Anybody have an idea with what's going on with Medvescak? I just took a glance at EliteProspects and it seems like they're bleeding players at this point, and I've heard rumblings they're going to fold.
Anybody have an idea with what's going on with Medvescak? I just took a glance at EliteProspects and it seems like they're bleeding players at this point, and I've heard rumblings they're going to fold.
Twitter: @CSmeeth
Medveščak is on the verge of bankrupt. Two major sponsors quit before the season started but the story was kept out of the public and the season started as if it were OK. As soon as salaries began to be late players started to complain and naturally, their performance dropped.
Club sacked the coach/general manager Fox and his staff first, and then players started to take care about themselves. Few professionals are likely to stay and the remainder of the new roster is going to come from the amateur second team. The League allowed extra points for club to get new players. This season will be finished by Medveščak but what is going to happen in 2019/20 is anybody's guess.
Dang, that's a shame, as that's a far cry from their days in the KHL. Are they that badly run now?
Twitter: @CSmeeth
They were badly ran from the very beginning. Money was thrown around as if it grew on the trees. It was the mismanagement of the club that pushed "Bears" from EBEL into KHL. When Russian money dried up, the club barely survived after four years in KHL.
So assuming they fold after the season, what do you anticipate for the future of hockey in Zagreb? Will a phoenix team arise or will there be a totally new team, theoretically?
Twitter: @CSmeeth
Medvescak won't "fold", they just won't compete in EBEL anymore and instead play (if they find at least 300.000 euros) Alps league or slovenian league where now their second team is playing.Originally Posted by Conesy
Gotcha. In terms of player recruitment, how do you think this would affect them?
Twitter: @CSmeeth
Looking at their fixtures the "breaking point" seemed to be the 14th December match against Znojmo - from this game onwards you'll see the roster is dominated by Croatian players from (I assume) their reserves.
To give an idea of how bad things have been since then, out of 13 games, they have lost them all, with only 3 defeats by less than 5 goals.
As for where they would go, if the club is so badly run, would Slovenia or the Alps League even want them?
Maybe they can play Energija Elektrenai for the "Hockey Outposts Cup".
They got pounded 13-0 last night, which adds fuel to the fire. Their goal differential also is -102 which is spectacularly uncompetitive.
Twitter: @CSmeeth
Things go from bad to worse. MZ are playing Bolzano, 3-0 down after period 1 - but their starting line-up only lists 11 players.
What's the minimum number of squad members you need for a match?
At this rate, will they even finish the season?
End of period 2 - 6-0 Bolzano.
The way things are going they would be better off folding now, because 5-0 forfeits for the rest of the season would actually leave them with a better goal difference!
Medvescak will not play intermediate round, so only three more games in EBEL.
BTW: VEU Feldkirch — known as European Hockey League champion 1998 — has applied for EBEL season 2019/20.
With the negative comes the positive. Hopefully VEU can raise the necessary budget to operate a reasonably competitive club. It is disappointing to see a club withdraw mid-season though.
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Yeah, the status is that Medvescak will end this season after the last regular season preliminary round game on Sunday. With their current roster of homegrown players the beaars are far away from being competitive unfortuntely. So the qualification round will just have 5 teams: Villach, Dornbirn, Znojmo, Innsbruck and either Linz (most likely) or Fehervar. This is the first time in EBEL history that a teams pulls out prematurely btw. Rumours are also that Orli Znojmo are considering leaving EBEL, I didnt really follow it but apparently their president has issues with the league.
VEU Feldkirch has applied for next season but I'm still sceptical if the former EHL champions will be able to rise the funds. Actually the current club formally has nothing to do with the historic EHL winners - the club clled VEU Feldkirch back then folded shortly after their big triumph and also a successor club (EC Feldkirch) which was the last Feldkirch team to play in the Austrian top league (2002-2004 if I remember correctly) went down that road... I do hope that they make it though, Feldkirch is an iconic Austrian hockey town and will upgrde the league for sure (esp now that there would be a local rivalry with Dornbirn). Let's see.
EBEL has btw recently decided to alter the player point system: among other things next season only 48 of the 60 plyer points available for each team can be used for imports (which all count 4 points) and that amount shall be reduced in steps of four over the next seasons. For necwcomers resp. small budget teams like eventually Feldkirch this will make things more difficult. Competitive Austrian players are still rare and tend to be hired by the bigger budget teams and if the possibility to bring in imports is reduced building a competitive squad is getting more difficult surely.
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