And then there were... 8? 9? 10?

Looks like Newcastle Vipers may be joining the Elite League next year. They announced - semi-officially, via the papers - that they have resigned from the BNL and applying for membership of the EIHL.

Maybe this will force the long-hoped for single tier of top-flight hockey. I posted on THF about the two leagues, and an edited version is:-

The BNL currently run with 8 imports. The EIHL with 11. Next year this drops to 10. IIRC, the EIHL plan to drop to 9 the year after that.

Is it [the league merger] about money? No. Wagecaps similar, if not the same. Whether that money is spent on imports or Brits is irrelevant, and you tell me that Weaver, Longstaff and Dixon aren't on "import money" - deservedly so, I might add. "We can't afford it" is the cry, well look at the facts, the BNL clubs are spending EIHL levels of money right now.

The "traditional" EIHL vs BNL arguments about money and Brits are over. Finished. Done to death. The principles are the same, even if the fine print differs.

Why can't people see that we don't have two "top-flight" leagues in this country? We actually have do have one league - it just operates in a non-traditional manner. What is the difference between the NHL inter-conference format where the Eastern teams play the Western teams once or twice a year and the UK setup where the EIHL teams play the BNL teams twice? If you look at it that way, do we not a joint league right now?.

What is the major difference, the absolute back-breaking, show-stopping difference between EIHL and BNL? It isn't the playing rules, the money, the 11 imports vs 8+3 Brits, the rinks, the attendances...

If Newcastle move, the EIHL is not going to turn down the rest. Do you honestly think Basingstoke and London are going to say "Nah, we don't want Guildford or Bracknell"?

I always thought it would only take one club to jump from EIHL to BNL or vice versa to force a defacto merger. Will all 15 top flight teams make it into a new league. I fervently hope so, but I expect not. But the idea of playing in Guildford and Dundee, to visit Fife and have them come to Manchester Square Gardens... those teams are part of top flight British hockey, and it would be fantastic to see them there.