MORE POINTS, MORE TEAMS MORE TROPHIES

MORE POINTS, MORE TEAMS MORE TROPHIES

        The league has now dropped the format for the league for the 24/25 season. A new trophy has been added, the path to grand slam for anyone wanting it just got a bit longer and we have some new enemies joining us on the campaign for the league, play off and National championships

SOUTH 1 EXPANSION

                We have 2 new teams in NIHL 1 South this coming season. One of them a familiar face rejoining us after some time away in South 2. And the other a new face stepping up to South 1 for the first time. 

    The Cardiff Fire make their return to South 1 for the first time since 2020. Following the Covid curtailed season the Fire opted to enact a plan to rebuild the team after a torrid few seasons that had seen them rooted near the bottom of the league in its various guises. That last time around the Fire roster was something of a mystery till they arrived on the High Road to open the season having not announced anyone. This time around the Fire are slowly but surely announcing signings, most of which seem to be joining from the Oxford City Stars so far. Which has lead to a great deal of consternation among Oxford and non Oxford fans as it seemed like no one was signing in Oxford. So far they have signed, Danny Williams and Tom Stephens to bolster their ranks. And likely given he's a Welshman himself we could expect to see Ross Miller sign on with the Fire. 

            Stepping up for the first time to NIHL 1, as what seems to be a push by the Nell family owned teams to get development routes going for their National teams in Leeds and Swindon. The Wildcats 2 side makes the step up from NIHL 2 to NIHL 1. While everyone else drip feeds the news of signings through the summer as a means of fan engagement. The Wildcats opted to drop their entire roster in one go. And its a strong mixture of youth and experience. The Wildcats 2 are determined not to be in the wooden spoon fight at seasons end, but are also determined to be committed to developing talent. 

To this end they have signed players with experience of the National, NIHL 1 and 2 leagues. In net they have landed Brett Massey from Slough. Likely a move to further the organisational goal of moving Massey into the main Wildcats roster one day. The arrival of Wildcats 2 much the same as Cardiff Fire has hit the Oxford Stars hard with Ben Nethersell,Matt Lawday, and William Harding all being brought in along with adding a scoring touch by signing away Liam Coleman and Steve Osman from Solent. And for good measure bringing in everyones favourite player they all love to hate Jay Warren. 

These experienced players, will be aided by a crop of talented youngsters who are a mix of graduates from the NIHL 2 Wildcats, the Swindon Academy and even players who have already played up with the Wildcats main like Dylan Lipsey. Jan Kostal jr is a player everyone is watching keenly, and his youth stats back this up. Carl Forshee, Ethan Taylor, Ben Mason and Alfie Druett are all players the club will be hoping continue their upward development trend in NIHL 1

CONCLUSSIONS

The expansion of the league with the addition of 2 new teams is only good for the leagues entertainment value and is in turn therefore good for business, for 7 of the other teams. Despite the assurances made by Oxford and Mark Saunders that despite a large percentage of Fire's new signings having been part of the Oxford last season. And Swindon's NIHL 1 arrival seeing players like Oliver Stone and Matt Lawday leave, along with Jan Kostal and Shannon Taylor departing to take up coaching roles with the Wildcats. The Wildcats and Fires arrivals is going to impact the Stars ability to improve the roster after a couple of seasons where the team has struggled on the ice. As was seen last season, the Wildcats and Solent organisations were the Stars best options for players they could try to sign to strengthen. With 2 new sides now in that catchment area, along with the Pitbull's in NIHL and NIHL 2 it makes a very crowded market place. 

From a fans perspective this will be great of course. The issue with the 8 team league was of course that the same teams would be back once every 2 weeks. I recall a point where we played the same team twice in 2 weeks. Now while the addition of 2 new teams meaning 2 new home and 2 new away games won't mean an end to that. It does mean there will be more of a breaker upon how often we see certain teams. That combined with the new formats I will look at shortly will make for a more exciting league for the fans. 

THE NEW STRUCTURE

The league announced yesterday the plans for the league structure this coming season. They break down as follows

Points - Its now 3pts for a win, 2pts for an OT/Shoot Out win 1pt for a loss in OT/SO and 0 for a regulation loss

Roster limits have now also been introduced, and the Non British Trained player rules changed as well. 

Rosters are now only allowed to contain 30 senior age players(these will likely be U24 and above) and on game day only 2 non British trained players. Or Imports as we collectively call them, will be allowed to ice, and the old rule preventing them from icing at the same time has been removed. This will now allow teams at our level the option of signing import net-minders if possible. Meaning any club who signs Petr Cech will not have to juggle him with another import skater.

