The Printed Word

The decision to can the 20-21 ice hockey season was no surprise. Like a doctor confirming the time of death, Tuesday, September 15 was when the EIHL finally put us out of our misery. The emptiness which will follow for ice hockey fans will not have fully sunk in. Right now, we all crave re-establishing routines, but lockdown has erased so much of our social fabric. For some, that is gigs, for others it’s meet-ups with special groups, and for hockey fans, it ‘s rinkside every weekend where familiar faces are all around, and the noise, the shared songs and chants, and the ebb and flow of the game is our escape. Those bonds cannot be fully replaced by endless re-runs from the archives - is anyone really still absorbed in them? - while the desire to play our part by buying tickets for online 50/50 raffles will surely wither to near zero.  Lockdown has changed everything, and its ripples will continue to extend to the very horizon. Fo r ice hockey, the challenge isn’t just surviving wit...

  Somewhere in the depths of lockdown, I stumbled across a quote in a story on our Government’s handling of the pandemic. It said, the job of a leader is to lead - and not leave people to try to work out what they’re meant to do. Or words to that effect. I sense that’s exactly the position the EIHL finds itself in as it tries to plot a clear path to starting the 2020-21 season. The optimism which greeted news of the Magic-5 weekend at Nottingham vanished months ago. Right now, few fans would stick any money on the season even starting. The league’s update this week stretched to just two lines which said, well, nothing really. They’d met. They’d talked. They’d make an announcement on September 15. That was it. The league has said little to instil confidence among fans. Almost all of its summer PR has been built on looking back, rather than ahead where the picture is has zero clarity. So, fans are left to dissect individual statements from leading lights, to weigh up their thoughts a...