Stingray News

Gomenyuk EIHL Player of the Week

- Pavel Gomenyuk has become the second ever Excel Hull Stingray to be named the EIHL's Player of the Week after fellow countryman Konstantin Kalmikov claimed the award earlier in the season. Gomenyuk, who has returned to form this season after two previous spells with the club, recorded a goal and five assists in two games last weekend against the Belfast Giants and Nottingham Panthers.

This season has seen him set career bests in all categories including goals (11), assists (23) and points (34) with seven games still remaining and, with previous experience of winning the Elite League playoffs with Newcastle in 05/06, he will become a very important part of the team should the Stingrays make the post-season.

Turunen to return

-Finnish defenceman Antti Turunen, who missed last weekends games against Belfast and Nottingham after suffering a bruised lung, will return to training this week and will likely play against the Manchester Phoenix on Saturday before traveling to Coventry on Sunday to face the Blaze.

Turunen initially suffered the injury after accidentally blocking a Konstantin Kalmikov during the Rays 7-1 defeat against the Cardiff Devils and was admitted to hospital on Wednesday of last week after coughing up blood before being released late last week. The Finn has been a solid acquisition for the Stingrays after joining from the Swedish second division, on recommendation of former Basingstoke defenceman Mikko Purontakanen, and his return will boost the Stingrays defensive corps back to full strength.

Thompson back on the sidelines

- Little over a week after returning to the Excel Hull Stingrays lineup following a neck injury, forward Jamie Thompson has suffered yet another injury. The 34 year old, who has scored nine goals in 30 games for the Stingrays, was on the receiving end of a Nick Toneys check and suffered a concussion in the incident which saw Toneys recieve a 2+10 for checking to the head.

Just a week earlier Thompson had returned to the side against the Cardiff Devils only to be victimised by Devils enforcers Brad Voth and Doug MacIver for a legal check on Jason Stone which left the British defenceman needing help off the ice. The next night in Sheffield a re-direction from a Jeff Glowa shot had given Thompson his ninth goal of the season and put the Stingrays ahead against the Sheffield Steelers, in a game the Stingrays were unlucky to lose in the final three minutes.

Two for Esders

- Lee Esders posted his first two goal game of the season this past weekend against the Nottingham Panthers. Esders, who, at 19, is another Stingrays player having a career year, has scored seven goals and six assists this term bettering his three goals and one assist of last season. And whilst it has been a career year on the scoresheet he has also made a real impact throughout his game certainly showing his critics that he has all the tools to develop into a invaluable Brit for the Stingrays.

"I was also pleased to score a couple of goals because it had been a while. I was proud to score some big goals to help the team but it was a great effort from all the guys," Esders said.

Stingray news

Say it quietly......Stingrays return to full strength

Import forward Matt Reynolds and Jamie Thompson look set to return to the Excel Hull Stingrays lineup for this weekend's games against the Cardiff Devils and Sheffield Steelers after five and four week layoffs respectively.

Thompson, who had scored eight goals in 26 games, suffered a neck injury against the Sheffield Steelers some weeks ago whilst Reynolds, who led the Stingrays in points and goals before his injury, broke a finger in the same game. They will both return to full training this week and should they not suffer any re-occurrences , will play in back to back games against Cardiff and Sheffield.

The games this weekend should see the Stingrays return to full strength for the first time since the opening day of the season.

Rick Strachan said:

"Thompson and Reynolds should be ready for full practice this week. We’ve missed them. Matt was our top scorer when he got injured and he plays on our special teams and powerplay."

We will then have a full bench and it is something we are looking forward to. It will take a lot of responsibility of the shoulders of some of our young kids who have been carrying this team. Guys like Jeff Glowa and Konstantin Kalmikov have also been going every second shift for a month and those guys are dead tired and they need a rest."

All Stars Prepare

The Elite League's inaugural All Star game will face off on Thursday night at the Coventry Skydome with four Excel Hull Stingrays in the lineup. And whilst players like Steve Slonina, Matt Reynolds and Konstantin Kalmikov have been at the heart of the Stingrays push for their first ever playoff berth, the Elite League have implemented a two import and two Brit rule from each team, meaning many of the Stingrays 'stars' will miss out.

