For Me 2009/10 Season Starts Saturday Night

Posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am

Well here it is, year ten about to begin. I am certain all of you are eager to get this season underway and although we played two games away already and a couple of warm up contests, for me it always begins with the home opener. We couldn’t have a more difficult start to the season with a game each against Nottingham and Coventry as well as two against last year’s league and playoff champion Sheffield Steelers, but with only eight teams in the league this season, it looks like there are going to be very few “easy” weekends for any team this year.

In my eyes, this is any team’s league title to win this season and even the unexpected teams are going to take more scalps from the bigger teams throughout the season than they have in the past. Sheffield have barely had to change any players, I think they have four new faces in the locker room which gives them a huge advantage over the rest of the field. I think Nottingham have improved at both ends of the ice, and getting a guy like Cameron Mann into the lineup is great for the Panthers. He will be one to watch this year as well as Sean McAslan who is back in Nottingham for another spell. I thought he was one of the most dangerous players to play in the Elite League, and I guess he has realized that the grass isn’t always greener in mainland Europe compared to this league.

Coventry look very strong this year, and although they have a handful of new faces to the Blaze fans, most of their guys are not new to the Elite League, which makes gelling as a team that much easier. Believe it or not, it is a MAJOR adjustment for players coming over from North America to the UK for the first time, because there are alot of things that take some getting used to over here, and I don’t just mean driving on the other side of the road. It takes a while to get used to the routine and to a new city, then throw in a Northern Irish accent to try to understand for the first few weeks, and our poor guys’ heads are spinning for at least the first month of the season.

Back to the teams, and like I said, Coventry look solid and the best addition I think they made was Greg Owen who is a top player and a Brit, can play in any situation and will get 70+ points this year, particularly with his old linemate from the Basingstoke Bison, Greg Chambers, also becoming part of the Blaze this year.

You have to like the changes made in Hull this year, with Sylvain Cloutier taking over as player coach and already revamping the Stingrays into a much improved team. They signed Curtis Huppe early, so early that we didn’t even get to make him an offer. I was speaking with Huppe last season, but Cloutier wanted him bad and Curtis has a great opportunity in Hull to get into coaching, which is something he has always wanted to do. I think that team will get better as the season progresses and they will do some damage to the teams fighting for the title when it really counts.

Edinburgh look like whatever they are saving on the late start is being put to good use because they have signed a couple of guys with NHL experience. Doug Christiansen always finds a couple of gems every year and I am sure someone in Edinburgh will be that jewel for him again this season. Think of Mark Hurtubise last season or Colin Hemingway from two years ago. Maybe goaltender Cody Rudcowsky or d man Chris Allen will be that guy this season for the Caps.

Finally, it is the wild card for this season, or the team that I think has the most potential to do serious damage and crack into the top three in the league, the Devils. Gerad Adams has made some major improvements and signed some ex-Devils back that you wouldn’t expect to see in this league again, and never on the same team because these are big time star players that I think can do some damage. Mark Smith was simply the best player in the league in 2006/07 by a mile and moved on to Italy the last two seasons but is back in Cardiff for his second stint, which means bad news for the rest of the league. Max Birbraer is also an offensive machine and the two of them click very well together, particularly in that small rink where every shot on net is a good scoring chance. Add to the mix my most hated and most favorite opposing player rolled into one wrecking/scoring machine Brad Voth, and you have a pretty sick line up to build a team around. Stevie Lyle, who played for us last season is back in his home town and it probably suits him better. His wife and son live there and his heart was always in Cardiff. I really like Stevie and I would have him on my team any day. He saved our season two years ago, and probably saved a few guys their jobs that year. We went on that crazy winning streak but the reality of it was, we weren’t playing that great, but he was and that was the biggest reason we won 16 in a row. You can never knock a guy that won us two trophies last year, and with him being back in Cardiff and settled in with his family, he will probably have a great year for the Devils.

Now on to our team, a team that I think has the potential to be the best in the league. We have had to replace a lot of imports, which is never an easy task, but with the success we had last year, we knew teams from better leagues would be calling our best players. Still the new crop is as good or better and they might take a few more games to gel, but there are guys that are going to win your hearts over this season once again. Our biggest issue right now is injuries again, and the season has just started. Murphy came into the season just out of surgery on his knee and probably wasn’t ready to start last week in Nottingham. I still have all the confidence in Murph to be the guy to lead this team to more championships this year but right now he needs to get healthy. Luckily, Nathan Craze is the best number two in the league and has the potential to push Murph for more starts than he got last year. It is good to have competition between goalies and every number one goalie was a backup at some point in their lives, so they know there is always going to be competition, but this is professional sports and the best players get to play the most, so who ever is performing at any position will get the opportunity to excel. Going into Saturday, I am excited to see our team hit the ice for some real competition. I didn’t travel with the team last weekend, so to me this is the first league action I will get to see. I was impressed by all of the new guys and the returnees from last year in the pre season games, but those are tough to judge because they are really not that competitive. I have my picks for IMPACT PLAYER this year but I will let all of you be your own judge and decide who is your favourite new Giant.

When you work in pro sports, there are always going to be moments that remain with you through the ages, memories of championships and great games over the years. I have experienced a load of them here in Belfast, many as a player, and some more stressful ones from the stands. The day before my first game in Belfast, I never imagined being here for year ten, but Belfast tends to suck you in, whether it is the people, or the city itself, it is a hard place to leave once you fall in love with it. This place has become home and the Odyssey will always be a place filled with so many great memories for me and for many of you. Tomorrow night, be proud of yourselves for giving this team a chance to win you over, and be proud of the fact that all of you are as much a part of the success as any of the players past or present. Look up in the rafters… Those banners are for you, not for any of us…

Thanks for nine great seasons. Here’s hoping for another one starting on Saturday Night.

Now if you are reading this on Friday at the office, get back to work or if you are reading this on Friday night, turn off the computer, start limbering up, get yourself to bed nice and early… We all have a VERY big day ahead of ourselves tomorrow…

Killer (yes, I am GM and I still sign off as Killer, I realize how ridiculous that is…)

Todd Kelman
General Manager