Cloutier hits 1000 games

HULL, UK – An emotional Sylvain Cloutier spoke of his pride at reaching 1,000 professional games after helping Excel Hull Stingrays mark the night with a 5-3 victory over Newcastle Vipers at Hull Arena.
Leading point-scorer Konstantin Kalmikov and Jason Silverthorn netted twice and Pavel Gomenyuk was also on target as Stingrays ended a three-game losing streak in the Elite League.
Cloutier, who also received the man of the match award, said: “I have enjoyed every minute. It’s always an honour to play hockey and to put that jersey on. Some guys take it for granted, it’s something you should never take for granted. I took a year off last year and I really missed it. If you can play hockey, play for as long as you can because once you are out of the game you really miss the people that are involved in it. The guys, the owners, the trainers – it’s a tight family and some people don’t understand that.
“It was an honour to play for Hull Stingrays and to put that jersey on for my 1,000th game. To do it with that group of guys was an honour and a pleasure, they are a great bunch and I couldn’t ask for a better group to play with. The win was the most important thing. The guys did a great job and responded well after the performance in Nottingham ”.

Saturday night in Nottingham had seen the Stingrays go down 9-1 to title contenders Nottingham Panthers. David Clarke, Sean McAslan and Cameron Mann put Panthers 3-0 ahead inside 10 minutes and Marty Gascon added a short-handed marker before Stingrays defenceman Pavel Gomenyuk was ejected for spearing. Powerplay goals from Clarke and McAslan stretched Panthers’ lead but Stingrays finally got on the board when Lee Mitchell (powerplay) netted with 54 seconds of the second period left. 
Clarke claimed his hat-trick and Mann added another which saw Stingrays replace goaltender Martins Raitums with back-up Andy Jaszcyk. Mann grabbed his third in the 59^th minute to complete the rout. Brother of former NHL goalie Dan, Cloutier said after the game “It was embarrassing for the fans, embarrassing for Mike and Sue Pack (Owners), it was embarrassing for me as a coach. As a player I have to do my job too – it was just embarrassing all round.
“Some guys just did not show up, it was the worst performance this season. You have to work hard, nothing is given to you. I didn’t have to say anything to the guys afterwards. But we must rebound tomorrow [against Newcastle Vipers], we will find out what character the guys have.” The team did respond as they picked up the 5-3 win as described above. Game number 1001 for Cloutier looks set to be against the Cardiff Devils on Saturday night in Hull.  Contact the author Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com