EHM The Blue Line

Since Phoenix have moved down to the EPL, I'll put shorter team previews up, but include both EIHL & EPL from now on


EIHL
With Basingstoke and Manchester dropping out, the EIHL is down to 8 teams. Sheffield won the league and playoffs last year whilst Belfast won the other two cups. There's going to be a bit of re-jig with the competitions this year, with the KO cup not happening, whilst there is a noew pre-season tournament, perhaps including some teams from the Netherlands and/or Belgium.

Belfast Giants:
Belfast had a good season last year in the cup competitions, winning the Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup, however injuries at key times in the league meant they finished 4th. Due to the cups finishing late on last season they had a ridiculous schedule which meant they fell out of the playoffs in the Quarter Finals. They will be looking for a stronger league performance this year.

Netminders:
Stephen Murphy
Nathan Craze

D-Men:
Tom Walsh
Graeme Walton
Kevin Phillips
Shane Johnson
Tim Cook
Michael Jacobsen

Forwards:
Colin Shields
Sean McMorrow
Craig Peacock
Steve Thornton(P/C)
Pat Bateman
Mark Morrison
Brandon Benedict
Pierre-Luc Faubert
George Awada
Evan Cheverie

Cardiff Devils:
Slightly underperformed in the league last season, but found form when it mattered and beat Belfast in the Quarter Finals of the playoffs before losing out to eventual winners Sheffield Steelers. Cardiff have a good owner who markets the team well and has seen the average crowd rise over the past season. Expect Cardiff to be challenging the big 4 this season.

Netminders:
Stevie Lyle
Dorian Smith
Mike Brabon

D-Men:
Mark Richardson
Gerad Adams(P/C)
Wes Jarvis
Mike Hartwick
Jason Stone
Scott Romfo

Forwards:
Jamie Hayes
Matt Towe
Brad Voth
Jay Latulippe
Phil Hill
Jamie Hayes
Mark Smith
Max Birbraer
Matt Miller
Tyler Michel

Coventry Blaze:
Having dominated for the past 2 seasons, Coventry were left trophy-less last year despite making mid-season signings to replace some poor starters. Unfortunately for the Blaze Perras and Leclair were no replacement for the outgoing Koenig and Martin, with Leclair leaving early on in the season and Perras coming under a lot of criticism from the fans and Coach Thompson. Having replaced Perras with Danish International Peter Hirsch, Thompson will be looking for silverware this season

Netminders:
Peter Hirsch
Tom Murdy

D-men:
Jonathan Weaver
Brian Lee
Tom Watkins
Matt Soderstrom
Jason Robinson

Forwards:
Greg Chambers
Adam Calder
Dan Carlson
Russ Cowley
Greg Owen
Derek Campbell
Danny Stewart
Luke Fulghum

Edinburgh Capitals:
Edinburgh were the final team to make the playoffs last year, after some good end of season form saw them finish 8th. If they can keep several members of last years team they could well cause an upset this season.

Netminders:
Cody Rudkowsky

D-Men:
Ben O'Connor
Kyle Horne
Mike Beynon
Chris Allen
Mark Smith

Forwards:
Doug Christansen(P/C)
Mark Garside
Jordan Steel
Simon Lambert
Martin Cingle
Darius Pliskauskas
Owen Fussey
Jeff Miles - Subject to Medical
Andrew Sharp
Neil Hay
Scott McKenzie

Hull Stingrays:
Hull finished 9th last season and just missed out on a playoff spot, they also parted company with their former Coach, and have appointed Ex-Blaze forward Sylvain Cloutier as player/coach. With some extra money reportedly being put into the club this season(wink,wink!) they could well caus an upset or two next year.

Netminders:
Tommy Sandahl
Andrew Jazczyk

D-men:
Craig Mitchell
Adam Knight
Pavel Gomenyuk
James Hutchinson
Ryan Jorde
Stehpen Burns

Forwards:
Sylvain Cloutier(P/C)
Curtis Huppe
Jeff Glowa
Lee Esders
Konstantin Kalmikov
Lee Mitchell
Shaun Thompson
Matt Davies
Matt Reynolds
Slava Koulikov

Newcastle Vipers:
Despite boasting arguably the best netminder and defenceman in the league last season, Verner & MacAllister resp., Newcastle had a poor season which saw them finish 7th. They never really looked like challenging Manchester for 6th and their fans will be looking for a better year this year. The management have promised to drop the Goon image that they've had for the past couple of years and go with a younger faster team(With David Longstaff as welll.... ).

