Freddie Black – A structure for British Hockey

Freddie Black is the youngest son of Nottingham Panthers & Braehead Clan owner Neil Black. In this exclusive article for The Cat’s Whiskers, Freddie outlines his vision of a structure for British Hockey

Following on from the changing of the Elite league structure for the 2012/13 season I thought it would be interesting to present a different idea which I came up with earlier this season following the financial struggles of both Cardiff and Coventry. There is no debating that there are clear divides in the Elite League and this is not good for anyone as no one wants to watch thrashing’s continuously during the season, year after year, and I believe that in the current structure there is not really a solution to this problem, so a complete re-haul of the whole system is needed. I was originally going to send this idea to The Cat’s Whisker’s in 2011 but due to the sensitivity of the subject at the time I decided to leave it, but seeing as the league structure is going to be discussed quite a lot over the next few weeks I thought it wouldn’t be a bad time to throw this idea out there. The idea does involve the EPL teams and I know their league is doing well and I am generally happy for them, but I do think this new idea offers a lot of new and exciting options for them to grow more than they could in their current setup. So here it is:

The British Hockey League

Northern Championship (wage cap between £4,000 – £5,000 net)

Fife
Edinburgh
Dundee
Hull
Manchester
Sheffield Steeldogs

British Championship (wage cap between £6,500 – £7,500 net)

Nottingham
Sheffield
Belfast
Coventry
Braehead
Cardiff

Southern Championship (wage cap between £4,000 – £5,000 net)

Guildford
Milton Keynes
Basingstoke
Bracknell
Swindon
Slough

The Format and Guidelines of the New league

*Each Team plays every team in their own Championship 3 times home and away (30 games)
*Each Team plays every other team from the other championships 1 time home and away (24 games)
*Total season of 54 games
*There is a league winner in every championship
*Top 4 from each championship qualify for the playoffs, 1st vs. 4th, 2nd vs. 3rd and winners of the Northern and Southern Championship playoffs go through to the British Ice Hockey playoff weekend where they will face each other in a semi-final with the other semi-final being made up of the two playoff finalists of the British Championship (also played at the playoff weekend). The winners of both semi-finals face off against each other for the BHL Playoff title.
* A knockout cup competition to be held between all the teams with a final being held in a neutral location (ENL teams will also be involved although at an earlier stage in the draw)
*A new Governing Body set-up which includes no one from the current set-up and a new disciplinary board created and to be made up of ex professional players and referees
*This Governing Body will have no one in it involved in any of the teams and it will check on every team to see what they are spending and make sure no dodgy business practices are happening. It will also interview and investigate any prospective owner to make sure they are ‘fit and proper’
*Serious points deduction for breaking the wage cap and if any team phoenixes its operating company it will have face punishments which could include deduction of points or fines etc.

Positives of this system

Variety – Something I believe BIH desperately needs and in this system each team will face 17 different clubs every season!
Derby matches – With the teams having their rivals in their championship this will increase spectator numbers
Competitiveness – The teams are matched in most cases with similar size clubs and with a strict wage cap every team should be able compete within their championship and the others. The British Championship teams will obviously be favourites against the other teams but they will only be playing them once home and away and that will be a big draw for the teams e.g. Hull vs. Nottingham or Manchester vs. Sheffield
Spectator Numbers – I believe clubs such as Bracknell could attract very good crowds when it is known they will be playing against Sheffield, Belfast, Nottingham etc once again and as mentioned before the variety will mean that fans won’t get fed up of watching the same team over and over again which should make for more interesting competition
Silverware – the fact that there are 3 different league titles up for grabs should increase chances of silverware for all clubs and create more local publicity plus potentially higher crowds as that is what success creates.
Sponsorship – Lots of opportunities for sponsorship (Whole league, 3 championships, playoffs and cup competition)
Governing Body – One that will act in the interests of the whole of BIH and not just a few teams with powerful owners

