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The Wildcats Column: Where British Hockey Needs To Improve
Total Sport columnist Ben Callaghan takes stock of the current situation on British hockey, following Team GB's failure to progress to the final round of Olympic qualifying.
This past weekend highlighted the steps British Hockey still has to make before it can be seriously considered as a competitive nation in the eyes of the world. The people involved in British hockey nowadays know the good things and the massive limitations of the sport in the UK.
We had an Olympic pre-qualifier last weekend where we needed to win the group to make it to the final Olympic qualifying stage in September. GB were unable to qualify for the September group which gives us a good time to take stock and see how we can improve things for the future.
In a wonderfully interesting interview on the Team GB Ice Hockey YouTube channel with Rene Fasel, the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), it was revealed the IIHF had offered to help GB unleash some of the potential the IIHF feels we have as a hockey nation.
The help was not taken and Mr. Fasel believes the politics in our game are holding us back as a nation. In particular he described British hockey as a ‘headache’. Whilst I’m sure many fans can sympathise with the headache of British Hockey (because it really is!) it’s sad to see a nation not taking the help from such a respected governing body.
GB needs to look at the structure as a whole. We’ve got a professional league (EIHL) and the semi-professional (EPIHL) as our top two leagues. They’re run by two differing associations and any links between the two leagues are purely down to favours rather than formal links.
For starters I think we need to be under one governing body and have all the leagues reporting to the same rulebook, the same board of directors etc. Whether this be the EIHL or the EIHA. The leagues are too far apart for promotion/relegation but they should be able to work together for the same end goal - and that is Team GB.
The grass roots level needs to be looked at as well. We need to get the juniors on the ice as often as possible and, in Swindon, we’ve seen the benefits of players coming through academies such as Okanagan. They get ice time every day as well as a routine off ice development schedule and we’re seeing the benefits through the likes of Toms Rutkis & Michael Stratford in the Wildcats EPL side.
There is also a big debate on Dual National players playing for GB. I’m a big believer in taking the best players to tournaments. If there are players good enough who may have been born in Canada but eligible for GB then I don’t have an issue using them.
The long term goal has to be developing our leagues and players so we can compete at Olympic Qualifiers or World Championships. If in the short term we have players who can help us do that while our prospects develop then we shouldn’t we use them? Italy have done just that and defeated GB at this tournament. It’s all about getting the best 22 guys available to Pete Russell, if they qualify use them in my opinion.
It’s not all doom and gloom, I mentioned good things in British Hockey. The tournament in Italy showed promise and the players really did make a good effort of qualifying. They came up against a very strong home nation and with the injuries we sustained before the tournament they can be very proud with how they played leading into the World Championships in April. Hopefully Pete and boys can go one further than last year and promote out of the group.
Finally, a couple of Wildcat related congratulations. Stevie Lyle was awarded his 75th Cap for Team GB in Italy, a feat which can only be applauded and admired. He’s the best netminder to play for GB and deserves all the accolades he gets.
Tomasz Malasinski and his Polish team also qualified for the final Olympic Qualifiers in September, so congratulations to Team Poland and Tomasz in particular. With friendly games against GB in April it will be a good test for both teams ahead of the World Championships.
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