GB hoping to pull off the Italian Job

It is a big day for Great Britain as they face-off in their third match of the Division 1A World Championships; against tough opposition.

Italy is the team in the way today and GB will be hoping to turn their fortunes around against the 16th seed country.
Italy has been in good form so far in the tournament and has been the early leaders, alongside Kazakhstan, having won their opening two games.

It is a case of missed opportunities for GB however as they lost 4-2 to Hungary on the opening night and were blanked 5-0 by Kazakhstan a day later. However the results do not reflect the performance on the ice, with GB holding their own against two countries that are ranked well above them in the IIHF World Ranking order; but with the round robin style tournaments such as these the world rankings count for nothing and it goes down to how you play on the day.

Italy have comfortably beaten Korea (4-0) and Japan (4-1) so far in the tournament but GB will be hoping to put up a better fight in this afternoon’s game.

Belfast Giants’ netminder Stephen Murphy told the Ice Hockey UK website; “We are used to the pressure, we are used to the tough games, so we are well prepared for this. We need to keep our energy levels up and we have a lot of positives to take forward.

“Italy are a good team, they are an A pool team and tough opposition for sure. Our aim is to get something from the game and take it forward into our last two games.”

Penalty trouble was something that blighted GB during the final Olympic qualification round in Latvia earlier this year and was something that Assistant Coach Doug Christiansen hoped they could improve on in this tournament.

In Latvia GB was the highest ranked country in terms of penalties taken having registered 54PIM over the three games. So far in this tournament, improvements have been made, and GB are ranked 5th overall with 22PIM from their first two games.

Further improvements have also been seen in terms of scoring opportunities however luck has not bounced our way with those chances being converted into actual goals.

Both teams will feel a little refreshed having had a day off yesterday and GB will go into the game in high spirits and full of confidence. An early goal would give them a great boost which could lead them to victory; however they must not let their heads drop should Italy take the lead.

GB’s game will once again be shown live on Premier Sports (Sky channel 428) with the face-off at 3pm.

A History Lesson – Thompson and the Blaze

EIHL Coventry Blaze head coach, for the past 18 years, Paul Thompson is set to quit the UK scene and take up a position in Sweden with Troja-Ljungby in the Swedish Second division for the 2013/14 season.

The announcement came earlier this week and will be a massive blow for both the EIHL Blaze and the UK as a whole. Seen as a stand out coach in British Ice Hockey, Thompson started his coaching career in Solihull, a rink he knew well from his playing days. Despite icing for four games for the Solihull Barons in the 1987-88 season, his playing career kicked off in 1990-91 dressing for 29 games with the Barons and registering four points. For the 1991-93 seasons Thompson saw a switch to the Sheffield Steelers, before returning to the Barons for the 1993-94 season.

From coaching at Under 14 level, Thompson progressed through the ranks taking charge of the Solihull Knights for the 94-95 season (the Barons reserve team). The following season saw Thompson return to coach the Knights before a mid-season switch to coaching the Barons. For the start of the 1996-97 season the Barons evolved into the Solihull Blaze, finishing second in the Premier Ice Hockey League.

The 1997–98 season was one of the most successful on record as Blaze were victorious in the English National League and the ED1 North League. An eighteen goal thriller in the play-off final against Chelmsford Chieftains gave Blaze their third trophy of the season; and so started the trophy collection for Thompson’s coaching career.

Thompson remained with the Solihull Blaze until the end of the 1999-2000 season. That season saw Thompson add to his ever growing cabinet of success with the English Premier League play-off crown and the English Premier League championship.

May 2000 marked the next chapter in the successful story of Thompson and the Blaze, as they headed to the new surroundings of the SkyDome Arena in Coventry, and so transformed into the Coventry Blaze for the start of the 2000-01 British National League season.

After near-misses and runners up slots coming in the following seasons, the Blaze returned to glory in 2002-03 lifting the league title and play-off crown by the narrowest of margins against the Cardiff Devils. Following their success in the BNL and shortly after lifting the play-off crown the Blaze announced their second evolution as they set to enter the newly formed Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) which replaced the defunct Superleague as the top flight of British Ice Hockey.

Since the move and change to Coventry in 2000, Thompsons’ philosophy to coaching was evolution and not revolution when it came to the team. Small, minor changes were made to the team rosters year on year and this continued into their first season in the EIHL, with him staying true to the team that won the double in their final season of the BNL.

