Ice Hockey/Durham Wasps/Billingham



GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
fancied going down to nottingham but wife doesn;t fancy it so we've not bothered.

enjoying watching the nhl though

loved getting back into it and watching billingham, really good team and set of fans. interesting season ahead in september as whitley warriors seem to be throwing £££ about
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We were down Nottingham on Sunday to see GB vs Poland,was a quality game and atmosphere with GB winning in overtime

GB currently playing Lithuania on viaplay extra now
 
Honey Badger said:
I was watching some highlights of the GB games on YouTube the other night and there was a bloke doing the interviews with a north-east accent - wasn't you, was it, @pride of the north ? It was on the IHUKTV channel, rather than IIHF but as soon as I heard the accent I thought of this post.

Anyway, I'll be there on Friday in my Durham Wasps shirt (blue one with the diagonal 'tyre mark' design).
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Not me. That would have been Craig Simpson, who's from Billingham. Nice bloke. I get the real fun jobs, like trying to find a Korean player who speaks English (and isn't Matt Dalton). Luckily, I only do print so I can tidy up the less fluent players a bit. I also got a quick chat with Mike Keenan (2x Canada Cup winning coach, won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994 then the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2014). Relieved I chatted to him before the Poland loss - he's a reputation for chewing journalists out when he's in a bad mood!

Enjoying the tournament so far. Poland have thrown it wide open and will probably get promoted alongside the winner of the GB vs Italy game on Friday. Both GB and Italy are inconsistent, GB very poor tonight against a weak Lithuanian team, so it might be a question of who turns up. Hope there's no repeat of the GB vs Poland finish. 3-1 at the second intermission and I'd largely written my game recap. Only to re-write it at about 55 minutes when Poland made it 3-3, then again on 58:30 when GB went up 4-3, then again 45 seconds later when Poland took it to OT. Beats working, I guess ...
 
pride of the north said:
Not me. That would have been Craig Simpson, who's from Billingham. Nice bloke. I get the real fun jobs, like trying to find a Korean player who speaks English (and isn't Matt Dalton). Luckily, I only do print so I can tidy up the less fluent players a bit. I also got a quick chat with Mike Keenan (2x Canada Cup winning coach, won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994 then the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2014). Relieved I chatted to him before the Poland loss - he's a reputation for chewing journalists out when he's in a bad mood!

Enjoying the tournament so far. Poland have thrown it wide open and will probably get promoted alongside the winner of the GB vs Italy game on Friday. Both GB and Italy are inconsistent, GB very poor tonight against a weak Lithuanian team, so it might be a question of who turns up. Hope there's no repeat of the GB vs Poland finish. 3-1 at the second intermission and I'd largely written my game recap. Only to re-write it at about 55 minutes when Poland made it 3-3, then again on 58:30 when GB went up 4-3, then again 45 seconds later when Poland took it to OT. Beats working, I guess ...
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Yes, I hadn’t realised Keenan was coaching Italy until I read it on the IIHF website (so was probably your feature).

I was cheering on that Poland result against Italy but it’s actually not that good for us - brings in another contender for promotion and will probably fire up Italy for their game against us…

Anyway, keep up the good work - I enjoy the IIHF write-ups. 👍
 
Honey Badger said:
Anyway, I'll be there on Friday in my Durham Wasps shirt (blue one with the diagonal 'tyre mark' design).
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Love it mate, watched it at graft, was in Belfast in 2017, wish I could’ve been there tonight!

We’ve come a long long way, absolutely magnificent win that.

🇬🇧🏒🥇🍾🏆😎
GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
fancied going down to nottingham but wife doesn;t fancy it so we've not bothered.

enjoying watching the nhl though

loved getting back into it and watching billingham, really good team and set of fans. interesting season ahead in september as whitley warriors seem to be throwing £££ about
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Shame, would’ve been class there tonight.

Who’s your NHL team?
pride of the north said:
Not me. That would have been Craig Simpson, who's from Billingham. Nice bloke. I get the real fun jobs, like trying to find a Korean player who speaks English (and isn't Matt Dalton). Luckily, I only do print so I can tidy up the less fluent players a bit. I also got a quick chat with Mike Keenan (2x Canada Cup winning coach, won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1994 then the Gagarin Cup with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2014). Relieved I chatted to him before the Poland loss - he's a reputation for chewing journalists out when he's in a bad mood!

Enjoying the tournament so far. Poland have thrown it wide open and will probably get promoted alongside the winner of the GB vs Italy game on Friday. Both GB and Italy are inconsistent, GB very poor tonight against a weak Lithuanian team, so it might be a question of who turns up. Hope there's no repeat of the GB vs Poland finish. 3-1 at the second intermission and I'd largely written my game recap. Only to re-write it at about 55 minutes when Poland made it 3-3, then again on 58:30 when GB went up 4-3, then again 45 seconds later when Poland took it to OT. Beats working, I guess ...
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Love your write ups marra, if you ever need anyone to carry your Filofax or fountain pen, let me know ;).
 
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brandon said:
Love it mate, watched it at graft, was in Belfast in 2017, wish I could’ve been there tonight!

We’ve come a long long way, absolutely magnificent win that.

🇬🇧🏒🥇🍾🏆😎


Shame, would’ve been class there tonight.

Who’s your NHL team?


Love your write ups marra, if you ever need anyone to carry your Filofax or fountain pen, let me know ;).
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It would have been good but not to worry, she did have a medical appointment so she maybe didn't want to re-arrange that. That said she has already said "fancy Prague next year" :lol:

New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL ice hockey days on sega mega drive ha, Lemieux and Jagr). The wife Pittsburgh and Dallas.