Netminders:
Richard Lawson
Michel Robinson

D-Men:
Mark Gouett
Ryan Mahrle
Jerramie Domish
Tyler Kindle
Richie Thornton
Ross Hanlon

Forwards:
David Longstaff
Dean Holland
Ben Campbell
Nathan Salem
Mike Berry
Todd Griffith
Jason Tejchma
Matij Kralj
Matus Petricko
Jamie Tinsley

Nottingham Panthers:
Nottingham once again fell short of that elusive league title, which they last won in 1956 despite them having one of the largest budgets last year. Nottingham will be without key forwards Johan Molin and Dan Tessier and Coach Neilson will have to replace them with quality players if he wants that league title this season

Netminders:
Kevin St. Pierre
Mark Hartley

D-Men:
Corey Neilson(P/C)
Nick Toneys
Steve Lee
Danny Meyers
Dominic D'Amour
James Ferrara

Forwards:
Bruce Richardson
Kevin Bergin
David Clarke
Marc Levers
Sean MacAslan
Jade Galbraith
Marty Gascon
Cameron Mann
Ross Dagleish

Sheffield Steelers:
Sheffield had the perfect season last year on the ice with them winning the double, however many of their team will be moving on this season as they get lucrative offers from other European teams. Coach Matsos will have to pull a few rabbits out of hats if he wants to win the double again as he looks to rebuild his squad

Netminders:
Kevin Reiter
Dan Green

D-Men:
Scott Basiuk
Randy Dagenais
Kevin Bolibruck
Ben Morgan
Mark Thomas

Forwards:
Brad Cruikshank
Doug Sheppard
Robert Dowd
Jason Hewitt
Jonathan Phillips
Jeff Legue
Joe Talbot
Jeff Hutchins
Rod Sarich

EPL:

Last season saw Peterborough win the treble as they won the league, cup and the playoffs in a terrific season. However it remains to be seen whether they can afford to spent that much again this season and have already seen two key players leave in Rempel and Peacock. Expect Guildford to be competing for silverware this season as they have one of the largest budgets in the league. The EPL also sees Basingstoke and Manchester drop down and they should both be near the top of the table come the end of the year, especially with Tony Hand in the EPL.

Basingstoke Bison:
Basingstoke have had a terrible few years in the EIHL and have changed owners three times in the past two years. However this season sees them drop down to the EPL, where they will have one of the bigger budgets in the league, renewed rivalries and the ever-green Steve Moria as player coach.

Netminders:
Davey Lawrence
Tom Annets

D-men:
Sam Oakford
Sam Zajac
Kurt Reynolds
Tony Redmond
Mindy Kieras

Forwards:
Steve Moria(P/C)
Nicky Chinn
Scott Spearing
Ollie Bronnimann
Jamie Line
Joe Ciccarello
Tom Long
Ondrej Lauko
Andrew Hemmings
Chris Wiggins

Bracknell Bees:
Bracknell have once again been saved from the brink of extinction thanks to hockey fans throughout Britain. They have confirmed they will be playing EPL hockey this season, however many of their players have already moved on to other clubs so I would expect them to battling out at near the bottom of the table this season.

Netminders:
Carl Ambler
Adam Marashi

D-men:
Greg Randall
Shane Moore
Adam Jones
Carl Graham
Andrius Kaminskas


Forwards:
Claude Dumas
Jamie Randall
Nicky Watt
Danny House
Ryan Watt
Jaroslav Cesky
Greg Martyn
Ashley Calvert
Terry Miles
Michael Pinc


Guildford Flames:
Despite being the biggest team in the league, the Flames failed to win anything last season. With the signings of Lundin, Rempel and Clarke they have made a bold statement of intent to the rest of the league that they intend to return to winning ways this season.

Netminders:
Mark Lee
Dean Skinns

D-men:
Paul Dixon(P/C)
David Savage
Jez Lundin
Neil Liddiard
Vaclav Zavoral
Ben Austin
Rick Skene

Forwards:
Milos Melicherik
Gary Clarke
Nathan Rempel
Lukas Smital
Rob Lamey
Rick Plant
Tom Duggan
Martin Masa
Stuart Potts

Manchester Phoenix:
Manchester drop down to the EPL, despite finishing 6th last year in the EIHL and finishing runners up in both cups. Despite their best season ever the decision to drop down was taken before the season had finished since owner Neil Morris had put £700,000 of his own money into the club over the past five years. This season sees Manchester become one of the bigger boys in the EPL and with Tony Hand on the top line, at least one Manchester player is guaranteed to be close to the top of the goalscoring charts come the end of the season. Manchester have decided to go for a mixture of young Brits(excluding Hand obviously..) and more experienced import players and this season proves to be an exciting one for Phoenix fans.

