Stingrays retain Bradfield Brewery Cup with confidence boosting 9-2 win over Sheffield Steeldogs

Hull Stingrays 9-2 Sheffield Steeldogs - Pre-season (14-7 on aggregate)

The Hull Stingrays tonight retained the Bradfield Brewery Cup by beating English Premier League side the Sheffield Steeldogs 9-2 at Hull Arena, completing a 14-7 aggregate victory following last Thursday's 5-5 tie at Ice Sheffield with import Guillaume Doucet helping himself to four goals.

Without imports Derek Campbell, Kyle Mariani and Carl Lauzon - with the latter two yet to arrive in the country - the Rays gave regular shifts to youngsters Sam Towner and Lee Bonner while Tom Ralph - who moved up front from his preferred position on defence - also saw ice time.

Coached by former Newcastle Vipers and Coventry Blaze enforcer Andre Payette, tonight's fixture was never likely to go without incident and, indeed, the game started in a typically niggly fashion.

That start to the game actually led to the game's opening goal as Bobby Chamberlain looked to renew acquaintances with Hull born forward Craig Elliott - having tussled with the forward in the first leg in Sheffield. With Elliott having none of it, Chamberlain went in search of the puck and, following a Scott Robson shot, the puck fell to the Stingrays number 90 - who, while skating across in front of the Steeldogs net, picked the puck up and slotted home.

With the game tied at 5-5 heading into the second leg, the Steeldogs will have wanted to strike back immediately and they did so through former Stingray Andy Hirst - who netted moments after Rays netminder Ben Bowns denied a big opportunity two-on-one.

Bowns was again involved in the games third goal as he denied a Steeldogs breakaway before Chamberlain added his second goal with a crisp wristshot from the stop of the circle which beat Steeldogs netminder Dalibor Sedlar high over his blocker. The goal completed Chamberlain's second two goal home game in two matches after his two goals against the Edinburgh Capitals and that will give him real confidence hearing into his second year in the Elite League following a year in North America.

The Rays were comfortably on top in the first period and generally severely punished the Steeldogs for any mistakes with the home sides third and fourth prime examples of that.

First, a neutral ice giveaway allowed Jereme Tendler and Matty Davies to break on goal two-on-one with the Canadian setting up last year's British revelation to just slot home. Then, Lee Haywood - who, it must be said, probably didn't have his best game for the Steeldogs - gave away the puck on his own blueline during a powerplay, allowing Doucet to use his turn of pace to break 2-on-0 with Davies before comfortably netting his first of four on the night.

Payette's side - who were outshot 18-9 in the first period - would add a late late goal on the buzzer against the run of play as the Rays switched off following a powerplay, allowing Steeldogs standout forward Lubomir Korhon to score with less than a second remain. Following some light debate the goal was allowed to stand by referee James Ashton and the Stingrays went into the break two, not three goals to the good.

After a mediocre period in which they showed flashes of what they could do, the Steeldogs had a great start to the second period and penned the Stingrays in the own zone for the majority of the opening minutes. Still, the next goal was always going to be vitally important, and the Steeldogs were unable to convert possession and pressure into goals with Bowns coming up big to again deny Korhon - this time with a flashy glove save on a breakaway.

Crucially, it was the Stingrays who netted the next goal, Doucet adding his second on the powerplay thanks to a rebound that fell kindly to him with the net gaping and Sedlar out of position. A second powerplay goal followed for the French-Canadian - who rounded off a lovely move after defenceman Omar Pacha fed the puck to Davies on one post, who in turn found Doucet on hand at the other post to finish the well crafted move.

The Rays entered the third period four goals to the good and, after a quiet start to the final stanza, eventually piled on the goals and misery on to an either tiring or increasingly uninterested Steeldogs side.

As he did in last year's Bradfield Brewery Cup, Sam Towner bagged an important goal for his confidence heading into his second season in the Elite League, picking up his own rebound before slotting home past Sedlar for the Rays seventh.

Having had his shifts somewhat restricted on, Tom Ralph's added energy soon after created Sylvain Cloutier's sides eight of the night from Jereme Tendler. Man of the moment, and some may say man of the Stingrays pre-season, Doucet rounded off the scoring with a bullet of a one timer from the slot to seal the 9-2 win and confirm the retention of the Bradfield Brewery Cup.

Doucet, unsurprisingly given his four goals, picked up man of the match and, although it's very early days, has so far proved to be the signing of the summer by Cloutier. His four goal performance tonight brought his pre-season tally to nine goals in four games. regardless of who your opponent is, that is an impressive scoring record and, provided he can keep scoring during the regular season, will take some of the offensive pressure of the shoulders of Tendler. That nine goal figure also includes three powerplay goals and three shorthanded goals, proving Cloutier's off-season comments that he is able to play in all situations.

Against a well drilled, niggly Sheffield Steeldogs side, the result was particularly encouraging for the Rays ahead of the start of the 13/14 Elite League season given they still have three imports to come into tonight's side in Campbell, Lauzon and Mariani.

Of course, the Steeldogs have just four imports - albeit it a very impressive one in Korhon - and the Edinburgh Capitals weren't anywhere near full strength but there are certainly shoots of positivity for Cloutier to pick up on heading into the the opening weekend of the Elite League season. Indeed, there are also some areas that require improving, thus is the nature of pre-season.

The Rays - who recorded 2 regulation wins, 1 shootout win and a tie during pre-season - open their 8th season in the British top flight against the reigning league, playoff and Challenge Cup champions the Nottingham Panthers on Saturday before their home opener against Gardiner Conference rivals the Braehead Clan on Sunday.

Stingrays come from behind to record second win over Edinburgh

Edinburgh Capitals 4-5 Hull Stingrays - SO (Pre-season)

The Hull Stingrays tonight completed a pre-season double over the Edinburgh Capitals, leaving it late to come from behind and tie the game before going on beat the Scottish side on penalty shots at Murrayfield Ice Rink.

Sylvain Cloutier's side comprehensively beat an vastly understrength Edinburgh side 9-0 on Wednesday night but tonight would prove to be a different proposition altogether as the Rays found themselves three goals down after 30 minutes.

As they did on Wednesday night at Ice Sheffield against the Sheffield Steeldogs though, the Rays rallied and netted their first of the night through Jason Silverthorn - who bagged his first goal of pre-season.

The home side again extended their lead to three goals through Curtis Leinweber before Caps coach Richard Hartman switched netminders - as he did on Wednesday night with Craig Holland relieving number one Tomas Hiadlovsky between the pipes.

The third period began with the Stingrays trailing 4-1, however, Guillaume Doucet - who has so far been a revelation in a Rays jersey - notched his second shorthanded goal of pre-season.

Later in the third period Silverthorn added his second of the game and pre-season to reduce the deficit to one and give his partnership with Derek Campbell and Tom Squires a welcome confidence boost - after the first line took the plaudits in the opening two games of pre-season.

Player-coach Cloutier then levelled the scores at 4-4 with time running out, sending the game straight to sudden death penalty shots - where Jereme Tendler converted the winning shot following misses from Omar Pacha and two Capitals.

Following the 5-4 victory on penalty shots, the Stingrays now hold a 2-0-1 pre-season record, though there have been both positives and negatives on display during the team's opening three fixtures.

Still, it is very early days and even Cloutier would admit there is lots to work on before next week's opening fixture against the Nottingham Panthers and also before this season's roster resembles an end product.

