9th September Midweek Preview

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Wednesday 9th September: Peterborough Phantoms v Excel Hull Stingrays @ Planet Ice Peterborough, F/O 8pm

Form
Stingrays: W W W L
Peterborough: First game

Last 3 Meetings
v Peterborough
20/11/05 2-1 W A
11/02/06 3-1 W H
26/02/06 2-1 L A

Players to Watch
Stingrays- Stephen Burns: The defenceman has so far proved to be a sound summer acquisition by coach Sylvain Cloutier, with his best performance so far coming in the Rays solid defensive performance against an explosive Belfast offence. After showing brilliant vision and passing ability to pick out Jeff Glowa for his first point as a Stingray, it seems that there may be much more to come from the Canadian.

Peterborough- Maris Ziedens: Latvian Ziedens moved to North America as a youngster to progress his career in hockey and that helped him to five seasons split between the ECHL and UHL. Five appearances and one goal for Latvia at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino, show that he could ply his trade at a higher level if he so desired. However, after a treble winning season last year, in which he bagged 34 goals and 79 points in 54 games, he is back for another run at the EPL and will be a big threat against the Stingrays.

Between the Pipes
Stingrays- Andrew Jaszczyk: The 20 year old will be handed his first appearance of season against the Phantoms after seeing Tommy Sandahl shut out fellow EPL side, the Sheffield Scimitars, in the Rays pre-season opener at the end of August. It will give coach Sylvain Cloutier a first opportunity to see his new backup in a game situation after the Brit recorded a 82% save percentage in 11 league appearances last season.

Peterborough- Stephen Wall: Wall backstopped the Phantoms to a clean sweep of the EPL trophies last season with a 91.7 save percentage and 2.95 goals against average. In helping Peterborough do the treble, he also earned deserved call ups to the Elite League with Basingstoke and Manchester, so should pose difficult opposition for the Rays, so far, relatively goal shy offence.

Absentees
Stingrays: Lee Mitchell (knee), Slava Koulikov
Peterborough: Brent Gough (doubt)

News
- After an incredibly successful treble campaign last year under Colin Patterson, this game will be the Phantoms first game under new head coach Doug Irwin, who comes in after spells as coach in Italy's second tier, with Eppan and Gherdeina, and German's third tier, with Bayreuth.

- As well as starting backup Andrew Jazscyzk in net, the Stingrays will hand debuts to youngsters Ben Lowe, Jamie Cobley, Kieran Beach and Dan Sayer from the Kingston Jets.

- James Hutchinson will return to his former club for the first time. The North-East native, who has impressed in Stingrays colours so far, had a 58 point season from defence last year, topping his three year point tally with the club at 143 points in 127 games

What the Coaches say...
Cloutier (Stingrays)

"It's a good chance for Andy to showcase himself. He wants to be a number one goalie one day and he now has a chance to show what he can do. He faces some good shooters in practice and he works hard in training. This is his reward for that and it's a chance for him to show me what he has got in case we need him."

Doug Irwin (Phantoms)

"It is a tough start for us against Hull but I am happy that in guys like Lewis Buckman, Joe Miller and Dwayne Newman I have the leaders on the ice that are needed to be successful. The result is not the most important thing tonight but I want to see maximum commitment from my players. If I get that I will be a happy man."

Predictions
Peterborough 2-4 Stingrays