Netminders:
Steve Fone
Adam Summerfield

D-Men:
Luke Boothroyd
Carl Graham
Joe Graham
Andre Mattson

Forwards:
Tony Hand(P/C)
Adam Walker
Ben Wood
Greg Wood
Iain Bowie
James Neil
Robert Lachowicz
Jaakko Hagelberg
Andre Payette
Ed Courtenay

Milton Keynes Lightning:
Milton Keynes finished 2nd last season in the league and also came runners up in the playoffs. They will look to go one further this season, however the loss of sniper Gary Clarke could be a big one and have a large bearing on where the Lightning finish up this season.

Netminders:
Barry Hollyhead
Alex Mettam

D-Men:
Lukas Zatopek
Leigh Jamieson
Lewis Christie
Michael Farn
Chris McEwan
Ross Green
Adam Radmall

Forwards:
Nick Poole(P/C)
Adam Carr
Adam Brittle
Andre Smulter
Matt Towalski
Monir Kalgoum
Ross Bowers
Grant McPherson
Michael Wales


Peterborough Phantoms:
Peterborough come off the back of a treble winning season, however they have already lost some of their key players and with the addition of Manchester and Basingstoke to the league it remains to be seen whether the Phantoms can again finish top of the pile this season.

Head Coach:
Doug Irwin

Netminders:
Stephen Wall
Ryan Bainborough
Damien King

D-Men:
Dwayne Newman
Alex Symonds
Nick Compton
Julian Smith
Zandy Cleves
James Morgan

Forwards:
Maris Ziedins
Callum Fowler
Tom Carlon
Lewis Buckman
Shaun Yardley
Thomas Jeffrey
Luke Ferrara
James Spurr
Jason Cassells
Brent Gough

Romford Raiders:
Despite Romford having a dispute with their rink owners they have managed to come to an agreement about ice time/rental this season and Romford are back in the EPL. Romford finished in the middle of the pack last year and will be looking to get further in both the league and playoffs next season.
Head Coach:
Jesse Hammill

Netminders:
Joe Myers
Euan King

D-men:
Andy Munroe
Michal Palik
Daniel Cox
Ryan Giles
Adam Copland
Alistair Band
Jonathan Sitko

Forwards:
Danny Marshall
Darren Cotton
Matthew Turner
Dallas Costanzo
Michael Timms
Dean Tonks
Kamil Vavra
Tom Davis
Steven Maile
Jason Buckman

Sheffield Scimitars:
Since Hull dropped out of the EPL Sheffield have always been on their own in the North of England, however with the addition of Manchester, Sheffield will have a legitimate local rivalry and hopefully some increased gate numbers. Their legendary Player Coach Ron Shudra has unfortunately retired from hockey, but hopefully Jon Rowbotham can put together a good side that will give some good war of the roses hockey!!
Head Coach:
Jon Rowbotham

Netminders:
Ben Bowns
Paul Jones
Pasi Raitanen

D-Men:
Ben Morgan
Lloyd Gibson
Lee Haywood
Steve Duncombe
Daniel Slyk
Lewis Bell
Frazer Goldie

Forwards:
Robert Farmer
Simon Butterworth
Tom Squires
Stuart Brittle
Matt Haywood
Aran Strawson
Joakim Millqvist
Peter Slamiar
Stephen Wallace
James Archer

Slough Jets:
Slough had a disappointing season last year according to their owner, who gave Steve Moria reportedly one of the biggest budgets in the league. Moria has subsequently been replaced by Pete Russell and it will be his job this season to bring silverware to Slough.
Head Coach:
Peter Russell

Netminders:
Gregg Rockman
Charles Kaylor

D-Men:
Blaz Emersic
Adam Greener
Jan Melichar
Paddy Ward
Billy Phillips
Sam Waller

Forwards:
Joe Greener
James Knight
Pater Jasik
Michael Bowman
Carl Thompson
Daniel Davies
Ciaran Long
Callum Best
Peter Poljacek
Jamie Milton


Swindon Wildcats:
Swindon had a poor season last year finishing in the bottom three and failing to get past the quarter finals of the playoffs. Player/Coach Ryan Aldridge is a good player and they have solid netminding in ex-Nottingham player Geoff Woolhouse.

