SWINDON, UK – A steady trickle of signings kept the week alive, although with few surprises.
In Manchester the Phoenix re-signed netminder Steve Fone for a forth season and British forward James Archer for a third, while in Peterborough the Phantoms retained Canadian forward Jeff Glowa, who having been plagued for much of last season by injury will now undergo surgery and be good to go come September. Hopefully. No such problems for Latvian forward Maris Ziedins who is also back in Phantoms’ colours for a sixth season.
Slovakian D-man Branislav Kvetan, who managed about a point a game last season, re-signed for the Flames for a second term. Meanwhile,
British forward Lee Richardson must hold something of a record in Swindon in that since joining the Wildcats and playing his first full season four years ago has not missed a game. That’s 213 games with play-offs on the trot which a cursory root through player records shows to be unusual, if not unique.
British D-man Carl Graham moved from the Bees and signed on with the Bison from whence he came, while British forward Michael Farn re-signed for the Lightning for the forth time with a 2-year deal.
The Tigers added two British forwards in 19-year-old Thomas Soar and 18-year-old Callum Bowley, both GBU20 internationals, and who both played in Telford last season. On the way out, though, was British forward Vince Connon who signed for EIHL Dundee where he started his career.
But perhaps the most significant news of the week came not from the EPL but from the Elite League, and while that is not within the brief of this Roundup, matters which might impinge or possibly result from the so-called domino effect are worth a mention. So, while the full list of changes announced by the EIHL is not included here for that reason, the proposed rise in the EIHL import quota by one player to eleven does have some relevance.
Bearing in mind the EPL under the auspices of the English Ice Hockey Association is the structure for developing British players, while the Elite League basically just wants to play top notch hockey, so an increase in non-British trained players means a further ten places in the EIHL will not be filled from British stock.
In January an EIHL press release stated there would be no changes to the league rules and specifically no change in the import quota for the coming season. So clearly something must have happened for this ‘U’ turn to have occurred. Oddly, though, more players have been signed by the EIHL from the EPL since last season ended than in the whole of last year’s closed season when the import limit was lowered from twelve to ten; a measure which made no difference to players in the EPL because the exchange rate between the two leagues remained pretty much as usual.
But the really baffling claim to justify the raise in import levels is the statement the league has lost a few (about 5) top Brits to continental teams, not, I hasten to add, just in the last year but over several seasons, and a lack of domestic players of a suitable standard exists to replace them.
Why baffling? Well last season around half of the players who made an appearance in the EIHL were British with around 40% of them having played in lower leagues. So what monumental drop in standard has occurred since January which, incidentally, no one seems to have commented on, for there now to be a dearth of quality British players as claimed?
OK, so the EIHL has its problems and no one can blame them for trying to sort them out, but my old grand-pappy seemed to hit the bull in the eye when he collared me about it, and, paraphrasing Sixties folk singer Patrick Sky said, ‘Boy, reality is bad enough, why tell the truth?
What was clearer and certain, assuming a mixed bag can be a certainty, occurred in the Steeldogs camp which finally saw Ben Bowns and Janis Ozolins sign for the EIHL Hull Stingrays and, after fending of the Phoenix, British forward Chris Sykes. Hull, though, are still not without their problems as the new owning partnership saw Nic Gough withdraw shortly after the EIHL announcement, and the awarding of the city council ice-time contract postponed. Gough said he knew nothing of the changes announced by the EIHL at the time but felt they would make things ‘extremely tight’ for the Stingrays, adding, ‘I don’t feel the league has done Hull any favours.’
Anyway, on the plus side the Steeldogs re-signed British forward Ashley Calvert, a GBU20 international and considered by many to have made a big improvement during his first season under Andre Payette. And, according to the local press, the Steeldogs are in talks with Hull’s Canadian forward Derek Campbell who has played in the EIHL for six seasons and last time out notched up a whopping 264 penalty minutes, a hundred more than Ukrainian D-man Pavel Gomeniuk, who actually did put pen to paper. But, just in case anyone hadn’t noticed, Campbell’s penalty record even eclipses his new boss, should the deal be made, which mean the pair would have a frightening physical presence when the war, er, season starts. The Jets made a capture with 20-year-old Dan Scott, captain of the GBU20 side and also from EIHL Hull, and also decided the Jets’ junior programme would have its own head coach and into that position came Ben Pitchley after a barrowful of years as a D-man with Romford Raiders and most recently as head coach with the Bracknell Hornets.
So, while pondering the value of always telling the truth, even if you have to make it up, yet another week comes to an end.
For more EPL facts and figures, stats news and more take a look at www.iceman-epl.com
Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
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