Historically, the Stingrays have had success in re-signing just one starting import netminder, that being Miroslav Bielik as they made the conversion from EPL to EIHL hockey. Bielik, who suffered from home sickness and injuries, was the best of a below average bunch under former coach Rick Strachan, as became obvious when he was replaced, due to the aforementioned flaws, by fan favourite Ladislav Kudrna, good on his day but more often than not prone to costly mistakes. A well past his best Curtis Cruikshank was the last netminder of the Strachan era and summed up all the problems the Rays have had with keepers under Strachan in one agonising 08/09 season.
Even first year Stingrays boss Sylvain Cloutier, who made a concerted effort to find the answer by handing his brother, former NHLer Dan Cloutier, the job of scouring the globe for the ideal candidate, struggled to find the perfect solution, initially employing inexperienced Swede Tommy Sandahl between the pipes before releasing him for Latvian Matins Raitums. Four years, five netminders and five nationalities later and it seemed like Cloutier had struck gold with former IIHF World Championships netminder Raitums.
Think again, after following friend and fellow Latvian Aivars Gaisins to the Stingrays in early 2009, he is now well on his way to the Stingrays growing netminding scrap heap joining Curtis Huppe, Adam Knight and James Hutchinson on the departures list from Cloutier's first year in charge.
Who next? Well, the early rumour, and one that currently looks to be spot on, is that the new keeper is to come from the Dutch Eredivisie.
Two names immediately sprung to the fore, one familiar and one not so familiar. The unforgettable Japanese international Yukata Fukufuji, who last season visited the Hull Arena in pre-season with Tilburg Trappers, and French Canadian Christian Boucher, netminder for the 09/10 Dutch Eredivisie champion Nijmegen Devils.
Fukufuji joined Tilburg last season after a successful stint in North America, where he spent five years between the NHL, AHL and ECHL, during which time he became the first ever Japanese born player to ice in the NHL. He moved to Holland last season and went on to post a 3.43 goals against average (GAA) as Tilburg, who were tipped as potential champions, finished in 3rd place and he would undoubtedly be the experienced option out of the two.
Boucher, former team mate of Stingrays defenceman Stephen Burns, also entered his first season in Europe in the Eredivisie after a rookie year in the CHL, where he had posted a 2.89 GAA and a 91.9 sv.% in 37 games with the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. In his first season away from North America, after spending four years in the NCAA at Robert Morris University prior to his stint in the CHL, Boucher took the newly named Devils to the Eredivisie title with a 2.95 GAA in 45 games, before leading them past Fukufuji's Tilburg side in the playoff final series by three games to none.
Statistically the Canadian outperformed Fukufuji on a less favoured team and it is because of this, as well as the fact that he now has a league and playoff title to his name, that Boucher is thought to be red-hot favourite to succeed Raitums at the Hull Arena.