Netminders:
Geoff Woolhouse
Oli Landsdowne

D-Men:
Joe Baird
Jan Krajicek
Yousif Abu Saada
Dylan Row
Andrew Finn

Forwards:
Ryan Aldridge(P/C)
Jozef Kohut
Aaron Nell
Matt Foord
Lee Richardson
Gareth Endicott
Sam Bullas
Alan Green
Loris Taylor
James Griffin
Raimonds Daniličs

Updated all of the rosters

Getting pretty excited with the Phoenix side, loads of British youngsters have joined the oldest being 25yrs old!!(apart from Hand obviously). Looking forward to seeing a line of

Bowie - Neil - Lachowicz

which was the top scoring line in the U-20 WC's for GB.

If I'm staying in Manchester I may get a season ticket as well

Rosters have been updated.

Romford and Bracknell are confirmed as playing in the EPL this season , unfortunately Telford have dropped out for a year

Hey, thought i got it right when i tried to remember where Tom Walsh went from IFK. Didn't remember the team though. Anyway, about Tom Walsh, currently signed to Belfast Giants.

I have no idea about the level of play in the EIHL, but i think it's safe to say it's worse than SM-Liiga. He was assigned as an offensive defenceman, and as it turned out, Tom Walsh was probably the worst foreign player to play in IFK for the past decade. He was slow, had a lousy shot, practically never checked anyone and usually made bad passes. Once in a while though he would give you the perfect opening pass, but that's about it. His stats were 0+4 in 30 games he played. He had an injury that kept him away for couple of games though.

But he might do better in a lower level league, and it could have been that he was just having a bad season.

The EIHL is between the ECHL & CHL in terms of quality

archibalduk wrote:Nick - I'm up for some Phoenix games next season. Mark_htfc is too provided it doesn't clash with a Huddersfield Town home game. Getzlaf - would you be interested in meeting up at a Phoenix game at some point next season (maybe Oct or Nov time)?

Sure. Count me in. Would be nice to put a face to the name. Plus i don't get to watch much live hockey.

Right just to let you all know, the weekends that I defiantly won't be available for in October or November are:

Saturday the 10th, 24th October and the Saturday 14th and 21st of November.

I should be able to do any sunday and any saturday when Town are away unless it is a game I am interested in.

Well it looks like I may be moving away from Manchester come September...just to add another complication!!

When are Phoenix's fixtures released? That will give us a better chance to see when we are all available!

EPL fixtures come out notoriously late apparently....

Rosters should be up to date

Great to see David Phillips getting a 2-way contract with the Rockford IceHogs and the Gwinnet Gladiators after impressing at the Blackhawks prospect camp

From what I've heard Newcastle have a hell of a team, can't wait to get to a game, sounds like thrilling hockey, and winning hockey.

All teams looking good this season in the EIHL, and its started competitively, with Sheffield not doing so well, Vipers beating Panthers, Hull looking good etc...


It all kicked off in Cardiff last night though, with Hull player Adam Knight and Cardiff's Brad Voth fighting both on the ice and off the ice, Both got double match penalties, and I expect more to be handed out. A couple of Cardiff players also got booted from the game which finished 23 seconds early after a mass brawl broke out. There are also claims of a Hull player, Curtis Huppe, throwing his stick 'Javelin style' into the the Cardiff bench.

Also Edinburgh are looking good if they can sign Jeff Miles, who has some medical concerns. They will have top netminding in Cody Rudkowsky(EHM legend in the EIHL!), and good forwards in Fussey and Miles.

Updated the EIHL squads, and the Phoenix squad. I will update the rest of the EPL at some point

EIHL Results thus far:
Saturday 5th September

Elite League

Newcastle Vipers 3 Cardiff Devils 4 (after Pen Shots)
Nottingham Panthers 4 Belfast Giants 1
Sheffield Steelers 1 Coventry Blaze 3

Sunday 6th September

Elite League

Hull Stingrays 2 Belfast Giants 3
Newcastle Vipers 5 Cardiff Devils 4

Challenge Cup Group B

Coventry Blaze 3 Nottingham Panthers 5

Saturday 12th September 2009

Elite Ice Hockey League

Hull Stingrays 4 Cardiff Devils 2

Belfast Giants 2 Sheffield Steelers 3 (after PENS)

Nottingham Panthers 2 Coventry Blaze 1



Sunday 13th September 2009

Elite Ice Hockey League

Newcastle Vipers 5 Nottingham Panthers 3

Sheffield Steelers 2 Belfast Giants 4



Challenge Cup Group B

Cardiff Devils 5 Hull Stingrays 2

Table is:
Newcastle
Belfast
Nottingham
Hull
Coventry
Cardiff
Sheffield
Edinburgh(yet to play)

Video of the mass brawl: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sports/ice ... -24680636/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om5HKpVyviw

Wow, I'm sorry but once your off the ice, that's it, no matter how much you hate each other, leave it till next time. That is my opinion anyway.

