Sorry I've been quiet of articles lately but here's one for you! I'll try to do as many as I can!
So, here we go! I had to look into Hull Stingrays first as if you cover some facts, they are growing from last years bottom of the league club to this years 'watch out EIHL' team!
The facts...
So far this year some things that are making them look a threat are:
Ben Bowns is making 30 to 40 (even 60) saves a game making him one of the best goalies in the league.
They also broke their shootout jinx winning their first in years!
Carl Lauzon, Guy Doucet and Jereme Tendler are scoring goals daily and can't stop, Doucet especially, he even scored five goals once in a game, against Cardiff Devils.
They beat defending league champions Nottingham panthers too on Saturday which is the ultimate victory.
They were unbeaten in pre-season
So with all the good things, whats the problem, why aren't they top of the league...
| Pos | ELITE | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS |
|---|
| 1 | Belfast | 25 | 19 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| 2 | Braehead | 24 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 32 |
| 3 | Dundee | 24 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 30 |
| 4 | Sheffield | 24 | 13 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| 5 | Nottingham | 22 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 28 |
| 6 | Coventry | 22 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 25 |
| 7 | Hull | 23 | 10 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| 8 | Cardiff | 23 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 19 |
| 9 | Fife | 22 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| 10 | Edinburgh |
The current league table shows Hull in 7th, despite being a great team. Why aren't they top if they are so good? Two answers to that. Starting off with the main problem,
defense! They play so well when scoring goals, but goalie Ben Bowns is facing 30/40 shots per game because the defense is letting him do all the work and he may be saving most of them, stunning teams across the league, he sometimes has games where he concedes 4 to five goals. This shows that the defense should be ready at all times. Because even the best of goalies can have an off night anytime. If this does happen, the defense has to rescue them. However, if not prepared, the off night goalie concedes goals and you loose.
That doesn't mean though that if your goalie is having a demolition night, you let him do it all. No way. If he plays well, you do too. And with Stingrays good offense already amazing, if the defense improves, it can stop shots pass to the forwards and create more chances. Already, they have good goaltending, and good offense so good defense will make the whole team good filling that gap to make them capable champions.
Shootout curse is no more...
So over the past few seasons, Stingrays worst part of their game was the tie breaking situation, the best of three penalty shootout. Every time it came down to this, they lost every time, for a few seasons straight and could never come out victorious. Another good thing that happened this year was that jinx ended! They took a game against Braehead Clan recently, and a scoreless overtime, the score still 3-3 went to the Shootout. You could tell Hull were gutted, and nervous, that it would be another best of three defeat. But out of shock, they actually won! That was a memorable night which is another reason why they are lifting slowly.
Sudermans departure....improved it?
This pickup seems to have really kicked into hear since captain Matt Suderman departed. If he hadn't have told the press the truth of why he left, everyone would see the rise thinking 'Hold on, why are they doing so well since Suderman left. He was a great player and logically, with our skipper here, we should do better and when he leaves, we struggle without him. Why Vise versa? Whats been going on behind the scenes?'
The questions raised were all answered in his last press conference as a Stingrays. The reason why they did so bad was because deep down, Matt didn't even like Hull full stop. The city, the organisation, the fans, the officials of the league, he hated it all. So if one player doesn't feel comfortable, it messes up the whole team which is why they did so bad with him in the roster. Everyone thought he was fine, but it was shocking for him to say that but I guess it's good to be honest! As soon as he left, Hull seemed calmer playing, and they were on the up showing that the rest of the team is comfy!
Didn't we see it from day one?
This was a long while ago, and I understand it was only pre-season but they didn't in fact lose any of their opening build up games. So we knew from there it was a whole new Rays side! They did loose their opening game though to Nottingham getting battered 9-3 vs the defending champions then most fans let out a grown thinking 'We are finished' but then day two of the campaign they beat Braehead Clan on home ice 5-2. I'm not going to cover every day of their season, but if I did, you would see a pattern forming of a small winning run, a small losing run, small winning run, small loosing run and so on. So another improvement, consistency! If they can get that and their defense together, then we have a new powerhouse of the EIHL. They had real consistency last night (Saturday 21st December 2013) as they beat defending champions Nottingham Panthers 7-5 last night, making them look vicious. Even leading 7-1 at one point! But like I said inconsistency resulted in Panthers almost coming back but not enough as it ended 7-5!
What does this show?
This article proves that Stingrays are a threat to the EIHL, as long as they keep things how they are but get consistent and improve defense and there we go. Hull will be a power house team!
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