Six months on and the Stingrays forward Esders is one of the hottest British prospects at the age of 20.The fans appreciation in him is evident in their chant "Ezzy, Ezzy, Ezzy", a chant that regularly rings out around the Hull Arena in favour of the hometown hero, and a chant that nine times out of ten that chant will provoke a response from the man himself, usually in the form of yet another fearless check from the five foot six winger.
However only this season has that non-stop work ethic converted from unrelenting energy to offensive production for the Rays.
An EIHL ruling, allowing the Rays 11 imports, rather than 10, condemned him to the bench, in wait of an injury or indiscipline from a fellow team mate.
His time would come.
More specifically his time would come some four months later, as the Rays went through the depths of their injury crisis.
Given a place, Esders work ethic continued where it had left off, endearing himself to fans with his fearless approach to the game. Most evident in his checking of 6'4 enforcer Brett Cloutier and other such giants of the game.
Most importantly some of his work rate began to show up some of the sides senior players. Slava Koulikov has, sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, seen much of the criticism since Esders emergence, that despite scoring 14 points in 19 games on a traditionally low scoring team.
The effort and commitment to the cause that Esders has shown to the team and fans has reminded fans of a time gone by and shows up the skillful but sometimes lazy Koulikov. 2002/03 saw financial backing pulled out from Hull's, then, senior side, the Thunder. Youngsters were forced to play in place of the foreign imports, who quit the team, and in the ensuing games the team earnt a reputation as 'British Bulldogs' for the the type of effort that Esders now shows on a regular basis.
With Esders proving his worth to a Stingrays team battling for their first EIHL playoff berth during their winter injury crisis, he retained his place in the team, this time being paired with two of the sides best players. In the evergreen Canadian Jeff Glowa, who is having a career year, and countryman Matt Reynolds, who has proved to be one of the finds of the season, Esders was matched up with two of the best and has not let his teammates or fans down.
In recent weeks this new found partnership has seen him hit a purple patch of form, scoring four goals in three games. Goals which have come against some of the leagues best in Nottingham, Manchester and Coventry. The latter will surely have not gone unnoticed by GB senior team coach Paul Thompson, who watched the Esders score the Rays game tieing goal in their 4-1 victory over his side, the Blaze.
His rise from the depths of senior British hockey, to the peak of playing for his hometown side in the country's highest league is fairy tale. A fairy tale that, barring a catastrophe of monumental proportions, shows no sign of slowing any time soon.
Photos courtesy Arthur Foster
