2016/2017 Storm team

I agree with that one, a big team in a smallish rink will be fun, turn our place into a fortress

The team looks pretty good so far I think, although I have a couple of concerns - Clemente looks very similar (stats-wise) to Kalemba, and Dickin was 'okay' for the Caps last season, nothing more. I'm liking the looks of Cartier, Heatley, Johnson, and Varley (at college he won the award for being the most physically in shape on the team at every pre-season he was there). Maybe lacking a few goals (I think Heatley and Trabucco will be big scorers, but not sure anyone else will get over 20 goals). The defence looks okay, but I'd like the final player to be an upgrade on Folkes.

The team lack the depth of the big guns, but we look okay compared to Stars & Caps. Need to see who the Flyers sign, as they have some good players (Sisca, Dingle & Brooks) but they also have some mediocre ones (Paquet, Turon). Clan look good and have a lot of depth, I think we'll struggle to compete with them. I'm really interested to see how the 4-line v 3-line dynamic works this season

Biggest concern at the moment is a back-up nettie - an injury (of stricter Ref - one that will send a goalie from the ice! ) and we may have serious problems

Not saying that we should spend big and have two starters, but would feel happier with someone with a little experience just in case

I think the problem with back up netminder is a question of who is available. Looking through the Tornados U20, Aces, Wild and Hawks rosters last season there's no one standing out of sufficient quality that could be relied upon for any sort of regular (or even semi-regular) minutes. Perhaps Harry Greaves in a few years, but his stats are hardly those of a promising youngster who is going to be pushing EPL/EIHL quality in a few years (although I've never seen him play, so I can't judge hum too harshly). Another possibility is Stuart Ashton from the Hawks. I have no idea, but I'd imagine another issue is whether either have the time to spend training and travelling all weekend.

Looking further afield, then maybe Bagshaw from (the now defunct) Sheffield Spartans might be a possibility, again his stats aren't exactly amazing and don't really suggest to me that he could be relied upon at this level in case of injury/strict ref.

Steve Fone & Declan Ryan are out of the question, and I'm not sure there's any other local netminders that are EPL/EPL backup quality who could do a job at this level. At least until the Jrs get to a stage where they're producing netminders of a sufficient quality (which I hope they do soon!)

Another thing to bear in mind is that EPL teams are often willing to pay British players/netminders more than EIHL teams (nothing wrong with EPL teams doing this btw). Before his first season with Hull, Ben Bowns was offered £600 a week by an EPL team whereas Hull were only willing to pay him £250 a week. For an EIHL team, significant money spent on a backup will affect the rest of the team in every single game (since the budget is lower), whereas a cheap netminder will only affect the team in the few games that he typically has to play at this level.

I look forward to seeing who is signed, my hunch is that it's WilSteeleragain. Hopefully he gets a bit more protection this season.

There was an interview with Declan Ryan on BOTW where he basically said he couldn't commit to NIHL/EPL because of his PhD studies taking too much time.

So. This looks like the modern Rob Robinson.. no nonsense stay at home d man. Justv what we need