Indeed, the Stingrays - like the Capitals, albeit to a lesser extent - have yet to ice a full strength roster. Still awaiting the arrival of Carl Lauzon, who will further add to their offensive options, the signing of the final import - who will be a defensive replacement for the injured Chad Huttel - is expected within the next few days.

It seems unlikely either will arrive in time to play a part in the Rays final pre-season game on Wednesday in the winner takes all second leg of the Bradfield Brewery Cup against the Sheffield Steeldogs with the scores finely poised at 5-5.

Tendler and Doucet strike to help Stingrays battle back against Steeldogs in pre-season

Sheffield Steeldogs 5-5 Hull Stingrays (Pre-season)

In the second of four pre-season fixtures, the Hull Stingrays tonight came from behind thanks to a hat-trick from Jereme Tendler and two goals from Guillaume Doucet to tie 5-5 with the Sheffield Steeldogs in the first leg of the Bradfield Brewery Cup on Pad 2 at Ice Sheffield.

The Stingrays lost 4-3 in the first leg of last season's pre-season challenge game against Andre Payette's side before rebounding to win 4-1 and 7-5 on aggregate in the second leg at Ice Sheffield and they again struggled early on against a well-drilled Steeldogs team.

The Steeldogs held a 3-1 lead heading into the second period tonight thanks to goals from Steven Duncombe (8.17), Ashley Calvert (PPG - 12.31) and Lubomir Korhon (17.22) with Tendler (10.15) leveling the score with his third of pre-season at 1-1.

The Canadian added his second of the game and fourth of pre-season at 3.43 into the second period but the Steeldogs would again take control of the game. A lack of discipline saw the Rays - who were without Derek Campbell - give away a number of powerplays throughout the night and penalties against Martin Ondrej and then Lee Bonner allowed the Steeldogs to extend their lead to three with goals from former Stingray Andrew Hirst and Calvert - who recorded his second goal on the man advantage.

Three goals down, Sylvain Cloutier got a big response for his side early in the third period with the visitors netting three goals in the opening four minutes of the final period.

Doucet played a big part in the comeback, adding two more goals to his pre-season tally with a short handed goal on 41.10 and then a powerplay goal at 43.07 with Lee Haywood sitting in the box.

25 seconds after the Rays fourth from Doucet, Tendler bagged his third of the night to level the scores at 5-5.

Things had simmered between the sides all night, with Steeldog and former Hull junior player Craig Elliott generally at the centre of the Stingrays ire. That boiled over with less than ten minutes remaining as Matt Suderman was thrown out of the game for fighting with new Steeldogs enforcer Callum Pattison while Bobby Chamberlain dropped the gloves with Elliott.

The Rays killed off the resulting five minute powerplay with Suderman dismissed thanks to a 2+2+5+game penalty but there was still time for Tom Squires - who had a number of chances throughout the night - to go agonisingly close to winning the game with 1.20 left only to ring the iron.

With the tie finely balanced the two sides will meet again in the second leg next Wednesday to decided the winners of the pre-season Bradfield Brewery Cup.

Before that though the Rays travel to Scotland on Sunday night for the second of two challenge games against Edinburgh following Wednesday's 9-0 thrashing of a poor, understrength Capitals side.

Stingrays cruise to comfortable pre-season victory over short-staffed Capitals

Hull Stingrays 9-0 Edinburgh Capitals (Pre-season)

After a five month break, the Hull Stingrays tonight returned to Hull Arena ice for their first pre-season fixture ahead of the 2013/2014 Elite League season and ran out comprehensive 9-0 winners against an understrength Edinburgh Capitals side.

The Scottish side travelled to Hull with just seven imports and were forced to borrow three players from the Stingrays NIHL side including Jamie Cobley and Kieran Beach in order to fill out their roster.

They started the game with back-up netminder Craig Holland between the pipes and he was soon forced to fish the puck out of the net as debutant Gulliaume Doucet attempted a neat set up which eventually found its way to Jereme Tendler - who continued where he left off last season and scored from an acute angle.

In an understandably scrappy and disjointed first period, the Rays went close again in the dying stages as Derek Campbell - who unsurprisingly linked up with Jason Silverthorn on the second line - rang the cross bar.

The home side again scored early in the second period with the first line of Doucet, Tendler and Matty Davies combining well to move the puck swiftly from behind Ben Bowns' net to the Caps zone before Davies scrappily fired home the second of the night.

Given their short bench, the Caps would have been happy with the 2-0 scoreline at the halfway point and, as seemingly agreed prior to the game, replaced Holland - who stopped 23 of 25 shots - with number one netminder Tomas Hiadlovsky.

With the Edinburgh side in front of him tiring due to their lack of numbers the Slovakian stopper quickly found himself under fire and 5-0 down as the Stingrays barraged him.

Shortly after Hiadlovsky's arrival the Rays made it 3-0 following some good work in the defensive zone from British debutant, and a player expected to surprise many this season, Jamie Chilcott. The defenceman persevered in the defensive zone and eventually found Davies, who combined with Doucet before Tendler was put through on goal and added his second of the night.

Less than a minute later, the puck was worked out from the corner to another debutant, Omar Pacha - thought to be the Stingrays number one offensive defenceman in the coming season and a replacement for former captain Kurtis Dulle - who bulleted a slapshot high over the glove of the Caps netminder for a 4-0 lead.

Five minutes later, the Rays completed a horrible return to action in the UK for Hiadlovsky as Doucet tapped home his first goal as a Stingray on a two-on-one with Tendler at the backpost giving the netminder a  save percentage of 50% having allowed three goals on six shots.

Capitals head coach Richard Hartmann was clearly unhappy with his sides performance, not just in the second period but throughout the game, and publicly and loudly berated a number of his players.

On his way to a comfortable 24 shot shutout, Stingrays keeper Bowns made his biggest contribution to the game in the third period, denying the an Edinburgh attack with a wonderful sprawling kick save.

Doucet and Davies - whose top line with Tendler scored six of the nine goals on the night -then added their second goals of the night with two fortuitous finishes.

Bobby Chamberlain then rounded off the party with two of the standout goals of the evening. First, the returning Brit sniped home a wristshot in off the crossbar with Hiadlovsky none the wiser before being put in on a breakaway to slot backhanded past the netminder having faked a forehanded wristshot.

Though the 9-0 drubbing is a positive from a Stingrays point of view, it is extremely difficult to judge either side on this opening pre-season fixture, particularly given the Capitals lack of depth. With imports Les Reaney and Martin Cingel both missing from the lineup and two further imports to sign, the Capitals will surely offer the Rays a far sterner challenge as they near full strength, although it appears that may yet take some time.

As far as Sylvain Cloutier's side is concerned there are no worries so early in pre-season as the side regain match fitness and match sharpness. Indeed, six goals from the club's new first line of Doucet, Davies and Tendler is encouraging while the Silverthorn and Campbell again proved they will continue their brilliant partnership from 11/12 alongside Tom Squires - who himself looked improved. Two goals from returning hometown favourite Chamberlain late in the day was a big a bonus.

Defensively, a shutout for Bowns will do no harm and Pacha's offensive ability and shot from the point will . On a final note, Chilcott and Scott Robson proved that they are capable of playing at Elite League level, albeit against a somewhat limited Edinburgh side .

The Stingrays are back in pre-season action tomorrow night against the English Premier League's Sheffield Steeldogs at Ice Sheffield (7.30pm) where they will continue preparations for the upcoming season.