The result of the rule has seen Brits Slava Koulikov and Lee Mitchell selected alongside the ever brilliant Jeff Glowa and Curtis Cruickshank and all four will lineup on Thursday alongside the rest of the Southern All Stars.

Auctions, Auctions, Auctions...

The auctions for the Stingrays Valentine's Day shirts, used in their 4-3 loss against the Manchester Phoenix, are beginning to come to an end. Currently Lee Esders and Jeff Glowa are the highest priced shirts at £78.01, with Slava Koulikov in second with a price of £77. However there are still shirt's available in the auction including James Cooke's #18 shirt, Aaron Wilson's #23, Pavel Gomenyuk's #40 and Richie Thornton's unworn #6 shirt. The eBay site can be found here.

There is a similar auction for the game worn All Star jerseys to be used on Thursday in the EIHL's first All Star game. The eBay site for this auction can be found here. It contains All Star jerseys for the Stingrays Jeff Glowa, Slava Koulikov, Curtis Cruickshank and Lee Mitchell.

Kerr To Sit Season

With the return to action of import forwards Jamie Thompson and Matt Reynolds comes bad news for defenceman Stuart Kerr, out since November.

With Thompson and Reynolds the Stingrays have 11 fit imports, out of an allowed 11 under EIHL rules, and Kerr, who has played just 24 games for the Stingrays, recording six assists, will be forced to sit for the remainder of the season unless the Stingrays suffer yet more injuries.

Despite rumour of Kerr being let go by the Stingrays, who are one of, if not, the lowest budget team in the league, it seems that Kerr will remain will the team as both a good will move and backup for any more injuries the team will suffer.

The signing, and impressive displays, by young Finnish defenceman Antti Turunen seem to have been the determining factor in Kerr sitting on the sidelines for the final few weeks despite allegedly returning to fitness in the last fortnight.

Caps v Devils

In their only game in hand before they, and the Stingrays, ice 11 times on the same nights in the run up to the playoffs, the Edinburgh Capitals face a Cardiff Devils on Wednesday. The Caps are ahead of the Stingrays by games between the sides after their 7-4 win against the Devils on Sunday took them level on points.

Gomenyuk another All Star...sort of

Pavel Gomenyuk, who is having a career year after scoring ten goals and 17 assists, has agreed to ice in Newcastle player-coach Rob Wilson's testimonial game.

The match will pit a Rob Wilson's All Star Select against a North East All Star select and will feature a number of players from Wilson's 20 career in Britain.

Fixture Change

The Stingrays scheduled game in Manchester on March 8 has now been moved to Thursday March 19.

Another weekend, another injury

Already without Paul Moran, Stuart Kerr, Troy Neumeier and Matt Reynolds, the Excel Hull Stingrays suffered another blow this weekend after the news that Jamie Thompson will be forced to sit out at least three weeks with a neck injury.

Thompson, who joined the Stingrays in late October and has so far recorded eight goals and two assists in 26 games, initially injured his neck in the 4-0 loss against Sheffield three weeks ago but persevered to play in Newcastle on Saturday night.

However, after failing to complete the 3-2 loss in Newcastle, Thompson now faces at least three weeks on the sidelines with the injury which requires an MRI scan.

Stingray news

- American born forward Jamie Thompson broke his point and goal duck on Sunday night in Nottingham with a powerplay goal which gave the Stingrays a 4-3 lead in a game that eventually finished 5-4 after a shootout. Thompson, who has had four 20+ goal seasons in his career, had previously gone eight games without a point before the goal.

- Jeff Glowa's awesome form continued in the same game on Sunday night after a team blip in Manchester on Saturday night, a game where the Stingrays were shut out 5-0 and recorded just 13 shots on target. Glowa, 32, recorded a goal and two assists in Nottingham to rescue a point for the Rays whilst also increasing his goal streak to 11 goals in 10 games for the Stingrays.

- In the 5-0 whitewash in Manchester the Stingrays 24 year old import, Stuart Kerr, suffered a knee injury which could keep him out of action for an extended period of time. Rays coach Rick Strachan told the Yorkshire Post that is taking a cautious approach to Kerr's injury:

Stu has a sore knee and we will be sending him to a specialist to see what the damage is. He is as tough as nails so you know there is something wrong when he can't get out there and play.

