Title EPL Roundup – Imports: now you see them…..

SWINDON , UK – First news this week was from the Jets who announced that Andy Munroe (GBR)(D) was returning for a full season having joined the Slough team last Christmas. Coach Peter Russell said “Adding Andy to the defensive core makes the Jets look very solid at the back with Rockman, Krajicek and Greener already announced.” Russell added that Munroe had paired well with Paddy Ward and he expected he would raise his game even further.
 
Days later the Jets also announced what was referred to as a ‘unique’ partnership with Essex team Chelmsford of the ENL which allowed for the two-way movement of players and effectively makes the Chieftains a feeder team for the Slough side. This innovation should be interesting to watch as the Jets already have a thriving youth programme so it may be these varying levels will also gain from the Chieftains’ deal.  
 
Former Tigers captain Dan MacKriel, who has been out of the sport for a year to spend time with his new baby daughter, rejoined the Telford club and while everyone else is out enjoying the, um, sun, he will spend the summer in the gym building his fitness back up. “I’m not naïve” said MacKriel “I have started running and putting together a fitness plan because I know I have to work hard to get the place I really want on the first two lines”.
 
The Wildcats brought in their second and third imports in the space of twenty-four hours. Slovakian forward Jozef Liska joined from the Slovakian league where in his last season he scored a tad over a point per game average. Coach Aldridge was naturally pleased with the signing commenting the ‘power’ forward was perfect for the type of team he is building. Next up was Estonian Toivo Suursoo who back in 1994 while playing in Russia made the NHL draft and while not making his career there has since played in several European counties, most recently Sweden.
 
Guildford added Brit Ben Campbell to their roster, a forward previously with EIHL Newcastle Vipers and who started out at just fifteen with ENL Whitley Warriors. Meanwhile, Basingstoke re-signed Lithuanian D-man Mindy Kieras for a second season who coach Moria said has the hardest slap shot in the EPL but, apparently, the worst dress sense.
 
Import number one on the Peterborough line up came with the re-signing of Canadian Dwayne Newman. Coach Cruickshank said: ‘…the no-frills D-man is one of the most experienced in the EPL.’
Import number two also signed for the Phantoms as former EIHL Hull Stingrays Canadian captain forward Jeff Glowa put pen to paper. Also from the EIHL last season was British forward James Ferrara who joined the Phantoms part way through from Nottingham Panthers and has now re-signed for a full term.
 
All quiet on the MKL, Bees and Scimitars fronts, but we have to assume the Phoenix will shortly release news of Robert Farmer, who has just completed his trial with the US team Dubuque Fighting Saints and, as coach Tony Hand has said several times, the result of that adventure will determine how he concludes his line up which currently makes his team the only one without an import.
 
And talking of Phoenix imports, with 29 foreign players so far signed up, it is interesting to note that only three who appeared in any of the top ten charts last season aren’t accounted for. By that I mean either they haven’t been resigned or transferred.
 
One is Phoenix’s Finnish forward Jaakko Hagelberg who not only was a top ten penalty taker last season, but was also the fifth highest assist scorer in the EPL. Last heard of he was back in Finland working in the furniture business and had not spoken to any British club about a return although he said he would love to play here again but would need a pay rise to make it worth while. So, that’s probably the last we have seen of him, then, unless the rumours about an EIHL connection prove founded.
 
Second is Andrus Kaminskas, the fiery Bees D-man who stepped in to help the shaky Bracknell team when Chad Euverman pulled out and decided to stay in Canada at the eleventh hour. Kaminskas ended the season as the second highest penalty taker in the league and the last comment from Bees’ coach Gareth Cox was, apart from refusing to confirm anything one way or the other, he hadn’t ruled the Lithuanian out.  
 
Slough’s Peter Poljacek was released back at the beginning of May which on the face of it looked a bit odd to say the least seeing as he ended the season as a top ten points, assists and goal scorer. Even odder was the fact no one else jumped in to snap him up until it was announced his departure was for family reasons, so clearly a talent that will be missed.
 
Of all the top ten placings, there is just one Brit, Phantoms D-man James Morgan, who does not appear to have made a commitment, unless it is to the family business. But as far as the ice business goes, though, an internet search revealed nothing. Morgan, known as a forward-thinking defenseman, finished high in the penalty-takers’ chart, but also had a creditable point-plus per game average, so not bad for a blueliner.     
 
And so, as we await news from the US on the young Phoenix forward, that’s another EPL week in the bag.
   
For more EPL facts, figures and news try – www.iceman-epl.com