius of the decisions coming from TW2 Towers together with T-20 Cricket in Wellington and distilling my own spirits

Watched the Prague v Dynamo Moscow game yesterday, as expected far less physical than north american or dare i say British game but high skill level due to the extra time players get on the puck. Very wierd watching Chara of Boston in a Prague jersey and NHL superstar Ovechkin of Washington in a Dynamo one. Comedy moment was the US commentators (Barry Melrose for any hockey fans) talking about the massive travel times in the league (which is actually split into east and west conferences). "when you think, heres a team in Prague and another right over by Japan you realise how vast the USSR really is".



NHL lockout is at a stalemate appartantly, there having discusions but only on minor issues, probably what loo roll goes in the locker room. Those in the know reckon its most likely to end at the end of the year, largely because the showcase Winter Classic outdoor game on Jan 1st (i think, it usually is then) is a huge thing for the league. The 1st two weeks of the season were due to start now and are officially cancelled. The league calculate the loss to them and the players to be $140 million for the fortnight.

France v. Wales on BBC2 yesterday. Helps fill the off-season gap.