Stingrays add depth with Chilcott, Blais and Jackson

The Hull Stingrays today added further defensive depth to their roster for the 2013/2014 Elite Ice Hockey League season with the signing of Hull-born defenceman Jamie Chilcott and re-signing of netminders Greg Blais and Liam Jackson.

British prospect Chilcott returns to his hometown five years after last regularly taking to the Hull Arena ice as part of the Kingston Crunch and Kingston Predators at the age of 15.

After recording 40 points at U16 level with the Predators and 16 points at U18 level with the Crunch in 08/09, the 20 year old moved to Canada to spend two years at the Ontario Hockey Academy - a hockey prep school based in Cornwall, Ontario - where he iced alongside fellow Stingray Bobby Chamberlain during his second year.

After two years north of the border, he moved to America in 2011 to join the Space Coast Hurricanes of the Eastern Junior Hockey League - a third tier American junior league - where he spent time with another Hull product and rumoured Elite League bound forward Jack Musil - who has dominated the EJHL in the last two years with 40 goals and 87 points in 53 games. Based in Rockledge, Florida - 60 miles east of Orlando - Chilcott recorded 49 points in 53 games during two years playing at the SpaceCoast Iceplex.

Having honed his skills during four years in North America, Chilcott is highly regarded in British hockey circles and has been called up to the Great Britain junior programme in each of the last four years - joining the U20's as they were relegated from IIHF U20 Division I Group A in Germany in December.
The signing of the 6ft defenceman brings the Stingrays defensive corps to five following off-season additions of Brit Scott Robson, and imports Omar Pacha, Jeff Smith and Martin Ondrej.

Coach Sylvain Cloutier is nearing the completion of his squad with two further import defencemen and it seems likely the Stingrays will be a much stronger proposition defensively next term - as was his aim early in the off-season - with Chilcott and Robson battling it out for a possible regular shift on the Rays third defensive line.

Meanwhile Blais and Jackson return to the Stingrays as second and third choice netminders for a second and third seasons respectively.

Former Telford Tigers netminder Blais, 32, was signed by Cloutier last summer to provide Bowns with support - both on and off-ice - during his first season in the Elite League and to also fill in for the Sheffield born stopper while away on international duty.

Blais largely impressed between the pipes on the two occasions Bowns was called away to Japan and Latvia with the Great Britain senior side. Despite ending the year with just two wins from five starts, the Canadian keeper stood out in those two wins, posting a 46 save winning effort against the Coventry Blaze in his EIHL debut on 10th November at the Hull Arena while turning away 32 of 33 shots in a win over the Dundee Stars on 9th February. He ended his first season in the Elite League with a 90.0sv% and 3.72 goals against average from eight appearances.

Admittedly, British hockey isn't renowned for it's depth between the pipes, however, in Blais the Rays possess the type of solid, experienced backup that few Elite League sides can boast.

Though it's unlikely he will oust Bowns from the starting spot - although that possibility was discussed amongst fans following his standout debut performance in November -  the extra competition will help keep the Stingrays in the best possible position as far as netminding is concerned and will help develop the country's best young keeper in turn.

Elite League sides will again be restricted to 11 imports during the 13/14 season and with the Stingrays set to use all 11 of those spots on outskating players, Blais - as the club's 12th import - will likely see limited action in the early part of the year and whenever the roster is at full-strength.

As with last season though, Blais will be called upon to back up as and when injuries and suspensions to imports occur, and should Bowns suffer an injury or severe loss of form.

When the Rays are healthy and at full strength as far as imports as concerned, 19 year old netminder Liam Jackson will again fill in as back-up during his third season with the club.

Despite being with the club for the last two seasons, the former Bradford Bulldog only made his Stingrays Elite League debut at the tail end of last season, turning away 15 of 17 shots in 20 minutes of action after Bowns was thrown out of the heated 5-0 loss in Dundee on 17th March.

Sting-Blais - Rays add netminder?

The Hull Stingrays look to have completed the signing of Canadian netminder Greg Blais from the English Premier League's Telford Tigers.

Though the surprise addition has yet to be officially confirmed, it is believed that the 32 year old - who appeared in 14 games with the Tigers last season and also doubled up as assistant coach to Tom Watkins - has joined the club to provide injury cover and experience as back-up to starting netminder Ben Bowns.

The Stingrays were in desperate need of an experienced back-up to Bowns. 17 year old Warren Gilfoyle and 18 year old Liam Jackson - both members of the Stingrays NIHL squad - looked to be the only available options heading into the season following the departure of Andy Brummitt this summer, causing concern over the impact of any potential injury to the Stingrays number one.

While Blais may not be of the quality of Christian Boucher or many of the Stingrays starters before him - having iced in the French second and third division, Norwegian second division and EPL - the experience he can offer will be invaluable for both Bowns and the Stingrays

The signing brings the Rays - limited to 11 imports on any given match night - to 12 imports. Blais will therefore likely sit out the majority of games - with Gilfoyle or Jackson filling in - unless injury, suspension or otherwise rules out another of the 11 imports, or if Bowns himself picks up an injury.

Ben Bowns

Had the club not signed Blais, a Bowns injury would see the inexperienced Gilfoyle or Jackson thrown into the fray as starter or an outskating import cut and an import netminder brought in at great expense.

But with Blais on the roster, the Rays now have a reliable and relatively cheap but experienced import netminder that can not only help Bowns develop but can also fill in the Brits skates should the unthinkable happen, while retaining 11 other imports

The absence of Shane Lovdahl this weekend due to a delay in the VISA application process means Blais is set to debut as back-up in the Stingrays season opener against the Nottingham Panthers this evening in the Challenge Cup.

