Posted by Graham Goodman on 9th October 2003 at 12:52 GMT
Posted from 194.201.36.33 ()
In reply to How to create a European Hockey League? posted by Håkan Ljung on 8th October 2003 at 19:59 GMT:
Not sure I want to see the same teams compete in it year after year. I'd rather it stayed a true cup competition, similar to football's Champions League.
That way, I think you know more about the other countries. If the only Swedish team is MoDo, then the only Swedish team you really know is MoDo. But, if over the course of a decaude, the Swedish place is represented by 6 different teams, you get a far better in-depth understanding of that league.
What about this for a format, based on football's Champion's League?
Round 2:
Two-legged ties from random draw of 16 teams made up of winners of last season's leagues in France, Italy, Netherlands, Latvia, Belgium, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Spain
Round 3:
Two-legged ties from random draw of 16 teams made up of previous round's winners, plus:
2nd team from last season's leagues in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic and winners of the Norwegian, Danish, British and French league.
Quarter-final:
4 groups of 4 with
8 winners of the previous round plus,
Top team from Swedish league last season
Top team from Finnish league last season
Top team from Russian league last season
Top team from Czech league last season
Top team from German league last season
Top team from Slovakia league last season
Top team from Swiss league last season
Top team from Austrian league last season
Semi-final:
Random draw of 4 quarter-final group winners, 2-leg tie
Final:
Two semi-final winners. I guess hockey is still more suited to 2-leg tie than a one-off final in a neutral venue.
That way, everyone is a part, but you are using the bigger leagues to help showcase the sport and make it appeal to a wider audience.
Of course, you can always argue about what teams are given later starts, but I like this formula. You can even add an extra initial round that has the weaker leagues such as Romania and Belgium, and allow more of the bigger leagues to have multiple teams, such as a 2nd team for Germany or a 3rd team for Sweden.
And the Brits do now about Djurgardens! David Longstaff played there two years ago. I even managed to watch him play at the Globen when I was out there on business... :-)
Graham.
LINK Great Britain Supporters Club
