I went to see the London Racers play the Sheffield Steelers back in 2004. Eric Cairns and Scott Nichol both signed with London during the lockout. Sheffield only showed up with two lines, and Nichol had been given the game off because the Racers had already made the playoffs. London’s top scorer was 43-year-old Steve Moria, who had 64 points in 32 games at age 46 and once played on a team with Robbie Ftorek and Nick Fotiu.

The quality of play was low, below the ECHL, but Cairns didn’t have the offensive skills to stand out. The rink they played at was pretty poor: it had seats for maybe 100 people and the Racers ended up folding the next season because of problems with the glass at the rink that injured an opposing player.

That’s a great article. With the NHL doing European games every season now, I’m suprised they haven’t done more in the UK – the local leagues could really benefit from it. I get the feeling that playing a more North American style game, with the smaller rink and more contact, would be a better draw than the open European game. There’s some truly blue collar cities over there, and the rough-and-tumble stuff would could really bring people in.

I just got back from the UK… Leeds specifically, visiting family. My sister works for the Leeds Council, and they are planning on building a new ice hockey arena in the city and get a team again (don’t know if it’ll be Premier or Elite). She wrote the relevant parties requesting they also add a curling rink, since there’s basically none in England at all.

Anyways, I seriously think that Brits would only be interested in the NFL and curious about the NHL as far as North American sport goes. The NHL could be the 2nd most popular North American sport, but that’s not saying a ton about the growth potential. They like the speed of hockey when they see it, but it’s a bit of a passing fancy for them since there’s so little exposure of the sport in general.

At least the Queen’s a fan.

Soccer is by far the closest comparison to Hockey as opposed to the other three major sports in North America. Constantly moving, extreme skill required to play at the top level, and great atmospheres as well.

It certainly doesn’t help that they have two different top flights, it makes it confusing and hard to follow. I was over there last fall and watched a game in Basingstoke – it was a nice little town rink not unlike those used by SPHL/EPHL (RIP) over here. The fans were able to interact with the players and it was a close knit community – even though they clearly didn’t know the intricacies of the game. People forget that Britain won a ice hockey gold medal and there is a long history of pucks in the Kingdom. It can certainly grow further from where it is now, but will never challenge football, cricket or rugby. Now that the NFL is making a big push and getting a good reception, perhaps the NHL should try to step in and help bridge the EPL/ELITE gap so they can organize and grow the game.

Decent piece (and the younger Courtenay showed over here he had the talent, if not the application, intensity and skating ability – to be an NHLer) but it kind of gives the impression very few ex-NHLers of any kind have ever played here. Not really true in the past, although the quality over here has plummeted over the last few years.

Around 8-10 years ago, the standard of the league was considerably higher, but the clubs couldn’t sustain it financially (and sadly, still can’t, even in a much cheaper, salary-capped world)…. Read more

It’s rare that any reference to hockey – British League, NHL, anything – makes it onto the BBC front page, so any sort of exposure to the game is a good thing. Most people here who ever watch a game like the sport, it’s just that nobody has figured out how to keep enough people watching it over here. I’m as guilty as anyone now – I watch far more NHL than domestic stuff.

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