EPL Roundup 31

SWINDON, UK –  Now what?
OK, so the closed season is only a week old and are we bored already? Huh! You bet.
But there were some things happening in the Coventry aftermath like Flames’ coach Paul Dixon saying, understandably, ‘There are some mixed emotions right now. It is disappointing, painful even, to have fallen short here because it was a rare opportunity to complete the clean sweep.’
A rare opportunity indeed, but ‘falling short’ while maybe technically accurate sounds a bit harsh on yourself to me when you managed two out of three. Looking on the bright side, sharing honours is good for the league, especially when you come from forth place like the Jets did, which is a marvellous incentive.
Jets’ coach Doug Sheppard was jubilant. ‘I believe we deserved to win and I believe we were the best team there. Every single player stepped up and we got contributions from everyone,’ he said.
Although the season is only a week ended, there has been some player movement.
At the Tigers young Ross Venus, just 17 years of age and already having played for Coventry, signed a 2-year contract with the Elite League side. He iced fourteen times for the Tigers last season in a 2-way arrangement and it remains to be seen whether or not they will be able to secure his services further.
Canadian netminder Greg Blais, who acted as an assistant coach and back-up to Declan Ryan, returns to the club along with Karl Cramer and with Paul Thomason as team manager in a club revamp of the management side.
Coach Watkins, who has the lowest budget and youngest average player-age in the league, so probably a better grasp of development matters than many called for improvements. While the EPL calls itself a ‘development’ league, he said, ‘I would like to see more development initiatives put in place to really warrant the tag.’ He expanded on that by calling for rule changes to enable, ‘ a continuous effect where players are constantly moving up and opening up spots in the EPL for young players.’
The makeup of the EPL has been a popular topic of conversation and speculation this last week, which at times has sounded like Chinese whispers.
Starting with what is probably the least contentious matter Bees’ joint owner Stuart Smith said the future of the club was still undecided but would be confirmed ‘shortly.’ With business and holidays in the way he explained he and co-owner Katie Eleftheriou, ‘will be getting together to discuss future plans,’ and while Coach Gareth Cox has also commented on the uncertainty of his position, Smith added, ‘at the moment things are moving forward positively.’ So while the purely bench coach may be a dying breed in the EPL, it would come as a shock if the Bees were not to return.
But from then on the waters got cloudy.
An explosion of titbits of information and speculation which, if coming to fruition, would make the EPL quite crowded and about as easy to manage as shearing a sheep with a sock as teams from both ENL and the Elite League were reported to be almost queuing to join.
The best rumours, of course, have an element of truth behind them like a tantalising statement from a credible source. Take, for instance, the Fife Flyers who some weeks ago were reported to be about to be cut lose with a couple of other teams by the Elite League in its reorganisation. The local press reported the story quoting Flyers’ director Jack Wishart who said, ‘We knew teams in the (EIHL) league were losing money and shutting down, and we didn’t want that to happen to us.’ Earlier chairman Tom Muir denied his side had reapplied for EIHL membership and when specifically asked if they would be seeking EPL membership said, ‘All these things need to be explored.’
That, of course, is enough of a rumour on which to hang your hat, although now weeks later it appears the EIHL will remain the same with the same import level. So while the story may be dead at the time it certainly was credible in the sense it gave rise to the possibility, although unlikely, the Fife side could apply to the EPL when considering their options.
A similar situation of uncertainty surrounds the Hull Stingrays. Director Andy Buxton said, again in the local press, ‘a lot of options are being considered including ownership discussions. The situation will become clearer in the next 7-10 days.’
Apparently there is competition to gain control of the club involving local businessman Paul Fielder, who has made his bid, and either assistant coach Bobby McEwan or Phoenix’s Slava Koulikov who played there between 2003 and 2010. Fielder said the delay in resolving the issue was ‘very frustrating.’ Buxton added, ‘we have to look at the long-term interests of Hull Stingrays, Coventry Blaze and the Elite League and how things can best be set up for the future.’ Coventry Blaze? Because they have the same current owners.
But owning the club and playing in the EPL, or any other league for that matter, are two separate issues because obviously you have to have an ice contract guaranteeing somewhere to play and when. In the Hull case it is understood the local council, who are responsible for the Hull Arena, ull Arena are to hold talks with the current owners shortly to discuss the ice-time contract next season.
The point to all this is to explain how believable rumours rise and take hold and sometimes bear fruit, and if they didn’t there would be no news media in the world.
Even so, while the Hull situation may not be resolved just yet English Ice Hockey Association Chairman Ken Taggart said he had not received an application to join the EPL from any Elite League side, and he expects both EPL and EIHL to remain the same as last season. He went on to explain that a single application, if and when it should ever occur, would cause an imbalance not just in the juggling of fixtures to accommodate an odd number of teams, but more importantly with the resulting blank playing dates clubs would lose income. And Taggart is very clear: you won’t get into the EPL unless you have a viable business package in place, which is one of the reasons enquiries have fallen by the wayside in the past.
Back to less murkier waters and the few player movements at least partly visible through the rumour detritus like Canadian Peter Vaisanen who played thirteen games for the Steeldogs in the 2010-11 season after a year in the ENL, and according to his agent has signed for an unnamed British club.
Similarly Phantoms’ Ondrej Lauko has agreed terms with an ‘unnamed British club,’ and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume it is within Walking distance of Peterborough seeing as he has expressed a liking for the place.
Meanwhile, GM Steve Nell at the Wildcats reported the return of Coach Ryan Aldridge. ‘We never really asked the question with Ryan,‘ he said, ‘ we always expect him to come back because he loves the club.’
Then there’s Greg Owen, who is rumoured to be joining the Bison, who has at least been confirmed as not returning to the EIHL.
To finish on some good old honest news we have the report that Flames’ Jez Lundin, who was hospitalised with a ruptured spleen at the end of the Coventry Finals, continues with his recovery and has returned to home. Unfortunate as it was, I imagine he would have been even more gutted had it occurred during the first week of the season with the prospect of two months away from the game.
So there you have it. Until the next time, of course.
For more EPL facts and figures, stats news and more take a look at www.iceman-epl.com
Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com