Bodee Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hi, I'm fairly new on these boards (you can read my limited number of posts under my name bodee) and I used to be a big fan of my local Fife Flyers growing up. At that time they had a few decent Canadian hockey players playing for them (Les Lovell and Pep Young come to mind) However I'm 65 now and haven't been to ice hockey games for 20 yrs. In that time until recently Ice Hockey faded in Kirkcaldy (Fife, Scotland) and the once great and oldest name (in UK Ice Hockey) has gone through hard times Anyway to the point. Fife Flyers have just recently been inducted into the Elite Hockey League containing 10 professional teams from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. This is a bold attempt to get Ice Hockey established again, to a similar standard to other European Countries (at present it does not compare to the likes of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark for example. As you can see from above I have no attachment to the club and can't speak for them but as you will note from the link below they are genuinely looking for players. For anyone trying to set up a stay in Scotland or any young guys who need a spell away from Canada or don't think they will make the grade in north american hockey this might be a chance to broaden your horizon. I don't immagine the standard will be as high as you are used to (yet) or that the remuneration is going to be making you rich but if you or you and your buddy/brother fancy a bit of an adventure, it might fit the bill. Fife Flyers website. http://www.fifeflyers.co.uk/ Here is some info on the Elite Hockey League. http://en.wikipedia....e_Hockey_League It is also covered by the massive Sky Sports Television Channel in the UK. http://www.skysports...1,13996,00.html Kirkcaldy Town. (30 miles from the Edinburgh nightlife) http://www.undiscove...aldy/index.html Fife, surrounded by water on three sides so you will feel at home. http://www.visitfife.com/ So there you have it. I have tried to give you as much info as possible and all I can add is that I am considering renewing my season ticket to the Flyers and I would love it if we had some Canadian boys in the team. After all, when it comes to Ice Hockey we all agree, Canada is best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cammy Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 just to add to this, a lot of players use this league as a stepping stone to the European and German Leagues, there have been some exceptional players come through here before moving on. Joe Tallari Ryan MacDonald Andrew Verner Joe talbot Rumun Ndur. Ed Courtney Tony Hand Luke Stauffacher Scott Frankhouser Colin Shields just to name a few, the elague is played in a more North american style of game and would be on par with the ECHl with a few AHL level players in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Man, If I was still in shape and wasn't married I'd be all over this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostsof1915 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Damn...I was just in Edinburgh too! I doubt they'd want a 44 year old hockey player who makes Dana Murzyn look like Mason Raymond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ovechkinator Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hope they are doing up the rink, wasn't my favourite arena to go play in when I was younger. There were worse places to go though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 Hope they are doing up the rink, wasn't my favourite arena to go play in when I was younger. There were worse places to go though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avelanch Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 When was that if you don't mind me asking. I used to go in the 60's up to about the 80's and although it wasn't a great rink (mind you when you bear in mind when it was built:-) the atmosphere generated in there during the time of the Lovells and Spence was second to none. I still remember the long queues (almost in the dark:-( to get in and if the rink had been double the size it still would still have sold out. They were fairly astute calling it after the County of Fife rather than as most other teams did calling the team after their town/city. This meant that even people living well outside Kirkcaldy felt allegiance. They didn't have the TV (Sky) coverage back then and I think if this league is handled properly it will have a much bigger chance of success than American Football ever did. I must say it is thanks to how enthusiastic I have become about the Canucks that is making me quite keen to go and watch live Ice Hockey again. One thing occurred to me after I wrote the initial post and that was would as this is a professional league would you guys have to apply for a work permit? I don't know but being Canadian I would have thought they would make an exception:-) Scotland is packed with families with relatives in Canada. By the way they re-roofed the rink a few years ago, but remember, unlike the NHL ours was an almost amateur sport until recently so there just wasn't the money to rebuild the rink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venom52 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Would I get paid to play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cammy Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 the rink cannot be any worse than whitly bay (cannot belive i used to play there) or lea Vally, and yes they do pay players, and a lot of the Elite league teams also pay for the accomodation as well as enrolling a lot on university courses as well to help with life after hockey, quite a few players come out of the elite league with a MBA international is deemed any player not broguht through the Uk system, so if you are english/scotish harritage then you would need a work permit still unless you came through the uk leagues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ovechkinator Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I played there a couple of years ago it just appeared to be old and run down, the ice surface was alright though but I didn't like the stadium and the dressing rooms as a whole although that may just be me. It wasn't the worst I remember South Ayr was really bad 'cause all the boards were slanted (pretty dangerous actually) and the doors on the benches didn't work so you had little choice but to jump the bench which most people did anyway but it was just weird that the doors were there but didn't open. My favourite rinks to play in were Aberdeen (who I played for but really nice stadium), Dundee and Braehead. Good luck to the Flyers in their jump