SWINDON, UK – With the Coventry finals now a distant memory it is worth taking a moment to look at a comment by Lightning’s manager Vito Raussa concerning the use of video replay which was used there for the first time. Raussa voiced several complaints about the use of this facility the most difficult to follow being the lack of warning, apparently being just ‘hours’. No one else seems to have had similar concerns, so presumably this is a lone voice possibly because it is hard to see what difference a longer, or even shorter notice for that matter, would make. In the event, the technology was brought into use within minutes of the start of the final when Monir Kalgoum’s opening goal was disputed by the Flames. The replay showed the goal to be good, and in this case working in favour of the Lightning. But not so said Rausso because the ‘three-minute delay in making the decision effectively gave the Flames a three minute time-out, just as the momentum had been with the Lightning who, of course, also had the time out. That ignores the fact the Flames could have simply called a time-out at that point anyway which would have been totally legal and raised no complaints.
But, to get onto firmer ground, when referee Matt Thompson awarded a penalty shot against the Lightning the replay was not used despite claims it was a doubtful call, and herein lies the issue with replays.
Surely the object of a replay is to ensure the correct decisions are made, particularly when they are vital, and here Rausso has just cause for complaint. However, you would have thought all the eventualities had been thrashed out beforehand, in which case would have to conclude penalty shots are excluded from review.
Tennis has seen electronic line calls for years and cricket umpires haven’t left the field in tears when their ‘out’ calls have been reversed, and rugby refs don’t appear to suffer from emasculation syndrome when deferring to a camera. So, presumably the delays involved when offset against arriving at a correct decision are considered an acceptable payoff. But technology and sport are here to stay and the sooner all games have some basic apparatus to assist officials, the better, although I recall one NHL game a few years back that took almost twenty minutes to unfathom which was more than enough time for a cup of tea. And now we can get down to the serious stuff of rebuilding teams and looking at a few of the rumours. And rumours, as always at this time, there are aplenty so I will stick to those that appear to have some substance. But first off, and this is not rumour-mongering either because the comments are out there if you take the trouble to dig them out, but I can’t for the life of me understand why there is criticism of Coach Cruickshank at the Phantoms. OK, so every coach is a target to some extent and, as Steeldogs’ Matt Darlow discovered mid-season last time out, some come into the cross-hairs quicker than others. But in Cruickshank’s I have to wonder what some people expect from a first year coach. Obviously it takes time to build a team and all the while they have to contend with the whims and vagaries of owners, a bank manager and individual players, so one season just simply isn’t long enough to achieve much more than founding the core of a team and maintaining some stability on which to build. Cruickshank, however, did a lot more like the simple matter of getting into the play-offs, and on to the finals while knocking out the Jets, the in-form Jets I hasten to add, on the way. He also finished the highest up the league table of the four new coaches. The Phantoms also took points off all of the five teams above them, so their tally wasn’t just against weaker opponents, so what more could you ask from a first year coach, new to the job? OK, onto some rumours proper and talking of the Phantoms the big one as far as they are concerned is the reported loss of netminder Steve Wall to the Flames. Wall jointly led the EPL goalies in shut-outs last season and will be a big loss which also raises the question of the future of Miroslav HALA, whose ice time dropped towards the end of the season in favour of Mark Lee. That one was easily resolved with the Flames announcing Hala would not return for another season. But that leaves Lee and Wall? Hmmm. But that’s not all. British D-man James Hutchinson, who was signed from Elite League’s Hull, is reputed to be on the move while captain Dwayne Newman isn’t, unless it is back to Canada and retirement. The Flames were also rumoured to be signing British utility player Jonathan Weaver and Canadian forward Chris Chambers from Elite League Coventry, although in the case of Chambers his name has been linked with a couple of other clubs as well. Not on the move, at least according to the gossip, are Jez Lundin, Matt Towe, Mark Lee and David Longstaff all of whom have been reported to have already re-signed their Flames papers. On the other hand, Neil Liddiard, a former Swindon player of the Icelords era with family connections in the town is reported to be moving back there, which might make some sense as the Wildcats are looking to strengthen their defence, and who better? Adam Calder’s name has also been linked to the Flames but the Canadian forward is supposed to be on a 2-year contract with the Jets, so make of that what you will bearing in mind the value of an EPL contract. On the evasive front, the Phoenix, while confirming ‘five or six players have already signed’, were not prepared to release names while ‘three more contracts were with players waiting to be signed’. Phoenix’s owner Neil Morris did, however, explain Coach Tony Hand’s position as far as he was concerned which was more assured with another year to go on his three year contract, adding that any talk of a move was just ‘silly rumours’. In fact, Morris said he was already working with Hand to extend the partnership by another similar period. Joining the ranks of the not-quite-sure were Bees’ owners Katie Eleftheriou and Stuart Robinson who having said their decision to stay another year or not would be forthcoming this week, then deferred the announcement. What they did reveal, though, was that the recent meeting of EPL managers concluded with a definite nine teams returning for next season but would not confirm the tenth was the Bees despite having previously announced the Bees would exist next season and Gareth Cox would be the head coach. This of course raises all sorts of questions and potential problems. On to more solid ground and the Bison announced the return on Tony Redmond for a thirteenth season. The utility player holds several records like a club record of 446 appearances and an EPL record 145 league goals by a Brit. Last but not least, also definite was the news that 18-year-old British D-man Daniel Scott was leaving the Tigers having signed for Elite League Hull. And finally….The EPL Weekly Roundup may now become periodic depending on the amount of news that surfaces but will revert to its seasonal time later in the year for those who use it and have deadlines to meet. For more EPL facts and figures, results and news why not try our mailing list by clicking the link on www.iceman-epl.com Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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