David Phillips is one of the 7 Rockford players invited for the Blackhawks training camp, well done to him it will be a great experience

Calv wrote:The EIHL is between the ECHL & CHL in terms of quality

Sure about that? I haven't ever seen an EIHL game, but when I see stats of someone like Curis Huppe I can't imagine that the EIHL is better then the CHL...
Huppe had more than a point per game in all of his seasons in Britain and then last season in Corpus he had 14P in 28 games and was definitely not one of the better players in the league.

One could see that he understands the game but he was far far away from being a top guy in the CHL...

Tschark wrote:

Calv wrote:The EIHL is between the ECHL & CHL in terms of quality

Sure about that? I haven't ever seen an EIHL game, but when I see stats of someone like Curis Huppe I can't imagine that the EIHL is better then the CHL...
Huppe had more than a point per game in all of his seasons in Britain and then last season in Corpus he had 14P in 28 games and was definitely not one of the better players in the league.

One could see that he understands the game but he was far far away from being a top guy in the CHL...

I'm just going to list the quality of 1 team here.
Belfast:

Stephen Murphy - Britain no.1/no.2 netminder, Spent a few seasons in the Swedish Div.1 and Norwegian elite league
Nathan Craze - Backup netminder

Tom Walsh - played the majority of his career in the AHL, with 1 spell in the ECHL and 1 in the Finnish league
Tim Cook - played in ECHL & Danish league
Shane Johnson - Spent several seasons in the BISL, a league much higher in quality than the current EIHL, also 54 Canadian intl games.
Graeme Walton & Kevin Phillips - British d-men, not the greatest tbh.

Colin Shields - 2 seasons ECHL(one of the few brits to play in NA) experience & EIHL experience, highest British NHL Draftee
Sean McMorrow - AHL enforcer
Craig Peacock - Young Brit, hard to compare
Steve Thornton - Played in the BISL, as well as a lot of top Euro leagues(DEL etc..)
Pat Bateman - ECHL experience plus 1 call up to AHL
Mark Morrison - Brit, pretty mediocre
Brandon Benedict - Over a point a game in ECHL, a point per game in a brief spell in the CHL
Pierre-Luc Faubert - Almost a point a game in ECHL, plus some call ups to AHL
George Awada - AHL & ECHL experience before spending a lot of time in the EIHL
Evan Cheverie - AHL & ECHL experience before moving to Europe.


The problem with the EIHL is that there are too many mediocre Brits. The top Brits could play in the ECHL & AHL, for example David Phillips has just survived the first cut of the Blackhawks training camp, Matt Myers has moved to the ECHL, Colin Shields did well over there, Tony Hand could've made it as well. Jonathan Weaver almost got a point per game as a defenceman in his brief stint in the ECHL.

The worst imports coming over are probably mid-to-top end CHLers tbh, the problem is because there is such a limited number of top end Brits(thus they are expensive) these mid end CHLers often get a larger role in the team than they would in the CHL(perhaps why they move here) so get more points.

Calv wrote:The problem with the EIHL is that there are too many mediocre Brits. The top Brits could play in the ECHL & AHL, for example David Phillips has just survived the first cut of the Blackhawks training camp, Matt Myers has moved to the ECHL, Colin Shields did well over there, Tony Hand could've made it as well. Jonathan Weaver almost got a point per game as a defenceman in his brief stint in the ECHL.

The worst imports coming over are probably mid-to-top end CHLers tbh, the problem is because there is such a limited number of top end Brits(thus they are expensive) these mid end CHLers often get a larger role in the team than they would in the CHL(perhaps why they move here) so get more points.

Well, but doesn't that make the CHL the better league? If you wanna compare the level of two Leagues, you can't just compare the top-players but also the depth of the teams. If you say mid/top-CHL-players have a bigger role in the EIHL and get more points, then that makes the CHL be the better league in my eyes.

By the way: IF you only wanna compare the level of the toplines, I wouldn't see any difference between the CHL and ECHL. Every topguy in the Central league would be a topplayer in the Coast as well.
The only "big" (not that big imho) difference is the depth. But I'm sure the CHL's best teams (Colorado, Texas) would be topteams in the Coast. But as I said: I think you cannot only compare the best teams or players in the leagues. You need to compare the average level in the Leagues. And if you do so, I would say:
ECHL>CHL>EIHL (EIHL only based on stats, I haven't ever seen a game).