SWINDON, UK – The Bank Holiday Monday saw the Link Centre in Swindon host the Jack O’Donnell Foundation charity marathon hockey event. For anyone that doesn’t know, Jack O’Donnell was a youngster with ties to the Wildcats and on course for what promised to be a bright future in hockey when a tragic accident ended all that abruptly. It was a well-attended event, and while many players, families, kids and contributors took part, and all deserve mention, I single out Ryan ‘Rico’ Richards for the amazing amount of work he put in to ensure it all took place and which raised a terrific £3,928.32. Rico is a real gem.
Into the week and the Jets became the sixth side to declare a completed roster. This was following the announcement that D-man Juraj Senko, late of the Tigers, was on board which gives the side a squad of seventeen.
18-year-old netminder Bradley Day was signed by the Steeldogs bringing their roster to nineteen, which was announced shortly after as complete. That makes them the seventh side to wrap things up with just the Phoenix, Tigers and Bees to declare.
The Steeldogs have an interesting mixture of forwards and defensive players, not because of who they are because I am sure they are as normal as any other hockey players, but because of the balance of the numbers. Even taking into account the couple of players who can play in either position, utility players if you will, the balance on the face of it looks pretty even compared to the more usual ratio of about two forwards per D-man.
Coach Payette has also gone for two imports on the blue line and just two up front, and I wonder if this is to compensate for the loss of Ben Bowns, the league’s top netminder last season. The Steeldogs defence was a very solid affair in the last campaign and there doesn’t look like much room for complaint this time. But whatever Payette’s reasoning with the numbers, the arrangement offers him a fair amount of flexibility.
Then came a surprise from the Tigers. Canadian netminder Greg Blais made the decision to leave the club before facing a puck in anger. Blais was appointed early in the rebuild and was given the added responsibility of an assistance coach. Although no confirmation has been given, it looks like Blais is off to the Elite League if we want to interpret ’another league at a higher level’ that way. The Tigers still have four imports and as we all know an import netminder, regardless of how good he is, can be something of a liability because of the rules imposed by our masters on the number of foreign players allowed on the ice. In Blais’s case it seems a bit cruel because he is basically a British citizen.
Regardless of the small print it makes you wonder if there is an argument for taking netminders out of the import equation anyway. The downside to that, of course, would be reducing the opportunities for British netminders. But it would be nice to see the occasional foreign netminder between the pipes. I think back to Czech Ladislav Kudrna in the Wildcats 2008-09 season, who was a fan favourite and a real character, and there was Slovakian Miroslav Hala of the Flames in the 2010-11 season. So while they don’t appear in the EPL often, it is kind of a nice digression when they do.
Saturday saw a batch of pre-season games as the Bison and Bees took part in the 4-on-4 tournament in Basingstoke which included HIHL Invicta Dynamos and the Isle of Wight Wightlink Raiders and which the home side won for the second year running. Up the road the Steeldogs saw off the National League’s Billingham Stars, but had a more impressive result on Sunday. In Hull the Elite League’s Stingrays were their opponents, and in a spirited performance the visitors won 4-3. While these games don’t necessarily mean a lot, especially if players are still to join their club, it is worth a mention that aforementioned goalie Brad Day was awarded the Man of the Match. Remember, he is new to the EPL and eighteen years old, so well done! A lot further south the Tigers went to Chelmsford and went down to the NIHL Chieftains by a goal.
So that’s it for news this week but I finish on a promising article which appeared in the Sun newspaper which, I hasten to add, was brought to my attention because I only read the Guardian, of course. Actually, it was probably in the Guardian as well, but I don’t read that either, and my old Grandpappy informs me it definitely wasn’t in Farmers’ Weekly.
However, the report concerns a BBC plan to investigate the possibility of a minority sport television channel. Apparently the interest generated by the Olympic Games has given rise to the questionable discovery that there are people out there that don’t just watch football, or of they do, might watch other sports as well. Amazing! This is not merely of academic interest to us ice hockey supporters because you can even contribute an opinion suggesting the EPL should be included. So find the Sun site, and have a say. Why not? I mean, if they can transmit all the hair-raising speed and death defying action of a golf tournament……
For more EPL facts and stats, news and a headline mailing list take a look at www.iceman-epl.com
Contact Bill.Collins@prohockeynews.com
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