Leavers
Panthers have recently been dealt a shock departure, late in the off season when Cam Janssen, last year’s fans favourite and rumoured to be the pick for Captain this season, announced that he would not be returning to Nottingham. Despite signing a two year deal before he left for the summer, he has accepted a radio job with a sports network in his home town of St Louis, USA. He was a protector for many of our players, but most importantly his enthusiasm and commitment to the team on the ice will be the biggest hole that needs to be filled.
Speedy Evan Mosey had also signed with the Panthers for two years until an opportunity with an AHL team in North America came up in May. Evan said: “Thank you for allowing me to pursue my dream. It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to leave the club and pursue an opportunity in North America….I will not forget my time with the Panthers organisation in hopes to return some day.”
Matthew Myers has returned to Cardiff to be with his family and has re-signed with the Cardiff Devils. He admits that he struggled being away from his wife and relatives last season.
Andy Bohmbach is retiring from hockey, aged only 29, with 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points in 62 games last season. He had apparently been thinking over a job offer from outside the sport and ultimately decided to retire from ice hockey.
Brian Schmidt is also retiring at age 35. He gave sterling service to the Panthers for the last two seasons, where he did not miss a single game and was voted the “most consistent player” last season. He studied at Loughborough University during his time with the Panthers and is pursuing a new career in the business world.
Returners
Coach Corey Neilson was signed quickly after the Play-Off success and is back in charge for the next two seasons on a new deal. Corey steered the club to two of the three major trophies in season 2015-16 with Panthers winning the Challenge Cup AND the Play-Offs. The Play-Off success was a record breaking fifth time win for the Panthers. He says he’s excited and thrilled to be back and next season, including yet another adventure to Europe, this time in the form of the Continental Cup. He is the most successful coach in Panther’s history and wasted no time in having “exit meetings” with last year’s team, with the open intention to bring as many players back as possible.
Half-way through two year contracts are Geoff Waugh, Brad Moran and Jeff Dimmen.
David Clarke returns for a 13th year with the Panthers. This season, he will combine his on-ice duties with a new player-assistant coach role.
Logan MacMillan was re-signed in April. The 6’1” Canadian had 26 points in 52 games last year and Neilson thinks he was one of the most under-rated players in the league, contributing to any line he was asked to play on.
Last year’s net minder, 31-year-old Scandinavian, Miika Wiikman had shut-outs in both the Challenge Cup final and the Play-Off final last season. His goals-against average was 2.45 last season and his save percentage was over 91. Neilson said: “Miika can be the star of the show and he made a string of amazing saves for us last season, single-handedly winning some important games. In the big ones he was unbelievable and we’re thrilled to have him back.”
Robert Lachowicz, 26-year-old GB international, totalled 19 points with the Panthers last season and added a further four points, including a goal, at the World Championships. He first dressed for the Panthers in 2007-08.
Stephen Schultz, 28-year-old American had 19 goals and 21 assists in 47 games with the Panthers last season including the game-winning-goal in the Play-Off Final.
Corey Neilson said: “Schultzy is obviously a key player. He has some great skills and we are confident there is even more to come from him. He missed a chunk of games because of injury last year but when he came back he got better and better”.
Chris Lawrence, 29-year-old forward, started last season with Coventry, then Sheffield, arriving in Nottingham in December and put up 22 points in 36 regular season games and two more in the Play-Offs. Lawrence was the leading point scorer for the Panthers in 2014-15 when he secured 63 points.
Sam Oakford, 25, 6’1” British defenceman has been confirmed as returning to the Panthers line-up for season 2016-17. Neilson told the website: “The Elite League gets more competitive every year and teams need to have depth on the bench. I have spoken at length with Sam and he knows he will have to fight for every minute of ice time once more.”
Dan Green, 33, back up net minder returns for a seventh straight season. Corey Neilson said: "There's not a lot to add to what we've said before. He's a great guy and he works hard week in week out. He helps the shooters by getting on the ice early and off last at training, he knows his role, back-up net minder is a difficult job and he knows what's involved. He's very popular in the locker room and with everyone at the club."
New Signings: Forwards
Alex Nikiforuk, 5’8”, 32, Canadian, a quick forward and coming to Nottingham from playing in Switzerland and Germany last year and also has solid years in Italy, Denmark and Finland. During his time in Denmark he was named top forward and had the top points per game on average. Most recently, during his time in Switzerland, he was scoring a point a game.
