I'm still pretty new to ice hockey, I went to watch Manchester Phoenix last season and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been meaning to go back but I've been absolutely skint, it's definitely high on my things to do list though.

Use to watch the London Racers when they were in it but now cheer the Invicta Dynamos in the ENIHL Div1 South

Yea the epl is the better league for phoenix IMO. The league seems alot more open this year with the likes of sheffield having a stronger team this term, yea its abut 5 or 6 points seperating 1st from 6th atr the minute!

We do seem to be taking abit longer to gel this season but i think its starting to come together now, injuries to a couple of players haven't helped the start either but i've every faith Sir Tony will sort it out. In Hand we trust!!

I went to every Blackburn Hawks games for years and saw some great players play for us,but when they dropped down the leagues and stopped paying for imports the standard of hockey got so low I gave up watching them.If they ever did put some effort into having a good team and joined the league the Phoenix are in i'd start going back to watch them.When you've seen players the likes of Moria and Chartrand play for you,paying to watch a team nowhere near that kind of standard doesn't do it for me.

Remember as an avid Humberside Seahawks fan going to Blackburn and all us travelling fans wore bermuda shorts, hawaiian shirts and marigolds not the warmest of arenas.

Over the years the Blackhawks/Hawks have had some other quality players Perlini, Damphousse, Trent Kaese, Doc Durdle, Bobby & John Haig, Stokes.

Shame British hockey took such a nose dive when Heineken pulled out.

The Blackburn Arena has always been freezing

You expect an ice arena to be cold but not that cold.Over the years there were some great atmospheres at games.A couple I remember are the Sheffield Steelers 1st season when they needed to beat us to get promotion and they brought over 2,500 fans to see them win,another was a playoff game against our hated rivals the Trafford Metros when there was over 3,000 in the arena.They're lucky to get a few hundred fans these days.

Been twice to watch Sheffield Steelers about 20 years ago as a kid. Shame really I didnt go again as thought it was fun stood up dancing every break. Which was literally every minute.

Sorry if I'm resurrecting a dead thread but I've only just found and thought I may as well share my love of the EIHL! I have been a Stingrays fan since roughly age 9, and try to attend games regularly, in fact I'm off tonight to watch the mighty Stingrays take on Coventry Blaze!



Any other Hull fans lurking on this forum?

Used to be Seahawks, Hawks fan both home & away without fail then the Thunder home and occasionalyl away but then decided enough was enough.

Only been to a small handful of games since.

I go fairly often to watch Basingstoke in the EPL, same division as Manchester. I keep an eye out for Manchester.

The standard of the EPL is not exactly the NHL, but it's a lot of fun, especially if like me you think the fighting is a bit stagey- it's discouraged in the EPL but does break out every few games when they actually mean it.

Shame the import level is so high in the Elite League- that's what pushed Manchester, Basingstoke, Bracknell and Guildford out, and sent Newcastle under.

Thats why I stopped going after Sheffield ruined it all and a certain player who threatened the then BIHL with court action for restriction of trade for dual nationals. That and the fact at one point the GB team had a total of 2 genuine British players in it and they chose Bill Morrison as the GB no.1 for me totally destroyed the sport in this country and it has since struggled with the top flight league itself going t!ts up twice.

Basingstoke seem to be our (Phoenix) bogey team this year.