Negatives of this system

Travel – Undoubtedly very costly, especially for the smaller teams to places such as Belfast but for teams like Coventry and Cardiff they will only have to travel to Scotland 7 times instead of the current 12
EPL Teams – 2 teams will have to drop down a level for this to work
Confusion – People may find the new system too confusing and it could create disillusionment
Affordable – There will undoubtedly be problems about whether certain clubs could afford to compete in these leagues but I believe there are ways to combat this
British Players – Some players from the EPL may be unable to commit to a league with this schedule although actually there are only 4 arena teams so they really shouldn’t be too many mid-week games for the majority of the teams
Investment – I believe in the first couple of years a few teams will need investment (mainly Steeldogs, Bracknell, Swindon etc.) to increase crowds, market teams better and pay for travel but I believe this money could be raised by the governing body at events such as the Playoff final weekend which would have fans from all the British Hockey league teams and ENL teams thus I believe an arena such as the MEN could be used and almost sold out (ticket prices £20-£30)for this weekend event creating huge amounts of revenue

Imports in this new structure

I have not put an import limit in the structure for a reason and this is because I am still undecided on whether there should be one and if there was one, what the limit should be. I will let people figure this out for themselves but personally if I was forced to give an answer I would probably say that if there is an enforced wage cap then there wouldn’t be a need for import limits but still I can see the arguments for the other side

P.S: Don’t want to go into too much detail about Junior Development as I would be writing for days but it would be a must for all clubs to have junior sections and also a lot of the governing bodies money would be spent on bringing over coaches to develop British juniors and setting up clinics to get more people interested in playing the game

Clubs

I must admit that there may be better alternative clubs to put into the championships e.g. Peterborough instead of Swindon but I was just basing it on crowds, finances and a potential for growth.

As for Coventry and Cardiff I believe they both have a place in the British Championship for numerous reasons. Firstly I believe both clubs would have a great chance of silverware in their championship if the wage cap is properly enforced which it most definitely would be by an independent governing body. Also the teams they would be playing most of the time would be the teams that they get good crowds for. For Cardiff as well with the new arena hopefully on the horizon this is championship that they belong in and I’m sure they would flourish.

Why some of these changes can’t happen without having to change the whole structure?

*Owners currently have too much control
*There is too much difference in revenue in the EIHL and I do not believe there is anything the league can do which will create more parity while not putting clubs out of business (e.g. a wage cap that suits Edinburgh and Nottingham)
*Politics between owners and I believe an overhaul of the whole structure would have to happen for clubs and leagues to start working together

Just to add as well a whole new top level English national league may have to be set up as well under the same governing body:

English National League (2 imports max and wage cap of £1,500 net)

Telford
Oxford
Peterborough
Invicta
Whitley
Chelmsford
Blackburn
Wightlink
Billingham
Romford

*Each team plays each other 2 times home and away
*Challenge cup which is to be competed as current EIHL one is today (may not be able to fit this in though)
*Top 8 qualify for playoffs, 1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th etc. with final being played at the British Ice Hockey playoffs finals
*Teams to enter first stage of BIH knockout cup

Positives and Negatives of this system

Should be competitive and these clubs will have a lot of good British Juniors coming through the ranks and I believe every club in the top 3 championships would be desperate for some sort of affiliation with these clubs. Negatives would be that travel may cost too much especially to Wightlink and clubs in general may not be able to afford it but I think the competitiveness of the league would help with crowds.

*Won’t go into too much detail but all the remaining clubs like Bristol, Solihull etc. would form their own leagues with regional conferences and teams in the top leagues would have their farm teams in this league (Cardiff ENL, Coventry ENL etc.)

The Nottingham Panthers and our options

I would say the club are very keen to remain in the EIHL and improve the league. I must also mention that the club is keeping an eye on any developments in Europe which may lead to an opportunity for the club and we have been in contact with a few leagues of notably higher stature and we have received invitations to play in certain leagues although they have not been possible to accept. It must also be said though that the possibility of actually joining a European League is extremely remote and for that reason the club must concentrate on the British Leagues.

Anyway this is just a rough idea thrown out there but I would be interested what people thought of the idea and if they think it is an improvement on the current setup.

So there we have young Freddie’s proposal’s. Do you agree? Please leave constructive comments in the comments box below or join in the discussion on the dedicated thread for this article on The Cage Forum.

