Thursday Thoughts...

"I'm not sure, starting over
It's a different situation
A different situation..."
Tegan and Sara: "Burn Your Life Down"

The EIHL season is now officially over, although there is still a fair bit of hockey to play in Britain with the EPL, ENL and women's leagues still running until the end of April, and in the case of the women, early May. However, this is the time of year when players begin to move around, we say goodbye to the first departures from the EIHL and begin to look back on the season just gone. Tomorrow, we shall focus on all things EPL (a league which I'm conscious I probably don't write enough about) as we preview the final weekend taking place just down the road from me in the Coventry Skydome, and early next week will see the final post-mortem of the EIHL season as we consider the efforts of each team individually, but today's post is all about the first movements in the EIHL...

Jody Lehman to Aalborg: Ouch. The first move of the off-season is a big one, as the league loses its best goalie to the Danish league. With Sheffield rumoured to have lost out on Andrew Verner to Europe, and Lehman also supposedly turning down a "blank cheque" offer to return to Coventry, the EIHL champions have big skates to fill already...

Bruce Richardson returns to Nottingham for another season: Damn, damn, damn. Much as opposition fans may despise the chippy centre, few can argue he was the Panthers' version of Ryan Finnerty this season-an agitator par excellence who reminded me of no-one so much as Sylvain Cloutier with his drive, will to win and ability to grab his team by the scruff of the neck and drag it along with him...the Panthers have re-signed the heartbeat of their team to start the off-season...

Sylvain Cloutier becomes Hull player/coach: Stingrays fans, you really won't realise just what a gem you've got there until you see him play in your team's shirt for the first time. Cloutier is arguably one of the best players, of any team, in the EIHL era-he will simply not allow his team to lose, or slack off, while there is still a chance to gain two points-and if this means him throwing his body where very few people will ever throw a stick, and getting himself injured doing so, then so be it. The Stingrays have a hell of a start to their off-season, right there...

And now to the first rumours...

Peter Hirsch to Coventry: Supposedly this was going to happen in January, but with the off-season now looming and Jody Lehman having gone to Hirsch's team Aalborg, this rumour just won't go away...

Dylan Gyori to Cardiff: That's their first line centre sorted if true...

Sebastien Thinel to Coventry: A goalscoring winger? Yes please. Particularly if he brings his twin brother Marc-Andre with him...

Greg Chambers to Coventry: Supposedly already a done deal...

Mark Hurtubise to Manchester: Hurtubise and Beauregard on the same line, leaving Tony Hand spare for a second line pairing? Is it just me who thinks that any non-Manchester fan is going to be seriously worried at that prospect?

Johan Molin to Coventry: I appreciate that this section is very Blaze-centric, but obviously hanging around the Skydome, these are the ones I'm most likely to here. As a replacement for Sylvain Deschatelets, the little Swede will do very, very nicely indeed.

Ryan Finnerty to Nottingham: Wishful thinking from a Panthers fan, I think...:)

There you go-that's the rumours for now...check back tomorrow for a preview of the EPL finals, and keep keeping your eye on the puck...