Season Preview: Part 2

I bring you the conclusion to my team-by-team preview of the EIHL season ahead.

EDINBURGH CAPITALS

It’s been a fairly quiet summer for last season’s bottom-placed side. Signings have been few and far between, new imports have included some European talent – for the most part Slovakian, the most recognisable name one Sladok of the Hull Stingrays. Early on it seemed likely that the Caps would struggle again this season both on and off the ice, as their lack of finances prevented them from investing in the quality they need to launch a convincing bid for one of the league’s eight play-off spots. I’m sure I echo the sentiments of the vast majority when I say I really hope the season they put together can be more successful than their last and that they find themselves able to compete at a decent level. The big boys will certainly show no mercy.

One to watch: The recent acquisition of forward Richard Hartmann could be key for the Caps, the Slovakian has a good scoring record and years of experience in Slovakia which should be beneficial given the make-up of the current squad.
Predicted finish: Unfortunately I can’t foresee anything but a repeat of last season. 10th.
Fun fact: The Caps have this year signed what sounds a lot like a Slovakian comedy duo in Holecko and Valecko. This amuses me in a Slovakian sort of way. Slovakia.

FIFE FLYERS

It’s going to be hard not to like Fife. New to the league this season, the Kirkcaldy club are the oldest ice hockey club in the UK and have a great history, but the step up is going to be a tough one and the boys are really going to have their work cut out for them. Rumours have been rife of a lack of funds that may lead to them falling short of their full quota of imports, but evidence of this has not been forthcoming and although late to the party in terms of signings, Fife are catching up slowly as Todd Dutiaume attempts to construct a side capable of competing at this higher level. Everyone will be keen for the club to do well and looking out for early results as they find their feet, so here’s hoping the Fifelians (yes, yes, I did just make that up) are ready for what’s coming at them.

One to watch: Without the reigns of coach-dom holding him back, Danny Stewart will be able to unleash the player within, which believe it or not is actually a forward (Vipers fans were far more used to seeing the poor guy covering in defence). Check out his mad slapshot skills. GO COACH!!
Predicted finish: They will battle hard enough to avoid being the bottom of the pile: 9th.
Fun fact: Fife's inclusion in the Elite League is a triumph for Egnlish teachers nationwide as they become the only team to feature both alliteration AND assonance in their name! Shame about the lack of onomatopoeia to complete the trifecta of 'words I put in my GCSE Literature paper to score extra marks' but these things can't be helped.

HULL STINGRAYS

Hull have used their quota of imports to bring in a number of European players this season, along with re-signing some of their key players from the 2010/11 season including top scorer Jereme Tendler, netminder Christian Boucher and right wing Jason Silverthorn. They continue with Sylvain Cloutier at the helm as they look to consolidate on what was an unremarkable but in some ways unexpected 2010/11 season, their campaign having at one point been an impossibility as the club languished without an owner and looked set to be excluded from the League. Also added to the squad is a face well-known to British hockey fans in Derek Campbell, who completed a surprise switch from Sheffield, and long-term target Josh Mizerek.

One to watch: Josh Mizerek was set to take the captain’s armband at Hull last season before the club folded so he has plenty to prove and brings a wealth of experience along with him.
Predicted finish: Hull have added experience and physical presence to their side, but I’m not sure they will have the edge required to hit the top half of the league. 8th.
Fun fact: Stingrays are undoubtedly mean. The late great Steve Irwin can attest to that. But I think the dude on their logo looks quite beguiling, he's all smiley like. A lot like this guy:

'Mean? Who, me?' Okay I admit it. I've got nothing.

NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS

The play-off winners made their statement early on in the off-season, re-signing a number of key players from their 10/11 campaign, including highly rated netminder Craig Kowalski, and adding the services of Belfast’s Brandon Benedict and excellently named forward Scott Champagne. The East Midlands side features a sizeable chunk of the silver-medal winning GB squad and it cannot be argued that they boast the finest compliment of Brits of any Elite League side. They completed their line-up with tough guy blueliner Brock Wilson who has racked up a great deal of ECHL experience over the past few seasons and will add to the Panthers’ physical presence, already guaranteed by the re-signing of enforcer Guy Lepine.

However despite the stability that comes with keeping key elements of a team together, it can’t be denied they’ve lost two of their stars of last season in Billy Ryan and Jade Galbraith, and an immense amount of firepower with it. Will Benedict be able to step up to the plate in a way he couldn’t manage in Belfast last season? Perhaps, but regardless of this I feel that despite a strong and steady core the Panthers may lack flair this season and that combined with coach Corey Neilson’s notorious tactics will be their downfall.

