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EPL Roundup – week ending midnight Sunday 29th August 2010

Almost a normal week by recent standards with no big surprises. The Steeldogs were the first with news this week when it was announced British defenceman Chris Wilcox, who had previously iced with the Scimitars in his EPL debut last season, had signed on. Also on board came Latvian forward and former Sheffield junior Edgar Bebris from Belarus as import number three. This was shortly followed by the announcement that forward Oli Barron, who had only joined the club in July, was leaving due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’. Barron signed for the ENL Sheffield Spartans two days later.  

The Lightning, in a unique move this season, signed Jacob Heron from their junior programme. Coach Nick Poole said, cautiously, the young D-man would be used to cover injuries and suspensions to start with. Not so cautiously or surprisingly Andre Smulter re-signed for the Milton Keynes team. The Finnish forward was the Lightning’s second highest points scorer, behind Monir Kalgoum, on almost two points per game.

Nothing further from the Phoenix this week following the off/on Stingrays situation which had resulted in James Archer re-joining the EPL. Archer said, ‘I made a commitment to Tony (Coach Tony Hand) and the club and Manchester is where I’ll be playing next season.’ So, that’s that. More to the point, the Phoenix added to their import total with the signing of Swedish right wing Marcus Kristoffersson, a big lad at 6’2” and 14 stone. Although coming from a Swedish lower league, Kristoffersson is widely experienced in the top league in his home country and Finland, as well as more recently having played in Italy. He was also once drafted by Dallas into the NHL but did not play and instead iced over a hundred times in the AHL. Coach Hand called him a ‘defensive-minded forward.’

Coach Gareth Cox at the Bees signed ‘utility’ player Richard Facey, who is happy as both a forward and on the blue line, as a result of his attending the Bracknell informal training sessions. Cox said of the British forward, ‘Last year he led his team in goals and hits so I expect him to be a physical presence and give us something different.’ Facey, recently from three seasons in Canada said, ‘I’m a physical player and a fairly big boy, I like to hit, play the pass and play the puck. I just want to make a contribution.’

Wildcats signed backup netminder James Hadfield who played seven games with the Scimitars last season. Coach Ryan Aldridge said it had been a while since the Wildcats were in the position of having a second netminder capable of challenging for the opening slot, and that Hadfield looked like being that sort of goalie. Aldridge also said, ‘Our line up is about done and I like the way the team is looking.’ That makes the Wildcats the third team to declare completion, the others being the Bison and the Phantoms.

So with three teams declared complete, what’s left? Well, if you take it that two of the completed rosters have 17 players then on that basis only the Flames (16) and Phoenix (15) are apparently still short. Of course there is a lot more to it than just numbers but sticking with that for a minute then you have a couple of interesting things. Of the ‘incomplete’ rosters the Flames have five imports but not one on defence, but do have a foreign netminder while the Phoenix still have an import place to fill, as does the Steeldogs.

Elsewhere, while most teams appear to favour the more common import formulae of 3-forwards and  1-defender, the Bison have chosen to go with 2 defenders and 2 forwards, and the Jets have chosen 1 defender and 4 forwards, which will be 1 and 3 on the night.

The Steeldogs currently have the biggest roster with twenty-one and are the only club to list three netminders, while the Phoenix has the fewest at fifteen, so clearly a little further to go as well as the remaining import slot to fill.

Over all this means there are about five EPL places left to fill in the coming few weeks, two of which could be imports, which brought to mind something my old grand-pappy used to say about numbers: ‘The wolf never works out the size of the cows or counts how many in the herd he’s about to scatter if he’s hungry enough.’ And although usually being totally bewildered by such wisdom, I do know that by this time next week the first pre-season friendly games will be over and the analysing begun.

Completed Rosters (imports in brackets)

Bison -         18 players – 8(2)D - 2NM(0) - 8(2)F

Wildcats -     17 players – 5D(1) - 2NM(0) - 10(3)F

Phantoms -   17 players – 6D(1) - 2NM(0) - 9(3)F

Incomplete Rosters

Bees –         19 players – 6D(1) - 2NM(0) - 11(3)F

Tigers –       18 players – 6(1)D - 2NM(0) - 10(3)F

Phoenix -     15 players – 4(1)D - 2NM(0) - 9(2)F

Flames –     16 players - 4D(0) - 2NM(1) - 10(4)F

Lightning –  18 players – 5(1)D - 2NM(0) - 11(3)F

Steeldogs – 21 players – 6D(0) - 3NM(0) - 12(3)F

Jets –         17 - players – 5(1)D -2NM(0) - 10(4)F

EPL Roundup – week-ending midnight 22nd August 2010

Once again it was all aboard for another week on the roller coaster that is British ice hockey.

Things started gentle enough along the shallow incline towards the Big Off as the Jets signed 18-year-old British netminder Ryan Bainborough from the Phantoms as a backup to Greg Rockman prompting Coach Russell to say that was it for his goalie line-up.

