Who's Your Money On? - Part 4

By Andrew Birrell

The bottom four team the past 4 season have been virtually the same Hull, Fife, Dundee and Edinburgh will that happen again this year? Well, Hull are gone replaced by the Manchester Storm, many people will feel this is a learning year for them and I guess most think they will finish bottom who could really argue with that? However, hockey is mad and anything can happen. As for Dundee well their horrendous season last year will want to be forgotten by all at the club hence a new coach and only a few brit returnee’s. The rest of the squad are a mixture of youth and experience and I think coach Lefebvre has built a good team for the season how good no one knows, yet. Then we have the caps now under the guidance of player/ coach Riley Emmerson, tough hard - but fair - he looks to have also built what looks like the best caps squad in the Elite League for some time. His attitude towards the game will help the caps no end, Emmo’s caps are the tallest and heaviest in the Gardner conference will that help them will his style help them, who knows?

Finally our Fife Flyers, well we will playing against Bobby, Ned and Nicker this year all new imports apart from “Mr Reliable” Kyle Haines same Brits so far. Can make the jump to the 5^th or 6^th place, can we win the conference it’s gonna be a dog fight down the bottom of the league this year it’s all gonna come down to consistency and toughness who wants it the most could just sneak a place in the top 5.

For me I think Belfast or Nottingham or Coventry for the league, Clan for the Gardner conference unless they get injuries and suspensions and are tired due to CHL, then it’s up for grabs if Clan falter. I’ll say one of the 3 above for the other conference and I think the Panther or the Giants for the Playoffs, I will more than likely get this all wrong lol. Let’s just hope for another great season of hockey the ups and downs twists and turns are what keep up going keep us on the edge of our seats not long to go now folks are you ready for ice hockey.

So, who is your money on?

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You can still read Andrew's first part here

You can still read Andrew's second part here

You can still read Andrew's third part here

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Patrick Cullen Joins the Flyers

Today, the Fife Flyers announced the signing of Irish American forward, Patrick Cullen and with this signing have completed the recruitment of their forwards. It was intriguing that Associate Coach, Danny Stewart had this to say on the signing “He will start on our third line this season but we have no doubt that he will push our top 6 consistently and even find some time on those lines." On the face of it his stats look like a third line player, but is that a fair assessment?


Splitting time between two ECHL teams last season, Cullen put up 41 points in 69 games at a points per game ratio of 0.59. Having scored at this rate in a league that is comparable to the Elite League and indeed has a rich history of players coming across to this league and putting up impressive numbers, Cullen does not immediately strike me as a third line player. Those of you that have read my assesment of the signing of Justin Fox will recall the points per game ratio of all Flyers players recruited directly from ECHL. Fox, and now TJ Caig, have the best rates the Flyers have ever recruited. Where does Cullen rank? Above Casey Haines, Mike Hamilton and Matt Reber, right in the middle of the pack. The standard and quantity of imports may have increased in recent years, but if any of those players were put in to this year's EIHL season, would they be third line wingers?


Having played on three separate occasions with Michael Dorr, what is certain is that Cullen will fit in with the team this year. Recruiting players that have previously played together with has been an effective tool for the Flyers in past years. What the Flyers have done well is recruiting import forwards that seem interchangeable up and down the line up. There are perhaps no superstars (although Dingle and Caig do excite me) but there is real depth in the line up this year. One of my favourite phrases is organisational depth, and this is the first season that the Flyers have really had this depth. Both Caig and Jeff Lee are listed as a winger and center. While they immediately strike me as wingers the fact that they can play down the middle gives the team an opportunity to change lines when chasing a lead.


One opportunity that the Flyers have with this depth is to play Danny Stewart on the wing. While Stewart is an effective center, playing with less defensive responsibility on the wing would allow him to play with his trademark grit and hitting ability. There could also be a case to be made that his offensive numbers would be increased playing on someone else's wing without having to force the play as he has in the last few seasons.





In signing Cullen, the Flyers have made their second EU passport signing (that is mandatory to sign a full import quota). The first being the signing of netminder David Brown, something that I omitted from my assessment of his signing, his Italian passport by no means changes my opinion on his signing though. The commitment from the club to go with the full quota of imports from the beginning of the season is the first time such a commitment has been made and it does bode well for competing from the opening weekend. There is little doubt that the league as a whole has recruited well, but the Flyers do not look like a team that are planning to finish in the bottom half of the table.