Stingrays switch Caps for Blaze in pre-season shuffle; Towner, Bonner named in GB U20 squad

The Hull Stingrays will now prepare for the 2013/2014 Elite Ice Hockey League season with a meeting against their Gardiner Conference rivals the Edinburgh Capitals after the Coventry Blaze withdrew from two warm-up games prior in late August and early September.

The club had been scheduled to meet the Blaze away from home on Wednesday 28th August and at home a week later on Wednesday 4th September.

However, Coventry's commitment to play in a three-team tournament alongside the Cardiff Devils and Danish side Esbjerg on Sunday 1st September and Wednesday 4th September clashed with those arrangements meaning the cancellation of their games with the Rays.

The Rays moved swiftly to fill the resulting gap in their pre-season with the addition of the Caps as pre-season opponents. They will now face home games on Wednesday 28th August (Edinburgh Capitals) and Wednesday 4th September (Sheffield Steeldogs), with their away games coming on Thursday 29th August (Sheffield Steeldogs) and Sunday 1st September (Edinburgh Capitals).

Pre-season 2013

Wed 28th August - Edinburgh Capitals (H)

Thu 29th August - Sheffield Steeldogs (A)

Sun 1st September - Edinburgh Capitals (A)

Wed 4th September - Sheffield Steeldogs (H)

Meanwhile, Stingrays young British forwards Lee Bonner and Sam Towner have been selected to a Great Britain Under-20's development squad for the upcoming Alexei Cherepanov Tournament in Lithuania.

The tournament - named in memory of former New York Rangers first round draft pick Alexei Cherepanov, who passed away at the age of just 19 after collpasing while playing in the Kontinental Hockey League in 2008 - will see Great Britain U20's take on their national counterparts from Lithuania, Poland and Belarus as well as junior sides Omsk Hawks and Kapitan Stupino in Elektrenai, Lithuania in late August.

Towner, 18, will join the side after spending a 52 game rookie campaign with the Stingrays in the Elite League during a season in which he made his national team debut with the GB Under-18's in Estonia - recording a goal in five games.

On his selection, Towner told the Hull Daily Mail:

“At the end of last season I went away with GB under-18s to Estonia, and that was good experience.The GB under-20s in Lithuania will be another experience and that should put me in good stead for the new Elite League season.”

Bonner's involvement with Great Britain will be his first in national team set up at the age of just 16, having signed his first deal with the Stingrays earlier this summer.

The Hull born forward - who recorded 18 goals and 29 points in 13 games at under-18 level last season - is highly thought of by Stingrays head coach Sylvain Cloutier and owner and coach Bobby McEwan - who have monitored his progress over a number of years at Hull Arena.

GB Under-20 coach Pete Russell has selected a development squad for the tournament and has said he will be using it as a chance to get new players involved in the national team set up and exposure to international hockey. 

The pair will join up with the Under-20's for their games between 23rd August and 28th August before returning to Hull part-way through their pre-season training camp.

EIHL fixtures announced; Rays start with 12/13 treble winners

The Hull Stingrays will begin their 2013/2014 Elite Ice Hockey League campaign on Saturday 7th September against reigning Elite League, Challenge Cup and Playoff champions the Nottingham Panthers it was revealed today.

Meanwhile, the club also announced today pre-season fixtures against Elite League rivals the Coventry Blaze and the English Premier League's Sheffield Steeldogs.

Unsurprisingly, upon announcing the 13/14 fixture list, the Elite League confirmed that they would continue with last season's preferred two-conference format with every team playing sides in their own conference four times home and away, and sides in the opposing conference twice home and away.

The Challenge Cup format also remains unchanged with the Stingrays again in Group B alongside the Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Nottingham Panthers and Sheffield Steelers - whom they will play once home and away.

The Rays will open and close their pre-season preparations against Mathias Soderstrom's Coventry side on Wednesday 28th August (Coventry Skydome) and Wednesday 4th September (Hull Arena) respectively, with games against Andre Payette's second tier Steeldogs side sandwiched inbetween on Thursday 29th August (Ice Sheffield) and Sunday 1st September (Hull Arena).

Three days after their final warm-up fixture on Saturday 7th September, the Stingrays will travel to Nottingham to open up the regular season in the toughest possible fashion against the 12/13 treble winners and 13/14 favourites for the title, the Nottingham Panthers.

Sylvain Cloutier's side follow up that baptism of fire with their first home fixture of the regular season against  the Braehead Clan in Ryan Finnety's second game as head coach.

The club's tough start to the season doesn't end there though as they face Erhardt Conference sides five times in their opening seven games in September - thanks mostly to to their grouping in the Challenge Cup, which admittedly brings other advantages.

Their challenge for the Gardiner Conference kicks in during October with six of their eight fixtures against conference rivals and it continues in November and December as they meet Erhardt Conference sides just four times in 17 games.

Once again, Stingrays will travel to Scotland - where they really struggled on their travels last term - on 14 occasions including two weekends north of the border on 7th and 8th December against Fife and Edinburgh, and 11th and 12th January against Braehead and Edinburgh.

By 12th October's meeting with the Fife Flyers, the club will have faced every Elite League side.

Other notable weekends include home and home weekends against the Dundee Stars (5/6 October), Edinburgh Capitals (26/27 October) and Coventry Blaze (2/3 November).

In the final five weeks of the season the Stingrays will face-off against the Dundee Stars and Sheffield Steelers three times apiece, ending the regular season on Sunday 23rd March at the Hull Arena against their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield.

Meanwhile, as far as the home fixture breakdown is concerned, the Saturday night is most certainly hockey night in Hull this season with 16 Saturday night face-off's, ten on Sunday and four on Wednesday.

Hull Stingrays Fixture List - Elite Ice Hockey League 13/14 

August 2013

2 Pre-season

2 Away

1 Erhardt Conference, 1 EPL

Wed 28th - Coventry Blaze (A) - PS
Thu 29th - Sheffield Steeldogs (A) - PS

September

2 Pre-season, 3 League, 3 Challenge Cup, 1 League/Challenge Cup

5 Home, 3 Away

1 EPL, 6 Erhardt Conference, 2 Gardiner Conference

Sun 1st - Sheffield Steeldogs (H) - PS

Wed 4th - Coventry Blaze (H) - PS
Sat 7th - Nottingham Panthers (A) - L/CC
Sun 8th - Braehead Clan (H) - L

Sun 15th - Cardiff Devils (H) - CC

Wed 18th - Sheffield Steelers (A) - CC
Sat 21st - Edinburgh Capitals (H) - L
Sun 22nd - Coventry Blaze (A) - CC

Sun 29th - Belfast Giants (H) - L

October

6 League, 2 Challenge Cup

4 Home, 4 Away

6 Gardiner Conference, 2 Erhardt Conference

Sat 5th - Dundee Stars (H) - L
Sun 6th - Dundee Stars (A) - L

Sat 12th - Fife Flyers (A) - L
Sun 13th - Nottingham Panthers (H) - CC

Sat 19th - Dundee Stars (H) L

Sat 26th - Edinburgh Capitals (A) L
Sun 27th - Edinburgh Capitals (H) - L

Thu 31th - Cardiff Devils (A) - CC

November 

6 League, 2 Challenge Cup

4 Home, 4 Away

6 Gardiner Conference, 2 Erhardt Conference

Sat 2nd - Coventry Blaze (H) - CC
Sun 3rd - Coventry Blaze (A) - L

Sat 9th - Belfast Giants (H) - L
Sun 10th - Cardiff Devils (A) - L

Sat 16th - Braehead Clan (A) - L

Sat 23th - Cardiff Devils (H) - L
Sun 24th - Edinburgh Capitals (A) - L

Sat 30th - Sheffield (H) - CC

December

9 League

4 Home, 5 Away

7 Gardiner Conference, 2 Erhardt Conference

Sun 1st - Braehead Clan (H) - L

Sat 7th - Fife Flyers (A) - L
Sun 8th - Edinburgh Capitals(A) - L

Thu 12th - Dundee Stars (A) - L
Sat 14th - Edinburgh Capitals (H) - L

Sat 21st - Nottingham Panthers (H) - L
Sun 22nd - Fife Flyers (A) - L

Sat 28th Edinburgh Capitals (H) - L

Mon 30th - Belfast Giants (A) - L

January 2014

10 League

4 Home, 6 Away

6 Gardiner Conference, 4 Erhardt Conference

Thu 2nd - Sheffield Steelers (A) - L
Sat 4th - Coventry Blaze (A) - L
Sun 5th - Fife Flyers (H) - L