And then came the sudden but not too frightening drop as his forward Carl Thompson informed Russell he would not be able to guarantee a full-time commitment again due to work and studies. Russell said, ‘Carl understands we can’t be swapping and changing the line-up every weekend and the team needs consistency within it to succeed. Carl is a great guy and the last thing we want is to lose him from the club.’ In other words his part-time status is better than nothing, although Russell added, ‘I have taken the decision to make one further addition to the team on the offence…We will be announcing the addition very soon.

Back on the up the following day and the Jets announced the signing of Shaun Thompson which brought with it a mildly heady feeling because not only is he the big brother of the player he is replacing, so keeping it all in the family so to speak, but also happens to be the same Shaun Thompson who was unceremoniously dumped from EIHL Braehead the previous week with Sam Bullas, now back with the Wildcats, after just weeks on the books. So, while both players presumably would prefer to be plying their trade back in the EIHL, it is still comforting to know they have both been welcomed back in the EPL rather than wandering the streets hockeyless. Strangely, though, while the Jets’ website invites further inquiries, they did not answer one about Thompson S, which makes you wonder how that system works.

However, while still intoxicated by all this niceness which by then had swept away the fallout from EIHL Hull Stingrays plummeting to earth last week, the Phoenix somewhat aptly crept from the ashes clutching the signature of the orphaned British forward James Archer. Clearly a wise if not saucy move on the part Coach Tony Hand because almost before the ink was dry followed rumours the Hull team was about to rise again from its own ashes. Not that it worried young Archer who said, ‘I was devastated about what happened at Hull, but I have put it behind me now.’ Wow! What resilience, especially as the next day it was announced the Stingrays were in fact to be re-floated with, and here I pause for a taken aback moment, the help of EIHL Coventry Blaze. So, the remaining Brits who hadn’t been picked up like ex-EPL forward Matty Davies were now back in business and were all re-signed so will still be playing in the Elite League next year. But not so Archer by the looks of things, whose powers of bouncebackability must surely now be really tested. Or maybe not. Hand, it will be remembered had shown great generosity with the recently-signed Robert Farmer back in June in allowing him to go play in Canada, so will he be as benevolent to James Archer? Can afford to be?

Any turbulence on the horizon came to nought by the end of the week and we heard the Phantoms had re-signed British netminder Damien King, who joined last season from the junior programme, and D-man Thomas Jeffery of whom Coach Cruickshank said, I think his physical style of play will make him very useful this coming season.’ Oh, I do like a provocative comment. Cruickshank also confirmed the name of his final import would be announced before the weekend, and it was with the signing of Lithuanian forward Darius Lelenas from Belarus, which also caused the coach to declare his regular- player roster complete. ‘I like the look of the team.’ he said, ‘I think we have found the mix I wanted.’

Nothing so simple for Bees’ Coach Gareth Cox who had a dilemma. The Bracknell team has eighteen names on the roster, despite having intended to keep things cut close to the bone, and the recent informal training sessions had thrown up two more as yet unnamed players whom Cox felt might be worthy of a place. But on the other horn of the dilemma is Cox also wants another ‘experienced campaigner’.

Cox also stated he felt it unlikely the top five teams last year – Lightning, Jets, Flames, Bison and Phoenix - would be threatened by the rest although, of course, he was going to give it a darn good try. It is his opinion the Flames, in bringing in three players from the Elite League, are going to be the team to watch because elsewhere he thought there had been little player movement this summer. Figures show new signings compared to current rosters average about 34% so far.  

The breeze whispered past my ears as everything appeared to trundle along swimmingly and the Bison signed D-man Daniel Lackey from their Buffalo ENL team from where he had iced already iced three times for the EPL team. Coach Steve Moria said he hoped the signing would be the start of a developing programme of bringing their junior players into the EPL. Bison captain and veteran player Nicky Chinn, meanwhile, said he felt British hockey would be better served if only four imports were allowed in all leagues. Having vented on that subject several times recently and while still of a tranquil disposition so not wanting to lift that stone again just yet, it was, however, still reassuring to know respected EPL elder statesmen such as Chinn hold such views.

Then the roller-coaster car fell off the world because Chinn added that given the chance at an alternative existence his wish was to be Buzz Lightyear. Now that sits just fine with me and if pressed would admit it even elevated Chinn in my admiration a touch. But the thought slammed into that part of my memory marked ‘oh, dear’ because as luck would have it my drooling uncle ‘Sparky’, who can’t be identified for legal reasons for having been a guest in one of those nice secure HMG homes for the troubled, had insisted it was Ranger Lightyear from Star Command who had ordered him to burn down the warehouse in Shoreditch. And, coincidentally, he’s just be released and seeks new orders.

Mr Chinn, meet Uncle Sparky while I go and have a lie down.