Ice Hockey UK general secretary Andy French has high hopes for the future of British hockey, both for the national team and at the club level. The EIHL's Nottingham Panthers will get a chance to test themselves against the best European clubs in the CHL.
by Radoslav Vavřina
Ice hockey is not the first sport that comes to mind when you talk about Great Britain, but it's starting to gain a foothold and now another key achievement has been reached. The Nottingham Panthers are a wildcard team in the Champions Hockey League, where it will face the very best European club hockey has to offer.
"I believe that the CHL is something hockey in the UK needed," says Andy French, the general secretary of Ice Hockey UK, the governing body of the sport in the United Kingdom.
French has a goal to bring his modest hockey country up into the elite division and the way they want to do it has them competing t the top level both in both club and in international hockey. However, while the British national team has been stuck in Division I for a while, it's in Europe's top club hockey competition that a British club will now compete.
"Hockey in UK is going in the right direction right now. It's encouraging for the Panthers team and also for the younger players in UK to see that Nottingham has been accepted into the CHL as a wildcard team.
"The Panthers are very optimistic. They want to upset some teams and I think we're in for a good tournament," French said hopefully, shortly after the CHL Draw has the Nottingham team squaring off with Finnish Lukko Rauma, Swedish Luleå Hockey and German Hamburg Freezers in Group K. Fans across the UK will have a good chance to see how the Panthers fare against these other clubs, too, with Premier Sports recently signing a three-year deal to televise the CHL.
The reigning champion of the Elite Ice Hockey League will rely on a roster that is, so far, consisting exclusively of English, Canadian and American players and its biggest name is that of former NHLer Greg Jacina, who joined the team midway through the 2013/14 campaign and also used to play for Lukko back following his career in North America.
That roster will most likely be reinforced later this summer, but Canadians have been a fixture in the EIHL for a long time now. Corey Neilson, a former Panther, has also made it to the position of assistant coach of the national team.
Speaking of the national team, on the IIHF level, Great Britain hasn't had much success yet, but the plans are on the table with the nation shooting for an appearance in the elite division in just a few seasons.
"I think we're five years away from getting into the top division," French ponders. "We came very close about three or four years ago. Since then, we've done a complete restructuring of the coaching staff and the national team program is moving in the right direction. I also keep getting asked when we're going to be hosting a Division I championship in England and I don't think that's very far off either."
Back in Ukraine in 2011, with the old format of the Division I World Championship in place, Great Britain was just eight minutes away from advancing to the top division, but Kazakhstan rallied back to beat the host Ukrainians in the last game of the tourney to win the game and gain the promotion.
Since then, Great Britain has mostly played in Group B of Division I and that means a long route is ahead. That route, as French says, might include hosting a World Championship in the division.
"Nottingham, Sheffield, maybe even Belfast. Those are the three arenas that can hold that kind of event," French said, after being asked which cities could potentially host a Division I championship.
Meanwhile, in club hockey, many British fans really enjoy the non-traditional sport to a certain level. This is particularly true in Nottingham, where they averaged 5259 fans per home game in 2013/14, which ranked them 45th among clubs from all over Europe.
"The fan support will be good. Nottingham is a hockey town, their arena has a capactiy of about 7000 and it's sold out everytime they play the Sheffield Steelers. They get good crowds week in, week out."
Also, larger events have seen big crowds gather for hockey games not only in England, but in Northern Ireland, too. Belfast sold out their arena while hosting the Boston Bruins in the pre-season back in 2010 and London had their venue packed twice with over 17 000 to see the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings open up their NHL regular seasons in the British capital several years ago.
"Those games were sold out, but I don't know if the NHL is going to think about doing that again. Maybe if they're opening a season in Europe again. It was good, the fans loved it and they traveled from all across the country to watch it. And it sold out, which proves there's a lot of hockey interest in the UK.
"[The Bruins pre-season game in Belfast] was all done by the Belfast Giants. They set it all up, but again, there were people travelling from all over the UK to watch it and I think they could have sold the tickets twice over. It was great for British hockey as well. We've done some remarkable things over the years."
For French and others involved in the sport in the UK, the hope is there will be more remarkable things for years to come.