Despite early success in the season, the New Year marked a turning point for the Blaze in their first season in the top flight. The Blaze fell back in the league standings and wins were hard to come by, but they still finished third in their first year. The playoffs however, got off to an awful start as they lost in Cardiff, minus Thompson, who was serving a one match ban following a bench clearance against the Devils the weekend before. With only four games in the group stage, Blaze were unable to get going after that loss and ended the season by finishing winless in the post-season.

With disappointment of the previous season looming large, gone was the approach of making minor changes to the team and Thompson set to overhaul his roster ready to compete for the 2004-05 season; one that would become significant in the Blaze’s and EIHL’s history.

Returning to the line-up were netminder Jody Lehman and new captain Ashley Tait from the double winning BNL team. However Thompson changed many, bringing in more size, more speed and more quality. His greatest coup was signing former-Superleague defenceman Neal Martin, who went on to become the league’s Player of the Year and selected to the EIHL All-Star Team.  Thompson’s heavy recruitment also saw the Blaze’s brand-new first line of Dan Carlson, Adam Calder and Andre Payette come together proving their potent skill throughout the season. The season started well as they qualified from their group for the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, kept with the early pace-setters at the top of the league and even got over the disappointment of losing out on NHL forward Eric Beaudoin on a lock-out deal; by bringing in high-scoring centreman Chris McNamara.

Showing the true marks of a top Coach, the turning point in Blaze’s season came in November, as Thompson cut Slovak Michal Vrabel and brought in Toronto Maple Leafs’ NHL defenceman Wade Belak, sparking a run to the end of the regular season where they only lost once in regulation time.  Victory over the Nottingham Panthers sent Coventry to their first Challenge Cup final, beating the Cardiff Devils 11-5 on aggregate; to secure their first trophy of the season.  

As Cardiff faltered, the league eventually became a two-horse race between Coventry and Belfast. Blaze eventually wrapping up the title with three games to go with a 5-1 victory over the London Knights to secure their place as the number one team in Britain.

Now the bid was on to add the Play-off crown to their trophy cabinet. After qualifying from their playoff group for their first finals weekend, a Jody Lehman shutout helped Blaze beat Sheffield Steelers 3–0 in their semi-final. Facing the Nottingham Panthers in the final the game was a close affair and eventually won by an overtime goal by Tait to gift the Blaze the play-off crown and to secure Blaze’s place in British Ice Hockey history as winners of the elusive Grand-Slam (cup, league and play-offs).

If the 2004-05 season was a high point in the career of Thompson and history of the Blaze, then the 2005-06 season was definitely a low point. After seeing his entire top line and netminder leave, and a number of other key players retiring, Thompson once again had to overhaul his roster for the year ahead.

Unfortunately the Blaze were on the losing end of the Challenge Cup final against the Devils and eventually finished fourth in the league. The biggest upset was failing to make the play-off semi-finals. Their last chance of success came in the newly formed Knock-Out Cup competition, but resulted in a shutout loss to the Steelers.

As was becoming the norm for Thompson in the EIHL era, a wholesale revamp of his team was required for the 2006-07 season. A key signing, it would seem, was that of League All-Star netminder Trevor Koenig. Returning after a year away where the grand-slam duo of Adam Calder and Dan Carlson. They were combined with proven past winners like Sylvain Cloutier, Samy Nasreddine, former NHL player Rumun Ndur, Reid Simonton and Danny Stewart.

The Blaze quietly went about their business and qualified for both cup finals, without defeat, whilst keeping a steady pace to the reigning champions, the Belfast Giants in the league. By February the Blaze had cut Belfast’s 11 point lead they held at Christmas and when the two sides met, an 8-0 victory in favour of Coventry was a turning point of the season. Despite being pushed all the way, a home win against the Edinburgh Capitals secured the league title with a few games remaining. A week later a second trophy was in the cabinet; a 5–1 win in Sheffield brought the Challenge Cup back to Coventry. The other two trophies eluded them thanks to the Cardiff Devils, with a 3–0 shutout on SkyDome ice in the Knockout Cup final followed up by a 3–2 success in the playoff semi-finals.

With the majority of the championship team remaining the Blaze set about the defence of their crowns for 2007-08. Despite relinquishing the Challenge Cup, the Blaze when on to secure the second successive, and third overall league title, whilst coming from behind in the Knock Out Cup final against the Basingstoke Bison in the second leg, to ensure a second trophy would be returning to the SkyDome Arena.

The 2008–09 season resulted in the Blaze and Thompson winning no major silverware for the first time in three years.