Sat 11th - Braehead Clan (A) - L
Sun 12th - Edinburgh Capitals (A) - L

Wed 15th - Braehead Clan (H) - L
Sat 18th - Dundee Stars (H) - L

Sat 25th - Coventry Blaze (H) - L
Sun 26th Nottingham Panthers (A) - L

Wed 29th - Braehead Clan (A) - L

February

10 League

5 Home, 5 Away

6 Gardiner Conference, 4 Erhardt Conference 

Sat 1st - Fife Flyers (H) - L
Sun 2nd: Cardiff Devils (A) - L

Wed 5th - Fife Flyers (H) - L
Fri 7th - Belfast Giants (A) - L
Sun 9th - Nottingham Panthers (H) - L

Wed 12th - Braehead Clan (A) - L
Sat 15th - Cardiff Devils (H) - L
Sun 16th - Fife Flyers (A) - L

Wed 19th - Braehead Clan (H) - L
Sun 23rd - Dundee Stars (A) - L

March

6 League

4 Home, 2 Away

3 Gardiner Conference, 3 Erhardt Conference

Sat 1st - Dundee Stars (H) - L
Sat 8th - Sheffield Steelers (H) - L

Wed 12th - Fife Flyers (H) - L
Sat 15th - Dundee Stars (A) - L
Sun 16th - Sheffield Steelers (A) - L

Sun 23th - Sheffield Steelers (H) - L

Match Highlights: Stingrays 3-4 Sheffield Steeldogs (Bradfield Brewery Cup - 1st Leg)

Stingrays bounce back to defeat Steeldogs in pre-season

The Hull Stingrays bounced back from a 4-3 first leg home defeat against the Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday night to lift their second pre-season trophy in two years, claiming the Bradfield Brewery Cup with a 4-1 (7-5 on aggregate) victory over the English Premier League side at Ice Sheffield last night.

Once again, Sylvain Cloutier's side came out strongly, Jereme Tendler scoring six minutes in after a deking the Steeldogs final defenceman to slot home past Russian born Bri Dmitri Zimozdra.

With Kurtis Dulle and Jeff Smith bolstering the Rays D to six strong - as opposed to the four of Sunday night - defensively the Rays looked solid and were breached only once. Edgars Berbris wheeling in and neatly netting past former teammate Ben Bowns following a giveaway from Tomas Valecko to level the scores just two minutes later.

In a fairly scrappy game Cale Tanaka then gave the visitors their second lead of the evening guiding the puck home after a Janis Ozolins shot failed to find the net. Jason Silverthorn then extended the Elite League sides lead to 3-1 with an assist going to youngster Kieran Strangeway - who took a big hit from Steeldogs player-coach Andre Payette for his troubles.

The final scoring of the night came after 24 minutes when 17 year old Sam Towner - who recorded a hat-trick on Saturday night against the Stingrays NIHL side - showed composure to slot home on a Tendler pass  to record his second point of the night.

The main talking point of the final 36 minutes as far as the Stingrays were concerned came early in the third period as Tendler received a slash across the wrist from former Stingrays Pavel Gomenyuk while on an unsuccessful breakaway attempt.

The Stingrays goalscorer sat out the remainder of the game and visited hospital to ensure the slash - which was not penalised by referee Jonny Liptrott - hadn't done any serious damage. Test results, however, revealed that the Canadian's wrist was badly bruised and not broken as first feared.

As far as the game was concerned, the Rays weren't as polished as they likely will be later in the season, however, defensively they looked more assured and offensively clinical with the chances presented to them than perhaps their 11/12 - though it is still pre-season.

Of the win player-coach Cloutier said:

"We were delighted to win as the Steeldogs gave us two very good games. But we're under no illusions. Realistically, pre-season friendlies don't mean anything. After all, we won the P & O Cup last year and everyone suddenly thought we were going to win the league. We just wanted to work on a few things, stay healthy and get ready for Nottingham on Saturday."

Once again, the levels of performance from the young Brits including Strangeway, Towner and Robson was impressive.

While Towner was on a line with Silverthorn and Tendler and put in a man of the match worthy showing, the performances of Strangeway and Scott Robson as a relatively inexperienced defensive pairing will have again been pleasing for Cloutier.

Whether they are ready for a full-shift against the Nottingham Panthers in the Challenge Cup on Saturday remains to be seen and, presumably, depends largely on whether Shane Lovdahl receives his VISA and arrives in time.

The Rays now face an important week of training - with forward Dominic Osman due to fly into the country in the next few days - before they kick off their 10th Anniversary season this weekend.

Mixed fortunes as under strength Stingrays open up pre-season

The Rapid Solicitors Hull Stingrays kicked off their three game pre-season schedule this weekend with mixed but somewhat predictable fortunes - beating their National League 2 affiliate 14-1 on Saturday night before going down 4-3 to English Premier League side Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday night in the first leg of the Bradfield Brewery Cup.

Without imports Dominic Osman, Shane Lovdahl, Kurtis Dulle, Jeff Smith and Jereme Tendler on Saturday night, Stingrays coach Sylvain Cloutier handed debuts to Ben Bowns, Warren Guilfoyle, Scott Robson, Tomas Valecko, Ryan Hand, Cale Tanaka, Chris Sykes and Janis Ozolins.

The Stingrays led 7-0 after the first period - in what quickly became a training exercise for both sides - thanks in part to an early double from Brit Andy Ward. The EIHL side went on to only net two further goals in the second stanza as Bowns switched his allegiances to backstop the NIHL side for one period in search of a regular test between the pipes.

He returned to the EIHL sides pipes in the final period as Ozolins and Ward helped themselves to hat-tricks and Hand and Tanaka added first and second goals for the club respectively, with the NIHL club notching a deserved goal of their own through Chris Hogarth.

The following night - buoyed by the return of topscorer Jereme Tendler but still minus four imports - the Rays were downed by a skillful, well-drilled Sheffield Steeldogs side that has title aspirations in the EPL and included former Stingrays Derek Campbell, Dmitri Rodin, Andy Hirst and Pavel Gomenyuk.

Having picked off two of the Steeldogs biggest weapons in the summer in netminder Bowns and scoring forward Ozolins as well as Brit Sykes - the Stingrays, who brought in young defenceman Kieran Strangeway, started well. Predictably Latvian Ozolins - who bagged 55 goals in 52 games last season - opened the scoring before Sykes - who will have a big role to play on this season's Stingrays side - doubled the home sides lead minutes into the second period with his first as a Stingray.