GB have done very well.

World Championships next week, I think theyr're on Viaplay
 
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GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
It would have been good but not to worry, she did have a medical appointment so she maybe didn't want to re-arrange that. That said she has already said "fancy Prague next year" :lol:

New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL ice hockey days on sega mega drive ha, Lemieux and Jagr). The wife Pittsburgh and Dallas.

GB have done very well.

World Championships next week, I think theyr're on Viaplay
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A lot of the games will be, but those that aren’t will be free on YouTube 👍

Prague will be class, but we might end up in the group that is based in Ostrava.
 
brandon said:
A lot of the games will be, but those that aren’t will be free on YouTube 👍

Prague will be class, but we might end up in the group that is based in Ostrava.
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GordonMuchallNo1Fan said:
It would have been good but not to worry, she did have a medical appointment so she maybe didn't want to re-arrange that. That said she has already said "fancy Prague next year" :lol:

New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL ice hockey days on sega mega drive ha, Lemieux and Jagr). The wife Pittsburgh and Dallas.

GB have done very well.

World Championships next week, I think theyr're on Viaplay
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Great effort by GB this tournament and a cracking atmosphere in the arena tonight. Well done lads 👏
 
brandon said:
A lot of the games will be, but those that aren’t will be free on YouTube 👍

Prague will be class, but we might end up in the group that is based in Ostrava.
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Ostrava is 15km from the Polish border. I'd be amazed if Poland didn't go to that group, meaning GB would be the eighth seed in the Prague group. I was based in Ostrava in 2015. It's OK, and the local council put on a nice piss-up for the media on the rest day, but I'm in no hurry to go back there.

Great night tonight. Still writing up a couple of features (albeit in the bar now). But, by GB standards, that was a fairly painless night. I was expecting late goals, OT, a reprise of the Kosice scenario. Turned out I could use the intro I wrote on the train here a week ago.

Happy for Poland, too. Shades of GB in 2018 - back-to-back promotions, unheralded team on the rise, coach coming in and transforming expectations. Will be good for next year's championship to have them there, with plenty of fans fans and greater local media interest.
 
pride of the north said:
Ostrava is 15km from the Polish border. I'd be amazed if Poland didn't go to that group, meaning GB would be the eighth seed in the Prague group. I was based in Ostrava in 2015. It's OK, and the local council put on a nice piss-up for the media on the rest day, but I'm in no hurry to go back there.

Great night tonight. Still writing up a couple of features (albeit in the bar now). But, by GB standards, that was a fairly painless night. I was expecting late goals, OT, a reprise of the Kosice scenario. Turned out I could use the intro I wrote on the train here a week ago.

Happy for Poland, too. Shades of GB in 2018 - back-to-back promotions, unheralded team on the rise, coach coming in and transforming expectations. Will be good for next year's championship to have them there, with plenty of fans fans and greater local media interest.
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I haven’t looked at the seedlings yet, but we’ll be in the ‘higher’ slot this time round. Regarding the venue, it’ll all come down to who is in with the Czechs I’d imagine, surely they’ll want to play their games in Prague…?
 
brandon said:
I haven’t looked at the seedlings yet, but we’ll be in the ‘higher’ slot this time round. Regarding the venue, it’ll all come down to who is in with the Czechs I’d imagine, surely they’ll want to play their games in Prague…?
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We'll be 15th seed, yes. The Czechs will be in Prague, regardless of their group. But there are precedents for moving countries to help accommodate travelling fans. Last year, IIRC, according to the seedings Russia should have played in Tampere, but was placed in the Helsinki group because it's close to the border and has direct trains to Petersburg (not that it mattered in the end when Russia was kicked out). It should all be decided at congress later this month. Slovakia (also very close to Ostrava, took lots of fans last time) might be a complication this time.
 
Was a brilliant day all round - started off with getting my picture taken with the Stanley Cup and having a bit crack on with the Keeper of the Cup.

The Lith v Korea game was a good watch but ours was fantastic. I think I was the first one out of my seat when the first goal went in! Always felt in control but Italy kept battling back. Then that game winner on the delayed penalty was pure class. Bit croaky today!

Hopefully Sunderland can follow suit on Monday.

Ha’way!
 
pride of the north said:
We'll be 15th seed, yes. The Czechs will be in Prague, regardless of their group. But there are precedents for moving countries to help accommodate travelling fans. Last year, IIRC, according to the seedings Russia should have played in Tampere, but was placed in the Helsinki group because it's close to the border and has direct trains to Petersburg (not that it mattered in the end when Russia was kicked out). It should all be decided at congress later this month. Slovakia (also very close to Ostrava, took lots of fans last time) might be a complication this time.
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Ah I didn’t realise that, I thought the only alterations usually made were down to if a country hosts it (in years where two countries share it) and/or if there are political reasons.

Either way, we’ll see. I’ll settle for either city :cool:

What’s more, I thought last night was as solid and sound as we have played all week, maybe even for a number of years, the growth of this team going back to our two last day disappointments in 1B in 2015 & 2016 and then up to the top table and back again has been remarkable and I honestly feel like the current team is the best I’ve ever known it in my lifetime. The teams of 2017/2018 and 2019 were good, spirited and fought like lions, but now I feel we have the quality in depth aswell as the spirit and the fight. If we play like that next year I think we have a genuine chance of winning a couple of games. There’s a group this year with Austria, Hungry and France in and I’d fancy us against all of them, mind one of them will likely be relegated.
Honey Badger said:
Was a brilliant day all round - started off with getting my picture taken with the Stanley Cup and having a bit crack on with the Keeper of the Cup.
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He’s more famous than the cup :lol:
 

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