Braehead Clan 4 - 2 Excel Hull Stingrays
Edinburgh Capitals 7 - 6 Excel Hull Stingrays (SO)
The Stingrays 13 strong squad this weekend will, or at least should, have won a lot of friends for their hard work and effort in these two performances in Scotland.
You don't need me to tell you that they were up against it from the offset. With Dan Scott and Jack Watkins away with GB U20's, and Tristan Harper, Dmitri Rodin and Ryan Lake all nursing injuries - the surprise non-inclusion of captain Joshua Mizerek further compounded matters, limiting the Stingrays to just three defencemen and eight forwards - one of which was the inexperienced Sam Towner.
Any team that ever wins with 13 skaters or less deserves a massive hand and, although they didn't win, the Stingrays deserve exactly that for their efforts.
Anyway onto the expected yet surprising news of Mizerek's departure. I'll keep it short and sweet as I'm expecting an official announcement soon, but he's believed to have been released by coach Sylvain Cloutier due to sub-par performances rather than the financial issues that are currently affecting the Coventry based ownership group. I fully expect Cloutier to replace him at this point, though hopefully there will be news about that in the official announcement or the Hull Daily Mail soon.
I say expected yet surprising?
Well, it's far from a secret that Mizerek was the worst performing import in the squad, even before the release of Frantisek Bakrlik. I try to sway away from out and out criticism on here and elsewhere but you may have noticed he was often the player I mentioned being out of position on opposing goals in match reports.
His defensive play was, lets say, questionable. Much like the long gone Jonathan Bernier of 08/09, he liked to play (or happened to fall into) the non-existing 'midfield' role which is never a good sign. Once it was obvious he was maybe not up to a certain level, the tide was well against him and I've no doubt on occasion he got the blame for things that weren't always his fault.
I guess the surprisingly part about this move is the timing given the club were down so many bodies going into the weekend. That could be down to a number of things, be it Mizerek himself being unhappy, Cloutier finding a better player for the role or financial issues (I don't believe it but I also refuse to rule it out, this is, afterall, British ice hockey!)
Back to the weekend and somewhat unsurprisingly, the club's first game without their captain on Saturday in Braehead ended in defeat. Drew Bannister's Clan claiming their second consecutive win over his former side despite trailing 1-0 thanks to a Jereme Tendler goal for more than half the game. Eventually two goals from standout Clan forward Jordan Krestanovich less than three minutes apart put paid to the Rays hopes of claiming a win and that was that, bar Tendler picking up a consolation second near the end.
This evenings game was much more entertaining, from a #followingthegameonTwitter point of view anyway. Goal's galore eventually ending, a little predictably, in a Rays road loss - albeit 7-6 and by way of a sudden death shootout. That scoreline is their second highest scoreline of the season after the 9-4 home win over Braehead by the way.
What I assume was the Stingrays first-line of Jereme Tendler, Jason Silverthorn and Derek Campbell this weekend, inflicted the majority of the damage on the scoreline and Nathan Craze's net. Tendler bagging 3+1 on the night for five goals this weekend - putting him fourth in league scoring charts - 'dishmaster' and, captain to be in my book, Silverthorn adding three helpers - for third in the league in points - before hitting the post in overtime, and Campbell scoring a useful two of his own - one shorthanded - to go with three assists for an amazing five point night. Defenceman Sam McCluskey also scored his first goal for the Stingrays to put them up 2-0 after less than five minutes.
Despite leading 2-0, 3-1 and 5-4 the Rays lost momentum and eventually had to come back from 6-5 down to level the scores on 47.22, before falling in the shootout.
I say the Rays were low on bodies, the Edinburgh Capitals tonight had 14 players ice tonight - just one more than their visitors - and have been playing with similarly low number all year. I did joke that perhaps short benches are the way to go for the Elite League if tonight's scoreline is anything to go by...
The Caps have been getting some deserved praise recently, not least from the Hull camp prior to tonight's game, and I can only echo what a great job they've done given the circumstances. They're currently four points ahead of the Stingrays with two games in hand, partly down to what I thought was a well worked system (during their visits to Hull) but also down to their players doing the hard yards.
I said on Twitter after our last game against them that Rene Jarolin is one of the best forwards in the Elite League and that he was criminally underrated by opposition fans when he signed, and he is obviously also crucial to their success.
So Cloutier and his 12 teammates travel back from Scotland tonight with just one point but I for one think they deserve the utmost respect and support for their efforts, even if it didn't quite turn out as desired.
I expect there will be news of Mizerek tomorrow, though I'll be shocked if it's anything other than "he's left". In their only game next weekend the Rays take on the Cardiff Devils - whom they beat in a shootout in South Wales last time out.