One to watch: Danny Meyers. The Captain is always influential both on the blueline and for the team as a whole. Plus he wins at beards.
Predicted finish: 3rd
Fun fact: The Panthers’ 2010/11 season highlights DVD was entitled ‘Now that’s what I call Sexy Neilson Hockey’*. Further volumes of these ‘best of’ DVDs are expected on a bi-annual basis. Because Neilson Hockey is too sexy to fit on just one DVD.

*it wasn’t. But it should have been.

SHEFFIELD STEELERS

The Steelers are always a force to be reckoned with in the top tier of British hockey and more often than not turn out an assured, experienced team who are rarely out of the upper echelons of the league table. Last season’s Steelers team were undoubtedly strong, consistent and dominant but they lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. With Ryan Finnerty back at the club and taking the reins, I feel this will be put to rights this season. In his first season coaching Finner will be keen to make an impression and I believe he will mould his squad in his own image. His never-say-die attitude combined with a collection of quality import signings and a core of strong, committed Brits should inject the fizz and sparkle that was missing from their performances last season, and I am looking forward to seeing what they can produce on the ice. They will push hard to retain their league title and I think it will go down to the wire. Their biggest loss from the 2010/11 title-winning team was arguably rock-solid netminder Ervins Mustokovs, but in John DeCaro they have signed what on paper looks to be a worthy replacement.

One to watch: Colt King – one of the strongest import signings of any club this season, King’s extensive experience is going to lead to high expectation from Steelers fans. He’s not afraid of a fight either which will be handy following the loss of Derek Campbell.
Predicted finish: Sorry Simmsey – I think they’ll be pipped at the post by the Giants – 2nd.
Fun fact: If Dundee have the most amusingly named player, Steelers have undoubtedly the coolest named player in the league this year. Colt King. The man, the legend, the sawn-off shotgun?

...

So there's nothing more to say. I'm spent! And it's still only August! The season openers edge ever closer, only just over two weeks away now; I will shortly be heading out of the country on a fact-finding mission to North America (read: three week beer and sun-worshipping tour of South-West USA) and when I return the season will be in full swing. I'm practically salivating. Are you?

I am serious sports journalist, hear me roar

Right. There’s been far too much ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘aah-ing’ and whining and crying and namby-pamby, arty-farty, girly rubbish on this blog recently, and for that I apologise. We’re now at the business end of the summer and so finally, it’s time for me to put sentimentality aside and take an objective look at the coming season. Who’s looking good and who is struggling? Which signings have put the fear of god into the opposition? Who will I be paying my money to go and see next season? Have I learnt anything at all about hockey since last season, and can I pass myself off as a decent hockey writer? These and other questions are about to be answered as I engage in a team-by-team 2011/12 preview. Bold, ambitious, in several parts, and ultimately likely to result in a discussion about beards. But before I launch into roving reporter mode in an attempt to convince you all I’m worth taking seriously, I feel I must balance the factual with the juicy, the speculative and the downright contentious. I bring you:

MY SUMMARY OF THE SUMMER ACTION – AND BY THAT I MAINLY MEAN ‘GOSSIP’!!

There were juicy snippets in all possible areas of hockey life. It all started with a glorious performance by team GB in the Ukraine. After that, things got snipey. Owners bickered. Companies went into liquidation. New teams raised their status. Players became coaches, moved between English clubs, moved to Europe, moved back again. Coaches were staying, then going. Key imports were re-signed, lost and discovered. Hull and Edinburgh went Euro-centric. Giants got smaller. Mystery surrounded the whereabouts of Brad Voth. Shoes were put back on. Then taken off again when he was found. The hockey world acquired its very own Julian Assange. Dave Simms offended people. Rumour sites vied to bring the most accurate gossip, earliest. Dave Simms misled people on several occasions. Coventry started over having had half of their team retire. Danny Meyers had surgery and then declared he would put on a stone as if to compensate for the loss of Jade Galbraith in Nottingham. The shock move of the summer occurred involving the latter-named player. And Vipers fans became nomadic.

Okay enough of that. Now on with the facts! I’ll present the teams in two parts to break it down in an attempt to let my wisdom fully penetrate your brain-holes. But to keep things orderly, I’m going to do it in alphabetical order. Let’s do this thing!

