Locker Room Chatter: Rosters, They Are A-Changin'

With apologies to Bob Dylan for that mutilation of his song title, here's your daily burst of Tuesday rumours, updates and general strangeness...

Panthers to announce Donald Maclean as new signing: No, not the aging singer of that karaoke classic American Pie, but the high-scoring centre who in recent years has torn up the AHL for Grand Rapids and made occasional appearances in the NHL for Detroit and Columbus. I mentioned his name as an outside chance when it appeared that Dan Tessier was the front-runner, but now all the talk in the East Midlands has the 6'3, 216lb centre as their man, after the Canadian left Zurich (Swiss Elite League) last week. On paper, Maclean looks scarily good-it'll be interesting to see how he'll fit in if he is indeed the man Nottingham are looking to to resolve their woes on the forward lines.

Changes imminent in Hull: Now, it seems, the patience of Rick Strachan is finally running out. With power-forward Jake Riddle missing last weekend after being involved in an "off-ice incident" which left him with a "facial injury" (draw your own conclusions), he would seem to be on slightly shaky ground, and indeed, according to some on Humberside has already been released. The Hull Daily Mail has published an article all but stating that changes are due, blaming injuries, but surely poor performance will be a factor. We shall see.

Panic in Bracknell: With David Taylor narrowly averting a wholesale strike by the Bees squad last weekend, one wonders just how deep the problems have sunk in the off-ice management of the EPL powerhouse. The events going on are eerily similar to the whole Basingstoke saga, so with statements being released almost daily, and conflicting reports of just who's been paid and how much depending on who you listen to, it'll be a while working out just what is going on in Berkshire...

Dagenais and Matsos under pressure?: Sheffield, you'd think, are cruising along nicely. But with Dave Matsos reportedly saying that he fears for his job, Steelers fans are looking for scapegoats, and much-hyped d-man Randy Dagenais is the name coming up again and again on the forums...perhaps a situation to keep an eye on rather than an immediate change, but interesting nevertheless...

And that's your lot this Tuesday...keep keeping your eye on the puck..

The Nightmare in Bisonland Is Over...

...but across the county line in Berkshire it may be just beginning. The rumour mentioned yesterday which linked Basingstoke with a Swedish saviour was, it appears, accurate, as David Taylor has been forced out of the Silverdome in favour of Tomas Enerston, a Swedish IT company owner who is new to the UK hockey scene. The news was announced as the man himself addressed around 350 fans at an emergency Fans' Forum in Basingstoke this evening, along with a new arrival for the Herd in Mikko Purontakanen, a defenseman from the Finnish Elite League who is on a 4-week trial to cover for the injured Kyle Peto. The news has been greeted with great joy by Bison fans, and well it should be, as the demise of Bison was looking more and more likely in recent weeks. On a personal note, I'm overjoyed by this, partly for the reasons in this post but mainly due to the fact that the last thing British hockey needed (and still needs), having gained a bit more exposure through the Sky Sports deal, was one of its clubs in the top league to go bankrupt. The new owner has made a positive first impression, with Bison fans praising his forthrightness and honesty when admitting that success would probably not come straight away, as well as his personality. Judge for yourself as BBC Berkshire has coverage of the fan's forum and a short interview with the new owner here-reading it and listening certainly gives a very good impression indeed, particularly with quotes such as...

""If there's bad news, you'll hear it. If there's good news, you'll hear it. It's going to be a very, very straight line."

Now that sounds like a man who intends to keep the fans fully up to date with what's going on-one of the major problems which seem to afflict several UK clubs, particularly when it comes to bad news. And as for marketing-

"If you don't tell anybody you're playing hockey, they don't know you're playing hockey. Marketing is what's needed on every level."

Are you listening, Elite League, and indeed every club within it? It seems that a lot of clubs (yes, including mine in Coventry) do so much and then stop. In this world, push, push, push is what's needed-there have been strides made this season, certainly-but here is a man who knows what is required to make the sport a force in this country.

"Look at the website, it looks pretty good, there's business names and you think oh, good, there must be sponsors. But you've only got one sponsor. An Elite hockey team with one sponsor, and do I need to say it's not even a major sponsor? It's one sponsor."

