Giants GM Calls Stingrays Comments “Comical”

Posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 8:50 am

When a local reporter informed Todd Kelman today about comments made by Hull Stingrays coach Rick Strachan about Steve Thornton taking out their goalie to win the game, he laughed them off calling them “absolutely ridiculous” and “comical”.

The so-called collision between Thornton and Cruickshank occurred in the first period when Thornton cut between Cruickshank and the net and their feet clipped each other.

“Did he really say that? He must be trying to get a rise out of us, you know pump up the game on the 28th in Hull, which I’m all for. I hope his fans come out in droves and boo Thornton and the rest of our guys, that’s what this is all about, making games more interesting and the next time they come to play us, I’ll be selling T-Shirts that say ‘Hey Strachan, you can go to HULL,’ but it will all be in good fun. I’ll even send him the first one off the press.”

“I wouldn’t even call it a collision, they clipped each other and believe me, Thornton is hardly the most hated man in the league. Maybe the most hated man in Newcastle, but the whole league might be a bit of a stretch,” laughed Kelman.

He continued on a more serious note:
“I don’t want to see Cruickshank go down with an injury, he’s their best player and one of the best goalies in the league. I want the Stingrays to do well for their business and especially because they have two people that care more about hockey in the UK than most onlookers could ever understand. They already lost Neumeier, which isn’t good, nobody likes to see key players in this league get hurt and Cruickshank is a star player, great for Hull and great for the league.”

“I watched the tape after he got injured to see if something more had happened than I saw with my own eyes as the game was going on, but nothing did. It was an innocent play, happens all the time, a player follows the puck around while a goalie comes out to play it and then tries to get out of the way and they end of colliding. Except a collision usually means they actually run into each other, this was the back of Thornton’s skate clipping with Cruickshank.”

“To say we ran the goalie because we couldn’t beat them is comical. Hull have been great against us all season, but I seriously doubt after outshooting them 10 to 2 in the first 9 minutes of play that Thornton threw his hands up and said ‘well there is no way we can beat them tonight, we better take out the goalie and I’m the man that should do it.’ Come on, that idea is laughable, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Kelman finished his rant:
“I hope Curtis is back in the line up for Hull this weekend, but who knows. Thornton talks to Curtis every week, they are good buddies from playing together last year and I’m sure when he sees the tape, he will see it was purely an accident. More importantly, I hope our fans make the effort to get over to Hull on the 28th. I have a sneaking suspicion they will be looking to get back at us and our guys will need as much support as we can get. I’m booking my ferry trip today, it should be an interesting one!”

The Giants take on the Stingrays in Hull on December 28th and face them in Belfast again on Saturday, February 28th. Buy Tickets for that game here