Action on ice

SPREADING THE HOCKEY WORD

Yesterday we listened to the Fred MacAulay show on Radio Scotland. This was a regular habit during the Fringe, when he shared the duties with Susan Calman in front of a live Festival audience (which we were part of a couple of times). Without wee Susan, and the audience, it's rarely as entertaining even though Fred himself can be very funny at times. This was one of the less exciting shows and I had to sit through tedious discussions about making mincemeat pies, getting children to say sorry and other stuff that flew from my mind as soon as it entered. I thank the Twitter gods for keeping me entertained.

All this was endured for what turned out to be a less than ten minute slot near the end of the hour and a half long show, but I was glad I did. A chat with Craig Anderson, otherwise known to us as Slapshot Scotland, a sports journalist I follow on both Twitter and Facebook for updates on the Scottish, and UK, ice hockey scene.

The timing of the interview was down to the presence, in Dumfries, of the World Under 20s Ice Hockey Championships. An event all but the avid ice hockey fan will be totally unaware of. Unless they happen to be Rod Stewart fans. Because one member of the GB team is said Mr Stewart's son, who plays his club hockey for a team based near Washington DC. A fact I was totally unaware of until recently, until Craig retweeted a couple of comments from Rod. Dad can't be there to see his son play, for whatever reasons, but he is obviously taking a close interest.

Not that GB are expected to have many triumphs in the tournament, but anything that raises a bit of awareness of the game in this country is a plus. Because I doubt that many people are even aware that it's still played here competitively.

Although similar games on ice have been played for hundreds of years (the Vikings were fans apparently) it's reckoned that the modern sport was invented in the late nineteenth century by British soldiers and immigrants in Canada, possibly influenced by a game played in Iceland. Montreal became the focal point for the sport and it spread across Canada, and later into the US and Europe. In North America it's simply referred to as Hockey, with the Ice prefix being reserved for those countries, like Britain, where field hockey is more common.

Hockey remains Canada's national sport, and in the US it's one the big money games along with football, basketball and baseball. Although the huge majority of the thirty teams playing in the National Hockey league (which is the top level of the sport in the US and Canada) are American the majority of the players come from north of the border. In Europe it's a major sport in Russia, Sweden, Finland and both the Czech and Slovak republics.

Here in Britain ice hockey leads a more perilous existence, at least at the top level, and our best teams are no match for the cream of the European leagues. There is very little money in the sport, and few top level British players. The Elite Ice Hockey League, the only UK wide competition, currently has four teams each from England and Scotland, plus one each from Belfast and Cardiff. Each club is capped on the amount it is allowed to spend on player salaries, but some lack the income to get even close to that level of spending. A team has to ice with a certain number of home grown players each match, but the most talented stars of the league are imports. With the majority, surprise, surprise, being Canadian.

I'm very much a newcomer as a spectator. My first live hockey match was only two years ago and it had been decades since I'd watched any on television. Although I can recall some matches from the NHL being shown here, the only time the sport got extensive coverage was during the Winter Olympics. It shows how long ago it was that I took an interest that my main memories are of the battles between the USSR and Czechoslovakia, two countries which haven't even existed for more than twenty years! They were real grudge matches, with my heart always hoping the Czechs would come out on top. Scots always have an affinity with the underdog, especially if they are being repressed by a larger neighbour....

So there's an irony in the fact that the team I now support has a high proportion of Slovaks in the side, plus a couple of Czechs. I'd been aware that Edinburgh had a hockey team and I can remember the Murrayfield Racers, as they then were, being reported on in the local paper in my youth. It was only when a Groupon email came up with a half price ticket offer that we were finally prompted to turn up and see if we'd enjoy the sport as live entertainment.

That first match was Edinburgh Capitals against Hull Stingrays. There wasn't a huge crowd - perhaps just over twelve hundred - but in a closed arena they can still make a lot of noise. The match was fast, close and exciting, there was a young figure skater to watch during one of the intervals, and Edinburgh came out winners. We were gripped by the end to end action, the speed of the play, the skill, the excitement. And the occasional need to remind yourself that everything you watched these guys doing was happening ON ICE. A surface I'd struggle to skate more than a few metres on, and where just standing can be counted as an achievement.

So we've been back to watch as and when it’s been possible, depending on the frequency of our visits to the city. We learned to accept that that first victory was to be a rare occurrence and just enjoy the game for what it was. Edinburgh are definitely not one of the rich clubs in the league, far from it, and their position in the hierarchy fits with their resources. I've been to more than twenty matches now and perhaps it's just as well I don't keep a tally of wins and losses....

Last season was the first time I'd kept track of events closely, and I've picked up on a lot of people to follow on Twitter who keep me updated on what's happening in the games I don't get to see. Given that I've never been much interested in most team sports, and could never claim to have been a fan of any clubs, I've surprised myself by how much I'm emotionally invested in the fate of the team. It's a very strange sensation to discover so late in life. But I do enjoy seeing Edinburgh win, and want to see them qualify for the playoffs again this year (which requires them to finish in the top eight of the ten team league).

Last season saw a very poor start, then a change in fortunes about a third of the way through. A final flourish saw them rise to sixth place. I was at the final match of the regular season to see that happen and the atmosphere was such that you'd have thought Caps had just topped the competition. This season their start has been even worse, but when I finally got the chance to see them last month they'd found their mojo again and we won both matches.

Whilst, as far as I know, all the other EIHL teams have North American coaches, Capitals have a European (Slovak) and play a different style of hockey. Apparently. I still find it hard to see the difference.... And while most teams have a lot of Canadian imports on their benches we only have two. In among all the Slovaks, and a couple of Czechs, there's a Latvian, backed up by several Scots. Which gives the fanbase interesting challenges in coming up with chants for their favourites. By far the best is for the captain, Martin Cingel (pronounced Sin Gel, with a hard G). To the tune of Jingle Bells he conducts the 'choir' at the end of each winning game. I hope he gets a lot of practise in the coming months. We're bottom of the league at the moment....

So it was good to see this sport I've grown fond of getting a bit more exposure. If you ever get the chance to go along to a match then take it. You might be surprised by just how exciting it can be.