Ouch. But this is certainly straight-talking of the highest order.

On first impressions (and with Mr Enerston appearing live on BBC Berkshire tomorrow evening, those can be cemented or changed still), it appears that the Bison have a rough diamond. Hockey fans of at least one Southern team will certainly sleep far easier from now on...

But it's not all rosy. With David Taylor's company Berkshire Sports Marketing Ltd now clearly in trouble, fans of his "other" team, the Bracknell Bees, are surely seriously worried by events in Berkshire this week. With the players now in open revolt against the ownership, as detailed here, the Taylors have released a statement which is markedly similar to that released two weeks ago or so regarding the Bison issues-although the language is noticeably friendlier. It appears that the issues may be resolved for this week at least-however, with the current EPL champions facing such uncertainty and an owner who has clearly lost the trust of his players, fans are already wondering if the Bees could face the same uncertain period as the Bison have recently, and if so, who could be found to save them.

One thing is for certain from reading the various forums-the Taylors are now distrusted by a large number of fans of their former and current clubs, and things aren't over in Bracknell. However, for the Bison at least, things are finally starting to really look up...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Locker Room Chatter: Rumours and Ramblings

Changes continue apace in British hockey, with David Taylor under pressure from both of his clubs, some signings for Manchester, and more names to throw into the pot for Nottingham...

Manchester sign their new sharpshooter: And here he is. Or at least who the strong rumour is according to a poster on the Steeltalk forum-some say PC Drouin will make his way up the M1 after being released by the Panthers, but Luke Stauffacher is the hot tip. With 42 goals in the UHL last season and the fact that he was on the same team with Phoenix's current resident spark-plug, Sean Starke, there is certainly a very good chance this could be the man the Phoenix are looking for as they try to complement their strong defence with lethally-accurate shooting...

Panthers linked with more names: Dan Tessier is still the front-runner as the NIC side look to replace PC Drouin with a scoring centre-more so now that his team Duisburg have signed a Norwegian centre apparently out of the blue. However, with Mike Ellis mentioning in the Nottingham Evening Post that the centre is likely to be new to this country, ex-NHLer Donald Maclean is another name that's been thrown into the pot after being released from his club in Switzerland. A very long shot (yet still possible if the Panthers are looking to save themselves some money in order to fund a top d-man, but only then) is Taras Foremsky, who tore the EPL up last year with Peterborough but was released earlier this week after coaching differences. Finally, the new centre could come from the DEL, but not from Duisburg as expected-with the big Canadian Cam Severson, recently released by Straubing, an option mooted if the Panthers decide to go for power to complement the skill of Sean McAslan and Johan Molin.

Bees in "no pay, no pay" threat: This season just gets worse in the home counties. With David Taylor already up to his neck in fan anger with the problems in Basingstoke, now it comes out that the team he's been running for several years in Bracknell is also under threat, with players going public in the local press about not being paid. Taylor has insisted that the problems are not as large as reported, but given that he said the same thing about Basingstoke (in a long statement which I analyzed here), just how many people will believe him?

Belfast and Cardiff to be fined: Both teams played cup-tied players in several Challenge Cup group games this season (Belfast with Peter Campbell and Stevie Lyle (ex-Basingstoke), and Shane Johnson for Cardiff (ex-Sheffield). The league appears to be stopping at just paying fines, but the complaints are loud from Blaze fans in particular, some of whom claim that their team should go through with the Giants being excluded, as the two cup-tied players had a direct influence on the 1-1 draw which prevented the Midlands side from qualifying (Peter Campbell scoring the Giants goal). As a Blaze fan myself, it seems to be somewhat clutching at straws-the Blaze were simply not good enough in the vast majority of CC games this season, and to qualify by default seems a bit of a let-off, particularly if they then go on to win it...

Hull injury worries eased: The Stingrays were worried after second-top points scorer Rob Rankin was forced out of Sunday's game against Manchester with a dislocated shoulder. However, the American winger has said he intends to be back this weekend in order to try and help the Humbersiders out of their current slump, which will be a much-needed boost to the north-east club.

