(Image permission: Duncan Speirs)
CAMBRIDGE, UK – With the new season fast approaching, it’s time to take a look around the league and see who is who.
PHN has had some help with this, so a big thank you to Anthony Russell, Matthew Udall and Roger Williams.
Basingstoke Bison
Banners On The Wall writer and long-time Bison aficionado, Anthony Russell, looks at this year’s Bison.
From the outside the 2018/19 Basingstoke Bison season didn’t seem to rank as more than decent – third place in the league along with frustrating losses in the final of the cup and in the play-offs to the Phantoms, but the feeling from within Basingstoke was that it was more than that.
It would be wrong to repeat what happened a year ago to excess, but it’s an important part of what ended up playing into the Bison’s biggest strength across the season which was their attitude.
The Bison roster that NIHL South 1 Coach of the Year, Ashley Tait, put together spent last season playing with a potato field’s worth of chips on their shoulders.
Some were the also-rans, the castaways not wanted in Doug Sheppard’s new order at Bracknell or elsewhere, combined with a couple of up-and-comers along with players like Adam Jones who should have been on an Elite League roster.
Whilst all teams will claim that they have it, few rosters have the real “never say die” attitude that the Herd played with in 18/19. They had nothing to lose and played like it, digging themselves out of holes on frequent places. On the occasions they didn’t win, they at least went down swinging.
After so much upheaval, Tait has given the Bison organisation something that it needed – stability. 17 of the 19 players on the roster at time of writing, including both imports Richard Bordowski and Michal Klejna, played for the club last season.
At the Herd’s season ticket night in July, Tait mentioned that many guys had come back because they felt they had a point to prove and that would seem to ring true given how the season ended.
The return to Basingstoke of Ryan Sutton who replaces Danny Ingoldsby in the bottom six and the addition of the promising Ollie Stone in place of Chris Cooke are the only changes to the roster bar the elephant in the room which is the loss of Russ Cowley.
Cowley has fallen into the lap of MK rather than being tempted away and everyone in Basingstoke wishes The Doctor well, but there’s not an unreasonable argument that Cowley has not been replaced. Given they ran 12 forwards last year, it remains of interest to see what the club has up its sleeve given we expect Oscar Evans’ return to be announced.
As a habit I don’t make predictions of where a team will finish to the point I’ll say a team will finish in x spot. I don’t think the Bison have the worse looking roster, but I do think they look something of a wildcard and are hard to read even though they’ve kept so many players.
Where others have made a variety of changes big and small the Herd have not made many. Tait has stayed the course with a roster that was rough around the edges but showed potential. There are lessons to be learned from last season and it’ll be done in a different setup than before.
The Bison had the choice of stick or twist. Tait has stuck and despite clearly being a good coach if it doesn’t work, we’ll arguably see just how good of a coach he really is.
Dan’s View:
Ashley Tait was a left-field signing for the Bison. With so many doubts as to whether they would even have a rink to play in, the Bison’s management could afford to take a risk.
The risk paid off in spades and Tait was rightfully rewarded with the NIHL 1 South Coach Of The Year award. A third place finish for the Bison last season was, certainly in my opinion, at least two places better than expected and staying competitive to the final weekend is a testament to what Tait and his player achieved with a season full of solid team performances.
That was last year though. This is a new season and a new league where, in theory at least, the level of competitiveness should be higher than before. Will Coach Tait mirror last season’s success? No.
There are too many differences to make an even comparison, however, he won’t look out of place and over this season we’ll see a continuation of his development as a coach and the development of his own particular style.
It’s easy to focus on the coach for this team, but the Bison this year are very strong going forward – Michal Klejna, Richard Bordowski, Adam Harding, Alex Sampford, Jay King and the one-man army of the NIHL 2 game at Coventry this year, Sean Norris, mark the Bison out as a heavyweight contender for the season.
Player to Watch: Sean Norris. Playing for the Slough Jets last season, Norris appeared to be scoring for fun. This season, he will find it harder to find twine, but he has the skills to be very entertaining. If he gets the puck, something is going to happen.
Projected League Position: 5th
Bracknell Bees
The Bees have had a less than optimum off-season. The rather messy release of a number of players, not least Ryan Watt, who after being told that the club would stick by him, allegedly only found out about his release when the press release was published.
