Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Gomenyuk makes surprise Stingrays return

Defenceman Pavel Gomenyuk will this weekend return for a fourth spell with the Hull Stingrays after player-coach Sylvain Cloutier today brought the Ukrainian back to the club as a short-term replacement for departed captain Matt Suderman.

The now 35 year old blueliner first moved to Hull ten years ago under Rick Strachan to join the Stingrays for their inaugural campaign in the British National League.

He spent two years with the Rays in the BNL before bouncing between the Stingrays and Newcastle Vipers in the Elite League between 05/06 and 07/08. His last spell in Hull lasted a further two years, first during Rick Strachan's final year as coach in 08/09 before Cloutier re-signed the then 31 year old for a further season.

Over his five year Elite League career Gomenyuk - who won the Elite League playoffs with Newcastle in 05/06 - has posted 32 goals and 83 assists for 115 points meanwhile he remains the Stingrays all-time leader in penalty minutes - having posted 494 PIM's in his previous 208 appearances for the club.

He joins the club having retired from the sport last season following four years in the English Premier League. Those four years were split between the Manchester Phoenix, Sheffield Steeldogs and Slough Jets and during that time he lifted 10/11 English Premier League trophy as alternate captain with the Manchester Phoenix and accumulated 31 goals and 132 points in 161 games.

With a crucial double header against Gardiner Conference rivals Edinburgh Capitals and Fife Flyers coming up this weekend and down two imports, Cloutier has moved to bring Gomenyuk - who lives locally - out of retirement and back to the club to strength the club's options.

While Gomenyuk has in the past been inconsistent in Stingrays colours, his undoubted strength is his powerful shot from the point and that is one area the Stingrays have struggled this season.

Equally, Cloutier - who has, as yet, been unable to find a replacement for Derek Campbell, let alone recently departed Suderman - will be grateful to the Ukrainian for stepping in at late notice to add numbers to his blueline at such a crucial time having retired from the sport last season.

Monday, 2 December 2013

Suderman quits Stingrays

Matt Suderman has today quit the Hull Stingrays citing abuse from fans - primarily but not exclusively online - and the poor standard of refereeing in the Elite League as his reasons for leaving the club.

Suderman - who was the Stingrays captain - leaves having registered just one point and amassed 115 penalty minutes in 22 games for the club.

Sunday, 17 November 2013

Short-benched Blaze beat Stingrays thanks to three goals in seven minutes

Hull Stingrays 2-5 Coventry Blaze

The Hull Stingrays were tonight defeated 5-2 by a short-benched Coventry Blaze side lead by returning forward Shea Guthrie.

Remarkably all of the last three Stingrays-Blaze fixtures have finished 5-2 and it would be the Stingrays that would again finish on the wrong end of the scoreline this time.

Both sides had hit the post before Mattias Soderstrom's side raced into a 1-0 lead thanks to a typically speedy and clinical counter-attack from that man Guthrie - who notched his first goal of the season in his second game after returning from Sweden on Friday.

In an end-to-end first period, the Stingrays struggled to craft that all important scoring chance but were, on the whole, controlling the game against a short-staffed Coventry side with just 13 outskaters.

That all changed in the middle stanza though as the Blaze dominated the Stingrays and opened up a pivotal four goal lead.

Ryan Ginand would net Coventry's second goal just 43 seconds into the second period, beating the Stingrays D and Ben Bowns to his own rebound before somehow steering it round the Rays netminder mid-dive.

The Elite League's leading scorer then collided heavily with Bowns in the ensuing dive, causing some worrying moments for the Stingrays and, in particular, their inexperienced rookie backup Mike Bolton while the GB international got back to his feet.

Bowns did resume the game, however, the Blaze were well on top and Kevin Harvey tipped home their third goal on the powerplay on 23.55 before Ross Venus fired home a killer fourth to complete a devastating opening seven second period minutes.

As the game entered the third period and then began to draw to a close it appeared that the Stingrays may be shut out for the second time in two home games - following last weekend's 2-0 loss to the Belfast Giants.

However, they would mount a mini-revival with less than nine minutes remaining on the clock as Carl Lauzon picked up a huge rebound from a weak Jeff Smith point shot and fired home into the gaping net to finally give the home crowd something to cheer about and to ruin Coventry's and Zacharias' shutout hopes.

The two goal weekend gives the French-Canadian - who was one of the Rays top performers on the night, albeit in a relatively average team performance - eight goals in 19 games this season including five in his last six as he finally looks to have settled in the UK and in the Elite League.

The goal stirred the Rays and for, really, the first time in the match they began to trouble the Blaze going forward.

Guillaume Doucet would then add a second goal for the Stingrays on the powerplay but, with less than three minutes to go, it would prove to be too little, too late in their bid to make it a four point weekend.

Looking for a third goal, the Rays pulled Bowns in a last gasp roll of the dice only for Ginand to add his second of the night into the empty net from distance with 37 seconds remaining.

Despite this evenings defeat and somewhat disappointing performance, Sylvain Cloutier will be happy and proud of his side's weekend having picked up two valuable Gardiner Conference points against Braehead on Saturday.

Next weekend they will face the Cardiff Devils at home on Saturday night before travelling to Scotland for the second time in two weeks to take on the Edinburgh Capitals on Sunday.

FBB Three Stars
1. Carl Lauzon (1+0)
2. Matty Davies (0+1)
3. Omar Pacha (0+1