Panthers have put together a tougher, taller and more experienced team than last year. This year’s new players have 594 NHL appearances between them, compared to last year’s meagre 24 games played.
Panthers: illustration Adam Poole
A surprise departure was Panthers’ top goalie, Craig Kowalski, who has been with the club for five years. Kowalski publicly stated that he was not approached by the club before returning to America for the summer, and sure enough he was not retained for the forthcoming season. It seems a shame that his departure was under-played by the club as he was outstanding in quality and dedication during his five seasons in Nottingham. Regretfully, Kowalski could not even play for Panthers in the final few weeks of last season, including the play offs, having suffered a broken collar bone in Belfast in March.
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Netminder Craig Kowalski has departed after five years' sterling service
To fill the hole in the League, a revived Manchester Storm team has been set up, owned and operated by The Ice Rink Company Ltd. They will play out of Silverblades Ice Rink in Altrincham and Manchester will effectively replace Hull Stingrays in all competitions. Many of the Hull players have been snapped up by the Storm.
Returnees to the Nottingham Panthers are British internationals Robert Farmer, David Clarke and Steve Lee. They are joined by fellow Brits Ollie Betteridge and Sam Oakford. Steady-Eddy import defenceman Bryan Schmidt is also back as he continues to represent Panthers alongside his studies at Loughborough University. Schmidt was one of only two players who remained injury-free and was thus able to play in every game in 2014-15.
Panthers have also re-signed dual-national Evan Mosey, who turned out to be one of the fastest skaters in the league as well as one of the most adaptable players. He apparently had offers from five clubs in the Elite League, but chose to return to Nottingham.
Homeboy Rob Lachowicz has decided to stay [photo: Sally Utton]
Also re-signed is Robert Lachowicz, 25-year-old GB forward who came through the Nottingham junior system and has played for Panthers since 2010-11. He has ambitions to play abroad and investigated his options in Europe before eventually putting pen to paper this year.
Top British player Matthew Myers returns to Nottingham after playing in Cardiff, his home city, for the last two seasons. He played in Nottingham for eight seasons previously, leaving after the Grand Slam year for personal reasons.
Panthers expanded their strong Brit pack by signing another GB player, Paul Swindlehurst. The 22 year old scored his first international goal for the senior GB team when they beat Holland in the recent World Championships in April. His career in hockey saw him start at Swindon, before moving to Dundee for the last two seasons. In between those two spells he tried out with the National Hockey League (NHL) team Chicago Blackhawks, subsequently playing in the East Coast Hockey League. His move from Dundee was apparently motivated by Corey Neilson’s reputation for bringing on GB players.
Scandinavian Miika Wiikman slides into nets as our new starting goalie. He is 6’0, aged 30, and carries both Swedish and Finnish nationality. Last season, he played in Slovakia and then in the Austrian Elite League where he went on to maintain a save percentage of just under 95 in their play-offs. He has played in the American Hockey League (AHL) and in the East Coast League (ECHL). Last season, he maintained a save percentage in the league of 91%, equivalent to Craig Kowalski. Dan Green has re-signed as back-up net-minder.
Steve Lee: another old Panther returns to Nottingham [photo: Sally Utton]
For new signings this season, Panthers have targetted a tougher, taller (Swindlehurst and Waugh are the tallest at 6’4”) but also more experienced team than last year. This year’s new players have 594 appearances between them in the NHL, compared to last year’s meagre 24 games played. This team has physical skill, practical experience and protection.
The new players are:
Jeff Dimmen: 6’0”, 28; American defenceman who played in the University of Maine hockey programme and had three seasons in the AHL before moving to Asia for the past two seasons, where he led the league in defencemen’s scoring in all three categories of goals, assists and points in 2013-14.
Geoff Waugh: 6’4”, 31; Canadian (who also holds a Croatian passport) who has been playing in Austria for the last four years. The defenceman was a third round (78 overall) draft pick of the Dallas Stars. He has played more than 150 games in the AHL. He is a tough defenceman who played University Hockey with Northern Michigan University before playing in the ECHL and AHL leagues.