Kerr, a defenceman who joined in post season from the Austin Ice Bats in the CHL, has recorded just six assists in 23 games so far this season. However Strachan told the Yorkshire Post of the admiration he had for the work Kerr has done so far this season despite the lack of points:

He is an unsung hero. He blocks 25 shots a game, takes tonnes of hits and makes a load of hits. He does whatever it takes to win.

- On a positive note, Ukrainian defenceman Pavel Gomenyuk successfully returned from an upper body injury on Saturday night against Manchester and played in both games this weekend as the Stingrays look to recover from recent injuries with Slava Koulikov also close to returning.

- The Stingrays will likely remain without both Kerr and Troy Neumeier for a number of weeks and so Rick Strachan has hinted that he may be looking to make changes to improve the Rays form and strengthen their defensive lineups. Strachan told the Hull Daily Mail that he will "look at that[changes] this week."

Rays replace Kozak with veteran Thompson.

The Excel Hull Stingrays have replaced forward Rick Kozak, with Canadian left winger Jamie Thompson, who was expected to fly into the country today.

Thompson, 34, played last season with the Austin Ice Bats, on the same team as both Aaron Wilson and Stuart Kerr, and recorded 24 points in 54 games after previously sitting out the 06/07 season.

Prior to his year long spell in Austin, Thompson spent four seasons in the UHL with Elmira, Quad City and Danbury Thrashers, where he recorded just under 130 points in 145 games.

The 6'0 forward also has extensive time in what is regarded as the worlds second best league behind the NHL, where he spent three seasons spanning from 1998 to 2002, in that time scoring 58 points.

However, despite time in the AHL, the glowing light on Thompsons resume is most certainly the 1997/98 season with El Paso Buzzards. In his 71 game season with the WPHL team (a league that was replaced by the Central Hockey League),Thompson scored 71 goals and added 52 assists for huge total of 122 points, during his sides successful defence of the WPHL title.

The Stingrays will not be Thompson's first action of the season having attended Norfolk Admirals (AHL) training camp, and also having initially signed to play for ECHL side Augusta Lynx.

Whilst it seems, from first impressions, that Rick Kozak's replacement may not make as big a physical impact on the ice, he will most certainly make it on the scoreboard, a 71 goal season speaking volumes. With the team nearing full strength, with Stuart Kerrs foot injury not as bad as first feared and Slava Koulikov slowly nearing fitness, the Stingrays now have a chance to build on two impressive results over the weekend, with a victory over Newcastle and a tight loss to the high flying Manchester Phoenix.

Stingrays coach Rick Strachan had this to say of Thompson's signing:

"Stuart [Kerr] and Aaron [Wilson] tell me he's a veteran guy with tonnes of experience. He's a hardworking, honest hockey player, who's very fast and has a good shot. He will play the body, can be physical if he needs to be and has good skill.I'm not worried, 34 isn't old any more. I'm told he's in great shape, is still super-fast and a good player."

Furthermore, adding:

"Jamie's a ten year veteran in good leagues and we needed a left wing that can score goals and he has done that throughout his career. He will bring a good work ethic with him and there is no doubt that he will make this team and club better. It didn't take a lot, Kerr and Willi spoke to him then I gave him a call and it was sorted in three minutes. I said this is what we've got to give and he says he's coming."

His previous coach in Austin, Brent Hughes, said:

"Jamie will be one of our most experienced players, and he's a pure goal scorer. We're looking to him to be one of our top scorers this season. He has AHL experience and leadership which he'll bring to our club, so we're very excited to have him."

Finally, former teammate, Stuart Kerr, had this to say:

"Tommo is a young guy. He's a hard-nosed player, and played a lot of games in the AHL. He's really fast, and plays a lot like Jeff Glowa in that he's not afraid to get in the corners and will score some big goals for us. Tommo is a big addition and will help us win games and keep us in the play-off hunt."

"Jamie didn't need much persuading. Aaron and I played alongside him last year at the Ice Bats so we made the phone call and asked him what he was doing. He said 'nothing right now', so we talked to Rick Strachan and Rick researched him. He's not coming over for two months and then leaving"

"Jamie and I talked a couple of days ago and he wants to get over here and play some hockey."