Edinburgh Capitals 7 - 6 Excel Hull Stingrays (SO)
The Stingrays 13 strong squad this weekend will, or at least should, have won a lot of friends for their hard work and effort in these two performances in Scotland.
You don't need me to tell you that they were up against it from the offset. With Dan Scott and Jack Watkins away with GB U20's, and Tristan Harper, Dmitri Rodin and Ryan Lake all nursing injuries - the surprise non-inclusion of captain Joshua Mizerek further compounded matters, limiting the Stingrays to just three defencemen and eight forwards - one of which was the inexperienced Sam Towner.
Any team that ever wins with 13 skaters or less deserves a massive hand and, although they didn't win, the Stingrays deserve exactly that for their efforts.
Anyway onto the expected yet surprising news of Mizerek's departure. I'll keep it short and sweet as I'm expecting an official announcement soon, but he's believed to have been released by coach Sylvain Cloutier due to sub-par performances rather than the financial issues that are currently affecting the Coventry based ownership group. I fully expect Cloutier to replace him at this point, though hopefully there will be news about that in the official announcement or the Hull Daily Mail soon.
I say expected yet surprising?
Well, it's far from a secret that Mizerek was the worst performing import in the squad, even before the release of Frantisek Bakrlik. I try to sway away from out and out criticism on here and elsewhere but you may have noticed he was often the player I mentioned being out of position on opposing goals in match reports.
His defensive play was, lets say, questionable. Much like the long gone Jonathan Bernier of 08/09, he liked to play (or happened to fall into) the non-existing 'midfield' role which is never a good sign. Once it was obvious he was maybe not up to a certain level, the tide was well against him and I've no doubt on occasion he got the blame for things that weren't always his fault.
I guess the surprisingly part about this move is the timing given the club were down so many bodies going into the weekend. That could be down to a number of things, be it Mizerek himself being unhappy, Cloutier finding a better player for the role or financial issues (I don't believe it but I also refuse to rule it out, this is, afterall, British ice hockey!)
Back to the weekend and somewhat unsurprisingly, the club's first game without their captain on Saturday in Braehead ended in defeat. Drew Bannister's Clan claiming their second consecutive win over his former side despite trailing 1-0 thanks to a Jereme Tendler goal for more than half the game. Eventually two goals from standout Clan forward Jordan Krestanovich less than three minutes apart put paid to the Rays hopes of claiming a win and that was that, bar Tendler picking up a consolation second near the end.
This evenings game was much more entertaining, from a #followingthegameonTwitter point of view anyway. Goal's galore eventually ending, a little predictably, in a Rays road loss - albeit 7-6 and by way of a sudden death shootout. That scoreline is their second highest scoreline of the season after the 9-4 home win over Braehead by the way.
What I assume was the Stingrays first-line of Jereme Tendler, Jason Silverthorn and Derek Campbell this weekend, inflicted the majority of the damage on the scoreline and Nathan Craze's net. Tendler bagging 3+1 on the night for five goals this weekend - putting him fourth in league scoring charts - 'dishmaster' and, captain to be in my book, Silverthorn adding three helpers - for third in the league in points - before hitting the post in overtime, and Campbell scoring a useful two of his own - one shorthanded - to go with three assists for an amazing five point night. Defenceman Sam McCluskey also scored his first goal for the Stingrays to put them up 2-0 after less than five minutes.
Despite leading 2-0, 3-1 and 5-4 the Rays lost momentum and eventually had to come back from 6-5 down to level the scores on 47.22, before falling in the shootout.
I say the Rays were low on bodies, the Edinburgh Capitals tonight had 14 players ice tonight - just one more than their visitors - and have been playing with similarly low number all year. I did joke that perhaps short benches are the way to go for the Elite League if tonight's scoreline is anything to go by...
The Caps have been getting some deserved praise recently, not least from the Hull camp prior to tonight's game, and I can only echo what a great job they've done given the circumstances. They're currently four points ahead of the Stingrays with two games in hand, partly down to what I thought was a well worked system (during their visits to Hull) but also down to their players doing the hard yards.
I said on Twitter after our last game against them that Rene Jarolin is one of the best forwards in the Elite League and that he was criminally underrated by opposition fans when he signed, and he is obviously also crucial to their success.
So Cloutier and his 12 teammates travel back from Scotland tonight with just one point but I for one think they deserve the utmost respect and support for their efforts, even if it didn't quite turn out as desired.
I expect there will be news of Mizerek tomorrow, though I'll be shocked if it's anything other than "he's left". In their only game next weekend the Rays take on the Cardiff Devils - whom they beat in a shootout in South Wales last time out.
