COVENTRY, UK – Ice hockey in Britain doesn’t receive anywhere near the amount of coverage it gets in North America or the other European countries. But that could soon be about to change. Indeed, apart from a show on Sky Sports which started last season and has introduced live games this season, coverage is mainly restricted to the club websites, local newspapers or unofficial blogs. However, great strides have been made recently in putting the message of hockey out to the masses, with the Sky Sports show now showing one live Elite League game a month in addition to a weekly magazine, which has caused great excitement amongst fans of the sport.
In Coventry, however, things are going a little bit further.
The Coventry Blaze already webcast their games live, and now the team’s development squad in the English National League will have their games available live and free on the internet thanks to a small but dedicated team at Scorched Ice TV.
Originally set up to produce Youtube highlights and using the expertise of media students at Coventry University, the team has expanded their horizons this season to provide a pre-game show and live video coverage (with commentary) of every home game at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/scorched-ice-tv, after a trial of audio commentary for their first home game.
ENL Blaze team manager Mark Rainbow is excited by the possibilities: “We had a great response to the highlights last season, and this season we’re really looking forward to the live games-we’re determined to do anything possible in promoting or increasing awareness of ENL Blaze and the English National League in general-we hope our coverage will give hockey fans, particularly Blaze fans, a chance to see what games are like
in the ENL and just how much young talent there is in this league”.
But the Scorched Ice team are aiming wider than just their own fanbase, with an ambitious plan to produce a live Internet radio show looking at the whole of British hockey. “Double Overtime” will air at 7pm on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday night, with the first broadcast on 28th September (the broadcast team have full-time jobs and studies to fit around), and will be a weekly discussion-style show aimed at covering all the major issues in British hockey and beyond.
Paul Wheeler, who also commentates on ENL Blaze games for Scorched Ice and is a long-time fan of the sport, is one of the presenters:
“We think there’s a real market out there for hockey coverage in Britain, with it being a minority sport it’s tricky to find anywhere outside of the traditional forums and maybe recently the Sky Sports show where fans can really listen to independent debate and discussion of both British hockey and the NHL. So we thought we’d provide somewhere. The rest of the team and I are really excited about this and hope that the British hockey community will really get behind both the weekly Double Overtime show and the live coverage”.
Double Overtime can be found at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/double-overtime-blaze-enl-hockey, with shows being recorded live for people to listen again at any time.” Got a comment? Comment@Prohockeynews.com
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