The dreaded injury curse that will likely strangle every Elite League side over the course of the 56 game schedule has struck Sylvain Cloutier's Excel Hull Stingrays side hard and early.
Cloutier, who was last season deprived of mainly defencemen early in the year, has this season lost four British players less than a month into the campaign.
19 year old defenceman Craig Mitchell was the first victim, breaking his arm blocking a shot in Braehead, before older brother Lee followed less than a week later suffering an unspecified injury that later turned out to be a reoccurance of the knee injury that has so far plagued his career.
Forward Ryan Lake, who has started off the season where he left the sport four years ago, then broke a bone in his thumb having taken a tumble into the boards against Newcastle on Sunday, before Lee Esders injured his knee in an innocuous challenge in Belfast last night, potentially ruling him out for two months.
With the exception of Lee Mitchell, who may return in a shorter time frame depending of the severity of his injury, the foursome are all likely to sit out at least four weeks leaving Cloutier's side short for a minimum of 13 games.
The injuries might not have been so bad had they been to imports, given availability of replacement Europeans and North Americans in comparison to the scarcity of available British trained players, all of whom are already signed up and playing.
Realistically, unless he is looking for a long term replacement for one of the four, Cloutier will have to scavenge for two-way contracts with English Premier League or English National League sides, like he did last year with James Archer.
Despite quitting on the team after originally signing in the summer, Archer may be one of the players Cloutier approaches, having hit four goals and four assists in ten games with the EPL Manchester Phoenix
Indeed, there may be other options at the Phoenix, or nearby EPL sides Sheffield and Peterborough, but with the club down to just 12 outskaters, including just two Brits, Matty Davies and the inexperienced Ben Lowe, it is important the right players are signed and available to ice for the Rays as regularly and as soon as possible.
Time is not something Cloutier has in abundance though, with a home and away double header against Cardiff quickly approaching this weekend before a game in Nottingham next Wednesday.
