All change.....the EPL structure in 2008-09

So it's now been almost 10 weeks since the season ended in Coventry. The end of the season should be a time when the sun comes out and all fans go outside and enjoy the 5 months of the year of ice hockey free time. But no.......  this is the moment where the eager fan will tellanyone who'll listen which teams are moving league, which players are going to retire and how the flames are going to buy the league again next season.   

This week though we've been graced with some actual news- the structure for next seasons' EPL. Here, in handy bullet point form, is how it's all going to happen:

• There are 10 teams: Guildford, Bracknell, Isle of Wight, Mk, Peterborough, Romford, Sheffield, Slough, Swindon and Telford. 
• 3 home and away games against each club. 
• The 1st home and away matches against each team count towards the 'Premier Cup', with top 4 teams then going to a 2-leg semi-final. 
• The playoffs will be 2-leg matches, with the team in 1st place playing the team in 8th, 2nd against 7th etc......

There are three main differences from last year that I can see in the new format. I guess the 1st point is that there are now only 10 teams in league due to the drop out of Chelmsford. Due to financial constraints they are now 2 leagues below the EPL, in the ENL2 (the English National League 2nd division). They were hoping to move down one division but the application was rejected. For anyone from a football watching background- like me- you have to remember that ice hockey is a franchise system. You make an application to a league and they see whether they want you. None of the relegation/promotional system here you see. Roughly you do find that most that the biggest clubs all play together (in the Elite), with the EPL a level below that closely followed by the ENL as the 3rd tier. This is a topic that deserves it's whole own post though .....maybe it will have in the future?!?

Where was I? Oh yeh......the structure of the EPL next year. This year there is only one cup to play for. No longer do we have the knockout cup (which really had hardly any 'knockout' element to it at all). Coming into the sport last season it was hard to see the point of two cups, especially when the teams were the same in both of them, so it's good to see the number cut in half. Bit strange seeing the early games count for both the cup and the league, but it's the only way to do it without the season lasting forever I guess. 

The other news is that the 2 groups of 4 for the playoffs have been turned into a 1st versus 8th 2-leg battle. Not having watched any of the teams in the playoffs last season I'm not really able to say how the tension might change, although the idea of a 2 game winner takes all competition does wet the appetite at bit. It also give the opportunity to a team that scrapes in say 7th or 8th a chance of a couple of good games and they'll be on the coach to Coventry. 

Anyway thats me off now- hope you've enjoyed the first proper post of the FireStorm blog. Expect more 'expert' views of the EPL soon (and in the mean time why not check out some of the other blogs on the right, they all do a great job spreading the word of British ice hockey and definitly deserve a read). 

Why start blogging?

I'm the kind of guy who'll watch pretty much any sport that's on the tv (apart from Golf, Darts and horse-racing...).  I've been to many sporting events live but earlier this year I ended up going along to see what this ice hockey stuff was all about. Would it take forever to finish? Is the quality absolutely shocking? Would we be the only people who turn up to watch it? The answer to all these was an emphatic no. The game was fast-paced, action packed and the atmosphere right up there.  I guess a 10-5 victory helped as well.....

Since that first game some 5 months ago, I've definitely been bitten by the 'ice-hockey bug'. I've found out more about the sport (The hockey forum helped in this respect- see link on the right), come to understand what 'icing' means and am used to the normality of players fighting on the ice. 

By now you can probably tell what I'm going to be blogging about- it's the Guilford Flames, the EPL (or English Premier League, which is basically the 2nd tier of ice hockey in the UK) and most likely anything else that seems like worth mentioning. 

So sit back, get comfortable and get ready to read the thoughts of a novice who's about to watch his first full season of ice hockey!