A steady procession of players leaving the team left fans wondering what the new season would hold for this apparently short benched team. Combine this with a low number of signings and allegations made on one particular podcast that players are just not wanting to play at Bracknell under the current coach. This could be a difficult season for the Bees.
With around six ‘D’ and 10 forwards they are looking a bit light up front, even with the recruitment of former Manchester Phoenix import Robin Kovar to compliment Roman Malinik.
They do at least have some depth in the goal tending area – Danny Milton who has not failed to impress in every game he has played in, but always the bridesmaid. This season playing second fiddle to former EIHL MK Lightning back up netminder Adam Goss, with third netminder Greg Blais a veritable journeyman completing the line-up.
While the team are light on numbers, head coach Doug Sheppard has been capable of bringing out performances from his team that could make up for the short bench, just as he did in the 2018 NIHL Play-Off Finals weekend where the 15-man Basingstoke Bison dominated the weekend to deservedly take home the play-off title.
With this in mind, the Bees are less likely to be high in the league stakes this year, but watch for them in cup competitions, and don’t be surprised to see them make the Coventry Finals weekend with the re-jigged format.
Player to Watch: Ed Knaggs. Knaggs has proven himself to be a top four ‘D’ man with the Bees last season, rewarding the opportunities shown by head coach Doug Sheppard in bringing Knaggs to the Bees. He has previously guested for the MK Lightning during their EIHL tenure and last year guested for the Coventry Blaze in a number of games. Knaggs is a fast skating ‘D’ man who is unafraid to make big hits as part of his tidy defensive performances.
Projected League Position: 8th
(Image permission: Duncan Speirs)
Hull Pirates
Hull were reputed to be one of the highest spending teams in the league, with rumours last season of a budget of around £6,000 per week. That number is unlikely to be true, but taking a look at the star power on the Pirates roster, its easy to believe.
The team themselves have a strong line of forwards and have picked up a pair of good imports. Jason Hewitt has proven himself to be a good coach, and with Kevin Phillips as an assistant, there’s a lot of playing knowledge helping the bench. What also shouldn’t be discounted is having someone with the pedigree of Andre Payette involved in the team.
There are two weak areas on this team this year – goaltending and depth of the forward lines. Both of these will place a lot of pressure on the defence. Luckily for the Pirates, their defence is particularly strong – Phillips, Tom Stubley and Lee Hayward are very capable.
The weakness of the goaltending is something that in previous years has been accounted for by being a very front heavy team who were in a position to score for fun. Most of those forwards have returned although the loss of James Archer to the Leeds Chiefs in one that may be felt more keenly than realised.
There is a question mark over new import forward Peter Fabus. At 40-years-old, this is likely to be one of, if not the final year of his career, although his career numbers indicate he’ll still be capable of contributing at this level and in pre-season games, has shown that his eye is still good.
This year, the goaltending weakness is greatly diminished. Ash Smith has spent his first couple of seasons with the Pirates quite clearly in over his head, however, over the least season-and-a-half his playing has come together well, and the occasional unforced error aside, his performances last season, in the play-offs especially, show that he’s ready to start.
This will place the pressure on the forwards to perform game in and game out, with no easy games this season.
For Hull though, their main weakness, and trumping their short bench, is in taking unnecessary penalties, and if they can avoid this then they should in reality finish on top of the pile and take the league title.
Player to Watch: Bobby Chamberlain. Bobby is a player that makes things happen whenever he is on the ice. He can score vital goals or he can pick up stupid penalties, often both. Either way, he is entertaining and good to watch.
Projected League Position: 1st
Leeds Chiefs
The Chiefs are a new team with a new coach in his first head coach role, and playing out of a new rink. They have no NIHL form for me to judge this team against, or to potentially judge them against any other team.
What Leeds do have though is a roster that, while short, is packed with decent, experienced players. James Archer, Chris Sykes, Richard Bentham, Sam Zajac, Sam Gospel, former MK Lightning import Radek Meidl and Luke Boothroyd are all massively experienced players.
The weak links are going to be the relative inexperience of the coach and the lack of a team bond, although that will develop very quickly. The players starting this season will always be remembered as the first Chiefs line-up.
