Hello Again… It’s been a long time…

Ermm….yeh…It’s been a long time since i updated this. Been a busy year and all, but i’m going to kickstart this thing and keep it going for at least a year this time. I can’t guarantee i’m going to be any less miserable or cynical but that’s just how i roll dawgggg.

Fantasy hockey opens

Yahoo have opened their fantasy hockey this week, so i’m trying to get a big league going. Basically, it’s free to sign up and enter and when we have enough teams in the league i’ll set the draft to start. The computer deals you an entire team (you can set your preferred players in the draft if you like) and then you can put forward trade proposals and the like to the rest of the league. Every week you’re up against another team in the league and the score is determined by how many team goals you’ve got, how many team shut-outs etc…

It’s really quite fun, we had about 10 teams in the league last year.

League ID: 18647
League Name: The_Cage
League Password: Tessiergolf

http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey

Game Night #1: Panthers, Coventry, Belfast, Manchester open with win, Edinburgh ride to shock win in Sheffield!

Ah, the first night of the season, how i love thee.

It’s been 5 months since Sheffield carted off the play-off trophy in Nottingham and i doubt that following their opening day game against Edinburgh that two games could produce more contrasting emotions.

The GMB (not Nottingham apparently) Panthers opened their season with a hugely impressive win in Newcastle. After twice losing the lead, they eventually held on to record a 3-2 win. Kevin Bergin opened the scoring, Matt Myers scored the second and David Clarke recorded the GWG in his first game back with the club. I’m afraid i don’t know the Newcastle scorers as yet, but this will be amended ASAP.

As previously stated, Edinburgh managed a shocking 3-1 victory in Sheffield. The Caps took a 3-0 lead before the Steelers managed a late consolation effort. This result was all the more remarkable by hearing that Edinburgh iced their back-up netminder for the game due to VISA issues with their starting NM.

In other news, Manchester Phoenix won 4-3 in Hull, Belfast beat Cardiff in their own rink 5 to 3 and Coventry were the victors over Basingstoke 4-2.

I apologise for the sketchy details, but IH-Update is still running on low info and it’s too early to find out squad numbers from anywhere. These will improve over the season!

Hockey’s back!

Julie Moult is an idiot

Sorry, this isn’t particularily hockey related in the slightest, but if you read this it all becomes clear.

Julie Moult is the personification of everything i hate about modern Journalism and the sooner she retires the better.

Julie Moult is an eejit.

Chavvy Carson and Bling Boniface sport their new trackies

In what is clearly a desperate search for innovation from the EIHL powers-that-be, the referees and linesmen will be sporting a new look this year. Instead of the classic tried-and-tested black and white stripes, they will now be wearing JD Sports finest blacksuits. The pictures in this article come from Iain Dilley who was present at the recent Coventry vs GB U-20′s game in which they were debuted.

Christ on a bike, look at them! It’s small wonder they don’t have ‘Lacoste’ emblazeoned on the back!

Now, i’m all for change if it’s warranted and if it’s necessary. However, this doesn’t strike me as anything other than change for changes sake. The referee kits are a part of hockey, they’re synonimous with the game! Why change it? It’s like starting playing with a ball.

The biggest problem for me though is that looking at the picture, they aren’t immediately detectable. The last thing you want is referees whos kits clash with the playing side. If a forward is hammering down the wing and he sees a figure in his colours in the corner of the ice, he’s gonna pass to him. You don’t always get the opportunity to look up properly.

Let’s hope these are firmly on a trial basis and that they see sense and revert to the ‘classic’ style, and soon. There is simply no point to this.

Not-even-nearly-weekly NHL update – #2 – 20/08

I guess ‘weekly’ was a little optimistic! I’m a busy man, cut me some slack!