The Blaze celebrated their 10th anniversary season in 2009–10 with a third Elite League title in four seasons, making it 10 trophies in 10 seasons since their transformation from the Solihull Blaze in the summer of 2000. Once again Thompson made some key signings to his roster to bolster the team that missed out on all trophies the previous season. Peter Hirsh was installed in net, whilst Greg Chambers and Luke Fulghum provided the goals up front. The League became the priority for the coach as the cups become second priorities for success.

Once again the rollercoaster ride the Blaze were firmly seated on took another dip and the 2010-11 season once again resulted in no silverware for the team. As with previous times there were not many changes made to the team that had just won the league championship. Brett Jaeger replaced Peter Hirsh in goal whilst Canadian blueliners Brad Zanon and Jeff Smith were signed in place of long-time defenceman Tom Watkins, who moved to Telford Tigers as player-coach, and the retiring Jason Robinson. Up-front Owen Fussey was signed from rivals Edinburgh Capitals to replace the team’s highest goal scorer Adam Calder.

With early form eluding them the Blaze went on to finish 6th in the league, their worst finishing position of the 11 year history.

The 2011-12 season would become the team and coaches’ most troubling since their formation in 2000. In December 2011 it was announced that the club was hit by financial difficulties due to the economic climate and events outside of their control. The Blaze issued a press statement announcing Blaze Action Month, asking the fans to get behind the club by purchasing game tickets and buying merchandise in order to raise funds. One man at the head of the rescue plan was the coach himself. With a huge Twitter following Thompson turned to social media to get the word out and to help spread the word in hope that the Blaze could be rescued.

With weeks on uncertainty, it was announced in the New Year that the team would be continuing on for the remainder of the season and would fulfil their obligation to play the remaining league games. Once again the Blaze finished in 6th place in the league behind the newcomers Braehead Clan.

For the current season, 2012-13, once again Thompson looked to make a drastic overhaul of his squad. With what would have been a coup of the season Thompson looked to bring in ex-NHLer Mike Danton; to much controversy and raised eyebrows. Danton played for the New Jersey Devils and St Louis Blues between 2000 and 2004 before being imprisoned for conspiracy to commit murder. He was released on parole in September 2009 and set about reforming his life.

Danton returned to ice hockey action in September 2011 with IFK Ore in the Swedish Division one league.  In May 2012 the Blaze confirmed the signing of Danton for the coming season, only for his first foray in British Ice Hockey to be brought to an abrupt end when the UK Border Agency rejected his application for a UK visa on two occasions.

Thompson was very vocal during this period; offering is public support of Danton, whilst also assisting in trying to have the decision over-turned, however to no avail.

The Blaze have struggled to find consistent form this season and currently sit in 4^th place in the league standings 25 points off Nottingham at the top. They are also in fourth place of the newly formed Erhardt Conference inter-league.

However current and recent results should not be blamed for the decision by one of the best British Ice Hockey coaches to have graced these shores. Since taking the helm of the Coventry Blaze, through their different guises, 18 years ago, Thompson has guided the organisation to 15 major trophies in all competitions.

He has also coached the Blaze to a record four Elite League titles, more than any other team, and is the only team to have achieved the elusive grand slam from the 2004-05 season.

In an affiliation to rival that of Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United, Thompson has been the driving force behind the Blaze’s success right from day one. Although 2009-10 was the last time the team won a trophy this should not be attributed to Thompson’s ability as a coach, as every team will and has been through a period of austerity, only to flourish once more and achieve more success.

Now for a player to stay at a club for multiple seasons can been seen as a land mark and an achievement. However to stay at a club for multiple seasons as a coach, when the successes and failures lie at your feet is truly remarkable; and something that football could learn a lot from. Thompson’s reign at the Blaze is not only the longest in Britain but he is also the longest serving head coach in Europe.

Speaking to the club’s official website, Thompson said “This isn’t a decision that’s been made at the drop of a hat.”

“It’s something I’ve been discussing with my family and fellow directors for a while now. It was just a question of when we all felt the time was right. I’ve coached in the UK all of my life and I feel I now need to test myself and continue to develop as a coach by learning new things in a new country and hockey environment. 

“Sweden is a hockey nation and I’m excited about being able to work in a country where they live and breathe hockey. I also feel my experience will benefit Troja – my experience of over 1200 professional games and international hockey is a big reason I’ve been given this opportunity. Troja is a well-run, established club and is a perfect fit for me right now.

“The Blaze are my club. I’ve put my heart and soul into this team and club my whole career and at some point maybe I will be able to bring the things I learn in Sweden back to the club.” 