BELFAST GIANTS

It seems to have become standard in recent years for the Northern Irish team to assemble a selection of players capable of contending for the league title but without an end product to speak of. Coach Doug Christiansen had his critics last season and despite boasting a roster of quality imports, honours were not forthcoming. But this season could be different. He has once again pulled together a mouth-watering selection of North Americans in what looks to be the strongest collection of imports of any team, even further bolstered by their decision to go with 11 imports, surely a statement of intent from Christiansen, and if the British players can raise their game and Christiansen can get his tactics right, I don’t see any reason they shouldn’t be top of the pile come March. The Giants are the team to beat this season and quite frankly on paper, the title looks theirs to lose. I for one cannot wait to see them in action.

One to watch: It has to be Adam Keefe. He’s created the most buzz over the last few weeks, isn’t afraid of a fight despite lacking in the height department, can put away a few goals it seems, and most importantly he looks just like that wrestler. You know the one. Er…
Predicted finish: I really think they can, and will, do it this season. 1st.
Fun fact: Belfast have possibly the shortest collection of players in ice hockey history, despite their name. This is ironic. Someone call Alanis Morrissette.

Is this the one I meant? I'm not even sure.

BRAEHEAD CLAN

The Clan have had a funny summer, opening with a couple of strong signings and then going quiet for a while. Plans went up in the air when coach Bruce Richardson, who had already committed his future to the club for the forthcoming season, changed his mind and decided to leave for a job in North America. Rumours as to his replacement rumbled through July and were finally quelled with the appointment of Drew Bannister, who spent part of last season in Hull and brings with him a wealth of experience. Bannister slapped his cards on the table almost immediately as in one of the most surprising moves of the summer, he secured the signature of Panther’s star man Jade Galbraith. Then they went quiet again and remain so with a number of players yet to be announced. There seems to have been unrest bubbling under the surface all summer over off-ice matters and it remains to be seen if this will have any effect on the on-ice product this season. I also can’t fail to point out that the Clan are now in possession of one Samuel L Zajac (middle initial actually unknown), formerly of the Vipers of Newcastle. They’d better look after him or there’ll be trouble. Mainly from him.

One to watch: Jade Galbraith will rule the roost in Glasgow and continue to frustrate defences up and down the land.
Predicted finish: 6th
Fun fact: In hockey terms, I have the most in common with the Clan, as we are both one year old! For this and other reasons, I will mainly be following this team for the 2011/12 season.

CARDIFF DEVILS

The Devils absolutely stormed the 2010/11 season and were desperately unlucky to walk away with no silverware to show for it. I’m sorry to say I don’t think they will repeat the heroics of last season this time around. Despite retaining the services of influential American forward Scott Matzka after a will-he-won’t-he move to France collapsed at the 11th hour, the Devils have sustained arguably the biggest losses of any Elite League side following the departures of Ryan Finnerty, Tylor Michel, Craig Weller and top-scorer Jon Pelle. Gerad Adams has added strength to his side with the signing of defencemen Chris Frank, and talisman Brad Voth announced he would see out his career in Cardiff this season, spending an seventh consecutive year with the Devils, but they are going to have to rely on the combined fire-power of returners Matzka and Max Birbraer to have a hope of competing with the likes of Belfast this season.

One to watch: Scott Matzka. Guy needs to step up to the plate this season and provide serious amounts of goals to give the Welsh side any hope of contending,
Predicted finish: Sorry to say, I cannot see them finishing higher than 5th (Note, I originally wrote this on 4th August BEFORE Simmsey made this prediction).
Fun fact: Cardiff is in Wales! That’s a whole other country! They talk funny there. And they have a fantastic set of fans!

COVENTRY BLAZE

Along with Panthers, Blaze were one of the teams who chose to show their cards early in the off-season, more through necessity than choice as a significant complement of their core had made the decision to retire from the sport. They signed a number of quality imports early on including former Newcastle Viper, Slovenian Matic Kralj and Canadian starlet Shea Guthrie. They have assembled a good range of players and look set to mount a more significant challenge on the bigger sides than they did in their disappointing 10/11 season. They are an exciting and dynamic prospect and will be a real handful this season.

One to watch: Shea Guthrie is a young talent who promises much. One of the players I’m most looking forward to seeing in action, he has size, speed and skill on his side.
Predicted finish: Blaze will do better this season with their young, dynamic side, and could give the likes of Nottingham a real run for their money. 4th.
Fun fact: Americans call Coventry ‘Cuventry’. If I was a Blaze fan I’d be hard pushed not to correct them every time they said that. I suppose I should be grateful there isn’t a team in Birming-HAM.