The Steeldogs, who have been together for a good part of the summer and were at full strength, then went on to show their superior fitness and familiarity with one another, scoring four unanswered second period goals through Ashley Calvert, Tom Squires (2) and Lloyd Gibson.

Two goals down, the Stingrays replied with a solitary third period goal from Jason Silverthorn but could not level the scores - giving the Steeldogs a 4-3 lead heading into the second leg at Ice Sheffield tomorrow (7.45pm).

While disappointed, the Stingrays shouldn't be too downhearted with the loss to a very strong and well versed Steeldogs side - particularly on the British front.

Down four imports and having had just one full training session, it's a well established fact that the Stingrays British corps this season may not necessarily individually match-up with their opponents and that the Steeldogs are considerably stonger and deeper in this area. Added to that, is the fact that the Rays were missing four keys imports, plus Jereme Tendler - who played having stepped straight off a flight.

Cloutier said he was "happy" at what he called a "warm-up" for the new season:

"It was a great work-out, which I knew it would be. We skated a lot better than we did on Saturday. We have only been together three days and had one practice with eight guys while the Steeldogs have been together all summer. I was really pleased with the two young kids we had on 'D' - I thought Scott Robson and Kieran Strangeway did a great job."

Positives came mainly in through the Stingrays latest additions, with Ozolins showing off his lethal finish and acceleration while recording three points on Sunday, Tanaka showing speed and promise going forward, young Brit Robson performing above expectations and Bowns as solid as expected in net.

The Stingrays will take on the Steeldogs tomorrow night with a revitalised, though not full strength, defence with Jeff Smith set to make his club debut and captain Kurtis Dulle returning for this third season in Stingrays colours - having both arrived in the country today. Cloutier said:

"It will be great to have those two guys in the line-up. They will make our ‘D’ stronger and give us more strength. It will also be good to give Tomas Valecko and Ryan Hand some support. Valecko didn’t even have his own skates this weekend, he borrowed some! That just showed what character he has. Sheffield gave us a good work-out on Sunday and it will be another good test for us at iceSheffield."

American's Dominic Osman and Shane Lovdahl continue to await their VISA clearance though Cloutier is confident they will arrive in time for this weekend's Elite League opener against Nottingham.

Stingrays set for key fixtures announcement

Tomorrow mornings much anticipated Elite Ice Hockey League 2012/2013 fixtures announcement could be crucial for the Hull Stingrays and their - soon to be official - new owner and managing director Bobby McEwan.

The club - who will, at this point, be fully aware of the outcome of June's important fixtures meeting and the season ahead - have been placed in the yet-to-be officially named 'Northern' Conference following the EIHL's decision to split the top flight in two based on geography.

That decision - supposedly coincidentally - placed the Rays with like-minded Scottish 'minnows' the Dundee Stars, Edinburgh Capitals and Fife Flyers, as well as the Braehead Clan, all of whom they will face six times home and away - up from four last season.

'Southern' Conference and relatively big spending sides Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Coventry Blaze, Sheffield Steelers and the Panthers, meanwhile, will take on the Stingrays just twice home and away - down from four last season - much to the chagrin of EIHL fans the length and breadth of the UK.

The Stingrays - who are now at the tail end of a takeover but at the time of the structure change were in the midst of one - were largely believed to be the 'worst' affected given they now face longer, more frequent and costly road trips to Scotland, and fewer visits from well-supported relatively local sides Nottingham and Sheffield.

Financially it was believed the implications could be massive for the Stingrays - more so than any other side given their geographical location in comparison to other sides in the conference - while on-ice, the effects of hours of travel between East Yorkshire and Scotland would surely also be sizable.

After an initial mix of anger and skepticism from fans, McEwan reassuringly stated at a June fans forum that he was confident the extra competition and increased likeliness of success created by the club facing sides on a similar financial footing more often would negate any detrimental effects from the additional travel and fewer visiting fans.

It was thought the club would also seek to further reduce any other potential negative effects by doubling up a number of fixtures - in particular the two expensive road trips across the Irish Sea against Belfast - which itself has helpfully been reduced by one from last season - or a couple of the increased number of trips to Scotland.

The fixtures announcement will reveal whether or not they have been successful in pitching their plight to the nine other member teams - if they even sought to as suggested.

A pre-season double header against closely linked English Premier League side the Sheffield Steeldogs is one fixture already in the diary ahead of the beginning of the EIHL on 8th and 9th September.

The sides have swapped five players so far in the off-season including Dmitri Rodin, Derek Campbell, Ben Bowns, Chris Sykes and Janis Ozolins and will face each other at the Hull Arena on Saturday 2nd September and Ice Sheffield on Thursday 6th September with the Rays also looking to face another, as yet, unnamed team on Sunday 3rd September.

Though it is believed there was a desire to host another installation of the P&O Cup - which the Rays lifted last season and has featured teams from both the EIHL and Holland in recent years - it seems unlikely there will be one this season given an already tight pre-season schedule.

McEwan revealed to the Hull Daily Mail last week that the clubs players will be arriving in Hull on the 28th or 29th August ahead of the Steeldogs fixtures the following weekend - leaving little to no time for the pre-season tournament which has traditionally been held during the August Bank Holiday.

Stingrays and Blaze tie pre-season round two

Coventry Blaze 2-2 Excel Hull Stingrays

A night after recording a fairly comprehensive 5-2 win over ownership rivals Coventry Blaze in their opening pre-season game, the Excel Hull Stingrays forced a 2-2 tie at the Skydome in Coventry in the reverse fixture.

Once again at full strength, the Rays were looking to build from a positive result on home ice and soon carried that opening pre-season performance over, taking the lead through captain Joshua Mizerek's first in the blue and yellow after little more than six minutes.

They doubled that lead eight minutes into the second period, Slovakian defenceman Martin Ondrej beating Jonathan Weaver high up on a Blaze man advantage to force a shorthanded two-on-one chance. The Slovakian setting up coach and former Coventry player Sylvain Cloutier, who managed to slide the puck home under a sprawling Peter Hirsch. The goal being the Stingrays second two-on-one shorthanded goal in two games against the Blaze following Frantisek Bakrlik's shorty the previous night.

At the halfway point in the game British prospect Ben Bowns - on a two-way deal with the Stingrays from Sheffield Steeldogs - replaced the impressive Christian Boucher between the pipes for his debut and he was regularly tested.

In general the Sheffield youngster - who is thought to have a bright future in the game - performed admirably in his first appearance at Elite League level. A very good side-to-side save close in was quickly followed by a healthy slice of luck as an attempted glove save flew high in the air and landed inches from the goal line before being quickly cleared from his crease, the rebound instantly returned but again luckily hitting the post.

Even prior to Bowns' entrance into the game Paul Thompson's Coventry had slowly grown into the game and the Stingrays keeper was helpless on 37 minutes as Shea Guthrie worked hard to craft a chance for himself, eventually backhanding past the screened netminder to cut the lead to one.

Had it not been for some cynical defending from Mizerek the Blaze could have gone in at the break level as Jereme Tendler carelessly gave the puck away forcing the Rays American captain to bring down a Blaze forward almost on the breakaway.

Though the Stingrays weren't without chances, it was the side in sky blue that had the better chance, Luke Fulghum - who missed the opening game in Hull -  hitting the bar before Bowns made a good sprawling save early in the second.

The equaliser did eventually come though and it was Fulghum who got it, banging home the rebound after Bowns had pushed his initial effort into the deadly Canadian's path.