Panthers signing bonanza

To use the words of coach Corey Neilson, “we once again mean business” as Panthers announced a signing bonanza last night with the return of forwards Brandon Benedict & Matt Francis, back up netminder Dan Green and securing British forward David Clarke on a 3 year contract.

Before I look at the rest of the returnees I want to discuss Clarke. I do sometimes get really dismayed when I see posts on The Cage saying that Clarke is ‘lazy’, misses too many chances and that he should be replaced. What I would say to these people is where would you get another British forward who would score 40+ goals per season? Answer: You wouldn’t. It seems to me to have become fashionable to bash Panthers British players, just look at the number of people who crawled out of the woodwork to slag off Danny Meyers when Panthers released him. It seems to be the same for Clarke.
Personally I thought he improved his two way game massively last season and showed defensive responsibility that hadn’t been obvious in his game previously. Yes, he does miss a few, however I will say for what feels like the millionth time, if he hit the target more often he wouldn’t be playing in the Elite League. He is still the all time leading scorer in the Elite League and consistently scores more than 40 goals a season. How much hero worship would we (and do) give to any import who manages that?
Thankfully, it seems Neilson agrees with my point of view, saying “Clarkie has got to be among the best British-born goalscorers in the history of hockey over here he is a wonderful athlete and I have certainly not seen anyone to match the power of his shot. In the last few seasons you have seen his game develop and taken to a new level. From time to time I challenge him but he does that himself any way, setting himself new markers. Every year his overall game gets better and the next test for him his to maintain that high level for a 64-game season.”
We now have the best British goalscorer secured for the next three seasons, how can that be anything but positive?

The return of Matt Francis will please most fans. Perhaps the surprise package of last season, Francis performed at a consistently high level, scoring important goals and impressing with his speed & skill. I’d have been very disappointed if he hadn’t returned as I felt he was a key part of the squad last season and can perform another influential role in the season to come. Neilson said of Francis’ re-signing “Fast, skilful, tricky and always hard-working, what else can you say? What else do you want on the forward line? I’m thrilled to have him back, like David Clarke he’s another key guy in the roster. It’s good to have guys who know what the league is all about, the new conference idea is exciting and will make the title race harder than ever, but that’s what we’re here for and to have a core of players who have experienced success on the levels we’ve achieved in recent seasons can only be a good thing for everyone at the club.”

Another welcome returnee is forward Brandon Benedict who impressed me last season with his work rate and grittiness, not to mention his knack of scoring important goals, particularly the overtime winner against Braehead in the play-off quarter finals. Neilson said of Benedict’s re-capture “Benny’s a great guy and he does his job at both ends of the rink. He is a grafter and he grafts every shift of every game. He doesn’t know how to take a shift off, let alone a period or a game.”
Benedict’s return will see him reunited with line mate Jordan Fox. Whether David Alexandre Beauregard comes back to complete last season’s top line still remains to be seen!

Finally back-up netminder Dan Green returns for his third season at Panthers. Realising that he needs more ice time to keep him sharp, Green will spend some time icing for Nottingham Lions in the ENL North, while young Nottingham juniors prospect Sam Gospel will spend some time with the Panthers.
Neilson said “Back-up netminder is a tough job. Just waiting there in case a chance comes along is never going to be easy. Greener’s a great guy, he’s dedicated and he works hard at training. If he can get some games in the minors that’s going to help keep him sharp and young Sam is one for the future, he had some pre-season icetime with us in a challenge match last year and he handled that experience well. The more time he spends with the first team the better he will develop and the better his chances of doing well in the sport.”

Panthers have announced their intent in bringing back some top performers from last season’s double trophy winning squad. The remaining import slots are awaiting to be filled, will one of them include DAB? I await with interest.

Are the lunatics running the asylum?

Major changes to the Elite League have been announced this evening. To see the full release please follow this link.

I will look at each point in turn, I will leave the most controversial until last.