What Thompson has done for British Ice Hockey, not only at the Blaze, but also for GB’s national team will ensure that he is seen as one of the all-time greats.

I genuinely believe that the recent successful failure by Team GB at the 2014 Olympic qualifiers can be attributed to the stand out hard work that Thompson and his team put into coach the future stars from the UK. Stepping down from head coach duties last season was once again a big decision to make, but one that was understandable given the pressures and trying times being experienced by the Coventry team. It also gave a perfect opportunity for another of the UK’s greats, Tony Hand, to build on the foundations laid by Thompson.

Despite failing to qualify for next year’s winter Olympics, I truly believe that British Ice Hockey is now entering the next chapter of its history and that we will soon see success for our national team.

I for one would love to see Thompson return to Britain in the coming years to further progress his success and history in our beloved sport, but for now I wish him all the success and happiness he deserves in Sweden.

France 4 – 2 Great Britain – Game Two

Great Britain’s hopes of qualifying for the 2014 Sochi Olympics dealt a killer blow on Day Two of the pre-olympic qualification rounds as France came away 4-2 winners.

Once again it was GB’s penalty troubles that proved pivitol come the final whistle. With the game getting off to an undisciplined start, Danny Meyers was called for hooking just 23 seconds into the contest. Seeing the penalty off without hazard, Team France were once again on the powerplay at 08:39 when Ashlet Tait was called for slashing. On the ensuing power play France’s Yorick Treille drifted over the blueline into the British zone, laying a pass off to captain Laurent Meunier who was speeding down the ice into the zone. Meunier fired a slap shot from the right circle that blew past Lyle for the 1-0 lead.

Neither team could find the net in the remainder of the period and GB would have felt quite lucky to only be a goal down at the first period break.

A two goal middle period saw France stretch their lead even further as they looked to put the game out of reach. The French forwards pressed possession and denied GB to get out of their zone for much of the period. With referee Stephan Bauer’s arm up on a penalty call against GB, French netminder Fabrice Lhenry skated to the bench to provide the extra attacker; Sacha Treille skated into the British zone and despite being challenged was able to feed the puck to the centre of ice with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare firing a one time shot past Lyle, putting the French side up 2-0 at 27:19.

Frustrations started to show through the English ranks and Colin Shields was called for a blatant slash off the play, resulting in a 2 minute penalty at 34:00. Just 49 seconds later and the French were 3-0 up. Damien Fleury skating round the edge of the zone, feed the puck to Baptiste Amar on the blueline, who immediately passed back to Fleury who fired a stinging shot straight past Lyle.

Despite being down by 3 goals and outshot comprehensively by the French; fire was in the bellies of the GB men and they came out attacking from the drop of the puck.

With Johann Morant called hooking at 42:30, GB set about capitalizing on the man advantage. A strong slap shot from the blueline by Ben O’Connor bounced off the chest of Lhenry and bounced down to the edge of goal where Craig Peacock was abled to slam the puck under the pads to reduce the lead to two.

Just 8 minutes later and GB were well and truly back in the game. Matthew Meyers did well to hold the puck behind the French net, gliding round he fed the puck to Danny Meyers that fired straight at Lhenry, however the rebound fell nicely to Rob Lachowicz flicking the puck into the net to make it 3-2.

Just over a minute later and an uncharacteristic mistake by veteran netminder Stevie Lyle allowed France to extend their lead to two.

With the puck dumped around the boards, Lyle skated behind his net to retrive the puck for his defencemen; however Brian Henderson was quicker to the mark and was able to beat Mark Richardson to the puck whilst Lyle scrammbled to get back in net. With a quick pass in front of net to Charles Bertrand and an empty net target the French were able to capitalize on the mistake to make it 4-2.

Despite a last ditched effort by GB, they were unable to find the net any further and were rather disappointedly beaten by the better team. The second successive loss confirming that hopes of Olympic qualification were well and truly gone.

Group E – Latvia – Day One Round-up

Thursday 07 February 2013. Final Olympic Qualification for Group E.

The hosts, Latvia, grabbed an early victory against Great Britain; beating the 21st ranked team 6-2.
Earlier in the day Kazakhstan (17th) fulled out a surprise victory against 14th ranked France.

This has put the hosts and Kazakhstan in pole position going into day two.

The first match of the day sees France take on Great Britain as either team will register their opening victory in the tournament. The game starts at 13:30 UK time.

The second match is between the two day one winners, and for the luck of Great Britian either team will take vital points off the other which may be a turning point going into day 3.