Late in the game new Stingrays signing Dominic Osman had a big chance to give his side a second win in two games but he could only fire high into the netting above the plexi despite having been afforded time, space and traffic in front of the Coventry net.

The game petered out after the Canadian's chance to end in a 2-2 draw but - while Cloutier will only be concerned with the team performance - the club's opening two results will undoubtedly be somewhat pleasing for the Stingrays coach and fans alike. Likewise, the impressive showing by Bowns is not only a good sign for the Rays but also British hockey.

Once again, the Rays defence, and in particular Brits Sam McCluskey and Dan Scott who once again defied their age, stood out. While yet another shorthanded goal is another positive with the club looking dangerous on the counter attack in its opening two fixtures.

From here the Rays move on to take on Bowns' Sheffield Steeldogs on Tuesday before returning to Coventry next weekend to face Dutch opposition Tilburg Trappers and Geleen Eaters in the P&O Cup.

Rays Rating

7

FBB Three Stars

1- Sam McCluskey (0+0)

2- Dmitri Rodin (0+1)

3- Martin Ondrej (0+1)

Match Highlights: Excel Hull Sitngrays 5-2 Coventry Blaze

Five goal Stingrays begin pre-season

Excel Hull Stingrays 5-2 Coventry Blaze

The Excel Hull Stingrays tonight kicked off a five game pre-season schedule in the best possible way, beating ownership rivals Coventry Blaze by three goals at Hull Arena.

Sylvain Cloutier handed Rays debuts to no fewer than 11 members of his squad including five new blueliners in an all new defensive corps, entering the game with just four returning players. However, it was new Czech forward Frantisek Bakrlik that caught the eye most with a man of the match worthy performance which saw him notch two goals and one assist.

With both squad's having spent less than a week together it was always going to be a case of getting used to systems and team mates, and so it proved in a relatively scrappy opening five minutes.

Despite its pre-season nature early on the game showed periods of being far from friendly with hits raining in midway through the first. First Bobby Chamberlain - making his senior debut with the Rays at just 16 - took a run at Coventry's youngster Ross Venus before Martin Ondrej executed what looks likely to become a trademark hip-check and Coventry's Owen Fussey hit a Rays player with enough force to pop out the penalty box plexiglass.

Having traded marginal chances in the opening stages, it was the home team that had the first real chance of the game. Player-coach Cloutier perfectly firing the puck home in off the post from the top of the circle only to have his effort wrongly disallowed for a Dominic Osman offside.

Nevertheless, with less than a minute remaining in the period, Stingrays Jereme Tendler - who netted a club record 50 goals last season - began where he left off, scoring his first of the year into a largely unguarded net after a mix-up left Blaze keeper Peter Hirsch way out of position. Although the lead was not undeserved, in its infancy the Rays powerplay had been largely ineffective with plenty of time spent on the man advantage and neither side had been able to maintain long periods of domination.

In a standout debut, man mountain Bakrlik then added his first to double the Rays lead in the second period, needing no help on a two-on-one to fire past Hirsch.

Unsurprisingly the Blaze - who were without Canadian Luke Fulghum and later lost Hull born defenceman Dave Phillips to injury - then struck on the powerplay, former Newcastle Viper Matic Krajl picking his spot to net high past Christian Boucher on the man advantage.

However, early in the third the Blaze powerplay turned hero to villain as once again Bakrlik chose to go it alone on a two-on-one breakaway with Tendler to double his account for the night.

The Blaze man advantage soon made up for the shorthanded goal though, hitting back with their second powerplay goal of the night less than a minute later through Robert Farmer's shot from the point, which found its way home to once again shorten the Rays lead to one.

That was as close as the Blaze would come to their ownership counterparts though as Osman tipped in a Martin Ondrej point shot after 51 minutes before new alternate captain Jason Silverthorn stuffed in to a largely unguarded net after Derek Campbell had spurned an initial chance close in to Hirsch, sealing a somewhat surprising 5-2 Stingrays win. The only blemish on Bakrlik's performance being a missed breakaway opportunity late on with Hirsch denying him a debut hat-trick

If Cloutier was looking for a near perfect start then - save for a Bakrlik treble - that is what he got. A win but more importantly a good team performance. Of course, it is very early on but those early signs are overwhelmingly positive at this stage.

The club's mooted weakness - its defence - was largely solid, with imports Ondrej, captain Joshua Mizerek and Dmitri Rodin proving that age and stats do not tell the whole picture. They were well complimented by Brits Sam McCluskey and Dan Scott who both seemed to defy their age, seeing regular minutes on the blueline.

Up front the Rays initially looked a little scrappy - as is to perhaps be expected - but they grew into the game and proved deadly on the counter attack as well as clinical and forceful going forward - which is something the club has perennially struggled with. The majority of that offensive brunt came from Bakrlik whose puck handling skills, size and power proved a real highlight with home fans.

Similarly there were positive signs from the performances of player-coach Cloutier - who was robbed of a goal - Silverthorn, Matty Davies, Jack Watkins, Tristan Harper and Bobby Chamberlain, whose enthusiasm on debut was another highlight. With former ECHL forward Osman also bagging an important first goal for the club, it looks like Cloutier may not have to just rely on Tendler for another 50 goal year in the season ahead.

In reality, while there were zero poor performances, there is still a long way to go for the Stingrays, and Cloutier will only be too aware of that heading into his next four pre-season fixtures and two weeks of training.

The Rays take part in the reverse fixture in Coventry tomorrow night before facing English Premier League side Sheffield Steeldogs on Tuesday and Dutch sides Geleen and Tilburg in Coventry next weekend.

Rays Rating

8

 As far a first pre-season games can go, this wasn't far off perfect. Good performances all around and a very competitive base to build from.

FBB Three Stars:

1 - Frantisek Bakrlik (2+1)

2 - Dmitri Rodin (0+2)

3 -  Dan Scott (0+0)

Stingrays add fourth netminder and fifth pre-season fixture

The Excel Hull Stingrays have today announced the signing of former GB junior international Ben Bowns on a two-way contract from English Premier League side Sheffield Steeldogs alongside the news that they will take on the Steeldogs at Ice Sheffield on 30 August as part of their pre-season preparations.

Bowns, 20, was called up to Paul Thompson's senior national side as reserve netminder for April's World Championships in Ukraine having thoroughly impressed in four years with GB U18's and U20's. Last year the EPL stopper claimed netminder of the tournament at the U20 Division 1 Worlds having recorded a 90.9sv.% in 50 games as the underdog Steeldogs edged into the playoffs in eighth place.

He joins the Stingrays on a loan deal from his hometown Sheffield - where he has been since starting his career in 06/07 - and, although he is unlikely to make regular appearances in the blue and yellow, he will gain valuable experience training and backing up starter Christian Boucher in the Elite League when the Steeldogs are without a game.

Rays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier spoke of his first two-way signing of the summer:

"I am delighted to have Ben on board and to be able to help further his development. He will be on a two-way contract between us and the Sheffield Steeldogs and we have signed him in case of an emergency as we already have Andy Brummitt backing up Christian Boucher”.

With Andy Brummitt signed up to ice for both the Stingrays and English National League side Kingston Jets, and Hull born keeper Liam Jackson also training with Cloutier's side, the club is evidently taking different route with its backup netminding situation this season.

Previously - as is the case at the majority of Elite League clubs - it is common for a backup keeper to be used very sparingly, normally only when his side is on the receiving end of a thrashing or handing out a beating of its own.

