Friday Fancies...

"Sad enough to say that
Alone I could barely light a match
But together we can burn this place down."
Four Year Strong: "Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die"

Let's blast quickly through the news of the week, then.

Panthers sign Cameron Mann: Note the complete lack of any bad pun whatsoever, Panthers PR people. There's no need. The man himself and his pedigree shouts loudly enough. Cameron Mann is a 32 year-old, 6' and 209lb right-winger who comes to the East Midlands from Duisburg of the DEL...and having been to the German city in the Rhineland while I lived over there, I can confirm that this is one of the few signings of the summer in Britain where Nottingham as a city has been used as a significant part of the bait-Sheffield fans may mock their near neighbours and everyone else might know the home of the Panthers only for Robin Hood and gun crime (possibly unfairly) but Duisburg is one of the few places on the planet where a nuclear holocaust would cause several million pounds' worth of improvements....thus making Nottingham look like the Garden of Eden in comparison.

As for the Cameron Mann press-release, which saw the Panthers start with the awful pun to end all awful puns and then descend further into copywriter hell with this actual quote:
"The GMB Nottingham Panthers have been thrilled and excited by all the signing news so far but now we think we’ve added extra cream and a cherry on top"...

Let's just say that the art of classy PR may be dead in the East Midlands. But anyway...

(Hold on-I think I just threw up in my mouth at the thought of Corey Neilson and friends bursting out of the world's most hellish chocolate pudding which that piece of writing conjures...)

Wait a second...

Wait another second...

OK, I'm good...

Enough parochial city-bashing and strange-pudding related thoughts-back to Mr Mann himself. Well, he's a bit good. Having never played below AHL level since his junior career, and being a consistent scorer throughout his time in the AHL and Europe (plus over 100 games in the NHL), the Panthers' roster just got a whole lot better. If this guy can form an effective partnership with Sean McAslan and Bruce Richardson, then that line could be grade-A, blow-the-roof-off dynamite in the EIHL.

But then, this is the Panthers we're talking about...so wait and see.

Stingrays re-sign Matt Reynolds: Another unsung hero of the EIHL last year returns to Hull...Reynolds and Konstantin Kalmikov provided much of the Humbersiders' offensive threat last year along with Jeff Glowa-with the three of them having some very decent-looking team-mates this time round, the Stingrays are looking like the dark times under Rick Strachan have been well and truly swept away.

Vipers sign Tyler Kindle: I so nearly went for a "kindle the fires of success"-type pun here, and had it not been for the jaw-dropping awfulness of the Panthers PR mentioned above, I would have done. Thank you, Nottingham. Thank you very much.

Anyway, Kindle is a 6', 180lb d-man who appears to be the counterpart to Ryan Mahrle, as the Vipers look to throw away the "all brawn and sod-all else" image with another skilful d-man to drive them forward from the back. He appears to have played very few games last season, but has consistently been putting up the points in the ECHL, including 10+34 in 2007/08, so could be a genuine offensive threat on Tyneside. And, unlike the tactics used by the Vipers at times last season, the word "offensive" is the good kind...

That sound you heard just now was a shotgun going off, aimed unerringly at a foot: News comes from Sheffield, who today announced the re-signing of defenceman Randy Dagenais, that his counterpart Steve Munn may have left himself out of the Steelers plans this season after waiting too long to begin negotiations.

Erm...What?!

If Dave Simms, Dave Matsos and co aren't now banging on Munn's door with a sealed-and-delivered contract that only needs his signature, then you have to fear for their sanity. Munn was one of, if not the best defencemen in the league last season, and is the rock the Steelers need in front of Kevin Reiter, particularly with Rod Sarich now moving up to forward...

Assuming that he's now priced himself out of a move abroad and is looking to stay in the UK, expect there to be a scramble for his signature-with Belfast now looking (with no disrespect to Kevin Phillips) a little weaker on defence, Vipers still with a player or two spare and Edinburgh making a wave or two with their signings, there are several possible UK destinations. I still feel he'll most likely return to Sheffield, however.

There you go...a quick run-through the big news of the week so far...I was going to produce the second part of Frozen Dreams, but you may have to wait until late Friday or Saturday for that one due to it now being nearly 1:30 am...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...