However, there are only 16 outskaters signed at the moment, and the short bench is also going to cost the team dear. That said, I don’t see them going down each game without a fight. They’ll be pulling some surprise results out the back during the season.
Player to Watch: Adam Barnes. Splitting his time last season between the EIHL Manchester Storm and the NIHL 1 Blackburn Hawks, Barns has a good amount of experience despite his young age. Scoring an average of a goal per game last season with the Hawks, his eye for net could make him one to watch for the Chiefs.
Projected League Position: 9th
Milton Keynes Lightning
MK Lightning’s journey to the National Division has been anything but dull. The club’s previous owners ran into the reality of running an ice hockey club in a bad way last season and looked to take the team into the then proposed National Division, having secured the services of a coach, (Lewis Clifford), and a starting netminder, (Jordan Lawday).
A consortium of fans and local business people then looked to keep the club in the Elite League, getting as far as making their presentation to the EIHL Board of Directors.
Ultimately, the decision went against the consortium, but enjoying the backing of the Rink Operators, Planet Ice, the group – Let’s Play Hockey, were awarded the franchise and took the team into the National Division and ending a very uncertain period for the Buckinghamshire side. Swift re-signings followed as Clifford agreed with the new franchise operators to coach the reinvigorated MK side.
What followed was, one or two players aside, was the signing of as many of the former EPIHL MK Lightning side as possible with a good number of last year’s MK Thunder team, and the inclusion of newer players such as former GB international and EIHL Legend Dr. Russ Cowley making them a strong side.
Coach Clifford has put together a strong team with a lot of experience, especially with the MK old boys, however they are just that – old, (at least in hockey years), and this could be an issue against teams that have a good amount of energy about them.
Another potential issue is how well Clifford can weld these players together into a team which has traditionally been a strength of Lightning teams previously. The time taken to do this could be the determining factor for their league positioning, but could see them peak in time for a strong run in the play-offs.
Player to Watch: Jordan Lawday, this player is going places, so watch him while you can.
Projected League Position: 6th
Peterborough Phantoms
The Phantoms are a team that will frustrate and annoy. Be it their own fans with the lack of physical play, to opposing teams and fans with their very clinical play style. It is however effective.
The off-season for the Phantoms took a very unexpected turn when the team announced that all bar two of their players had agreed a return for the following season. Normally, while you would expect the majority of a team to stay and for announcements to come in over the summer as players return their contracts.
Not for Peterborough this year, as the team was pretty much announced in one go with virtually everyone agreeing to come back. The exceptions were James White who appears to have given up the game entirely, and Ales Padalek who announced his retirement at the Phantoms awards night only to decide against it a few weeks later.
The main strengths of the Phantoms is that they have good special teams, both power play and penalty kill were either at the top of the league or close to it for the last couple of years and the tactical breadth of knowledge of head coach Slava Koulikov.
Add into the mix some of the highest scoring Brit forwards in James Ferrara and Glen Billing, some of the top ‘D’ men in Tom Norton and some excellent juniors and you have a team that should be top of the table, and the last few seasons, they have been there, or thereabouts.
What has stopped them attaining top spot though has been a lack of consistency – moments where they switch off and get punished for it in games, and those games have cost them league titles, the lack of physical edge to their game – that doesn’t mean fighting, but completing hits, especially open ice hits which they are certainly skilled enough to do, and a lack of that ruthless edge in front of the goal.
The lack of a physical edge though is balanced by the fact that the Phantoms have been at the bottom of the table in PIMS meaning that while they are well drilled, their penalty kill teams are probably the least used in the league.
If they, as a team, discover that X Factor that gives them the missing components, they will sit atop the table, however, at this stage, they haven’t, so it’s unlikey, short of the wheels falling off of the top three in spectacular fashion, that they will sit on top of the table at the end of the season. They are however a good candidate for the various cup competitions, something they’ve cleaned up on in previous seasons.
Player to watch: Brad Bowering. Bowering exploded into the senior team last season playing in defence and has quickly become one of the regular ‘D’. He has good positional play and a howitzer of a shot. All this at just 17-years-old.
Projected League Position: 4th
EA Raiders IHC
Raiders fan, Matthew Udall, takes us through the 2019/20 Raiders.