Ok, so in the considerable time since i last updated you, Mr Sundin has yet to decide on where his future may lie. Recent newspaper reports have suggested that the two teams Sundin would like to join are the Rangers and my Flyers. This is highly surprising news to me, i don’t see the need for the Flyers to go after any more forwards (even if they are as good as Mr Sundin) and even if we want to, we’re in no cap situation to do so. Pretty much the only way he could sign with us is if we do some serious cap dumping somewhere. Oh, hello Florida, you want Knuble and Hatcher? The ever-reliable Eklund has stated recently that Sundin would be willing to play for a cup-contender for as little as $2m though, so there could possibly be legs to this. One thing that this piece could serve to do is eliminate the Canucks from the running, although i find it very hard to believe anyone could turn down $20m for two years work.

In other news, John ‘the baker’ Stevens has signed a 2-year contract extension with the Flyers. He was recently awarded the ‘coach of the year’ award by the Hockey News for his efforts in guiding the Flyers from 30th to the conference finals in only one year. I’m still highly sceptical in his ability, he did very well in the play-offs this year, out-couching both Boudreau of the Ovechkins and Carbonneau of the Canadiens despite missing Gagne for the entire run, but he really ought to have performed better in the league, and he was also the man who ran rule over the side who finished bottom with Forsberg. He’s also over-seen two 10-game losing streaks. The question you need to be asking is, should a side with forward ranks of a high enough depth to be able to put Jeff Carter and RJ Umberger on the third line really be expecting any less than we got? Still, Hitchcock was fired a matter of months after an extension, so you can’t read too much into this.

The Jay Bouwmeester saga runs on. He has signed a one year, $4.85m extension to his current Florida deal, but this will obviously expire next summer and crucially, will make him a UFA at the end of it. Interested teams are touted to be the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and (you’ve guessed it), the Philadelphia Flyers. After losing Sundin, the Leafs desperately need a star and Bouw would meet the bill perfectly. Ottawa are looking to replace Wade Redden, after the left-handed defenseman went to the Rags. The only team who doesn’t really fit is the Flyers. We would like Bouw, but with Coburn and Timonen already there, we don’t really [i]need[/i] another top-pairing defenseman.

Alex Radulov has made some pretty interesting comments to the papers this week regarding the NHL poaching players from the Russian leagues. The most interesting quote is as follows:
“The NHL for 15 years has brought young players from Europe, first and foremost from Russia,” Radulov said, via a translation on Russianprospects.com. “I think that it is time to end this. Simply put: (It’s) time to stop robbing us.”
Wow. People living in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks at greenhouse manufacturers. Nobody was stopping you from taking the 25k per year in the Russian leagues were they Al? How much of the $1m you earned from the Preds last year did you pump into the Russian league to stop this ‘injustice’? Nobody is putting a gun to their head and making them sign in the NHL, it’s personal choice. Eejit.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Ryan Whitney is facing 3-5 months on the sidelines. This probably means Goligoski makes the team, which shall be interesting.

Finally, professional clown Sean Avery has come out saying he isn’t impressed with the Rangers spending policy. Whilst he got a good move to Dallas, i sense a little bitterness here Sean.

Where is Dan Tessier….?

He’s in Nottingham today apparently. According to the official site, Mr Daniel Tessier has agreed terms to return to Nottingham for a second spell with the black and gold. A replacement centre was necessary for the Panthers since Chris Richards decided to resign from his contract late last week, preferring to go for an opportunity outside the game, whilst still playing…

Tess is always going to cause controversy, mainly because he generally stays with his clubs for about the length of time it would take you to go around a golf course. Cough.In case you’re unaware of his record in this country, he initially joined the Panthers, only to go on to join a Swiss club mid-way through the season, came back to join Sheffield the following season, left them halfway through his 2-year contract only to return to the Steel City about 9 months later.

He’ll inevitably score plenty of points for the Panthers, his record in this country to date is around 1.5PPG, but i’m still ever-so-slightly disappointed. He abandoned us for greener grass new last time, but we still come crawling back to him, cap in hand. Shame.

The Sheffield games ought to be exciting though.

Re: Play-Off Rant

I have it on good authority that those ‘in the know’ regarding the weekend have read my piece on the play-off weekend and i have yet to receive anything like a reply from them. I guess that’s as big an admission of guilt as you’re ever likely to find.