1) Imports increased from 10 to 11
Good. Very happy with that. With several Brits pursuing careers abroad and some dropping to the EPL it seems the only sensible option. There are still some quality British players in the EIHL but as supply decreases, demand increases and with that comes higher wage demands.
Some have come out vehemently against and increase in in imports claiming it stifles British development. I will be blunt here, the EPL is there to develop British talent, the Elite league is there to take the best there is. Also, if some British players changed their wage demands then perhaps clubs could afford them.

2) Challenge Cup changed to two round robin groups of five and quarter finals included
I’m pleased that greater importance and emphasis is being placed on the Challenge Cup, however it seems a bit pointless playing 8 group games just to eliminate one team in each group. It should be round robin, then semi-finals. 8 teams qualifying out of 10 seems a bit of overkill to me.

3) Play-offs remain as is. Re-seeding will occur at each stage
Sensible, no complaints here.

4) The EIHL will be split into two conferences next season
WHAT?!? Have they taken leave of their senses? Way to devalue the league competition. What were they thinking?
The press release suggests that it will be regional conferences. If that’s the case then the assumption is that it will be Belfast & the Scottish teams in one conference with the rest in the other. As each team will play teams in their own conference 8 times (4 home, 4 away) while playing teams in the other conference four times (2 home, 2 away) you may as well give Belfast the title at the start of the season.
That well known bastion of accurate rumours, British Ice Hockey, suggests that the conferences will be split as the Scottish teams and Hull, with the rest being in the second conference. Again that is crazy and would make Braehead hot favourites for the league. I propose that we have a conference of 10 and another of 0!
This decision smacks of money making. It seems a decision taken so that Panthers & Sheffield can play each other umpteen times a season. Fair enough having a conference if there were 16 teams in the league but we don’t and I just can’t see how it will work.

I await the announcement of the conferences with much fear and trepidation.

Pat Galivan is latest signing

Another signing was announced by the Panthers this evening, the first new import to join the 2012/13 squad in the form of 26 year old left wing Pat Galivan [Elite Prospects Stats] [Panther website press release]

Coach Corey Neilson has said of his latest capture “He’ll be good for us and he’s heard a lot about us and he can’t wait to get here. I think the fans are going to love him”

Galivan looks to be a skillful capture as the You Tube video below will testify, and he comes with a great pedigree from the ECHL with a handful of AHL games thrown in for good measure. As to who he’ll replace, that remains to be seen, however it looks unlikely that Sami Ryhanen will be returning after posting as much on his Facebook wall.

Obviously it’s difficult to make any assessment of a new import until we’ve seen him play, but looking at his previous stats and the clubs he’s played for I’m very optimistic he’ll be an integral part of our team next season.

The Fantastic Mr Fox returns

Panthers announced their third import for the 2012/13 season as it was revealed this evening that Jordan Fox will be returning [Panthers website link]

An integral part of Panthers double winning success last season, Fox proved his commitment to the team by playing the final three play-off games with a slipped disc in his back. The guy must have been playing through unbelievable pain but still played his normal game, giving everything he had in pursuit of play-off glory. These are the sort of players I want on the team.

He will also bring a great amount of skill back to the squad. He was part of an incredible line with Benedict & DAB, and could also put the puck in the net, who can forget the incredible goal he scored against Cardiff in the season opener?

Coach Corey Neilson said of his latest re-signing “What can you say. Jordan is a leader on the ice and in the locker room. He’s a winner. We spoke at length before he left and now those talks have come to fruition. He had offers, obviously in this country and abroad, but he wanted to come back and that was half the battle. We loved having him here last season and he knows what to expect of us and he knows what we expect of him. It’s another key signing and we’ve got more, hopefully, in the pipeline and they could be finalised sooner rather than later.”

A key re-signing for me. I hope we continue to see more captures of this calibre as the close season continues.

Nottingham Lions v Sutton Sting ENL Play-Off review

Like many others, I made my way to the NIC yesterday afternoon to see the 2nd leg of the ENL North Relegation Play-Off between Nottingham Lions and Sutton Sting. For those that didn’t know, Sting won the first leg 7-4 at Ice Sheffield on Saturday, so Lions faced an uphill task to try and hold on to their Division 1 status.
Some cracking marketing by the Lions saw an excellent crowd of 1,048 at the NIC Arena pad for the game which included a very healthy contingent who made the short journey from North Notts. Considering that the final weekend of the Premier League season was concluding at the same time it makes the crowd figure all the more impressive. Added to the 700 who were at Ice Sheffield on Saturday it shows a healthy appetite for this level of senior hockey.

