Stingrays get Lowe, Lowe, Lowe, Lowe, Lowe

Sylvain Cloutier has today promoted 19 year old forward Ben Lowe from a two-way contract with the Kingston Jets to a permanent Excel Hull Stingrays contract for the rest of the season.

The youngster, who has been used sparingly in six Rays games so far this season, has spent all season training with both the Stingrays and the English National League Kingston Jets, where he had registered nine goals and seven assists in 17 games.

His signing suggests that Cloutier has admitted defeat in his attempt to sign Sheffield Scimitars forward James Archer on a permanent basis following the Sheffield-born players impressive performances during his five two-way appearances so far this season in which he has netted three goals and an assist.

While Archer will still be on Cloutier's radar for next season, he has now moved on to fill the gap left by Shaun Thompson's departure to Basingstoke with Lowe, who will give the Stingrays some further depth following injury to previous depth signing Aivars Gaisins, who appeared in just two Rays games before breaking his hand in Belfast on Thursday.

Lowe was handed his first real ice time in Sunday's win over Newcastle, after Gaisins injury and illness struck Adam Knight pre-game, and the youngster performed well on a line with fellow Kingston trained youngsters Matty Davies and Lee Esders, perhaps feeling he could have scored his first goal for the club in the second period with a big chance that was saved by Vipers keeper Michel Robinson.

Sylvain Cloutier admitted that he has been improving all year long and that he was pleasantly surprised at the performance of the slight forward agianst the Vipers:

"I am really pleased to have Ben in the line-up for the rest of the season. He has been practicing with us all season and you can see the improvement he has made. He wants to get better and we want to help make him a better player. It's nice to have another local talent in the line-up - you always want to help and make the young local guys into better hockey players.

Ben did a great job against Newcastle. With Knighter [Adam Knight] out he gave us another pair of leg. He could have just sat on the bench but we gave him a chance to see what he could do and he did nothing wrong. he can skate, has some speed and has good hands. He can only get better."

Cruickshank and Jaszcyzk confirmed as 08/09 netminders.

Replacing last year's netminding duo, Tom Chamberlain and Ladislav Kudrna, in between the Hull Stingrays pipes for the 2008/09 season is Canadian Curtis Cruickshank and Rotherham born Andrew Jaszcyzk.

Cruickshank, who was an Elite League all star in 2003/04, has spent the best part of five seasons in the UK with Basingstoke, Nottingham and Newcastle, and replaces Czech netminder Ladislav Kudrna who signed with the Swindon Wildcats of the EPL in early June.

With Cruickshank, the Stingrays and coach Rick Strachan know exactly what they are getting in net. In his five seasons in the UK 29 year old Cruickshank has never failed to post a save percentage under 91.4%, which peaked in 2005/06 with the Nottingham Panthers when he recorded an astounding 93.5% save percentage and conceded less than 2 goals a game on average.

"Curtis [Cruickshank] is a proven, quality keeper and has always had big percentage save rates. He's a warrior and competitor and he can communicate well with his defence. Lots of guys' CVs came across my desk, but Curtis is a known quantity over here and I believe he will do a great job for us," said Strachan of his new number one.

Many fans have insisted that Cruickshank has had a chronic knee problem, preventing him from replicating his form for the Panthers between 2004 and 2006. However despite the apparent knee problem Strachan had been keen on his netminder for a while and finally got his man after negotiations:

"It wasn't a case of persuading him, it was a negotiation process, and some take longer than others. It wasn't a case of going down on my hands and knees and begging him to sign, I don't want those guys."

Jaszcyzk, who is just 19 years old, put himself forward to coach Rick Strachan in order to gain some valuable experience after a season as starting netminder in the ENL with the Kingston Jets, where he recorded an 89.76% save percentage whilst facing an average of 45 shots a game during his 29 appearances. Jaszcyzk, who played for the Stingrays against Edinburgh in their maiden EIHL season in 06/07 and has also backed up at the Nottingham Panthers in the EIHL, helped the Jets reach the semi final of the ENL Cup last season where they lost out by 4 goals on aggregate to a team that lost just 6 competitive games all season. Coach Rick Strachan told the Hull Daily Mail:

"Being a back-up keeper is a difficult position. Andrew [Jaszcyzk] expressed an interest in playing for us. He's keen to learn and willing to work and that's what you want"

He will replace Tom Chamberlain, who has followed Kudrna to the EPL, this time to Romford Raiders, as the back-up netminder and is thought to be a cheaper option than the Bradford born Chamberlain who was forced to endure an hour long drive from Bradford to Hull at least 4 times a week for training sessions. As a local and more importantly a young player Jaszcyzk will be the cheaper option for the Rays and it will provide Jaszcyzk will ample opportunity to improve his game.

"No offence to Tom [Chamberlain], but he played about 25 games for us and we won about one of them. The difference between your number one and your back-up is gigantic, that's the way it goes. Tom now has a starting position at an EPL team and he's moved on, that's how it works. Otherwise guys stay until they're 30 and only get to play when someone gets hurt."

With 45 days before the opening Stingrays pre-season fixture against the Sheffield Steelers, Strachan is left searching for four more imports and possibly one or two British defencemen to complete the roster.