SWINDON, UK -A slightly busier week for news and with a few of the surprises you expect at this time of the year as teams and players jockey to fill the bench places. For instance, at the Bison Mindy Kieras, who had already agreed to re-sign for the club, changed his mind after playing for his native Lithuania, so presumably is now homeward bound. Although not necessarily if the rumours are to be believed that the Lightning having penciled in his name. One Lightning player who name is inked in rather than penciled is Canadian player-coach Nick Poole who re-signed with the comment that he intended to return to more ice time player-coaching. Last season, following the snapping up of Blaz Emersic from the Jets which gave the Lightning five imports, Poole employed a controversial rotation policy, and while having defended his actions which allowed him to coach more often from the bench, presumably he will now revert to a four-import player-coach role. Or will he? Someone with no role at the Lightning from now on is top British scorer Gary Clarke who has long been a regular face in Milton Keynes and who at age 32 has joined ENL Chelmsford, a great catch from their point of view I would have thought. The Jets kicked off their rebuild with a huge signing as forward Adam Calder put pen to paper for his first full season. Calder joined the club part way through last season and made an immediate impact ending the season as one of only four players who attained a two-point-plus game average, and the only non-Manchester player to do so. Following the announcement Coach Russell also dismissed the rumour Canadian Greg Chambers, whose name had been linked to fellow-Canadian Calder’s return, would be joining the Slough club. However, while there has not been so much as a murmur from the Jets camp so far this closed season, they now made up for it with even more news like defenseman Paddy Ward, after six seasons, was leaving to travel the world while forward Dan Davies wanted to drop into the ENL to give him time to concentrate on his studies. Also on their way are two more Brits in the shape of forwards Michael Bowman, also after six seasons and, perhaps surprisingly, top British points, goals and assists scorer Slava Koulikov. On the plus side British forward Tom Carlon who ironically put the Jets out of the play-offs with an overtime goal in the quarter-finals when he was playing for the Phantoms, has been signed up along with fellow Brit James Morgan who quit the Phantoms and the sport in January citing home and work commitments. While talking about the Phantoms there is another club with something of an upheaval under way. British D-man Thomas Jeffery, for example, left to sign on with the Steeldogs. In his wake followed Top Ten D-man James Hutchinson who said he wanted to pursue his career in the Elite League, and although no team was mentioned it may well be with Hull with whom he has previously played. Also apparently on the move to an unnamed club is Canadian and former captain Dwayne Newman who it was announced will not be staying with the club for a fifth term although at 39 years of age there must be a question mark above his future anyway. Also with a question mark above their future is the Elite League’s Newcastle Vipers. General Manager Jamie Longmuir finally closed up shop after a long struggle to find a permanent home ice rink. He ruled out any move to the EPL because of the so-called north-south divide which he said made travelling impractical regardless of the lower costs of running an ERPL team and the fact Manchester and Sheffield seem to manage it. The bloodletting at the Flames was cauterised this week with the announcement that David Longstaff had re-signed for a second year. Longstaff, it will be remembered was the lone EPL representative in the recent GB silver medal winning team in the Ukraine, so a serious re-signing if ever there was one. So that’s for another week and although it may not be much in quantity, as my old grand-pappy used to say, ‘A prudent word is better than a speech.’ 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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