Thursday 23 August 2012

Davies re-signs to bring Stingrays to 17

The Hull Stingrays have today announced the long-awaited re-signing of British forward Matty Davies - who returns for his fourth season with the club.

The diminutive 22 year old forward becomes the 17th player to commit to Sylvain Cloutier's side ahead of the 12/13 EIHL campaign and will undoubtedly become a key Brit for the club following the departures of fellow British forwards Tristan Harper, Jack Watkins and Andy McKinney.

Davies hit a goal and ten points during his first full season of top flight hockey in 09/10 and went on to improve to 16 points in 26 games in 10/11 - only to controversially quit the club mid-game and mid-season in a disagreement over playing time.

He and Cloutier ironed out their issues last summer and he returned with the promise that he would play a prominent role in the Rays offence. The former Great Britain junior international was given top two line minutes last term, however, the offensive output failed to materialise as he hit just 17 points in 51 games.

A concussion sustained on a hit from Dundee's Jeff Hutchins in February at Hull Arena then brought his season to a halt. However, he made a surprise swift recovery in time to help the Stingrays to their first ever EIHL Semi-Final and Final Four weekend - scoring a fortuitous, but key goal in the Playoff Quarter Final Second Leg victory over the Sheffield Steelers with help from the stick of the Steelers Jason Hewitt.
With 132 games and 43 points at EIHL level, Davies' return is a welcome relief for the Stingrays - who are devoid of any real top flight British experience. While Ben Bowns made a brief Elite League debut last term and Andy Ward and Sam Towner were brought in as back-up last season, neither 17 year old Scott Robson nor 20 year old Chris Sykes have any EIHL experience. Bowns' addition and the allowance of an extra import throughout the EIHL this season has, however, in effect allowed the club to add experience through two further outskating imports - though a lot rests on his highly thought of abilities between the pipes.

Either way, as ice hockey in Hull has seen in the past with Stevie Lee, Dave Phillips, Kevin Phillips and, to an extent, Lee Esders, the experienced gained by young Brits at such a young age will likely provide a huge learning curve and one that will stand the debutants in good stead moving forward.

At just 22 Davies isn't exactly a veteran himself, however, Cloutier admits his skill, experience and passion for the club could be key in the season ahead.
"It is excellent to have Matty back, he is a big part of our team. He is still young himself but he has a lot of experience. Matty wants to play for Stingrays, he cares a lot about his hometown club and he wants the team to be successful. Matty has the skills to put up points in this league. He had a bit of a rough time last year but I believe he can do it."
Speculation early in the off-season suggested that Davies was initially looking to return to the EPL and a lack of news in the meantime appeared to give the rumour further credibility.

However, despite the doubts, Davies has returned and admits he always favoured a return to his hometown:
"I always wanted to come back. It was a great end to last season which saw us reach the play-off finals weekend. It gave the fans something to cheer about and that is something we want to do again this year. I like the new league format, it will mean us playing a lot more competitive and meaningful games. It was tough for me last season and I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I want to prove I can produce in this league. I am itching to get out there and get going now. I am really excited about the season ahead and hopefully we can have a good one."
With 17 players now on the roster including one netminder, six defenceman (five full-time) and ten forwards (eight full-time), Cloutier is now in the closing stages of putting his roster together.

Theoretically - with the import quota complete - the Rays require just a British back-up netminder to complete the squad with last season's capable back-up Andy Brummitt favourite to return.

However, given the three two-way contacts given out to defenceman Robson and forwards Ward and Towner - who will also play for the Stingrays NIHL affiliate - it may be that there is another British signing or two to follow to round out the roster.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Stingrays confirm Smith signing; complete import quota


The long awaited signing confirmation of 6'6 defenceman Jeff Smith has today completed the Hull Stingrays import quota for the 2012/2013 Elite Ice Hockey League campaign.

The rangy, physical blueliner returns to the UK for a second shot after sitting out the majority of the 10/11 season with the Coventry Blaze thanks to a knee injury - notching three goals and an assist as well as 25 penalty minutes along the way.