Despite falling short of expectations last season, the Raiders have made the bold decision to take the leap into the new National League format for the upcoming season. Riding on the crest of a resurging popularity of the sport since the Raiders return to Romford in early 2018 alongside a successful first season for the club’s second team, who now take over the challenge in the South 1 division against various local rivals.
And whilst the longer road trips will be a new challenge to overcome for the side, who have not played at this high a level since 2010, the most important challenge is being able to compete with the likely higher level opposition and it has appeared that the squad that coach Sean Easton has put together is set to rise to the task.
Led by the return of Aaron Connolly and Dan Scott for their second season in the gold and blue after becoming the big signings of last season, a decent list of returnees make up the squad list this season.
With the likes of the 18/19 forward of the year Jake Sylvester, along with Ollie Baldock, Mason Webster, Blaho Novak, J.J. Pitchley and Supporters player of the year Brandon Ayliffe making up the returning forwards men, whilst Olegs Lascenko returns to the side after a year out.
On the defensive side the squad are all familiar to the Raiders as the likes of Sean Barry, Callum Wells, Jack Cooper and Callum Burnett, along with returning Ross Connolly. Finally, Michael Gray returns between the pipes whilst hot young prospect Brad Windebank gets the call to the main squad after a hugely impressive season with Raiders 2.
Jack Flynn, Marek Malinsky and Lukas Sladkovsky are the 3 big new names joining the gold and blue that fans will be hoping can be the difference in reaching the clubs potential this season. Flynn moves down from the Aberdeen Lynx whilst Malinsky and Sladkovsky join as the two imports from the Czech Republic.
Whilst this means that they are three short of a full bench, players such as Tommy Huggett and Daniel Hitchings in the Raiders 2 side ready to move up and cover if required means that there is some depth there. And after an injury ridden campaign last year not helping the case it looks like this time round 4 goal leads may not be so easily thrown away.
With arguably the best attacking lines of the 18/19 South 1 campaign being even further strengthened, there is no doubt plenty of goals to come, the questions though will be asked on the defensive side, which at so many points seemed to collapse last season.
Should coach Easton get the squad working at their full potential, a top half of the table finish is more than reachable. If not, then it could be a long hard fought 52 games just to scrape a playoff berth.
Dan’s View:
Raiders have an excellent coach in Sean Easton and a deep bench which should help with some of the issues they faced last season. Coach Easton’s very long proven track record of developing players is going to be key this season.
While I think they will have to fight for their play-off berth this season, it will be teams like the Raiders keeping the leaders honest, and the Essex side in particular I believe will have a prominent role in deciding the eventual league winners – any side that expects an easy ride is going to lose points that could be vital after 52 games.
Player to Watch: Mason Webster – easy to forget he’s still a youngster. Good shot, good positioning and a big lad that’s hard to get off the puck.
Projected League Position: 10th
Sheffield Steeldogs
Roger Williams, Media Officer for the Sheffield Steeldogs, gives us a few words on the South Yorkshire side.
Ben Morgan has seen nine of last year’s team move on as he looks to revamp a team that made every semi-final (or better) of every competition and finished second in Moralee D1. Two experienced Czech forwards, Vladimir Luka and Jan Danecek, have been signed to bring goals to a team who have been defensively responsible under Morgan.
Both have impressive numbers from recent stints in Poland, so could be the upgrade the coach wants. 18-year-old ‘D’ man Reece Cochrane has signed from the Fife Flyers as the Dogs continue to give young players a chance to shine.
A new partnership with the Steelers opens up some interesting possibilities with wonder kid Alex Graham and Jordan Griffin expected to play regularly and potentially Kieran Brown or Cole Shudra also featuring. Familiar faces like Salem, Calvert, Spurr and Brownley should ensure goals with Morgan, Bell and Smith leading from the back.
That never-say-die spirit will be a key quality as the Dogs face tough games week in, week out. The team will compete, but success may well depend on the new imports plus a good return from the Steelers contingent.
I’m picking Swindon for the top. They’re coming off a good season with resources that will mean they will always be a threat.
Dan’s View:
The Steeldogs are a difficult team to judge. They’ve had distinct phases in their existence, from the John Rowbotham days as the Scimitars, where speed, skill and a scrupulously clean game always kept them in and about the top spot, to the Andre Payette days where they went in the exact opposite direction and the days of being bullied and cheap-shotted at will disappeared faster than a bacon sarnie does in front of me.