into the Elite League though, I hope it goes well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Stinson Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Will they pay for my tickets too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucks13 Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 If I was 20 years younger, in shape, could actully play good hockey yeah I would be in but I'm not even close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 Some more info on past Canadian Flyers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Plumb http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Doug_Smail http://en.wikipedia....Laurie_Boschman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Sims http://en.wikipedia...._hockey_b._1963) This was written BEFORE Fife Flyers were accepted into the Elite league by a fan of Nottingham Panthers (an established Elite League team) arguing against accepting Fife Flyers because of their comparably poor facilities. However they may already be running scared because of the reputation Fife Flyers had ON THE ICE. "FORMER NHL stars Doug Smail and Al Sims, plus Slovak legend Vincent Lukac have much in common. So does former Nottingham Panthers' NHLer Fred Perlini and minor league goal-machine Dave Stoyanovich. The link? They all played for Fife Flyers, as did another NHL legend Laurie Boschman. He is one of a small band of players who scored more than 500 goals and notched up in excess of 2,000 penalty minutes, during his 1,000-plus games in the world's major league. Winger Smail played around 900 NHL games and was 36 when he joined Fife in 1993 – and rattled in 74 goals for 139 points in 50-odd games. Sims, who was the defensive partner of the great Bobby Orr in Boston for two seasons, played more than 500 games in 'the show'. He hit 138 points (52+86) in just 36 games for Fife in the mid-80s. There was just no stopping Stoyanovich when he was over here in the 80s. He scored an incredible 196 goals and tallied 360 points, for an average of five points per game during two spells with the Flyers. Question one: Why isn't a better quality British hockey attracting that calibre of player these days? And, question two, which is more salient: With that kind of star-studded past – and I have omitted more notable names in the history of the club – why isn't the Kirkcaldy outfit playing in the Elite League, the UK's top competition? Flyers, who pre-date Panthers by eight years after being formed in 1938, were British champions when Scottish hockey ruled the country, with the likes of Murrayfield Racers, Dundee Rockets and Ayr Bruins." Hopefully with Sky Sport's backing and some worthwhile Canadian imports Fife Flyers can make some noise in this league. However playing for Fife Flyers, as the poster above says would be no bed of roses. Although Scots fans are some of the most passionate in the world, the facilities need a lot of catching up to be comparable to even lower league teams in Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirwilliam Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Question one: Why isn't a better quality British hockey attracting that calibre of player these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaku Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 frikk i should get back into playing shape.. i haven't played competitive in years now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Just one last point in case I have been a bit hard on British Ice Hockey. Having looked at some background on the Elite League it seems that more than 50% of their rinks are nearly/ new. So they are making progress on updating their rinks. Cardiff in Wales are about to have a new one built. I have been on the Fife Flyers Forum and it appears that Plexi Glass is being installed in time for the start of the season and a great many fans are talking about coming back, buying season tickets and looking forward to travelling to Belfast in Ireland. (always a great spirit between the Scots and the Irish:-) Having said that one or two on the forum have voiced concerns that no imports have been named as yet. So come on boys, grab your skates, contact the club and get over there and wear one of the most famous jersey emblems in European Ice Hockey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 This from the Flyers Twitter site. Looks like they are going to get their players afterall. Even some ex players are asking to be released from their contracts with other teams so that they can go back. There is something special about the Fife Flyers. By the way, I have been told that their entrance music track for the past 3 seasons has been "where the streets have no name" I wonder where they got that idea from :-) "there has been a huge amount of interest from players and agents wanting to be involved with @FifeFlyers historic 1st @officialEIHL season." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Here is something to raise a few eyebrows. I was reading about the early days of Fife Flyers and came across this remarkable piece of their ice hockey history. From the 40's era. You should note however that a number of the Flyers players/stars were Canadian imports:-) "The rink's tradition of hosting touring teams continued through the decade with Vastra Frolunda from Sweden playing an exhibition game in December 1948, followed by a French side and even world champions Team Canada who raced into a 4-0 lead and were beaten 6-5 by Fife Flyers -- a result which stands as their greastest ever hour." Now obviously I wasn't there but I can virtually guarantee that one of the main features to the comeback and the ultimate victory would have been the the fervour of the Fife fans. I think any of the Canadians who played there in the glory days would back this up. The Flyers crowd have the ability to raise the dead:-) If any Canucks have actually approached the Flyers for a try-out can you let us know as this thread has now been posted on the Fife Flyers Message Board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharnhayre Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Man, If I was still in shape and wasn't married I'd be all over this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodee Posted July 7, 2011 Author Share Posted July 7, 2011 Some good, some not so good. http://www.braeheadclan.com/braehead--arena-s12175 http://www.panthers.co.uk/ http://www.coventryblaze.co.uk/roster_senior.php http://www.hullstingrays.com/201112-team-roster-s12458 http://www.belfastgiants.com/ http://www.edinburgh-capitals.com/_assets/downloads/posters/disfigureskating.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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