Welcome to Snipe City, a weekly column looking at hockey from 36 Crazyfists singer, Alaska native and huge hockey fan Brock Lindow. 36 Crazyfists’ new album, Time & Trauma, will be released on February 17th on Spinefarm Records. You can read about that here.
I landed a week ago today in snowy London, England and it’s been pretty damn frigid here in the UK. I’ve taken it as a nice welcoming for us Alaskans! The tour is off and running and the shows have been nothing short of amazing. Special thanks to all the UK faithful!
As promised in my last edition, I want to focus some attention on the British Elite League, so here’s a brief rundown of what I’ve learned so far:
There are 10 teams from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland currently competing in the Elite League. The teams that make up the league are the Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers, and Sheffield Steelers. They compete in the Erhardt Conference.
Braehead Clan, Edinburgh Capitals, Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers and Hull Stingrays make up the Gardiner Conference.
Each side plays teams in their own Conference eight times—four at home and four away— and face sides in the other Conference four times—twice at home and twice away.
Their version of Lord Stanley’s Cup is called the Challenge Cup.
The most important piece of info I researched was that the game actually originated in the UK back in the 1800s! Although that fact is heavily disputed by my Canadian brethren.
Since the NHL’s inception in 1917, 51 players born within the current borders of the United Kingdom have taken part in the NHL. So there is a little insight to the Elite League on this side of the pond.
The “Fight of the Week” goes to the tussle between Chris Thorburn of the Winnipeg Jets and one of my favorite brawlers—Daniel Carcillo of the Chicago Blackhawks. Both are respected for their knuckle ups. I’d say, overall, that it was a pretty even matchup, with a slight edge going to the taller Thorburn and his reach advantage. Quick note: Congrats to Daniel “Car Bomb” Carcillo, who registered the 100th point of his NHL career.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Y0yMsfJB_yA[/youtube]
But with how well their long hair covered their faces throughout the hammer fest, both these two scrappers look like they could be fronting their own metal bands! Style points are awarded to the both of them.
The stadium game is about to fire back up as the Los Angeles Kings will play against the San Jose Sharks at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on February 21, 2015. The game coincides with NBC Sports’ “Hockey Day in America!”
Well, that about wraps up this week’s ramblings from my coffin-sized bunk on the bus, catching high lights on my phone. I even caught two periods of the Flyers vs. Caps game in the wee hours of the morning. A gig win for the good guys, by the way.
I love the feedback from you guys and the heated debates that the game delivers. Keep ’em coming. Lace up your skates for me this week as I see slim to none shinny opportunities for me over here.
‘Til then…Keep your head up, Brock