With the expansion to 10 teams there has been a corresponding rise in games for the league season. We return to the format of 36 games in a season. Thats 4 against the 9 teams we play, 2 at home and 2 away. Of those 36 games 10 will make up the cup campaign, where we will compete in a group of 5 with 4 other teams. Currently we don't know how the groups will be split but likely it will be done using either east v west or north v south divides. 

The play offs get the biggest shake up however. The league has adopted the round robin format for the play offs. With 6 teams not the usual 8 qualifying for the quarterfinal round robin, where it will be 1 home 1 away and the 1st and 2nd qualifying for a 2 leg semi final. Presumably the seeding draw will be 1,3,5 in one group, and 2,4,6 in the other. 

Of course the biggest part of this shake up, has been the announcement that there will now be a National Play off championship weekend for all regional divisions at 1 and 2 levels. By April 5th and 6th all regional division play offs(the round robin and 2 legged semi finals) will have to have been completed. Following this on April 12 and 13th there will be a National play off weekend. Were the S1,N1, S2 and N2 play off finals will be decided. Then on the Sunday the North will face the South in a National play off championship game.

CONCLUSSIONS

The leagues expansion has precipitated these changes, but also the widening of the gap between those teams in the top 6 to 7th and 8th in recent seasons has also lead to these changes. After several seasons of what could be seen as a bye in to the finals weekend for the teams finishing 1st and 2nd, and with cricket scores seeing them through to the finals weekends. Im not blind of course to the fact we have been the beneficiaries of this situation. The introduction of a top 6 qualification format increases the jeapordy of those top 6 positions in a league of 10. And it makes the end of season play off run in equally more packed with the possibility for upset. As all it will take is one or two bad games to upset the possibility of a favourite moving on to the semis or the finals weekend. 

The change in points structure will add to the excitement surrounding all this. The fact that teams were rewarded the same for what was effectively a tie in a game going to overtime as a win in regulation didnt make sense in my opinion. The introduction of 3 points for a win, should mean an improvement in the entertainment of games as teams go all in to win games for the maximum points. It will also help make the title fight more entertaining in theory with more points on offer, and thus more ways for opponents to close ground, but also lose it by allowing late comebacks to turn a win and 3 into 2 or 1 point in over time. 

Change is something that many will fear, and many will not approve of. Thats UK hockey, many things done in it are done because that's how its always been done. But if the sport is to grow, and to evolve it needs to look at new ways of doing things, and while ourselves and S2 are clearly an experiment with the end result being it will be applied to the National league if succesfull. 

The play-off weekend now enters what I think maybe if commercially succesful, its final evolutionary form. The MK weekends were a good attempt at doing a whole weekend for South 1, however the location just wasn't ideal for South 1 hockey fans, despite the modest number of nearby hotels. Travel issues and the fact the last one was done over the easter weekend when everything was shut leaving everyone with nothing to do on the Sunday, combined with tribalism keeping large numbers of fans away, leading to a rather empty arena on the Sunday for the final. Saw the league opt for Ally Pally for a joint S1 and S2 weekend. Commercially this event was a success, with standing room only and even then that was hard to come by, for all the games. With the stands packed out, however there have been several who have voiced concerns at the venues suitability due to its remote location, lack of nearby hotels and amenities, the food options and hotels and a lack of locker rooms. 

    While the national venue has not yet been announced, Ally Pally is not likely to be it. Its a wonderful building and the visuals of the National Finals taking place on a hill overlooking the capital are the things of cinema. But reality is that the finals weekend will need to be held somewhere geographically central or will need to be somewhere with the means and capacity to host such an event. The shortlist there would be Nottinghams arena, Coventry, Ice Sheffield or even the Hallam Sheffield arena for the Steelers, possibly MK as well. 

    The two choices I would be betting on here are Coventry or Ice Sheffield. This will all depend upon whats happening with the NIHL play offs and the EIHL play offs. Whether both will have been completed on time of course. But I'd also put an outside bet on somewhere like Leeds, Bristol or Nottingham. Sheffield or Coventry though would be the best chocies, both are experienced at hosting hockey tournaments, have good travel links, and hotels and other ameneties in close proximity to the rink. 

    The introduction of a National play off title will add another level of intrigue to the play offs, and may provide a window into the National league champions game the week after in Coventry if its league champion vs league champion. However for any team looking to secure all the trophies it will now represent another possible blocker on that quest. But you can only defeat who is put in front of you and can only play for whats on offer.