Bought and Paid For Tuesday Thoughts...

"We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it
And all of the memories, so close to me, just fade away
All this time you were pretending
So much for my happy ending"
Avril Lavigne: "My Happy Ending"

It's been nearly a week...I did warn you that the Breakaway was off on HBST (that's Hockey Blog Summer Time, for those of you unfamiliar with it)...but it's been a fairly interesting few days...with, as everywhere else, money and/or the lack of itbeing a dominant topic in the British hockey world.

In the funding race, the clock is everyone's opponent: Remember I've been hinting over the past week or two about problems in the EPL? Bracknell are still in negotiations, although there has been (as is usual when teams are in danger of going under) a massive response to funding appeals, with 20k being raised...There is better news in Romford, meanwhile, as it appears that there will now be a team of some description on the ice next season in Essex.

However, it amazes me that every off-season sees teams (at both EPL and EIHL level) circling the drain and appealing for help, yet there's still a chase towards more and more spending, seemingly...and on that topic.

Talk is cheap. Success? That means chucking money...and not getting told off for it: Remember the "brave new world" of the EIHL? I'm sure you do, given that it was barely a month ago that we were all being told that from now on, there'd be heavily-policed wage-caps. Looking at the signings so far, one would find that slightly hard to believe. Speaking of which-let's look at them...

Hull sign the Mitchells: Young winger Lee returns for another season at Hull after cementing his place as one of the best young British prospects last season, while his brother Craig joins from Edinburgh to strengthen the Stingrays d after a fairly impressive debut season for the Caps...

Panthers re-sign the Lion...: Sean McAslan has returned to Nottingham from Denmark, to much rejoicing in the Lace City. As one of the best forwards in the league last time out, he's going to be a key part of their goalscoring force, if not the leader. Especially with both Johan Molin and Brendan Cook departing to Sweden and the CHL respectively...

...the Witch...: Danny Meyers also returns to Nottingham-although many Panthers fans think he must have cast some sort of spell on Corey Neilson in order to do so...

...and the Wardrobe: Nottingham have now signed their starting goalie to complete their announcements thus far-and at 6'3 and 220lbs, Kevin St.Pierre ain't exactly small...however, according to Blaze's Danny Stewart, who played with him at Fort Wayne Komets of the UHL before coming to the UK, he's a very good goalie at this level, and surprisingly mobile for his size. However, I would counter that with this: he was dropped last season in favour of none other than Davis Parley. Those of you who saw Parley play for Nottingham may sense that this is not exactly a recommendation-however, we shall see. Certainly, he's not one who will let the defencemen protect him when he can do it himself.
It does seem, though, that he can throw himself around in a good way when required too...

Fun with Pronunciation, EIHL style: The first "oh God, how do we say that" signing of the season has gone to Newcastle, with Jason Tejchma joining Newcastle...judging by his stats, it appears the Vipers may actually be signing someone who puts scoring ahead of the odd scrap...

And now on to the rumours...

Derek Campbell (Vipers variety) to Coventry: Is it just me who thinks that the player every Blaze fan loves to hate would be a perfect foil for Carlson and Calder-his reputation may have been unjustly damaged by the style of play in Newcastle, where he was a plain irritant-but in Manchester the Ontarian earned himself 67 points as well as 190 PiM's...Blaze fans, ignore what you've seen in Newcastle, cause you may have just found a diamond in the rough...

Continuing with Blaze rumours...sources within the club have leaked what would seemingly be the whole team-so here's your Blaze roster (rumoured) for next season...let's see how close it is...

Peter Hirsch
Tom Murdy

Jon Weaver
Kevin Bolibruck (ex-Sheffield)
Samy Nasreddine (or Neal Martin, depending on who you talk to)
Jason Robinson
Ben O'Connor
Matty Soderstrom (possibly)

Derek Campbell
Adam Calder
Dan Carlson

Luke Fulghum
Greg Owen
Greg Chambers

Danny Stewart
Tom Watkins
Russ Cowley

That will do me...

And there's your Tuesday round-up-keep keeping your eye on the puck...