That was the exact situation last season in Hull - when backup Andy Jaszczyk icing in just three games, mostly against a lacklustre Edinburgh side - however, with Brummitt, Jackson and Bowns all mixing Elite League time with lower league experience, the club and Cloutier instead look to be trying to develop a number of options next season.

Bowns has fast become a big prospect in British hockey, and Steeldogs coach Andre Payette told the Sheffield Star he believes Bowns can take his game to the next level:

"Ben is fast becoming as good as Elite League imports. We will lose him at some stage, but for now his main responsibility is Steeldogs - he can train and play for Hull when we’re not playing.”

Meanwhile, the Stingrays have also announced that their fifth pre-season fixture of the summer will see them take on the Bowns' Steeldogs in Sheffield on Tuesday 30 August (7.30pm).

The two clubs last met at Ice Sheffield in a pre-season encounter prior to the 09/10 season - Cloutier's first season in Hull - when a nine import Rays came away with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over the one import EPL side. In that game Bowns and former Hull favourite Pasi Raitanen played a big part in keeping the score to two as Tommy Sandahl notched his first and only shutout with the club and Adam Knight also impressed on his debut.

The Steeldogs will have at least three former Stingrays in their line-up in August following the signings of Ukrainian Pavel Gomenyuk, first year Ray Stuart Brittle and last season's Andy Hirst - who has returned to Sheffield.

Stingrays pre-season will see them take on Coventry home and away on the weekend of August 27 and 28, Steeldogs on Tuesday August 30 and Tilburg and Geleen on September 3 and 4 respectively.

The signing of Bowns and arrangement of the pre-season fixture only heightens speculation that the two clubs are set to announce an official link that will see tighter links between the two clubs.

Last season the Steeldogs controversially bypassed links to Elite League neighbours Sheffield Steelers in favour of their players icing in Hull. Forward Hirst made the move from two-way contractee to a full time Stingray, and Chris Sykes and Hull born Craig Elliott, amongst others, also made the trip up the M18 for ice-time, and it is thought this looks set to continue next season.

P&O Cup set to return and complete Rays pre-season with double Dutch weekend

V

 

 The Coventry Blaze have today confirmed the revival of the P&O Cup - first played in Hull in 09/10 - with the announcement that the third year of the tournament - set for September 3 and 4 - will feature the Excel Hull Stingrays, ownership rivals and hosts the Blaze and Dutch sides Tilburg Trappers and Geleen Eaters.

The tournament will end Sylvain Cloutier's Stingrays four game pre-season for the 11/12 EIHL season the week after their home and away double header against the Blaze on August 27 and 28 and will see them take on Tilburg on September 3 and Geleen Eaters for the first time on September 4, both at the Skydome Arena, Convetry.

The Rays, under previous owners Mike and Sue Pack, organised and won the inaugural event following up a 4-3 win over Tilburg with a exciting 3-2 final victory over EIHL rivals Nottingham Panthers, who had previously thrashed the Trappers.

09/10 P&O Cup - Stingrays v Nottingham

However, having originally planned for the tournament to return to Hull last summer - in a renewed format that allegedly may have seen Belfast Giants join the original three teams - the Rays were forced to pull out after owners the Packs withdrew their funding of the team.

The tournament continued in a different format regardless with Nottingham edging Tilburg 7-5 at the NIC having initially lead 5-0, with the Dutch side continued their weekend with a fixture against Paul Thompson's Blaze.

This years competition, once agian sponsored by P&O Ferries, will see former Humberside Hawk and current Geleen Eaters coach Chris Eimers return to the UK.

© 9 Management

Last season, Eimers Eaters side - containing former EIHLers Jason Tejchma, Ryan Crane and Marc Lefebvre - finished sixth in the Eredivisie but reached the semi-final stage of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Tilburg ended the year as runners-up in both the league and playoffs, losing out to Joshua Mizerek's HYS Den Haag side in both the regular-season and post-season.

This years Stingrays two-week, four game pre-season is a marked improvement on last campaign, when the Rays were deprived of any warm-up fixtures and forced to move the beginning of their Elite League campaign back to October following the Packs sudden departure and the new ownership groups takeover.

Nevertheless, while it is good news the pre-season competition has been kept alive there have understandably been concerns raised about the Stingrays playing two pre-games in Coventry. Attendance will likely be poor in the Skydome for the two early fixtures featuring the Rays, and with both Dutch sides presumably entering the country at the P&O terminal in Hull it would have made more sense to keep the tournament close-by, particularly after the successful first tournament.

Still, there may have been other influences that affected the decision to stage the competition in Coventry, such as the availability of the Hull Arena, and the early weekend away for Cloutier and his squad will allow time to bond ahead of a 56 game regular season campaign.

Rays roster ready for new era

Sylvain Cloutier has for the second year in a row been forced to assemble his Hull Stingrays squad in double quick time and, although most Stingrays fans will be grateful to even have a top flight team to watch this coming season, his hard work looks to have paid off on paper with not just a roster but a competitive looking 19 man roster.

From back to front Cloutier has assembled and then reassembled a squad he believes is capable of finally dragging the Stingrays into the playoffs on merit and, while they may not win the league, playoff qualification looks more than possible from the outset in a highly competitive bottom half of the table.

It was at the back where Cloutier began when rebuilding his side. His first call once he learnt of the clubs reformation rang straight to the phone of number one netminder Christian Boucher. Boucher did the Dutch double last year with Nijmegen Devils, he dragged Rio Grande Valley into the CHL playoffs the year before and regularly stoned Cloutier's Corpus Christi in the same season. He is hopefully the answer to the clubs troubles between the metalwork. Whether it be injury prone Miroslav Bielik, formless Ladislav Kudrna, useless Tommy Sandahl or past his best Curtis Cruikshank, the Rays have very rarely got it right in that key area of the team, regardless of age, nationality or resume.

The second half of last season was the closest they have come with Martins Raitums between the pipes the clubs season turned on its head after Christmas despite the Latvian facing a barrage of rubber. 26 year old Boucher will have to replicate Raitums showings while remaining consistent for the whole 56 game schedule. Time will tell if he can do the job ahead of returning back up Andrew Jaszczyk but in this years average looking class of EIHL netminders, he should place somewhere near the middle of the pack

This summer Cloutier has done his best to rebuild a defence that was largely to blame for the hemorrhage of 234 goals in front of Sandahl and Raitums last term. Initially opting for five defencemen under the Packs, Pavel Gomenyuk, George Halkidis and James Hutchinson were shipped out immediately following the end of last season as a fresh start was sought. However, returnee Stephen Burns and new signings Guillaume Lepine, Matt Suderman and Joshua Mizerek, who was set to become club captain, signed and then left as the club died and reformed.

Those departures left the club with just the bare bones, returning Brit Craig Mitchell and former Basingstoke import Trevor Read the only players signed and confirmed twice for the 10/11 season.

Nevertheless, Cloutier rebuilt his squad and the end product saw his D increase both physically and in numerical size and strength, something which will please the Stingrays long suffering fans that have year after year seen their team and defence disintegrate to injuries.

On the whole, the presence of the so called 'twin towers', Slovakian Jozef Sladok and Latvian Kris Grundmanis, both 6'5 and under 23 years old, should be something of a deterrent and significantly increased the average height of the squad. While their size may make protecting and clearing the way in front of Boucher that bit easier, their youthful exuberance should give them a fearless attitude when playing the physical game. Concerns over their skating abilities have been allayed by initial reports although the real test will be 60 minutes of Elite League action, nevertheless both have experience in North American hockey so should be used to the physical style of game.

