Ice Hockey: Sound of silence over EIHL return is becoming deafening

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Five weeks have lapsed since the potential return of ice hockey was first mooted.

The talk was off a condensed 2020-21 season involving five, maybe six of the ten EIHL teams.

Five weeks on, and hopes of a January start must surely now be off the table.

The league was allocated £4m Sport England’s Winter Survival Package, but it could only be accessed if the sport actually got blades hitting the ice.

No play, no pay was the bottom line, hence the talk of a shortened season with fewer clubs and imports.

With the country now living under heightened restrictions and travel severely limited across regions - let alone borders - it seems unfeasible to even think about dropping the puck right now.

Since the EIHL’s statement of November 27 outlining s tentative return, the only sound has been that of silence.

That sole PR was soaked in caveats - “we still have to be cautious and can't promise anything concrete” were Tony Smith’s exact words.

Only Sheffield have kept up talk of any competitive action, but as the calendar flips over to January, even their well of optimism has to be running dry by the day.

The eight week window clubs need to build a roster could well be condensed, but who is going to take a financial gamble right now by flying players in, sorting out accommodation and prepping for a schedule which could be torn up with just one positive COVID test result?

So much of the EIHL’s hopes of a return to the ice remain outwith their control.

As infection rates rise, and restrictions tighten, they cannot possibly hope to find the breathing space needed to play with any degree of certainty, and that’s before they even think about managing the variations from devolved governments in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and it becomes almost impossible.

Fife Flyers got it right when they said at the outset that this wasn’t for them.

However much they are missing the sport and the buzz rinkside, this wasn’t a viable solution.

Given the lack of updates from the league or even the teams which stand to benefit directly from Sport England’s funding carrot, it seems that view may be well taking hold elsewhere.

It looks as though fans will have to stick with a diet of online re-runs of games and 50-50 fundraising raffles for some time to come yet.

And September still feels little more than a dot on the horizon.



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