EPL Roundup – A Stinging Week

SWINDON , UK –  After the dearth of news last week, in the topsy-turvy world that is British ice hockey this week the sport, and particularly the proud sporting city of Hull, was stung by the news of the demise of their Elite League team The Stingrays and what amounted to the release of seventeen players.
Owners Mike and Sue Pack admitted they ended last season with debts of £150,000, and had not been able to secure adequate sponsorship for the coming season. Rumours had been bubbling under the surface for some time, which tends to be the norm for such misfortunes and the prelude to some disastrous announcement, and you can’t help wondering if one or two players feared something was afoot back in early May. I refer, of course, to when Curtis Cruickshank left Hull for the head coach position with the Phantoms triggering a denial from director Jon Kynaston that former Phantoms’ D-man James Hutchinson was also about to jump the Hull ship and follow in his old boss’s wake back to Peterborough. A week later Hutchinson was on board proving yet again there is nothing like a denial for confirming a rumour!
 
But that wasn’t the end of it because weeks later a few other players signed on with EPL clubs. Significantly, the Phantoms also picked up Stingrays’ Canadian captain Jeff Glowa in June complete with his truckload of all-time records, although it does look a bit like he didn’t try quite hard enough to head the all-time PIM chart as well. Also, Ukrainian Pavel Gomeniuk moved to what was the Scimitars and then on to the Phoenix. The Manchester team also acquired Canadian Curtis Huppe who had retired from hockey in 2008 but was tempted back a year later with the offer of a 2-year contract as player-assistant coach with the Stingrays, but then parted company by mutual consent half way through. Coach Tony Hand predicted a ‘glowing future’ for the 31-year-old ex-retiree.
 
Hand, it goes without saying, is no stranger to a canny signing, so may well benefit from the Stingrays’ collapse with his no-rush approach to completing his side. Having described a few of the endowments necessary in a forward to meet his requirements, Hand now has the likes of former EPL Brits James Archer and Matty Davies at his disposal, not to mention Lee Esders, Lee Mitchell, Ben Lowe and a slew of imports less the few who have already found homes.
 
So, isn’t it intriguing with hindsight to ponder exactly who knew what when?
 
However, while this calamity might have a silver lining for a British player, the news that EIHL Braehead Clan had released two other Brits has a deeper, troubling significance. In May the Elite League team signed forward Shaun Thompson from the Bison and Sam Bullas from the Wildcats. Although no comment has been forthcoming from the club, the treatment is on the face of it somewhat shabby with neither having fired a shot in anger and obviously having been considered Elite League material just a few weeks previously and up until just days ago. Coach Bruce Richardson, in signing young Steve Chalmers right after said, ‘I think that it is extremely important to have a roster that includes local depth players.’   Of course, because Chalmers is British, but what the heck does ‘local depth players’ mean in respect of a seventeen-year-old?
 
As may be recalled, only a week ago in the EPL Roundup in commenting on the EIHL I stated, and here I quote –
 
“While there is no doubt this top echelon benefits a small number of British EPL players, six so far this summer so about two per cent of the total of last season’s players….”
 
As is obvious that six has now become four, or about one per cent of last seasons EPL players, so with about treble the number of Brits entering the EPL from EIHL the losing-out gap has considerably widened.
Perplexed by all this uncertainty I was reminded of my old grand-pappy who had an almost preternatural ability to still troubled minds with a calming quote, and sure enough his ‘It takes more than a pair of swimming trunks for a hog to hump a haddock’ seemed to do the trick because on the bright side, Bullas was immediately snapped back up by the Wildcats with Coach Ryan Aldridge saying, ‘It’s great to have Bully back. He finished last year very strong and was a player I wanted to sign again.’ Meanwhile Wildcats’ last season’s D-man Andy Finn signed for ENL Newcastle Northern Stars.  
 
Telford coach Tom Watkins said he hoped to have a full team on the ice training early next month and was hoping to arrange a session to which fans would have access before the season started. Taking another step to achieve this he signed two more players who had both proved themselves at the open trials at the end of May. D-man Mike Jones came on board from ENL Invicta Dynamos and forward Andy McKinney from ENL Trafford Metros, although he has ice time with both the Tigers and Phoenix. It will be interesting to see how this duo fare.
 
And while on the subject of new coaches, Bees’ boss Gareth Cox said, ‘Our goal is to make the playoffs. I have confidence in myself and the owners have confidence in me so I have to prove myself.’ The Bees certainly look more settled than a year ago even though they had and still have the same formidable Czech pairing of Jaroslav Cesky and Michal Pinc in the vanguard with an improved Nicky Watt in support, so over all looking a lot more threatening; what you might call a sting in the tailpiece.
 
 
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Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com