The only Brit and only returnee from last season on the blueline is young Scot Mitchell. At 19 and already entering his third year in the Elite League he will be hoping to build from a solid if unspectacular sophomore season. Outlasting and outperforming fellow Brit Hutchinson last season was an achievement, increasing his contribution this year will be another impressive achievement as expectations of him continue to grow.

Canadians Kurtis Dulle and Read are undoubtedly the two standout defencemen on the Rays defensive roster, key to the clubs success. The duo will be required to set an example defensively while also providing an attacking spring to the lineup particularly during powerplays and on the rush.

Copyright Danny Fritsche

Saskatchewan native Dulle has been installed as captain in place of Glowa and then no-show Mizerek, and as number one defenceman will have to lead by example at the back with Read named as one of two deputies.

Read has experience in the Elite League and it will be hoped that his 30 point form from his time with Basingstoke two years will return after recording just four assists in 23 games in the French league last year. Reports on the former ECHL and CHLer are quietly good from Bison fans after he excelled in their infamous 'Bison Ten' season, however, his poor offensive stats in Europe could be a concern.

Finally, Aivars Gaisins the Rays second Latvian acquisition this summer rejoins Cloutier having had his first year in the UK cut very short by a wrist injury. It is the addition of the 28 year old that has allowed Clouiter to utilise the full set of 12 allowed imports in the fast approaching season after he appeared in just two games last year before going down to a broken wrist. 

Already living and working in the city, it is thought that Gaisins is cheap and, having been retained for another year by Cloutier, good enough to warrant a roster spot again this year. Although he may be the easily forgotten signing of the defensive corps, he is perhaps the most important signing, giving the Rays the luxury of a six strong defence, something they will almost certainly require given the rigours and strains of a 56 game league season.

In all, the Rays strength on the blueline appears to be in their size, strength in numbers and physicality, and although the latter of these attributes will have to be proven on opening night and continually thought the season, early indications are encouraging in comparison to last seasons final weekend roster.

Offensively much of the Rays attacking brunt has been retained, with core forwards Jason Silverthorn, Konstantin Kalmikov and Lee Mitchell all returning, both before and after the clubs brief closure, giving Cloutier the luxury of an attack that last year netted 65 of the clubs 152 goals.

As big as the loss of club legend Jeff Glowa is, the 34 year forward isn't getting any younger and the time would come to leave or retire sooner or later. Sniper Curtis Huppe is another that has departed and although not entirely amicable his resignation is another that works for both parties. The Manitoban undoubtedly had the potential to change a game at the flick of his wrist, unfortunately, four goals against Sheffield aside, he failed turn that potential into game winning ability in part because of his work ethic or lack of. His and Glowa's departures may immediately make the Stingrays a better, younger side freeing up no doubt a healthy size of the clubs budget as well as two important import slots.

While the pair left a potentially sizable hole in the clubs offensive power, accounting for 32 goals and 92 points last year, their departure to the EPL along with James Archer's post-collapse defection to Manchester freed up funds for Cloutier to sign three imports in their place.

The mixed bag that replaced them include Finnish top flight defensive centre Matti Uusivirta, college rookie Andrew Coburn and streaky CHL scorer Jereme Tendler. Like for like the club looks a little weaker with experienced EIHLers Huppe and Glowa certainties to rack up points, however, the depth and adaptability of these signings on first inspection gives the club depth charts a much needed boost.

Unknown they may be, but goals and points are a distinct possibility from the trio with Coburn the only real completely unknown quantity entering his first year as a pro after finishing his time at the University of Alabama - Huntsville.

Meanwhile, local lads and fan favourites Matty Davies and Lee Esders are welcome returnees and will again provide energy and chip in with ccasional goals, a better return than last season will be a welcome surprise and boost to the offence.

Adding Brits Ryan Lake and Ben Lowe to the trio of new signings and pair of returning Brits gives even more depth to the lineup, again a relieving change to recent seasons with the 11 forwards on the roster just one short of giving the coach four lines to chose from.

The biggest change in tac this season from last is, as has been stressed, the greater spread in talent and ability, and the overall depth of the team. As is often the case at the beginning of the season there seem few weaknesses, other than the type of all around quality on paper that teams at the top of the table can afford and the Rays cannot.

Thankfully, the game isn't played on paper and come 5.30pm next Sunday the Stingrays will against all odds return to the ice with a fresh slate and an exciting new beginning with a competitive looking squad.

Hocktoberfest returns

Hocktoberfest, the Elite Ice Hockey League's answer to 20/20 cricket, will return for a second year with a new format after a successful launch last year and the Hull Stingrays will once again participate in the one-day tournament at Sheffield Arena.

Last season the Rays were comprehensively beaten 5-1 at the quarter final stage of the inaugural tournament by eventual champions the Sheffield Steelers in a straight knockout competition which saw all eight EIHL sides compete. 

However, this year just six sides will ice in the tournament on the Monday of the August Bank holiday with Dundee, Braehead, Edinburgh and Newcastle all opting to assemble their squad at a date after the competition.

Therefore, the Stingrays will competing with the leagues five title contenders, Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Nottingham and Sheffield, for the crown which the Steelers won with a 3-2 victory over Coventry last October.

This year, the six sides will be split into two groups with each side facing the other two in the opening round before the top two sides meet for the grand final. The usual rules allowing just four players and a netminder on the ice for two 20 minute periods with a running clock will return.

While the timing of the announcement of the tournament could have been made a lot earlier, there is no doubt that the idea of this competition as a pre-season warm up is an excellent one, particularly as the four players on the ice rule will allow the players to blow away the summer cobwebs given the extra space on the ice.

The Stingrays and coach Sylvain Cloutier will enter the single day competition 24 hours after opening their pre-season with a tournament of their own.

The P&O Cup, which has yet to be officially announced but is likely to fall between the Friday and Sunday of August Bank Holiday, is rumoured to see Rays, who were last years winners, face-off once again against the Nottingham Panthers and Dutch side the Tilburg Trappers.

Match Highlights: Stingrays 3-2 Nottingham

Courtesy Phoben Multimedia

Match Highlights: Stingrays 4-3 Tilburg

Courtesy Phoben Multimedia

Phantoms hold Rays to draw

The Excel Hull Stingrays were tonight held to a 5-5 draw against the English Premier League's Peterborough Phantoms, who last season swept the EPL's three trophies, in a one off challenge match in Peterborough.

The Stingrays, who tied the game late on, via a Shaun Thompson shorthanded goal, outshot the Phantoms 48-32 but could not find a way past netminder Wall in the final two periods to squeeze out a win.

The Rays found themselves 3-0 down after the first period but, after some, likely, stern words from Sylvain Cloutier in the first intermission, they pulled the Phantoms lead back to 4-3 at the end of the second, thanks to Jeff Glowa and a double from Curtis Huppe.

Without Matt Reynolds, Lee Mitchell, Konstantin Kalmikov, Slava Koulikov and first choice netminder Tommy Sandahl, the Stingrays finally managed to level the scores in the final minute through Thompson after coach Sylvain Cloutier had bagged his first in a Stingrays jersey, restoring some of the pride in what could have been a somewhat embarrassing loss.

Cloutier's Comments

"I was happy with the second 40 minutes. We were three down in the first but Andy settled down after that and played well.

"The young guys came in and did a great job. They had a chance to skate with us and they worked hard but I had to cut the bench to get us back in the game and it was a shame I couldn't throw them in more. But now we will prepare for a tough weekend against Cardiff."