Matt Carter, 6’1”, 28, Canadian, left wing, playing for the last two years in France where he had more than a point a game and a championship success. Before that he was with Cincinatti, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Elmira and Fort Wayne in the East Coast Hockey League. He grew up with Chris Lawrence and the pair are said to have a “telepathic understanding” on the ice. Panthers coach said: "We've had chemistry between players in glimpses in the past but last year we really saw it between Stephen Schultz and Andy Bohmbach and I wanted to build and grow on it again this year. So with Larry and Matt very much on the same page, plus the added enthusiasm for Matt as all the reports are on the lines of him being highly skilled, having great hands and being very good in front of the net, on penalty shots and more...it made a lot of sense to get him into Panthers' roster." From his recent video interview post-match where Carter states the team need to take responsibility, he could make a good Captain:
Jeff Brown, 6’1”, 25-year-old, power-forward, comes “highly recommended” by David Ling and he played last year at Brampton, his second year in the pros after leaving the University of Toronto with 28 points in 53 games and 83 penalty minutes.
Spang. Photo: Andy Burnham
New Signings: Defence
Dan Spang, 6’0”, 33, USA/Italy, played last year in the KHL, the top Russian league. He has played 334 AHL games and 60 DEL games, the top German league. He won a championship with his team in Finland in 2014-15.
Erik Lindhagen, 5’10”, 28, Swedish, has played in both of Sweden’s top divisions, featuring in 200 SHL games for home town team Linköping HC over seven seasons and has great hockey hair. He scored 19 goals and 45 points during that span. Neilson said: “Initially we’ve added Erik to the defence corps, but he can play any position up front as well and has played in the top leagues in his home country including their Elite divisions.”
Lindhagen. Photo: Andy Burnham
Andy Sertich, 6’0”, 33, D-man, with American and Croatian passports, playing last year in Norway, where his team won a championship. He was a fifth round NHL draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins and played 34 times in the AHL and 163 times in the ECHL before moving to the top league in Austria for five seasons. Corey Neilson has likened him to Panthers previous defenseman, Franklin McDonald.
Neilson has one more slot available for a signing and one can hope that having lost Janssen, he is looking for a tough guy that knows how to get the balance right between being able stand up for his team-mates at the right time, whilst also avoiding spending too much time in the penalty box.
World Championships
Great Britain played in the World Championship Division 1B tournament in Zagreb from April 18 to 23. The squad included six Panthers players (Mosey, Farmer, Lee, Clarke, Lachowicz and Myers). The team had a fantastic tournament until literally the last four minutes of game five out of five. They returned home with a silver medal from the World Championship (Division 1B) in Zagreb. Ukraine took the gold medal and promotion. It was the second year in a row for a late disappointment for the GB team. Head coach, Pete Russell, said: “I don’t know what to say, I am just stunned. It is like last year all over again and I just can’t put it into words. We gave it everything we had and I really am proud of everyone. We were fantastic all week but we just couldn’t get over the line. This is a horrible feeling.”
GB have appointed Corey Neilson as assistant coach, with Pete Russell as Head Coach and other assistant coach Tommy Watkins. Russell said: "It is great to have Corey back with Great Britain. He has a real passion to be involved and I trust him, which is really important.”
GB will host next year's World Championship (Division 1B) with the tournament taking place at The SSE Arena, home of Elite League side, the Belfast Giants.
Pre-Season Tournaments
Nottingham opened its doors with the Aladdin Cup vs Braehead Clan on 20 August. Unfortunately, the game was a bit of a damp squib, with Panthers missing five key players, who had not yet arrived in the UK. The game was competitive enough for the first two periods when it was 1-all, but during the final period, with Dan Green in goal, the Clan scored 4 rapid goals, giving an overall final score of 5-2 to the Clan. The game was not important in any sense, but was certainly not the finest opener for the home crowd.
Next up came Coventry away, which resulted in a tight 6-5 win for the Blaze. Now we have a three-game tournament in France from 26-28 August for the Napoleon Cup, which Panthers have previously won.
Players are still arriving in the UK and training camp is well underway. The season starts with a string of away games, to Coventry in the Challenge Cup on 4 September, then three games in three nights in Scotland from 9-11 September. The first home league game is on 17 September against the Cardiff Devils and the Panthers will be looking to lay down a marker with a barn-stormer.
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