Andy Bohmbach: 6’2”, 28; American who has also played at the AHL level as well as in Germany and most recently at Dorbirner in Austria. Corey Neilson said "Bohmbach is a big guy who skates well and plays centre and left wing which increases our options. We've found over the years that guys who are over or around a point per game at the ECHL and DEL2 level are great offensive contributors in the EIHL.”
Logan MacMillan: 6’1”, 26; Canadian comes to Nottingham after two seasons in Russia's league where he helped win a championship two seasons ago. He has been known to agitate opponents and plays a hard game.
Juraj Kolnik: 5”11’, 34; born in Slovakia but raised in Canada, he brings an impressive level of experience with him, having played 250 times in the NHL at the New York Islanders and the Florida Panthers. He also iced 275 times in the AHL. He is a Slovakian international at junior and senior levels and played in Europe in such leagues as the high-skilled Swiss Elite League. Last year he stayed in North America to be close to his family. He helped win a championship in Switzerland, having the most assists two years running and also the most points in one season.
Stephen Schultz: 5”11’, 27; has played over 40 games in the AHL, mostly in Texas. He has been playing for the past two seasons in the second German League.
Brad Moran: 5”11’, 36; Canadian with buckets of experience. He was a seventh round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres and he is a proven player in both the AHL and Europe’s top leagues. He is a playmaker, who has been compared to a previous Panthers character, David Ling.
Cam Janssen: 5”11, 31; American, has played the enforcer role at the very top level, playing 336 NHL games for the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues.
Last season he was on a two-way contract with New Jersey and their AHL affiliate Albany. Cam may not be the tallest, but is the fourth heaviest on the team at nearly 15 stone, so look out for his muscle. He's as tough as most of the EIHL enforcers this season and will provide his team mates with lots of protection on the ice.
Two players, Erick Lizon and Theo Peckham, signed for Panthers over the summer only to drop out before arriving. Both tough guys, Peckham only withdrew last week due to visa and personal issues. Corey Neilson is consequently left recruiting at a late stage, presumably for more hard-hitting players to add to the team.
Can the National Ice Arena become a fortress once more? [photo: Sally Utton]
In April, Great Britain competed in Division 1B of the World Championships and won the silver medal. They lost out in their final game in Eindhoven, as Lithuania's 3-2 victory meant Korea won the gold and got the promotion. Panther’s player, Robert Lachowicz, said the heartbreak of missing out on the gold medal can be used to make Great Britain stronger: “We have just said in the dressing room that we don’t want to feel like this again. It’s a horrible feeling to be so close to gold and not get over the finishing line. But we should be proud of what we have done this week and we are certainly moving in the right direction. We have a good set of guys and there is great passion for Great Britain. Sure, it is hurting now but at some point we can reflect on it and think silver is a good achievement.”
Last year, Nottingham played in the European competition, the Champions Hockey League, after winning the Challenge Cup. This season it is the Braehead Clan and Sheffield Steelers that represent the UK after finishing second and first in the league respectively. There have been no game wins to date against tough competition. Last year, Panthers only won one of their six games in the tournament, the home game against the Hamburg Freezers.
Pre-season games started this week with a friendly in Coventry. Panthers were several players down as they have not yet arrived in the UK and were behind for the vast majority of the game, trailing 0-2 going into the third period. Three goals in 20 minutes, including a stunner from young Brit, Ollie Betteridge, won them the game and a tentatively good start as a team. The first home game, against the Braehead Clan in the Aladdin Cup, saw a disappointing 0-1 loss, the first home shut-out since the same opponent inflicted a 0-4 defeat in last season’s playoffs. Hopefully, this lack of cutting edge can be rectified when the imports make it to Nottingham.
The first league game is 5 September against the Dundee Stars. Buckle up for what is likely to be another roller coaster of a season with the Panthers out for the kill and with a point to prove to get back on top.
Follow Sally on Twitter: @sautton22
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