DUNDEE STARS

Dundee have flown under the radar this summer in terms of gossip, signings and general goings-on, but that’s not to say the wheels haven’t been turning in the chilly outer reaches of Scotland (well, okay, it’s not THAT far away – but it’s the furthest north of all the Elite League clubs!) Player coach Dan Ceman has played his cards close to his chest and has quietly gone about building up his squad, bolstering the Stars’ ranks with a solid selection of players, both British and import. They could be a dark horse in this year’s race, and I certainly feel they will improve on last year, and will definitely not have a scrap on their hands to make a play-off spot.

TWO to watch: Either Jarrett Konkle with his extensive experience in North America or Dan McGoff, the speedy offensive defenceman fresh from the Dutch league, could be the key players for the Stars this season.
Predicted finish: 7th
Fun fact: Dundee have continued in their quest to sign the most amusingly named hockey players in the land with the arrival of Konkle, who sounds like a cross between a large nose and a shell, and automatically rockets to top spot in the Amusing Names list, just edging out Panthers new boy Scott Champagne

Join me for the remaining 5 teams in tomorrow's post, good people of Hockey-land!

Tap, tap… Is this thing on?

Hello? Hellooooo? Here perhaps you could visualise me yawning and stretching, as I uncurl myself from my summer-shaped box and climb carefully back out into the world of British ice hockey.

And it’s a strangely barren world I find myself in. I’m used to football pre-season. It is, as a rule, very dull; the comings and goings of the transfer market serve to punctuate the brief but persistent void where football once was, providing some talking points in the absence of any real news. The announcement of the new season’s fixtures comes and goes in a flurry of non-news; if there was actual sport going on no-one would give a care as to the arresting discovery that Blackburn are away to newly promoted Swansea on the third weekend in November. But without the real thing on tap, it’s something to talk about. Tennis helps, when it’s on. As does athletics, and cricket. For the rest of the time, thumbs are twiddled, holidays partaken of, tabloid headlines featuring Premiership footballers gasped at, and life just generally got on with, safe in the knowledge that the continuation of life as a supporter of your particular team will continue in just two short months.

This is my first off-season as an ice hockey fan. And it’s already been found wanting. Wanting, most significantly, of a team. In my 20-odd years as a football supporter I’ve never experienced an aching void quite like this and I hope I never will. Not only is the season over – a fact which in itself I could cope with without too much of a problem – it IS summer, after all, and somehow gathering in a chilly ice rink when it’s 23 degrees outside seems as though it might be a bit odd – but I am now without a place in the world of the sport I love. It feels a bit like going back to former place of work to say hello to old colleagues, but when you walk into the office, it’s full of people you’ve never seen before. There’s that awkward moment of feeling as though, in your head at least, you still belong in this place. But nothing to cling onto to back up that notion. I’m metaphorically homeless. A bit of a pisser, as I was totally up to date with my mortgage repayments, I swears it, guv’nor.

So there’s no transfer news for us marooned Vipers fans, and no speculating over fixtures, or jerseys, or rinks, or owners. There’s just… Nothing. But defiance reigns among the faithful. We DO still belong here! We WON’T go quietly! And okay, we may not have a team THIS season. But we’ll be back in the future. Maybe. And in the meantime, the rest of you are just going to have to put up with us! Cue the impending arrival of the Viper Nomads in YOUR ice rink. A band of merry travellers intent on keeping the memory of the Vipers alive, visiting the homes of the other Elite League clubs in order to get their fix of top level hockey. It’s a temporary measure. And it will have to do. But you can be damn sure we will have fun in the process.

Well, what else am I supposed to fill the void with?

The whole thing has been just another surreal turn in the rollercoaster journey I’ve been strapped into since my first day as an ice hockey fan. And it got me thinking about the nature of being a fan. How do you choose a team when you start to follow a new sport? In adulthood at least, it can only be an arbitrary process, in stark contrast for example with the meaningful team-selections of childhood, which are less of a choice and more of an organic acceptance of the preferences of those most influential in your life, like a form of osmosis.

With football for me, for example, my selection was never in doubt. My football team is as inbred in me as my larger than average feet and my freakish ability to independently wiggle my ears. I was cheering for Watford before I even had the vaguest concept of what it meant. All I knew was, there were some men on a patch of grass, and a ball, and sometimes it made my Dad very happy. This consequently made me very happy. Therefore, Watford (or as I knew them back in those days, ‘youworns’) were good. As I grew into them they became embedded in my psyche. The reasons were simple: I lived there. My Dad supported them. They were my first experience of live football. They wore shiny colours and were really nice. I grew up with them, and they are as much a part of me as anything else I have lived with my entire life, like the odd lump on my right ear or my sticky out spine.

