Stingrays Five of the Best...10/11

With fixtures out, just a handful of signings remaining and little over a month and a half to go until the puck drops for the 11/12 Elite League campaign, F Block Blog is here to provide Rays fans with a refresher of what it believes were last seasons five best games.

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26/03/11 - Stingrays 1-2 Cardiff (EIHL Playoff Quarter Final Leg 1)

It was perhaps fate that the Rays were to come up against the only EIHL opposition they hadn't beaten in 10/11 in the first round of the post-season. They took on the Cardiff Devils in just their second ever playoff appearance - the first time they have qualified in their own right - and a tense, chippy game followed as the Rays worked hard to keep it close heading into the second leg. Watch out for Tylor Michel's lovely solo opening goal!

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03/10/11 Stingrays 3-3 Cardiff Devils

At one point it didn't look like this game would ever take place. Starting late in October following owners Mike and Sue Pack's departure, the Rays opened their 10/11 season against the very same Cardiff Devils side that would cause them so many problems later on in the season. Not a classic per se, but the Rays best result against the South Wales side all season long and an important game in that it saw the sport make an unexpected top flight return to the city after a turbulent summer. See Matti Uusivirta round off a lovely move with a clinical finish for the Rays first of the year.

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20/03/11 Stingrays 6-1 Nottingham

The Rays saved some of their best for last as they thrashed top side Nottingham on the final weekend of the season. The Panthers - with former Rays head coach Rick Strachan at the helm - entered the weekend with little to play for and started backup Dan Green. Backup or not, the home side outplayed the big spending Nottingham outfit in all areas and deservedly came out on top.

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04/12/10 Stingrays 7-2 Sheffield

The Steelers took a commanding 2-0 lead early on but the Stingrays came back very strongly and ran out easy winners, condemning the Steelers to their biggest ever Yorkshire derby defeat.

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21/11/10 Stingrays 3-2 Belfast (OT)

2-0 down in the third, the Rays came back to snatch the win against another of the big spending top four, with Jason Silverthorn scoring a lovely overtime effort to seal the unlikely win.

Stingrays Five of the Best...Defencemen

5 Pavel Gomenyuk (03-05, 06/07, 08/09) The steady but solid Ukrainian has had three very mixed spells with the Stingrays, split by two equally indifferent seasons in Newcastle.

Although he has had notable lows throughout his time in Hull, including 06/07, where his determination to play on through injury saw him on the receiving end of fan venom, he has generally been regarded as a safe bet as far as the Stingrays defencemen have gone.

His steely character has shone through in returning from not one, but two below par seasons with the club. And he particularly excelled last season, recording a career high 42 points in 56 games, mainly through his long searching passes and slapshots from the blueline, and in doing so earned himself a return under new coach Sylvain Cloutier.

4 Steve Slonina (08/09) Upon signing, the Abington, Maschusetts native initially appeared to be a very astute signing by former coach Rick Strachan, who signed the former Bakersfield Condor as a forward that could adequately fill in on defence. A handful of games and a switch to defence later, and Slonina had become one of the teams standout performers...on defence.

After a largely ineffective spell in his natural forward position, he filled in for the injury prone Stingrays defence and shored up a backline that, from the outset, looked immobile and offensively blunt.

His tenacity and tendency to rush the puck forward from defence was a welcome change on a team that boasted several defensive blueliners in the form of Wilson, Kerr, Neumeier and Moran. A 40 point season and defenceman and fans player of the year at the teams end of season awards, reflects how good the American's season really was.

3 Dave Phillips (03-08) Recently invited to try out for the National Hockey League's Chicago Blackhawks, Phillips progression in the sport has been frightening and very visible for Stingrays fans.

Beginning his career as a forward, with former coach Strachan utilising the teenagers fearless ability to intimidate and agitate on the teams third line, Phillips was then switched back to his preferred role in defence in his sophomore season.

From there on in his career has gone from strength to strength, progressing from sparsely used third line defenceman to a staple of the Rays defensive core.

A season in the English Premier League cemented his reputation as one of the best up and coming Brits, and two seasons with the Stingrays in the Elite League not only handed him his first Great Britain senior cap, of which he now has 15, but also a move to the big spending Belfast Giants.

Phillips physicality, aggressive style and solidity at the heart of the teams defence, as well as his clear passion for both winning, and the team, set him aside from other defencemen as one of the best.

2 Kevin Young (06/07) Young really became everything an Elite League team wants from their import defencemen. Offensively brilliant, defensively solid and a clear leader in the locker room, Young was a favourite for the team in one of their best Elite League seasons.