Smith - who has lifted the Canadian Hockey League (00/01), ECHL Kelly Cup (02/03), American Hockey League Calder Cup (04/05), Dutch Eredivisie (09/10) and Dutch Beker Cup (08/09 and 11/12) - moves across the North Sea for the second time having completed a second spell in Holland last season with HYS Den Haag - where he notched a goal and 12 assists in 37 games.

Having notched the championship winning goal for the Red Deer Rebels in the CHL Memorial Cup in 2001 - Smith became part of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers organisation in 2002 signing a three-year, two-way deal. Though he never made the NHL, he iced in 57 AHL games and 96 ECHL games with the Flyers minor league affiliates the Philadelphina Phantoms and Trenton Titans respectively.

The next three seasons saw the Canadian spend a season apiece with Columbia Inferno - where he iced with former Stingray Derek Campbell - Alaska Aces and Phoenix Roadrunners in the ECHL before he made the move across the Atlantic to Holland.

He lifted the Dutch Cup for Nijmegen Devils in his first year abroad during 08/09, teaming up with another former Stingray in Christian Boucher in 09/10 to captain the Devils to the Dutch Eredivisie title before moving on to his short spell at the Skydome two seasons ago.
At a lofty 6'6, the 31 year old becomes the club's joint tallest ever player with James Demone and joins an almost brand new defensive corps - with Kurtis Dulle the only returning player alongside Smith's fellow new additions Shane Lovdahl, Tomas Valecko and enforcer turned utility man Ryan Hand.

While the club's undoubted enforcer will be Hand, Smith is no slouch when it comes to toughness and physicality - with more than 120 career fights to his name, including a career high 19 in his final year as a junior in 2001/2002. In an Elite League that appears to get tougher and more physical by the day, the extra force of Smith is by no means a bad thing - particularly given that this has frequently been the club's weakness in the past.

His abilities will likely reach much further than that however, and it seems probable that his solid, no-nonsense brand of play will be the backbone to a defensive corps that also appears to possess offensive qualities in Dulle and a shot from the point in Valecko as well as all-around ability in Lovdahl.

Speaking of his final import signing Cloutier said:
"Jeff is a big stay-at-home defenceman. He is not flashy but he will bring a physical presence at the back and make people pay the price in front of the net. If he has to send a message I know he is not afraid to. He has won everywhere, he is an experienced guy and he is a leader. We will need that from him and he will accept any role we give him. He wanted to come back to the UK, he is excited to be joining us and I am excited to have him on board."
Smith becomes the Stingrays 11th and final import signing of the 2012 off-season and, on-paper, his addition has strengthened the club's roster against opening night import quotas of the past.

With Brit Ben Bowns between the pipes the Rays are afforded the luxury of 11 outskating imports. Defensively, they appear stronger and deeper than ever with four (five if you include utility player Hand) at the back and the possibility of another British player as sixth defenceman.

While up front they may not compare quite so favourably given the loss of Campbell (11/12) and Coburn (10/11), and the addition of unknown quantities Ozolins and Tanaka at EIHL level. However, the retention of last season's scoring brunt in Jereme Tendler, Jason Silverthorn and Dominic Osman - who will be looking to continue his scintillating end to last season - is reassuring and bodes well for the club's offence going forward.

Undoubtedly the biggest question now is the strength of the club's Brits given the detraction of Sam McCluskey, Dan Scott, Andy McKinney, Tristan Harper and Jack Watkins this summer, and apparent lack of quality available at this time of year.

How the Stingrays opening night import quota shapes up (2008-2012)

08/09
09/10
10/11
11/12
12/13
Cruickshank
Sandahl
Boucher
Boucher
-
Neumeier
Burns
Dulle
Mizerek
Dulle
Gomenyuk
Gomenyuk
Read
Ondrej
Lovdahl
Kerr
Jorde
Grundmanis
Rodin
Valecko
Bernier
Halkidis
Sladok
-
Smith
-
-
-
-
Hand
Kozak
Cloutier
Cloutier
Cloutier
Cloutier
Glowa
Glowa
Silverthorn
Silverthorn
Silverthorn
Riddle
Huppe
Tendler
Tendler
Tendler
Reynolds
Reynolds
Coburn
Osman
Osman
Kalmikov
Kalmikov
Kalmikov
Bakrlik
Ozolins
Kostadine
Knight
Uusivirta
Campbell
Tanaka
11
11
11
10
11