Disaster for Panthers as top centre changes his mind…

Top hope for the new season and inevitable top scorer Chris Richards has resigned in writing to head coach Corey Neilson, citing a potential job offer outside the sport as his reasons for the decision. This is a big blow for the team, Richards looked like being a truly excellent player, one of the first real centres we’ve had in ages. Here’s to Neilson replacing like for like, without having to resort to Tessier.

Full story: http://www.panthers.co.uk/modules/News/SEFS/ID.816/SEFE/ViewNewsItem.asp

Sylvain in and Sylvain out for the Blaze, and plenty more!

Right then, this must surely be one of the last signings posts i make, most teams seem to have their rosters full by now. Here’s the ones that have happened since i’ve been gone:

Coventry have made arguably the biggest signing of the week, replacing Sylvain with Sylvain. Cloutier left a big hole in the league Champions roster, but former-Devil Deschatelets could be the guy to fill it. He finished last season with an impressive 26+62 for 88 points in 65 games and means that the Blaze now have 3 of the top 7 scorers from last season in Deschatelets, Calder and Carlson. Worrying times for the rest of the league.

The Steelers have made a surprise signing, bringing in infamous 24-year old thug Andrew Sharp, holder of a British passport despite playing most of his career in the States. He’s signed a one year two-way contract and will split his time between the Steelers and the Scimitars. You may remember Mr Sharp as being the guy who considers it OK to fire the pucks at the opposition during the pre-match warm-up. Sharp iced just 19 times for the Romford Raiders of the EPL last year and racked up an incredible 156 PIMS and 1 assist. Sounds like an awful player and a bit of a git to boot. On one hand, this gives a worrying message to the kids, don’t worry about technique, all you need is to be able to throw a mindless punch or nine and you’re in! On the other hand, it’s what Sheffield kinda need, a lunatic to protect their soft forward lines. I guess he’ll put bums on seats, so long as he gets Matsos to tie his laces up for him….

Hull have completed their roster with the signing of Canadian defenceman Troy Neumeier. The 37 year old Canadian has a wealth of experience behind him, with 17 clubs now having held his registration, including the Manchester Storm and more recently the Belfast Giants and last season, the Coventry Blaze. Definitely a steady-eddie own-zown guy, the Rays can expect no more than 10-15 points from him this season, but his knowledge could prove to be invaluable.

There’s only one to go for the Phoenix now, after coach Tony Hand completed the signing of 27 year old American RW Luke Fulghum (Ful-jum). He split last season between the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL and the Stockton Thunder and Elmira Jackels of the ECHL, racking up only 16+11 for 27 points in 46 games.

Basingstoke have brought in two defensemen, back comes the popular Eric Braff for his third season with the Bison and HUGE defenseman Jason Goulet makes his British league bow. Gouley spent last year with the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL, racking up 5 points and 160 PIMS. Winner of the prestigious ‘Basingstoke Gazette Sports Personality of the Year’ award last year, Braff is the final piece of the defence for the Herd which is actually looking pretty impressive. Could the Bison actually be making that step up from mediocrity to becoming a legitimate trophy contender? I don’t know, but i’m getting some serious deja vu here!

Next up, the Devils have completed their import roster with the signing of experienced Thai/Swedish defenceman Likit Andersson. The 35 year old spent last year in Denmark and racked up 10 goals and 16 assists. This isn’t his first spell in English hockey, he had a brief spell with the now-defunct Bracknell Bees in 2002, playing just three games for the club.

Finally, the Capitals have brought in three more players, centre Mark Hurtubise makes his first visit to Britain, and both Jordan Steel and Martin Cingel have been persuaded to return. Hurtubise, 24 from Montreal, spent last season with the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL and scored 14+30 for 44 points in 66 games with 46 PIMS. Not a bad signing, good second line player. Steel joined the Capitals this time last year and didn’t manage to record a single point in his 41 games with the club. Cingel is slightly more experienced and returns for his seventh season in Scotland. The 33 year old has gotten better year on year for the Caps, recording 31, 43 and 53 points over the last three years, 232 in total.