Illustration: Adam Poole
It’s not unusual for ice hockey fans to secretly wish the summer away to bring on the start of the season, and now the wish has come true. This year, the Nottingham Panthers are starting their season almost as early as the football season, facing off with three European tournaments in August – the first a friendly in Slovenia; the second the prestigious Champions Hockey League (CHL), where Panthers are representing the UK; and the third, another friendly in France at the end of August. The Elite League starts in September as usual.
Evan Mosey opened the scoring for the Panthers 2014/15 season against Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia, the first goal for his club and the first of the season, only twelve minutes into the pre-season friendly. That was as good as it got. Panthers had a long journey that may have taken its toll as they lost 3-1, and perhaps tiredness was the reason that, despite the game being a “friendly”, there were a couple of scraps on the ice. Start as you mean to go on. The second game also resulted in a loss (3-4), in which four players were rested after minor injuries.
After winnng their fifth consecutive Challenge Cup last season, the Panthers have been given a wildcard invitation to play alongside some of the top teams in Europe in the new CHL tournament, equivalent to the football’s glamorous Champions League. The tournament will be the highest level of club competition ever staged in this country over the period in which the Elite League has been in existence. There are 44 teams in the tournament – and Panthers are seeded 44th.
Corey
Other teams in the competition have huge player budgets – in the €8-9 million bracket – that dwarf that of Panthers. Money apart, European teams also have coaching and rink facilities dwarfing any EIHL team. However, Corey Neilson has a history of putting together effective teams and going in at the bottom could well give the Panthers the dangerous attitude of nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Indeed, Neilson has been busy over the summer signing many more players than he can afford to keep through the whole of the Elite League, and it is a reasonable assumption to make that the Panthers are giving it all they can, providing a competitive edge and an early-season window for several players to prove their worth. The quality of hockey will be top notch and well worth a watch.
The group stage of the tournament started yesterday and ends on October 7. Sixteen teams will progress to the playoffs, with the final on 3 February, 2015. Panthers’ group involves tricky home and away games against Lukko Rauma (Finland), Lulea (Sweden) and Hamburg (Germany).
Unsurprisingly, the European teams have a larger fan base than in the UK – in fact, Lukko has the best spectators-to-citizen ratio, with a staggering 10% or more of hometown Rauma’s population present at each game. Hamburg competes in the top-level German DEL league and boasts an average crowd of about 8,500 fans per game (Nottingham average around 5k, which is well above the UK mean).
Rauma, home of Lukko
Panthers were defeated 4-2 by a relentlessly aggressive, well-drilled Lukko, the 19th seeds, in front of 5,000 fans last night – K-wall was outstanding in nets, but all the newbies (see below) were not quite on the same wavelength – and tomorrow face Lulea, with Hamburg to follow on September 23.
Before heading to Germany, however, there’s a trip to France to take part in another tournament, the Napoleon Cup, at the end of the month. We will be up against top French sides and a University team from Canada. The domestic campaign then starts in earnest with the visit of the Cardiff Devils on Saturday September 13.
So, who is on the Panthers roster this season? Familiar faces are top net-minder Craig Kowalski, who returns for possibly his last season before retirement. Neilson has retained his core of talented British players with David Clarke, Steve Lee, Jonathan Boxill, Robert Lachowicz, Robert Farmer and Dan Green raring to go. From last season, Greg Jacina remains, having got married over the summer, while returning from the Grand Slam-winning season the year before is 6’6’’ Bruce Graham after a year in the US. He scored 40 goals for the Panthers when he was last on the team and can hopefully produce more of the same.
Lachowicz
There are a lot of new boys and, as intimated, it is unlikely they will all stay for the whole season, but there are some top quality players coming to Nottingham.
Nathan Robinson is a 32-year-old Canadian super-fast skater and has played in the top US league – the NHL – for both the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins. Six feet, five inch Czech, Martin Podlesak, has played in the American Hockey League (AHL) and has spent the last eight seasons in his home country. Mark Lee, 29, is coming from Schwenninger in Germany's top league, the DEL, having started his hockey career in the US and also played in Finland.
At the back, new defence-men include 25-year-old Colby Cohen, who played briefly in the NHL in 2010-11. He’s a former USA junior international at U17 and U18 level and also played for Boston University and in Finland. In addition, there’s Cohen’s compatriots, Charles Landry (23 years old), Mike Berube (26) – a man reputed to be “willing to stick up for his team-mates”, which of course translates as “will get busy with his fists when required” – Bryan Schmidt (32), Evan Mosey (25) and Cody Wild. There’s also Steve Ward, a 28-year-old Canadian.
Panthers have signed an additional net minder, too, in Latvian international Martins Raitums. The 6’1” 29 year old has spent the last three years in Kazakhstan, where he had a save percentage of 91 last year, the same as Kowalski. He has experience in this country with Hull, back in the 2009-10 season.
Kowalski: competition for his place in perhaps his final year?
Leading at the front is a dishy 26-year-old French-Canadian forward Maxime Langelier-Parent. He’s 6’2” and has played on the East Coast and AHL level with Florida and Syracuse. In addition, there’s 6’4” Chris Lawrence, 27 who has played in AHL and East Coast Hockey League, and, according to his new coach, is someone who “consistently rips guys hands off in the face-off circle”.
Panthers have also poached Chris Higgins from the Belfast Giants, much to their fans’ dismay. The winger won the league championship with the Giants last season but has opted to move to Nottingham for the coming campaign.
So, plenty of newcomers, yet before the season has even started some of them have found themselves on the injury list, including Lawrence and Wild, while Schmidt took a puck to the face in an early training session in Nottingham and has already had 20 stitches to his mouth. Robert Farmer has a suspected broken hand after the Slovenian games, while David Clarke is still recovering from surgery and is unlikely to play early on.
Neilson wanted to build a bigger and faster team than last season, which the foregoing list would suggest he has done. The average size of the team is 6 feet and 13.5 stone, with many forward players being larger than that. The average age is a healthy 27.
Losses to the team from last season are: Matt Francis who has gone to play in Denmark; the reliable 37-year-old D-man Jonathan Weaver, who has switched to the lower English Premier League to join the Telford Tigers; Leigh Salters has skipped to Panthers’ sister club, the Braehead Clan; Matt Ryan has skated up to Dundee. There is no mention as yet over where Eric Werner, Petr Kalus and the fans’ non-favourite Brent Henley may have gone.
Panthers see the back of Leigh Salters
It is early days to predict winners, of course, but Panthers recruitment indicates that have given themselves a fighting chance – in games, not fighting – and whilst it’s perhaps fanciful to suggest they could progress to the sharp end of the CHL against the European big guns, they will certainly give a good account of themselves.
They have attracted some quality players, some of whom may stay on into the domestic league, which would be a major boost to the club. The Elite League crown will no doubt be the jewel that they are chasing, hoping to knock the Belfast Giants off the number one spot.
As mentioned, Nottingham have won the Challenge Cup for five years on the bounce and it’s hard to see them giving it up without a fight. However, the usual suspects will be breathing down their neck to take it off them: Belfast are ever-present; Sheffield are desperate to fill their recently emptier-than-usual trophy cabinet; and two of the Scottish teams, Braehead Clan and Dundee, proved themselves to be worthy contenders last season too.
So it’s open ice season and an expectant fan base can be reassured by the summer signings and look forward to the Panthers entertaining and competing well in all their matches.
SALLY’S 2014-15 SILVERWARE PREDICTIONS:
Champions Hockey League: Skelleftea AIK, Sweden
Elite League: Nottingham Panthers
Challenge Cup: Belfast Giants
Play-offs: Braehead Clan
