SWINDON, UK – This Roundup is the last in what you might call an EPL-free part of the year because, come the 30th – that’s tomorrow! – the first of the ‘challenge’ games takes place between the Steeldogs and the Elite League Hull Stingrays. While that will be the only encounter of the week involving a Premier League side, at least it is a start. But, while the league season proper is still a few weeks away, it would be wrong not to take the pre-season games seriously. Taking the Steeldogs two games against EIHL opponents, for example, it is a bold step for a young team and relatively new coach but in a sense it isn’t so much about the result as what else Coach Payette will gain from the encounters. That isn’t to say, of course, the Steeldogs should be written off because EPL sides have beaten Elite League opponents in the past but I would think, at least for the Steeldogs, it is more to do with how players gel as a team and perform under pressure, and so on. On the other hand, for the Hull Stingrays the result is everything because what they can gain in technical knowledge has to be limited and the potential loss of credibility and dent to morale has to be enormous, so you have to give them credit for agreeing to the clash. As far as the other EPL clubs and their pre-season games go then they are, of course, in the same boat as the Steeldogs regarding analysing performance, and while a couple more teams start up the following week it is the week after, a week prior to the start of the season proper, that things really take shape. But this week it was the Jets who did most of the shape-taking. First came the news that Mark Galazzi, a utility player who has only iced twenty-five times in the past four seasons, and then at ENL level, re-joined the club he started his career with back in 1994. That’s a long lay-off and although he played in the Elite League prior to that sojourn, along with and for new Jets’ boss Doug Sheppard, he is now into his thirties and with the increase in standard over those years all eyes are certainly going to be focussed in his direction. But Sheppard isn’t a new kid on the block and while this signing might also be a test of his judgement, obviously he knows which end of his walking-stick has been stabbed in the cow pat, as my Grand-pappy used to say. Perhaps less controversial was the additional signing of GBU18 forward Andrew Melachrino who has completed three seasons in Guildford at both Under 18 level and with the Flames’ senior side. Staying with the youngsters, the Jets also brought in 17-year-old D-man, Sam Godfrey, who has just spend two years in Canada at the Ontario Hockey Academy followed by a handful of games with the Guildford U18 side. Joining him is Zach Sullivan, also a 17-year-old D-man from the Guildford side, but who has also had a season in the ENL with Invicta Dynamos. A tad older is netminder Tom Devey who also joins the Jets after four seasons with ENL Oxford Stars, and will be back-up to Greg Rockman. So all of a sudden the Jets have jumped to a side looking almost complete. The Tigers continued their build-up with the signing of GBU20 forward Dean Holland who iced for the Phoenix a few times last season before moving on to the Elite League’s Dundee and Newcastle from which his pedigree originates. So yet another example of one of last season’s lower teams strengthening, which is obviously good for them and yipee for us. The Tigers have, however, lost GBU20 forward Nathan Salem to ENL Solway Sharks. Also moving to the ENL is Wildcats’ D-man Jason Stone, who arrived in Swindon from his native Cardiff and their Elite League side last season, but now at thirty-eight returns to their ENL side and the club he started his career with as far back as 1988. Meanwhile Phantoms’ Lithuanian forward Darius Lelenas found a home in Norway, in which to continue his trade while the club itself said it would announce this year’s ‘prospect players’ in the next day or two. However, while we still await that news owner Phil Wing, echoing the sentiment expressed by numerous sources over the last few months, observed the improvements in teams so far would produce, ‘the highest standard of hockey yet seen in the EPL,’ adding he still felt that didn’t negate the Phantoms’ ability to, ‘mount a serious challenge for a trophy.’ In a similar vein Phoenix owner Neil Morris concurred by saying, ‘Bracknell, Swindon and Sheffield all look to have improved squads. Games against the lower half of the table are certainly going to be much tougher.’ So, all good news for us fans as the countdown continues. For more EPL facts and figures, headline mailing list, and the graphic-enhanced version of this Roundup, why not try www.iceman-epl.com Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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