Neil Abel

This article is about the British ice hockey player. For the Norwegian mathematician, see Niels Henrik Abel.
Neil Abel
Born (1960-12-22) 22 December 1960
Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 174 lb (79 kg; 12 st 6 lb)
Position Defenceman
Shoots Right
EPIHL team
Former teams		 Sheffield Scimitars
Milton Keynes Kings
Playing career 1980–present

Neil Abel (born 22 December 1960 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom) is a British professional ice hockey player who has played in the United Kingdom since 1980. He currently plays for and is head coach for the Sheffield Scimitars in the English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL).

Playing career

Abel began his senior ice hockey career when he was twenty years old with the Fife Flyers in 1980 in the Northern League and the Scottish National League (SNL). Apart from a handful of games he played for the Nottingham Panthers during the 1981–82 season, Abel remained with the Flyers for twelve seasons as they moved into the British Hockey League (BHL) in 1983. During that time, he helped the Flyers to the finals of the Autumn Cup in 1984 and 1986 and to win the playoffs in 1985.

Abel joined the Sheffield Steelers for the 1992–93 season when they were in Division 1 of the BHL. During his four seasons with the Steelers, which was broken only by him playing one game each for the Solihull Barons and the Basingstoke Beavers during the 1994–97promotion to the Premier Division of the BHL at the end of the 1992–93 season. He also helped the team to the final of the playoffs in 1993–94 and to win the league championship and playoffs in 1994–95. In his final season with the Steelers, 1995–96, he helped them to win a grand slam of all available trophies: the Benson & Hedges Cup, the league championship and the playoffs.

Between the 1996–97 and 2002–03 seasons, at various times Abel played for the Solihull Blaze, Blackburn Hawks, Lancashire Hawks, Basingstoke Bison, Milton Keynes Kings, Edinburgh Capitals, Hull Thunder and Newcastle Vipers in various leagues such as the English National Ice Hockey League (ENIHL), EPIHL, the British National League (BNL) and the Ice Hockey Superleague (ISL).

Abel eventually settled with the Sheffield Scimitars when he joined them in the 2002–03 season when they were playing in the ENIHL. Apart from a guest appearance for the Sheffield Steelers in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) during the 2004–05 season and two games for the Steelers playing in the 2005–06 Challenge Cup, Abel has remained with the Scimitars since. He has helped them to win the Northern Division of the ENIHL in 2002–03 and 2004–05, the playoffs in 2003–04 and 2004–05 as well as the English National Cup in 2003–04 and 2004–05. After the Scimitars had joined the EPIHL in 2005–06, Abel became the team's player-coach in the 2006–07. The Scimitars awarded Abel with a tesimonial game on 1 February 2007 for his long service to the British game.[1] He also finished off the season by being named the Ice Hockey Journalists UK's Coach of the Year.[2]

Since the 2011/12 season has been the bench coach for the Sheffield Steelers.

Awards and honours

Career statistics

Club

    Regular season[3][4]   Playoffs[3]
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1980–81 Fife Flyers Northern/SNL 30 4 8 12 50
1981–82 Nottingham Panthers Eng South 5 2 0 2 10
1981–82 Fife Flyers Northern 14 2 1 3 18
1981–82 Fife Flyers SNL 7 5 3 8 10
1983–84 Fife Flyers BHL 32 12 19 31 78
1984–85 Fife Flyers BHL 36 12 24 36 106 6 5 7 12 8
1985–86 Fife Flyers BHL 31 17 17 34 80 5 5 1 6 6
1986–87 Fife Flyers BHL 36 12 20 32 48 5 1 2 3 10
1987–88 Fife Flyers BHL 33 7 11 18 38 6 0 0 0 2
1988–89 Fife Flyers BHL 36 14 11 25 48
1989–90 Fife Flyers BHL 31 10 5 15 30
1990–91 Fife Flyers BHL 34 8 6 14 46
1991–92 Fife Flyers BHL 28 3 4 7 14
1992–93 Sheffield Steelers BHL 30 2 13 15 64 6 1 1 2 4
1993–94 Sheffield Steelers BHL 37 0 3 3 50 8 2 1 3 4
1994–95 Sheffield Steelers BHL 44 1 11 12 37
1994–95 Solihull Blaze BHL 1 0 1 1 2
1994–95 Basingstoke Beavers BHL 1 0 0 0 0
1995–96 Sheffield Steelers BHL 36 1 5 6 70 8 1 1 2 2
1995–96 Sheffield Steelers BHL 36 1 5 6 70 8 1 1 2 2
1995–96 Basingstoke Beavers BHL 3 0 0 0 0
1996–97 Blackburn Hawks ENIHL 28 9 17 26 36
1997–98 Lancashire Hawks ENIHL 28 3 14 17 18
1997–98 Basingstoke Bison ISL 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
1998–99 Milton Keynes Kings EPIHL 6 3 4 7 0
1998–99 Edinburgh Capitals BNL 16 0 3 3 8 6 1 1 2 2
1998–99 Basingstoke Bison BNL 32 0 0 0 12 7 0 0 0 6
1999–00 Edinburgh Capitals BNL 29 0 2 2 12 6 2 3 6 2
2000–01 Hull Thunder BNL 36 5 12 17 40
2002–03 Newcastle Vipers BNL 2 0 0 0 0
2002–03 Edinburgh Capitals BNL 1 0 1 1 0
2002–03 Sheffield Scimitars ENIHL 27 8 34 42 8
2003–04 Sheffield Scimitars ENIHL
2004–05 Sheffield Scimitars ENIHL 16 4 23 27 22 7 0 1 1 8
2004–05 Sheffield Steelers EIHL 1 0 0 0 0
2005–06 Sheffield Scimitars EPIHL 39 3 3 6 51 7 1 1 2 2
2006–07 Sheffield Scimitars EPIHL 9 1 1 2 2

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Neil Abel's Testimonial". Sheffield Scimitars. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  2. ↑ "Couch of the Year Trophy". Ice Hockey Journalists UK. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Neil Abel - player profile and career stats". European Hockey.Net. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  4. ↑ "Neil Abel's profile at hockeydb.com". The Internet Hockey Database. Retrieved 4 December 2007.

References

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