Are Panthers alone in publicising the play-off finals?
THE Elite League have released another block at the National Ice Centre specifically for Nottingham Panthers supporters at the showpiece play-off weekend.
Always well-attended, of course, by local supporters, tickets – at first restricted to season ticket holders and supporters' club members – are being snapped up quickly now they are on general release.
On top of being a great two days for the country's ice hockey fans, the play-off finals – this time being held over the Easter weekend of April 7-8 – provide a good end-of-season payday for the clubs.
The cash simply gives some of the less-attractive teams a welcome hand-out to see them through to the next season.
Profits, largely from the gate-money, are divided equally among the ten league clubs.
Which begs the question: why is it, looking at the websites of all the teams, only Panthers seem to be promoting the event strongly?
Sheffield, Coventry, Cardiff Hull, Fife and Dundee have no obvious permanent mention or link on their website home page to publicise the play-offs or how to buy tickets.
Edinburgh have it on a rolling news panel while Braehead and Belfast have the story hidden away on tabs.
Although the spectator blocks in the auditorium are split as per the respective attendances of the clubs – and Panthers have the highest gates in the league – it gives all the appearance that the league's minnows are being propped up by Nottingham's loyal supporters.
In that case, for the future of the Elite League, let's hope the play-off finals don't move to somewhere less convenient for Panthers supporters.
Tributes have been paid to Brad Voth this week after the Cardiff Devils' giant was forced to retire because of injury.
But I can't imagine that many players will be sad to see the back of him.
When he first came over to the UK, not having fulfilled his promise in North America as a sixth round St Louis Blues draft pick, he became a one-man wrecking ball.
He was at his most effective when chasing down the puck and rattling the D-man into the boards.
At 6ft 5in, not many opposition players were prepared to tangle with him and at times it seems he got away with murder.
Voth never had less than 250 penalty minutes a season while at Cardiff and twice went over the 300 mark.
The thing is, despite making his living as a tough guy, he was not particularly a good fighter (just watch his scraps on Youtube) and used his strength to pull down his fellow combatant whenever it seemed he was losing.
In the last two or three seasons with the arrival of real fighters like Sean McMorrow, Alex Penner and even current Panthers favourite Guy Lepine, who can actually play as well, the influence of Voth was on the wane.
Love him or hate him, Voth certainly made an impact both for Cardiff and on the league and the Devils will be paying tribute to the Canadian by retiring his shirt number 26.
4 Comments
by claretgiant
Wednesday, February 22 2012, 2:28PM
“Seems we are ALL fans of British Ice Hockey, but as the ones before have said the above article is totally disrespectful to ALL except Nottingham Panthers.
There is a reason many feel Panthers are the wealthiest in the league.....THE PLAY-OFF. Ok the ticket revenue may very well be distributed amongst the other team in the league, but what about all the extra revenue taken over that weekend......are Panthers readily sharing that amongst the rest of the league....NO, hence the reason THEY want be seen to publisise the play-offs more. Sure they are well supported by Panthers fans, but equally they are also well supported by each and every other team in the league who have MORE to pay because of accomodation and extensive travel cost added to the weekend. Surely the play-off could be moved to other places. They would be well supported by the home fans if they were held in Sheffield or Belfast too, but we all know this isnt going to allowed to happen. But to take this holier than than thou attitude does help promote the game of ice hockey even wider in this country.”
by voth26
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 5:56PM
“To the person who wrote the this article, you clearly are not a fan of British ice hockey or if you are then you are clearly a clueless one. You show a total disrespect towards the "lesser teams in the league" and suggest they are there purely to make up the numbers and be the whipping boys for the "mighty panthers" who I hasten to add have not won a major trophy such as the league title since I dont know when.
With regards to Brad Voth he played a major part in giving the EIHL a lot of free exposure and was one of if not the most talked about player the EIHL has ever seen, a lot of teams also wanted to sign Brad year after year and there are not many players in the EIHL including the mighty panthers that can be said about!!!. Brad was a loyal player to the Devils for 7 years again a fact not attributed to a vast majority of ice hockey players. Whether you loved or hated Brad Voth he brought a lot to the British game and put a lot of bums on seats irrespective of the opposing team they were glad to see him in their rink come game time, as for his fighting ability he fought almost every single "tough guy2 this league has seen, the difference is that Brad could actually play the game as well as fight, a fact lost on a lot of people when you consider players such as Mcmorrow,penner who could just about stand up on the ice let alone skate and fight. They were comedy fighters and that was all they brought to the British game and they werent that good at that as most fight were "pantomime fights" and staged”
by Gunner85
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 1:32PM
“I am a fan of British Ice hockey and I would just like to make a comment about how totally disrespectful and uninformed this article is.
To describe many teams as 'less attractive' smacks of someone who has not seen these so called 'lesser' teams play and is totally disrespectful to the effort which clubs with less money than the Panthers have to build a squad and the effort which they put in on the ice night after night.
As for the section of the 'article' which refers to Brad Voth.. All i can say is the author of this piece clearly does not understand what Voth meant and brought to the Cardiff Devils. If you don't fully appreciate what he mean't to the club, and to Ice Hockey in Britain in general, then don't write an article which I would suggest is misinformed.”
by Gunner85
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 1:23PM
“I am a fan of British Ice hockey and I would just like to make a comment about how totally disrespectful and uninformed this article is.
To describe many teams as 'less attractive' smacks of someone who has not seen these so called 'lesser' teams play and is totally disrespectful to the effort which clubs with less money than the Panthers have to build a squad and the effort which they put in on the ice night after night.
As for the section of the 'article' which refers to Voth.. All i can say is the author of this piece clearly does not understand what Voth meant and brought to the Cardiff Devils. If you don't fully appreciate what he mean't to the club, and to Ice Hockey in Britain in general, then don't embarrass yourself by writing a completely uninformed piece of nonsense.”