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Is it the Muppet Show?
This morning, Cardiff Devils completed their squad and also their 10 man import quota with the re-signing of the crowd favourite “Big Bad” Brad Voth. Voth has reputedly made some compromises to be back with the Devils; one I can guess is with his wife as the Canadian power forward apparently got spliced in the off season. Before he re-signed, there were rumours of him not coming back due to this but I think this is the major compromise that the Devils hierarchy are on about in the press release.
Voth’s re-signing means one thing to me, the major of the sides in the Elite League have some kind of enforcer in their ranks. The kind of player that will drop the gloves to protect his team-mates, the kind of player that some refer to as a “goon” and one will probably pick up more penalty minutes that anyone else in the roster. Which begs the question: Is it the Muppet Show? Makes you think doesn’t it and it definitely means that the on-ice officials like my good friend Tom Darnell will need eyes like hawks to see what is happening everywhere. The penalty box operators are going be busy too I can surmise.
So let’s have a look at some of the contenders for number one enforcer:
Guy Lepine and Voth need no introduction really, as both played in this country last year (in Vother’s case for the sixth season in a row) and between them picked up 440 penalty minutes throughout the season just gone. However, other sides have been beefing up too as the enforcer role again becomes a key part of team planning in coaches thoughts. And there was me thinking that it was a dying art in this country, so much for that.
Belfast have brought in Adam Keefe from the AHL as their tough guy, and whilst his most recent statistics indicate otherwise – his previous campaigns suggest he is pretty prone to racking up a few minutes in the box this season. Hull have Derek Campbell, also known as our old mate Soupy, who can combine somehow the sublime and the absolute ridiculous in one hockey player – he should be good for a few scraps this season as usual.
Coventry’s enforcer is apparently Bryan Jurynec, who in his own words admits: “…if I have to back up a team-mate by throwing some hands [fighting] I'm the guy that wants to be out there in that situation. I like to fight…” so that settles that. Back here in Sheffield, we have two possible candidates in Neil Clark and new arrival Colt King although Clark is probably the more skilled of the two which leaves King as new player-coach Ryan Finnerty’s enforcer for us.
Looking at the other sides, Matt Suderman probably stands out for Dundee but on a lesser light to those named above, whilst we’re struggling to find candidates from Edinburgh, new boys Fife and Braehead to complete the comparison. I’m sure these sides will have someone in their ranks to do the dirty job as long as it’s not Trevor Gillies or George Parros – for they are one hell of a pair of hard cases who will have a dance with anyone and get the crowd going.
As I’ve said before I am not the biggest fan of an enforcer in the game, I kind of lean to the side of liking finesse players such as your Matzka’s, Legue’s and Pelle’s but then again I don’t coach a hockey side – apart from the times when I have a go on my Eastside Hockey Manager game in rare bits of spare of time involved in my world. Yet I am sure that the men behind these rosters this season know what they are doing, if they didn’t then the crowd would surely let them know one way or the other. Enjoy.
Follow me also on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/hockeybhoy
See you soon,
Mark
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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4-5 |
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1-4 |
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4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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- Adam Walker
- Alex Birch
- Andy Pierce
- Chris Gent
- Christopher Beal
- Craig Simpson
- Dave Simms
- Elliott Stanley
- Gareth Chalmers
- James Broughton
- James Gordon
- Katy Madgwick
- Luke Catterson
- Mark Briggs
- Mark Duell
- Mat Young
- Patrick Smyth
- Promotion
- Russ Morrell
- Seanna Murdock
- Stephen Dowson
- Stewart Roberts
- Tom Forster
- Vicki Smart
- William Lyon