Simms all but concedes title: Dave Simms is ruffling feathers again, but this time at his own club, as he has appeared in the Sheffield press stating that, despite his side currently being just four points behind the table-topping Coventry Blaze in third place, the title race is already all but over for the teal-and-orange men...an opinion which is curious even for him. To my mind it's just a bit of reverse-psychology. We shall see what effect, if any, it has over the next week or two...

And that's your daily update of all things EIHL...keep keeping your eye on the puck...

More Bison news, player rumours and a great idea.

Well, things are moving fast in Basingstoke-and not just for the Bison-I've received several messages from email and on the forums telling me that there could be more than one club affected by this-details below...

The Bison cat is now right out of the bag, with coach Ryan Aldridge officially appealing to the Bison fans to help fundraise via the official website, on this page. This has given rise to almost an atmosphere of relief around the forums, with Bison fans beginning to band together and fans from around the league offering to help out through bucket collections etc, starting at the Odyssey tonight when the Bison play Belfast Giants.

Worryingly for British hockey as a whole, the company that runs the Bison is inextricably tied to the EPL's Bracknell Bees also, as the company nominally running both clubs (Berkshire Sports Management) is that set up by the Taylors in order to run the two teams as separate entities but under the same company umbrella and owners, if that makes sense-thus leading to the one simple point, known to any economics student, that should the company over-commit itself financially in one area, it will inevitably affect the other. In simple terms, if the unthinkable happens and the Bison go down because of the company being insolvent, then the Bees could go with them through no fault of their own. I should stress that there are no rumours of the Bees being in any trouble whatsoever around at the moment, and that this is, at the moment, nothing more than theoretical. However, anyone who is thinking "Bison aren't in my league-I support an EPL team, so this doesn't affect me directly" is wrong. Obviously, as shown by the numerous offers of support by fans of teams in all leagues across the country which have come flooding in on the forums, this is not a widely-held view-however, it's worth considering.

Meanwhile, in player movement, it appears, hearing from locals through email, that the Bison are looking to sign an import nettie in order to replace Stevie Lyle (possibly even Phillipe deRouville), with a British forward stepping up to fill Peter Campbell's spot, possibly from the Bees. Favourites for this role locally are Tom Carlon (EIHL experience with Coventry), Shaun Thompson (ex-Bison) and Ryan Watt (who I believe was a Basingstoke junior, and is travelling with the team to Belfast). As you can imagine, this will likely not make the Bees fans happy, particularly if they are used as nothing more than a farm team for the Taylors' EIHL franchise.

Now onto the good news: things are already happening in order to help the Bison out, as well as promote ice hockey in this country. Earlier today, Rick Strang, who was instrumental in the London Racers organisation before they folded and is well known around the forums and rinks of the UK, posted this on The Hockey Forum:

I think we all need a bit of a lift so, inspired by Simmsy (Dave Simms, Sheffield's PR manager), how's this for an idea ...I'll walk in full hockey kit from centre ice at the House of Steel after
the Sheffield Edinburgh game (24/11) all the way to Basingstoke's centre ice for the game against Sheffield (9/12).I make that about 200 miles in two weeks.Along the way I'll tell every single person I bump into to go to their local rink and go to a hockey game. I'll advertise the sport at every step. I'll do a blog and contact media outlets en route.If 100 people post on this thread pledging their support and sponsorship for this walk then I'll do it.I should stand out in full hockey gear and hopefully with all of our media connections on here we'll get some attention.If anyone can think of a good strap line (walking for hockey?) that'd be cool.Just an idea but I bet I could raise the profile of the sport and
raise a few bob for the Bison on the way. Anyone willing to help would be welcome. I may need some floors to sleep on en route to keep the hotel bills
down!Of course - 100 of you need to show your support first so I may yet get myself off the hook.Hockey community? Hmmm ... let's see.

A truly insane thing to do-but it just might work...as well as being an EXCELLENT way to get some much-needed media coverage...At the moment this looks like happening, but just to make sure-if you haven't already done so get on either the Hockey Forum or your local teams' forum in order to rally support for this-and show how big the hockey community in the UK really is...