To my shame, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been to a Lions game for one reason or another so I didn’t know what to expect While the quality wasn’t up to Elite League standards, the heart, passion and effort from both sides certainly was. It was a very entertaining game, both sides really went for it, none more so than the Lions who pulled back the three goal deficit just after the half-way point of the game, then took the lead overall on 32 minutes as Chris Colegate skated in alone to make it 4-0 and 8-7 on aggregate.

While the Lions were doing the job at one end of the ice, netminder Alan Levers was doing his bit in goal, pulling off a string of incredible saves to keep the score at 4-0. Indiscipline cost the Lions towards the end of the 2nd and Sutton pulled one back from close in on the powerplay to level the aggregate scores and make it a winner takes all final period.

In the final session the Sting took hold of the game, scoring three unanswered goals, one an empty netter, to secure promotion for the first time in their short history. The Lions will take their place in ENL North Division 2 next season.

At only £3 for Panthers season ticket holder I found this game cracking value for money, but it did set me thinking. Would crowds at this level improve if the league was switched to summer? Obviously there was no pull on the hockey pound due to the came taking place in May, and I believe that is why the crowd for both games was so high. Obviously such a move would take some major re-structuring, but it’s worth putting out there for debate I feel.

Finally all that’s left is to congratulate Sutton Sting on their promotion and commiserate the Lions on relegation. Here’s to season to 2012/13

Nottingham Lions v Sutton Sting. ENL North Play-Off this weekend

For those of you in need of a hockey fix this weekend, look no further than the ENL North play-off between Nottingham Lions and Sutton Sting.
A win would promote the Sting to ENL 1 North for the first time in their short history, while the Lions are hoping to preserve their ENL 1 North status by winning the two-legged tie on aggregate.

Looking ahead to the weekend, Nottingham Lions Coach Matt Bradbury said “This weekend is going to be a great one for both clubs, players and officials involved. It has to be one of the most important games in both teams’ histories and I really hope that ice hockey fans come out and support their respective teams making it a great occasion to remember. Both teams know exactly what they have to do and it’s going to go right down to the wire I’m sure.”

On the game itself Bradbury commented “We’ll approach the game as we have done all season, in a professional manner, rolling up our sleeves and getting to work.
We appreciate that Sutton have had an excellent season in ENL2 and that’s what will make both ties so intriguing. We are most definitely looking forward to the back-to-back games with Sutton and it makes for a great weekend of hockey.”

The first leg takes place at Ice Sheffield on Saturday with a 3.15pm face-off. Ticket prices for this game are Adults £4, children (U16) £1, family ticket (2 adults, 2 children) £7 and available on the door.

The second leg will be on Sunday on the NIC’s Arena pad with a 5pm face-off. Ticket prices are Adults £5, Children (U16) & OAP’s £3, Students (with NUS Card) £2.50. Panthers’ season ticket holders £3 and are available from the NIC box office up until face-off on Sunday.

Danny a Steeler!

The news that I expected but deep down didn’t want to hear was revealed today, Danny Meyers will play for Sheffield Steelers for the next two seasons [Sheffield Star link].

The news has been met with cautious optimism by the Steelers fans, most are very pleased with the signing, but with them now having nine British players signed up for 2012/13 they are questioning if enough is left in the budget for the quality of imports they demand (not that budget constraints have ever bothered them in the past, leopards & spots and all that!)
The reaction of the Nottingham fan base has been somewhat subdued and there’s certainly been none of the bile that normally accompanies such a move, a testament of the high regard he was held in and respect he earned during his six seasons with Panthers. Some on The Cage have rounded on posters who have said they will applaud him when he returns. I don’t understand why, Danny never got the chance to say goodbye to the fans and I think that’s the least he deserves for his service to the Panthers when he first returns to the NIC. After that however, I hope he gets smashed all over the ice along with his Tango clad team-mates!