Some of that reputation hung over the Steeldogs when Morgan took over, but he’s shown himself to be his own man. The team are not afraid to play with an edge, but it’s controlled and well directed, and coupled with not insignificant talent. Morgs has a decent side and the lin- up with the Steelers has strengthened his hand considerably.
Player to watch: Alex Graham, this 16-year-old came off a blistering season last year with over 70 goals between NIHL 1, U20s and U18s. If he can transfer that talent to the National Division he will be a clutch player for Sheffield.
Projected League Position: 3rd
Swindon Wildcats
Aaron Nell has taken this team from the side that always looked good on paper but failed on the ice, to the top southern team in the NIHL. The journey hasn’t been easy.
But in the 2017/18 season, bringing the Wiltshire side their first silverware in 20 plus years, and following that up the next season with their first league title, Nell is without doubt the real deal.
As head coach, Nell has made some excellent signings over the last few seasons and with just a few tweaks to last season’s team to replace the second shortest retiree of the summer in Jan Kostal, who has returned as injury cover, and turned the team into an expertly engineered well-oiled machine.
The downside with this kind of precision, is that once injuries begin occurring, the precision breaks down. In this respect, bringing Kostal and Birbraer back is an excellent move and having experienced players like Edgars Bebris, Sam Bullas and Neil Liddiard goes a way to remedy this. This is a significant weakness of the side but one that they’ve been able to deal with the last couple of seasons.
I’ve predicted a second place behind Hull in the league race, however, if Swindon can stay injury free, or if Hull succumb to penalty trouble, then they could steal top spot this season.
Player to Watch: Tyler Plews – this 21 year old D man already had three years experience playing with the now defunct Edinburgh Capitals in the EIHL before making his way south to the Wiltshire side. While his points aren’t massive, neither are his PIMs or his +/- – very important in an effective D Man. Plews will be one of the go to players this season for the Cats, and will, if he wishes to, likely step back up to the EIHL in the near future.
Projected League Position: 2nd
Telford Tigers
The Tigers have had an “interesting” time since they returned to the EPIHL under the ownership of a fans consortium. The fan’s consortium was soon bought out by Wayne Scholes leading to the Tigers leaping up the table after turning the recruitment tables on the rest of the league, however this led to a significant issue once the club was then passed on to the “Newco” Tigers who essentially took on the debt from the previous company then folded, taking the debt with them.
This led to a lot of bad feeling towards the team, and it was left to then head coach, now head coach and general manager, Tom Watkins, to turn matters around. To be fair to Watkins, his team and he have done an excellent job both on and off the ice.
The last few seasons for the Tigers in NIHL 1N have been good to the side, running close to the top with a pretty stable team and a very solid British contingent. By retaining players such as Jason Silverthorn, now reclassified as a British player due to his time in the UK and representation of the country in the GB senior side, veterans like Jonathan Weaver, Scott MacKenzie and Rick Plant all provide a strong core.
The recruitment of Brad Day as a starting netminder is a wildcard. He hasn’t had a great deal of game time in the EIHL, but has performed very well when he’s done so, which does make it seem a little odd that none of the teams took a chance on him.
However, the question is will he produce the form needed twice a week every week for six months? In all honesty, he’s no stranger to this level of play, but his long-term form will be a deciding factor.
Player To Watch: Corey Goodison. The 22-year-old ‘D’ man has been steadily improving his game in Telford. Last year saw him busy in picking up points and PIMs clearly not afraid to throw the body when needed. The step up could give Goodison the opportunity to grow into a mainstay while playing stronger teams week in, week out.
Projected League Position: 7th
Last words
So that’s a look at the teams as they stand at the moment. Some of the teams, based on the last few seasons may look out of position in their projected league finishes, however it needs to be borne in mind how close these teams are in a qualitative sense and how much difference a single loss or win here or there will make.
In previous years, a 30 – 40 point gap between first and last place was considered a close finish, this season I’ll not be surprised if that gap is down to 20 – 30 points. About the only prediction I can comfortably make, is that there will be a lot of surprises this year.
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