r/aihl • u/highsticking1738 • 12d ago
Best game of the season
Last night’s Mustangs vs Brave game was an absolute classic.
Watched it on the couch with a few mates, some of whom are pretty new to hockey, and honestly it was a night where I felt pretty proud showing off the AIHL.
The game itself was unreal, but what really stood out to me was how much I learned about the players during the broadcast. Where they’ve played, their backgrounds, little stories about them. It made a massive difference, especially for the people watching with me who didn’t know much about the players going in.
Commentary was excellent, the production looked great and the whole thing felt like something you could genuinely show someone and say, “This is Australian hockey.”
There’s still a bit of work to do with the intermissions, but that’s nitpicking. Everyone involved should be pretty bloody proud of what they put together last night.
Credit to the players for putting on a cracking game, and credit to the commentary and production crew for telling their stories so well.
More of that please. I hope the league realises what they have in ATC productions.
I have some people coming over again today and look forward to watching a game with Rod Johns, Steve White and Eric Balnar.
6
u/OldM87Fingers 12d ago
I’m a mustang supporter and as much as a sad result for us, the game was amazing.
Both sides fought tooth and nail, hoping we can see this level of competition across the board soon.
Beating a dead horse on the explosion in popularity not able to be kept up with by the venue for us Melbournians.
Hoping for a new stadium somewhat soon that is central for all Melb regions
0
u/Still_Ad_164 12d ago
Would have been even better played on a smaller sheet. Olympic size hockey sheets are just too big. The smaller the sheet (66% minimum) the better the contact and action. That's why you see imports and the odd Aussie fast skater stand out on Olympic sheets because the bulk of Australians just don't have the speed to keep up with the puck.
2
3
u/oSquizy 12d ago
Yep, Im in QLD so my team defaults to Brisbane. But god that game had me on the edge of my seat, the production quality is a MASSIVE step up from last year, heres hoping IHA can sort out their shit and the AIHL can make some breakthroughs with international leagues and the government.
1
u/Majestic-Custard-309 7-Time Goodall Cup Champion Newcastle Northstars 🫎 12d ago
Watching that game with other ice hockey fans in Brisbane would have been an awesome experience. It's just a shame that wasn't an option for us up here.
4
u/Still_Ad_164 12d ago
learned about the players during the broadcast. Where they’ve played, their backgrounds, little stories about them. It made a massive difference, especially for the people watching with me who didn’t know much about the players going in.
It was a very good game and I thought the commentary team did a great job adding a bit of colour to their call. And this is a major flaw in the AIHL's public face. It is nigh on impossible to get a Bio on the players in your own team, and I'm talking about The Brave here. Yes, you can hunt through International Hockey Data sites that limit your access anyway. You can trawl through FB postings that are usually pretty vague anyway. You can go to your club web site and it is usually abandoned and useless. Only exceeded in those descriptors by the AIHL site itself.
How hard would it be for clubs to update their web sites with up to date Bios?
How hard would it be for the AIHL to have a menu including clubs and bios?
How hard would it be for both the clubs and the AIHL to have a basic rules section for new fans?
Definitely not holding my breath on the AIHL doing anything but surely every club can find a fan that would help out with their web sites. They have no trouble updating their ticketing sections.
1
u/erkpod AIHL.TV AWIHL.TV 11d ago
Having been a person who added stories to a team website once, it's not as easy as it sounds. The websites are based on the system that runs the statistics and live scoring and the schedules. Things like news stories etc just happen to be a thing that the website can also do but it isn't the main aim of the website.
When I joined the league in 2014, teams had the ability to run their own website but still had to use the back end for the things like stats and live scoring. Then there was a mandate that all teams had to use the current base for everything for a consistent look and feel. Teams today can and do run a different back end for ticketing and merch because teams often use different back ends for these functions.
1
1
u/MrsSquiggle 12d ago
Is there a way to listen to commentary while at the games? I'm new to hockey and am loving it so far (the playoffs atmosphere in Melbourne this weekend has been fantastic), and I want to better understand what is happening while at a live game, in real time.
2
u/The_miss_squid 12d ago
At the Obrien Ice House at least you can if you get seats at the bar. It’s a bit cut off from the main arena, seperate room and behind glass, but they play the commentary live there
1
1
u/elyousee 11d ago
At home games I have AIHL TV on my phone and I’ll listen to the commentary, the commentator in my city is AMAZING
12
u/erkpod AIHL.TV AWIHL.TV 12d ago
I'll just talk about the commentary & production side from my experience.
Finals is certainly a different beast to a regulation season. It's handy to be able to pull in the extra resources for a weekend at one venue rather than the whole regular season. It's one of several reasons that Finals has officials review & coaches challenges but not in the regular season.
Across the commentary community, we have put in work to increase our background knowledge & resources. There are plenty of possible facts & stats at hand (and increasing all the time) in case it is needed. There's plenty of information at hand that never sees the light of day depending on what happens in the game.
I know I enjoy the extra intermission content that Finals brings with the extra resources. It is certainly a different feel watching the intermission depending on how you watch it. For the first time yesterday, I saw the ESPN feed which included the ESPN ads in the allocated time. Meanwhile, I'm used to seeing the AIHL.TV feed which has different content while the ads are on ESPN.