To move off at a tangent for a moment, I didn’t like the fact that the signing was first announced on the Nottingham Post website around midnight. We’ve (rightly) criticised the Steelers when they’ve announced other teams signings before the club in question and two wrongs don’t make a right. It should be left to the signing club or their preferred media outlet to announce the news, no-one else. Rant over!

I’ll be honest, when it comes to the Steelers I tend to adopt a ‘anyone but them’ attitude, especially when it comes to a player I genuinely like & respect moving there. However, for whatever reason, the Panthers decided to terminate his contract and he has a young family settled in Nottingham. If he was to continue playing Elite League hockey and be based in the city he realistically had a choice of two clubs, Coventry Blaze or Steelers. His family has to come first, we all have bills to pay and mouths to feed so I don’t blame Danny for choosing to play there at all and I genuinely wish him all the best (however I still hope his team spectacularly crashes and burns during his time there!)

Danny also needs to remember something else. No-one has ever looked good in orange!

On Reflection

Twenty-four hours on and I wanted to write a reflective article on yesterday’s events. There was a lot of raw emotion yesterday, unsurprising when you consider how popular Danny Meyers was.
Most people have now had a day to calm down and think about what has happened (me included). As I said in my previous article, I knew Danny, I knew what the club meant to him and I knew how driven he was to provide the club with success. I was angry when I first heard the news yesterday, I couldn’t believe what the club had done. I know my anger stemmed from knowing how Danny would have taken the news, I was totally gutted for him and that stopped actually thinking about what had happened rationally.

What puzzles me is why Meyers hasn’t been kept on. A defence of Meyers, Weaver & Lee with 3 import defencemen and back up from Tom Norton would surely be one of the best defences in the league. I think the ‘moneybags Panthers’ tag that is often thrown at us is a bit of a myth because surely we can more than afford the defence above? However, Corey Neilson is coming into his fifth season as coach, he has far more knowledge and experience than I ever will so I have to trust his judgement on this. As with any team sport the name on the front of the shirt will always be more important than the one on the back and no one player is bigger than the club. That said, the lack of respect shown by some Panthers fans has disappointed me. Some are now jumping out the woodwork saying he was ‘average’ and one even suggested he was a ‘poor captain’. I cannot agree with any of that, for me he was a calm and assured defenceman who always gave 100% and as a captain I think he’s quite easily the best we’ve had since Terry Kurtenbach. For some to turn on him now is a poor show, especially as they were incredibly quiet during the past two seasons, I don’t recall anyone questioning his abilities then.

I also feel for Jonathan Weaver. His signing was totally overshadowed by Meyers leaving and he deserved better than that from the club, especially as some have come to the wrong assumption that Weaver is replacing Meyers, he’s not, they play completely different roles. Weaver is an excellent addition to the defence and I fully expect him to be an integral part of the team next season. He has ability to match his vast experience and would be the ideal candidate to replace Meyers as Captain.

What’s done is done and while I don’t necessarily understand it or agree with it, I won’t stop supporting the club because of it. I’ll still buy my season ticket and I’ll still cheer on whoever wears the uniform.

Finally, Danny was interviewed by Owen Bradley earlier. The audio is linked here and Danny’s prepared statement is re-produced below.

