If Bern get only 15,000 for Blues they'll be very disappointed.

They are in Jonkoping tonight to play HV71; I'm very interested to see how this goes. Bern have been quite good in the league (currently 3d, one point off the top but with two games in hand on 1st place Davos and four on 2d place Zurich), but are coming off humbling home losses to the New York Rangers in the Victoria Cup and to Lugano. I think they have been looking ahead to the ECL.

Ball Comrade wrote:

QUOTE:
First games tonight, with Muuk's lot in Berlin for the opening game on Finnish TV.

Advertised as on MTV3 but not actually there. I presume it was on MTV3+ or whatever the pay channel is called. Our third defeat on the trot, and one that is likely to see the knives being sharpened again for Matti Alatalo. Give the poor sod a chance, surely everyone round here understands he's got to re-build the team. We're a centre short, but more importantly we're under strength at the back (and I, and I suspect many others, are going to take a lot of convincing that Järventie was a good signing). Mikkola's shepherding a lot of inexperienced youngsters at the moment, and this season is going to be a big test for the likes of Korpikari and Ylönen, neither of whom are in the same class as Pitkänen, Kukkonen or even Lehtonen. There's nothing wrong with bringing your own juniors through, of course, it can be a bit painful when it's so many at the same time.

EDIT: Almost forgot to mention that Kummola's been elected to the chair of the CHL. This is a significant move, and I'm expecting this league to be driven forward vigorously along the lines of UEFA's CL.

Kummola was using the CHL as a reason for his new cock substitute arena at a public meeting last month, held in Tampere one and a half hours before Finland played Germany in football at the Olympic Stadium. There was only one dissenting voice present, he asked whether they might spare 50k for new changing rooms at Tammela Stadium (the estimated bill for the work done so far on plans for sorsapuisto is around €500,000). Kummola said 'we have no plans for that' and talked about the CHL beginning to admit 4 teams soon. I'd laugh my tits off if Tappara and Ilves still can't get in, but I fear this is going to be a spur for arena building everywhere: the IIHF press releases are talking about crowd figures a lot.

I was well fucked off to find it wasn't on telly, it's changed my entire opinion on this. I think I'm going to write a snide piece about Kummola next week, with many references to Tepsi's bollockless hockey and third best support in Turku after Inter and TPS football, despite their cavernous arena.

Bad night for the bears from Bern as well, they went down 6-2 to HV71 (who are currently ninth in the Swedish Elitserien).

Other CHL results:
HC Slavia Praha (CZE) 4 - 2 Linköping (SWE)
Salavat Yulaev Ufa (RUS) 7 - 1 HC Mountfield (CZE)

Well, first hockey of the season for me. Home game against Kloten, 4-3 for us, good attendance, pretty good atmosphere and excellent hockey between two teams playing the game well. The next day it was Fribourg away and that was a rotten game, on and off the ice with some pretty nasty charges and a deserved 2-0 win for the locals. Incidentally, you get fined 500chf for chucking objects on the ice, onto the away team manager and on the fans in Switzerland...

Otherwise, it must have been a sizeable hangover in Alto Ticino last sunday, after Ambri's 6-0 win away to Lugano...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ri_cofQU3s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKa0MbHMkjA&feature=related

Chi non salta e Luganese, I presume?

What a tremendous result for Ambri Piotta. I wouldn't be surprised if they are still drinking . . .

"Chi non salta e bianconero" in fact. I won't be surprised either! Very busy days for the cops last saturday, the Ticino derby, the Bern derby and Fribourg-Servette...all friendly games without much tension...

I'm sorely tempted to hop over in Geneva 21/22 November, Fribourg away on saturday, Fribourg at home on sunday...mmmmm

Tragedy strikes the KHL.

"New York Rangers draft pick Alexei Cherepanov died Monday shortly after collapsing on the bench during a Continental Hockey League game in Russia. He was 19."

In the spirit of keeping the political shit in this thread, it seems Kummola is fighting back:

QUOTE:
SIX EUROPEAN PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY LEAGUES ESTABLISH “HOCKEY EUROPE”

The leading professional ice hockey leagues from Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland (as an associated member) have established a new organization named “Hockey Europe”. The purpose of the Group and its founding members is to promote cooperation, amicable relations and unity of these Leagues and their member Clubs in a middle of the heavy heated competition between the new launched Russian Ice Hockey League KHL and the North-American NHL.

Hockey Europe will furthermore concentrate to help the six founding members and possible new members to promote and improve professional ice hockey competitions in all its aspects and safeguard the general interests of its Members and European ice hockey as a whole. Of utmost importance for Hockey Europe is also an improvement in the exchange of information and promotion the cooperation and relations of its members with the National Hockey League USA/Canada (NHL), Kontinental Hockey League, Russia (KHL) and other sports institutions or other professional ice hockey leagues and the clubs, as well as with the International Ice hockey Federation (IIHF) and its National Member Associations.

The first President and voluntary General Manager of Hockey Europe will be CEO of the Finnish Ice Hockey League Mr. Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen. Hockey Europe has its seat / registered office in Cologne, Germany and is governed by EU law as a European Economic Interest Group.

Interesting that they've included the Swiss as an associate member, but Germany as a full participant.

The Swiss league is considerably stronger than the German one, but Germany is where the large arenas (and potentially big bucks) are.