With hockey it was a bit different. No. A LOT different. I’d lived in Newcastle for six years and hadn’t shown the slightest inclination to start supporting Newcastle United, or Falcons, or any of the other local sports teams. So it wasn’t really the local connection. I put it down to the first experience thing. A bit like how a duckling will attach itself to the first live creature it sees when it is born, even if that creature happens to be a cat, or a llama. I saw them, and that was it. They imprinted on me, and I became their willing devotee. I could have chosen a team that were actually, well, good. I’d only been supporting them a couple of weeks, couldn’t I just switch allegiances? It’s not like my family supported them, or I had a whole host of friends to go to matches with (because I didn’t originally). And they really were quite poor at that stage. But to use another fitting analogy, it’s like giving birth to an ugly baby. You can gaze longingly at the perfect little angels in the cribs next to your mini Winston Churchill, and wistfully imagine what it would have been like if you had had one of those. But as wrinkly and pug-nosed as your disappointing offspring may be, it’s your disappointing offspring, and you literally couldn’t love them any more if you tried, however hideously disfigured they might be.

So to conclude, either the Vipers were my children, or they were my mother. I became quite concerned at that point as to the nature of that particular train of thought, as, I believe, would Freud have been were he to have psychoanalysed me at that point in time. But I digress.

I hope you’ve understood the general thrust of the slightly disturbing extended metaphor, and that it makes plain my current plight: WHO am I going to support next season? Because I couldn’t watch a sport with impassionate objectivity. It’s not in my nature. Is it in anyone’s?! I HAVE to support SOMEONE, in EVERYTHING. I can’t watch a football match, or a 100m race, or even archery in the Olympics, without backing someone. In international sports it often defaults to the British person. But not solely: in sport like tennis or athletics, I support the person who is passionate, wears their heart on their sleeve, or is just an all-round good egg. I champion passion, dedication and guts above all else – how can you fail to love a person or team who gives it their all? It’s the reason why last season’s Vipers team were just so perfect to me in the end, despite their apparent lack of quality when stacking up against the big guns (and it’s why I loathe the England football team in their current incarnation, aside from any patriotism, with all their preening, whining, philandering amoebic dysentery. But that's another blog post for another time).

So I’ve turned this current problem over in my mind a numerous occasions, and I’ve managed to narrow it down. I’ll leave you on that cliff-hanger and take my leave for now. But don’t go far – I’ll be back next week with my team-by-team season previews. It will be TOTALLY informative and thought-provoking. As if it would be anything else! Until next time, my pretties. Over and out!

Greetings hockeylings!

Hello!

For those of you who haven’t read me before, my name is Katy, and I spent the best part of the 2010/11 hockey season falling deeply in love ice hockey and writing about my burgeoning affection and all its irrational nuances on this here blog. Which back then, was called ‘Confessions of a Hockey Novice’. Note the update. I am now a Hockey Nomad. This change was borne out of necessity following the loss of my beloved team, the Newcastle Vipers, but also as I now feel ready to shed my training wheels and go forth into the world of ice hockey to spread my love amongst anyone who is willing to listen. If it sounds a bit squelchy, I do apologise.

I hope you will come with me on the next stage of my journey. It will be mainly concentrating on the Elite League, and in the absence of a regular team to support it will comprise much conjecture and opinionating, at least 33% of which will be based on fact. The remaining 67% will be based on such fripperies as beard-length, celebrity lookalikes, gentle ribbing at the expense of anyone and everyone involved in the Elite League, and pure fantasy.

My disclaimer for anyone new to my hockey writing is this: I waffle. A lot. But there’s always a point in there somewhere, if you have a decent metaphorical spade to dig it out with. I obsess over facial hair. I am fascinated by violence. I am far too giving of my affection and as a result, I get far too attached to things. And I’m prone to the odd terrible illustration or superhero-related cartoon. But if you’ll forgive me these mild mental conditions, I’m sure we’ll all get along famously. (In short, please don’t leave me! It’s cold enough in here without a team let alone without any hits on my website!)

So without further ado I will move onto my first post of the new season. Even though the season hasn’t started yet. Come now, let’s not be picky. I have much speculation and idle gossip to impart! But first, a post about the nature of being a sports fan. Aaaaand.... GO!