His skill set was clearly very high, and although his CV didn't particularly shine through a crowd, on the ice he was one of the most skillful. This was demonstrated perfectly in a memorable overtime winning goal against Nottingham, a solo effort rounded off by a nice backhanded finish and 'climb the glass' celebration.

His season came crashing to a halt with a Mike Rees check with the resulting dislocated shoulder, which threatened to keep him out for months rather than weeks, dictating that the team release him, much to the devastation of Young himself.

1 Craig Minard (04/05) Minard was not only one of the best defencemen to have iced for the Stingrays, but in his short spell in East Yorkshire he became one of the best regardless of position.

He became the Stingrays version of Neal Martin in Coventry, Greg Kuznik in Fife and , to a lesser extent, Kevin Bobriuck in Sheffield, in that he was an outstanding defenceman that the team, and their fans, dream of re-signing each and every pre-season.

He stayed at the Hull Arena for just 25 games, but in that time scored an outstanding 20 points, including five assists in a crazy 6-5 win in Bracknell. Not only that, but he also took the teams captaincy and guided them to an encouraging opening stretch in 04/05 in league, Crossover Cup and Winter Cup, it would not last however.

Regretably Minard quit the team to return to the CHL and was immediately, and quite rightly, vilified for using the Stingrays as a pre-season training camp and wage earner.

That aside he is easily the most exciting defenseman to have iced in Rays colours, an offensive defencemen of the first quality, and for that reason he sits in the number one spot.

Honourable mentions: Slava Timchenko, Troy Neumeier
Images courtesy: bbc.co.uk, Arthur Foster,

Stingrays Five of the Best...Netminders

In the first of eight part series looking at the best of the best at the Excel Hull Stingrays, in an attempt to make this incredibly long off-season seem that bit shorter, F Block Blog looks at the best netminders to have stood between the pipes during the teams six year existence.

5 Curtis Cruickshank (08/09): With just five import netminders having played for the Stingrays in six years, this 'five of the best' was not tough to compile. Nevertheless, Cruickshank was the fifth best, or worst if you want to put it that way, and that outlines the sad state of British netminders.

As for his performances for the Stingrays, well, either Cruickshank suffered from the lack of support he received from both the stands and his defencemen in his single season with the team, or he was as bad a choice as netminder as Stingrays fans immediately thought. In the end Cruickshank made mistakes on a fairly regular basis and his positioning was quite often a big cause for concern. Despite this he did have a handful of good games and at times proved why he was so highly rated during his, knee injury free, spells at Nottingham and Basingstoke.

4 Pasi Raitanen (03/04): The likeable Finn that is Pasi Raitanen became the Stingrays first ever netminder in the summer of 2003 and, in somewhat surprising circumstances, was released post-Christmas, despite recording a credible 90.9 save percentage in the Findus Cup. However, with the teams win column in single digits and with Raitanen possessing a lowly 85.3 save percentage in the league, he was cut, despite a distinct lack of errors. In hindsight, the move proved a good one, but Pasi, who retired this summer, will always be remembered as a fan favourite, not only in Hull but also around the country.

3 Anders Hogberg (03/04): Hogberg was the man that was signed to replace the considerable figure of fellow Scandinavian Raitanen. The Swede was cut from the London Racers at a similar time to Raitanen leaving his post at the Rays and, ideally for the Stingrays owners, was delighted to sign for the club. Surprisingly he more than adequately filled the gaping goal left by the Finn and also proved to be a big fan favourite, most notably endearing himself to the Hull Arena by performing a pirouette following one of the teams sparse wins during their first year of existence.

2 Ladislav Kudrna (07/08): Kudrna came to the Stingrays with much anticipation following a season in France and an impressive couple of seasons in Edinburgh, where he gained a reputation as a solid keeper. Replacing Miroslav Bielik, the main reason for Rick Strachan signing Kudrna was his ability to steal games, the staple of any good side, and, although it is in no doubt that the Czech netminder did steal games for the team, his inability to keep the close ones close was what cost him. A very good netminder on his day, but an uncharacteristically long list of bad games more than likely cost him his job for 08/09 and that unreliability in the majority of games became the final straw.

1 Miroslav Bielik (05-07): Joining the team in the EPL and ending his two year stint in the EIHL, Bielik was not only a consistent netminder, but also a good one. He stole games and also provided the team with a basis to build upon. Eventually, a very leaky defence and season scuppering injuries became his downfall, but for a bit more fitness and a little more luck, Bielik could have taken the Rays to EPL Playoff Weekend and the EIHL playoff Quarter Finals. Both goals that the Stingrays have, thus far, failed to reach.