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Ben Callaghan: Social Media And The Return Of Shane Moore
As the world of social media advances by the day, Total Sport columnist Ben Callaghan assesses its importance for fans of ice hockey. Unable to attend a Wildcats clash for the first time in a long while, Callaghan relied on the virtues of Twitter, during the same weekend he watched a familiar former Cat get on the score board.
Last weekend saw me miss a Swindon Wildcats home game for the first time in quite a few weeks. It’s always an odd experience when you miss home games.
For someone who spends the majority of his weekends sat in the Swindon Ice Arena, when you know there is a game on and you’re not there it’s an odd feeling.
There I was on the train back from London frantically refreshing my twitter timeline for all the latest goings on from events in Swindon.
It made me realise the importance of social media in the modern day world of ice hockey. There are fans who can’t make it to games and in the past years trying to find anything from games was nearly impossible.
Nowadays there are fans who provide updates, with their own thoughts on matches. Then there is the official scoresheet which gets updated as the game goes on. You can track the goals, the penalties and the shots on goal as they get logged on the match night scoresheet.
Twitter is the biggest asset for people to follow matches, not just for the Wildcats but also the games elsewhere in the EPL.
The majority of the teams in the league have their official twitter pages covering the updates. But, for the ones who don’t, there are fans who provide the updates which is just as informative and vital if you miss a game or cannot travel on the road games.
With no Wildcats hockey for me last weekend it was very pleasing to see them get a massive win against the Tigers on home ice. On Sunday I travelled to Oxford for the first time to watch the NIHLS1 matchup between Oxford and Streatham.
There was opportunity to see EPL players of the past in the shape of Nicky Chinn, Callum Best, Steve Fisher and former Wildcats captain Shane Moore. I was pleasantly surprised as to the standard of hockey on show.
I’ve heard many times hockey at this level is good and for the £9 entry fee it was worth every penny. With their Wildcats connection I was a loanee fan of the Oxford City Stars for the game, but unfortunately they couldn’t get the win they wanted.
The highlight of the night had to be Shane Moore’s goal. He’d be the first to admit he’s never been one to put up too many points on the board, but his powerplay goal was something stunning to see.
I’ve always enjoyed watching Shane play the game and he always plays it in the right manner. I hope in the future he has something to provide for the Wildcats and, if not, I look forward to my next visit to Oxford to see him and the Stars play again.
Another tough weekend for the Cats this week with road games to Milton Keynes and Peterborough. Hopefully we can continue the strong performances and come back from the road with some points as well.
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