My six years in Nottingham has without question been the greatest time of my life.
Joanna and I spent our first year of marriage here, we then bought a house here the next year, the year after that our first son Joel was born here, I started my own business with Matthew next while moving my parents up, my fifth year my second son Jalen was born and finally in my sixth year my son got his placement for school and Joanna returned to work.
This city has left a profound stamp on my family’s life. It’s a place that I now call home and I am very proud to live in.
Coming to the Panthers was a huge opportunity for me, it turned out better than I ever expected. Playing for Nottingham is a huge enough honour but to captain the team is the greatest thing to ever professionally happen to media have loved every minute as my role of captain. I have been incredibly fortunate that my team mates have allowed and supported me to be their captain, many of whom were older and more experienced than me but still listened and respected and responded to what I had to say. I always thought lifting a trophy as captain would be the greatest feeling ever.
Truth is, handing it over to my teammates was. Seeing their faces and scenes with their families were my most satisfying moments.
This past week has been the worst week of my life; Tuesday being the worst day, but then yesterday came about. The response and support I got since the announcement has sent my emotions into over drive.
As I type this I struggle to understand why people have been so kind to me. Fans from rival teams, fans across the UK, Elite and EPL have shown me so much support. Players who I don’t know personally wishing me well, coaches telling me to keep my chin up and to be proud of myself. My ex and current teammates saying incredible things to me. Then of course the panther fans, or as I started calling you – ‘Panthersnation’, a word that couldn’t be more appropriate if I do say so myself! As you can imagine this week has been very tough for my family too, but the messages from you guys has picked us all up. My wife has read the tweets etc and has been so grateful for all of them; we are both filled with enormous pride.
My goal was to bring the league title to Nottingham. Unfortunately I didn’t. The team is however on the brink and the foundations are there for it to happen. I hope it does. A lot of people deserve it.
I’d like to publicly thank Neil Black for allowing me to play for this club; everyone in the office – Nicola, Sarah and Gary. Commercial and media guys – Simon Moor, Chris Ellis, Owen Bradley and Mick Holland. Off ice staff – Razor Gemma, little Simon, Pete.
To Poundy and Mark Coles I owe you so much for the work you did with my shoulder, I will never forget that.
To our trainer Goody, who cares about this club more than anyone I have ever known, thanks for your work but also your friendship.
To the coaches; Strax for his everything he has ever contributed to my career and of course Corey who handed me the “C” and for the way he has improved my game. I wish you nothing but the best Corey, thank you.
To the Panthers supporters who live for their team, you are a credit to this club and the heartbeat. Always believe in this team.
And finally to my teammates, past and present. Hockey is the greatest sport in the world because it has the greatest people. I have loved wearing the same shirt as you and standing side by side with you, I love you my brothers.
I would like to end by saying this…
It is imperative that the fans get behind Corey and the boys. This was hard for Corey too. Until any of us are in that hot seat who knows what decision we would make. One thing for sure is Corey is doing what he feels is best to bring success to Nottingham, don’t ever lose sight of that. Not any player or person is bigger than this club and that should always be understood. Players will come and go but the club will always remain. The club itself is the most important thing.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR EVERYTHING ANYONE HAS EVER DONE FOR ME AND MY FAMILY, BIG OR SMALL!!
All best,
Danny..

A Tribute to Danny Meyers

Danny Meyers Panthers Career
Games: 323
Goals: 23
Assists: 93
Points: 116
PIMs: 217
Trophies: 3 x Play-Offs (2007, 2011, 2012); 4 x Challenge Cup (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012)

Shock, surprise and sadness. That’s how I felt when I first found out that Danny Meyers had been released by the Nottingham Panthers today. This isn’t an article to bash the Panthers for the decision though, it’s to pay tribute to the most successful captain that Panthers have ever had, skippering the team to five trophies in his three seasons with the ‘C’ and winning seven trophies in his six years with the club. As a player I rated him highly, a very assured defenceman who always gave 100% on every shift, for me he was the best British defenceman in the country. As a captain and a person I rated him higher still.

Over the past season I’ve been privileged enough to meet with and speak to Danny a few times. The first was back in September when he gave me this interview for The Cat’s Whiskers. It was a brutally honest interview, but during it I could tell from the way he spoke & his body language how much being a Panther meant to him and how honoured he was to captain the team. He revealed that he would regard it as a failure in his career if he didn’t lead Panthers to a league title, sadly it seems that ambition will never be realised for him.

He also agreed to do An Evening With…. just 10 weeks ago with David Simms. One of the subjects talked about that night seems pretty pertinent now. Danny was asked what he’d do if if he ever left Panthers and his answer was along the lines of he never wanted to leave but if it came to that then he’d have to feed his family and pay the bills. I expect now that nine other Elite League clubs & coaches are looking at their budgets!

As I said earlier in this article, Danny was the most successful Panthers captain of all time. Speaking personally he’ll always be a Panthers legend in my eyes, he was a leader, a winner and wanted the very best for the club, the players & himself. I wish him every success in his future career, wherever he ends up.