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Wednesday 26th August: Sheffield Scimitars v Excel Hull Stingrays @ iceSheffield, F/O 7.30pm
Last 3 Meetings
v Sheffield Scimitars
22/12/05 1-5 L A (Yorkshire Cup)
30/12/05 3-2 W A
04/01/06 4-4 D H
Players to watch
Stingrays- Curtis Huppe: With 104 goals in 177 Elite League games, Huppe is a the epitome of an EIHL sniper. The Canadian, who will double up as coach Sylvain Cloutier's assistant, returns to the Elite League with a point to prove following a disappointing return from retirement last season in Corpus Christi. Look for him to bag a couple in his return to the UK.
Sheffield- Stephen Wallace: A former Hull Thunder forward, North-East native Wallace has seen his chances to perform at the top level spurned, instead he has been restricted to EPL and ENL. Nevertheless, his goalscoring talents have continued to shine with three 20+ goal seasons in three years in the EPL and with another good season under his belt he may finally make his way to the Elite League after seeing former Scimitar team mates Robert Dowd and Ben Morgan move in recent years. Without their import firepower, the Scimitars may rely on him for goals and points against the Stingrays.
Between the pipes
Stingrays- Tommy Sandahl/ Andrew Jaszcyzk: Debutant Sandahl is expected to begin the first of many games this season in his first career starting slot. The 25 year old Swede, who has joined from the second tier of Swedish hockey, will be hoping to make a good first impression on both Cloutier and the fans, with this game seen as a good chance to gain some early season form in the UK. Andrew Jaszcyzk is returning for his second season in Hull colours after a positive first term, and although his chances will likely be limited if Sandahl pans out as expected, he may get some ice time at iceSheffield on Wednesday.
Sheffield- Pasi Raitanen/Paul Jones: The Finn, another former Hull player, has re-signed for the EPL outfit after a season in Edinburgh and will hope to improve on form that saw him help the Scottish side to their second successive post-season ahead of the Stingrays. However, as the only import expected in the Scimitars ranks for this game, he, and backup netminder Paul Jones, who may also get some ice time, will be expected to face a lot of rubber from a Stingrays side boasting nine imports and looking to impress in their first game under a new coach.
Absentees
Stingrays- Konstantin Kalmikov (doubtful; visa problems), Lee Mitchell (knee)
Sheffield- Peter Slamiar (doubtful), Joakim Millqvist (doubtful)
News
- The Stingrays will open up their 09/10 pre-season season against the Scimitars in what will be Sylvain Cloutier's first game in charge and the Stingrays first game without former coach Rick Strachan at the helm.
- They look set to ice ten debutant's, including six imports (Tommy Sandahl, Stephen Burns, Ryan Jorde, Adam Knight, Sylvain Cloutier and Curtis Huppe) and four Brits (James Hutchinson, Craig Mitchell, Shaun Thompson and Matty Davies. Whilst the Scimitars will give debuts to at least three British players (Aaron Strawson, Lewis Bell and Frazer Goldie).
- The Stingrays are under .500 in pre-season encounters in their time in the Elite League, winning two of five games. Those wins, both at home, came in 07/08 with an emphatic 5-1 victory over an understrength Cardiff Devils and in 06/07 with a 5-3 win over the Sheffield Steelers in the Yorkshire Cup, only their second ever victory over the South Yorkshire side to date. Last pre-season, under Rick Strachan, the team returned to play the Steelers in the Yorkshire Cup and lost out in both legs for a 15-6 aggregate loss.
- Forward Lee Mitchell and Konstantin Kalmikov will both miss tomorrow night's fixture, with Mitchell also set to miss the P&O Channel Cup at the weekend. Kalmikov, who is the only Stingray yet to arrive at their pre-season training camp, has been on the receiving end of issues with his VISA application, whilst Mitchell injured his knee in one of the Rays first training sessions. It comes over a year and a half since he had an knee operation that saw him miss out on the run in to the 07/08 season.
- An F Block Blog match report of this game will follow on Thursday, whilst we will preview the P&O Channel Cup against Tilburg and Nottingham on Friday, with match reports and coverage from all three games.
What the coaches say...
Sylvain Cloutier (Stingrays)
"Exhibition games are a good way to see what changes, if any, need to be made with the line-up before the season starts. Nothing is better preparation than a game setting."John Rowbothan (Sheffield)
"This is a brilliant fixture for us and I am delighted that Clouts has agreed to bring his team over to Sheffield. I am hoping that both teams will be at full strength for the game and it should be a good night to warm-up both sets of fans for the upcoming season".Prediction
Sheffied 2-6 Stingrays