Stingrays add British duo

The Excel Hull Stingrays today announced their fifth and sixth new British signings of the summer with the confirmation that forward Bobby Chamberlain and netminder Andy Brummitt will wear the yellow and blue next season.

Hull born Chamberlain joins the club at the age of just 16 after spending last year in Canada with junior side the OHA Mavericks. Racking up 14 goals and 30 points in their Minor side, he then went on to record four points in six games with the Major team in the second tier of junior hockey in Canada.

While the opportunity to play the game at a higher level may or may not have transpired, Chamberlain has made the decision to return home to sign his rookie contract with the Stingrays. Having seen the youngster named to the All Star team and named MVP at the 2010 Conference Tournament in Hull, Rays coach Sylvain Cloutier was quick to sign the 16 year old prospect to his first deal:

"Bobby played in Canada last year and is another up-and-coming player. I saw him play in my first year with the club and was really impressed. He went off to Canada and has improved his game further. He had opportunities to stay over there and try out for some junior teams but he wanted to be part of the Hull Stingrays. Bobby is a big kid who can play physical and has a lot of talent. He is going to get a lot of ice time this season. We will be patient with him...He is a local kid and we want to give these guys a chance to play for their hometown team."

Questions may indeed be raised about his size and age and whether it is sensible to put pit someone 16 and 172lbs against someone 29 and 200lbs, however, as the Rays have seen many times in the past, giving talented youngsters the opportunity to play at a higher level at a young age can and will eventually bear fruit.

While former Rays coach Rick Strachan was more often the villain than the hero, one of the things he got right was to give youth a chance to shine whenever and wherever possible. Kevin Phillips, Dave Phillips, Stevie Lee, Luke Boothroyd and Lee Esders, amongst others, were all give their first significant ice-time under the Canadian and thrived as a result, going on to bigger and better things.

In his first two years in charge Cloutier has continued where Strachan left off, giving players like Ben Lowe and Andy Hirst significant ice-time as well as two way contract players opportunities where possible. With Stingrays assistant coach Bobby McEwan being named as Peter Johnson's replacement as Head of Junior Development at the Kingston Junior Ice Hockey club earlier in the year, there are now clear and obvious links all the way from under-10 to Elite League level at the Hull Arena and it is these links Cloutier hopes use and develop in the future:

"..We want to give these guys a chance to play for their hometown team. With our affiliation with minor hockey in Hull, more of those youngsters are going to be given their chance over the next few years."

18 year old keeper Brummitt - a signing from the Chelmsford organisation - may be another to benefit from the renewed links between the Kingston Junior club and the Stingrays. The Harlow born stopper has joined the Stingrays as replacement for the outgoing backup Andy Jaszczyk, who last week revealed he would not be returning to the club for a fourth season, however, in order to aid his development Brummitt will primarily serve as starting keeper for English National League North side Kingston Jets next term.

Although he will be training with the Rays but primarily icing for Kingston - during which time his absence will be covered by young Bradford netminder Liam Jackson - the shorter ENL season dictates he will still backup starter Christian Boucher in the majority of the Rays EIHL fixtures.

Likable Rotherham born stopper Jaszczyk was largely faultless in his three year spell with the club but at 22 reached the make or break stage that many British netminders hit after a couple of years as backup at a club.

Having seen his ice time cut from 9 appearances under Strachan in 08/09 to just three last season, failing to start any despite Edinburgh's weak presence in the league, the player and club decided to go their separate ways for next season. Cloutier said this of his former keeper:

"Jazzy has done a great job for us over the past two years I have been here and I wish him nothing but the best for the future. But I just felt it was time for a change and to bring someone fresh in."

His replacement Brummitt has spent the opening three years of his career bouncing between U18, ENL 2 and ENL 1 levels in Chelmsford, last season icing in four games with the first team registering an impressive 1.32 goals against average and 95.1sv%. He was spotted playing at Hull Arena earlier in the year and Cloutier immediately moved to sign the youngster:

"I was very impressed with Andy when I saw and spoke to him. Andy is very ambitious and is not just coming here to sit on the bench.. He is determined to improve, he wants to play and I like his attitude. He is very motivated. He will play some games with the Kingston Jets. When they do not have a game Andy will be with us. It will help him stay sharp so if called upon, he can do a job for us."

One player now not returning to Hull is 22 year old forward Lee Esders. The hardworking fan favourite spent four years in Hull impressively improving from a niggly three goal, four point forward in his debut campaign to a third line grinder capable of 11 goals and 18 points in 09/10.

The Beverley born winger started last season slowly, eventually improving to record ten goals, eight assists and 18 points again after being named East Yorkshire Sports Personality of the Year. However, he continually failed to crack the club's top two lines during his four seasons in Hull,  although not for lack of trying, and he now looks set to leave the club.

While Cloutier will undoubtedly wanted to have re-signed Esders, it is rumoured that both Braehead Clan and Sheffield Steelers are interested, with a tenth forward spot on the Rays South Yorkshire rivals looking most likely.

Jaszczyk and Esders double departure will be the fourth and fifth British exits from Hull Arena this summer following Lee and Craig Mitchell signing in Dundee and Andy Hirst returning to Sheffield, with as yet unannounced forwards Ryan Lake and Ben Lowe now the only possible homegrown returnees from last term.