Dundee Stars

Mark Lyell from the Dundee Stars Fanzine previews the league season for the Stars

To use the old cliche, last season was a steep learning curve for the mighty red, white and blue. I have to admit at times it was hard to keep the faith as we piled up the losses to start the 10/11 season. We had not been a pro team for 5 years but we didn’t feel like last season’s step up to the Elite League was a “new adventure” or something unknown. No, it felt more like a return than a new start and one thing we’ve never been used to in Dundee is a losing streak.

Without wanting to dwell on last season too much, it must be referenced in order to understand why we are so optimistic about the coming season. Despite the 0-15 start last season, we’ve always known here in Dundee that we have the kind of ownership who won’t hide from the negatives and will do all they can to turn the team around and with a few key changes and solid coaching we were able to turn things around and finish in a respectable 8th position and in the playoffs. It was always going to be a big ask to upset Sheffield and progress to the final four and while we lost the series on aggregate, the team saved the best until last and treated us to a breathtaking display of guts and effort to beat Sheffield 4 – 2 at home and end the season on a high note. It had been a long and at times painstaking first season but all in all we came out of it with our heads held high.

Looking ahead to this coming season, that sense of change seems to have carried over and even the most cynical of hockey fans cannot deny that we look a hell of a lot better on paper. The key thing for me is in looking back at last season’s summer recruitment. Player after player was announced and all the while we waited for the one guy who we could get really excited about that looked like he could score for fun and unfortunately it never happened. We signed guys from the CHL, from Europe and from the IHL but no-one with any significant ECHL or AHL experience who you could look at and think “that’s our guy”. Over the course of the season we brought in Chris Zarb and Jay Latulipe who had solid stats and became key guys and helped turn our season around. However, our leading forwards were head coach Dan Ceman and his assistant Brent Hughes and that’s why it was so well recieved when both of them were announced as returning this season. It’s come as a big relief to all of us to see that none of our under par performers from last season have been re-signed, indeed we have managed to keep a good core of players and that contuinity will stand us in good stead for the upcoming campaign.

So, first thing’s first. We start from the back and look at our starting goalie. Chris Whitley has been one of the top goalies in the CHL from the last couple of seasons and has taken his team deep into the playoffs twice. He’s had an AHL callup, been invited to Detroit Red Wings’ training camp cand played for one of Canada’s top university programmes. He is also a beloved fan favourite from his previous team, the CHL’s Allen Americans. At our fanzine we’ve conversed with Chris quite a bit over the summer as well as his band of fans from Texas and the way he has embraced this team already and his enthusiam for coming to Dundee and helping us win is music to our ears. He seems like a very intense kind of guy who has a win-at-all-costs mentality and that’s exactly the kind of netminder we wanted. Last season in Jerard Kaufmann we signed one of the worst starting goalies to ever take the ice in this country. This season we’re not making the same mistake again and we’re sure Whitley will be a top signing. Young Scottish goalie Mark McGill makes a welcome return as backup after some gutsy performances filling in for the often-pulled Kaufmann last season.

Onto our defence and it’s a question of “you win some, you lose some”. Local boy Sam McCluskey who we feel has the potential to become a great British D-Man has left for Hull but what we lose in Sammy we feel we more than make up for in the import department. Last season we went for a defence built on size and physical prescence at the expense of speed and skill and this season we have struck a far better balance between the two. American Dan McGoff is small but fast, smart with his rushes and good at not taking stupid penalties. He racked up a lot of points in the Dutch league this season and I feel we will be looking to him for offensive contributions from the blue line. Alan Mazur is a bit bigger but also offensive and in him I feel we could have unearthed a real gem. He comes to us after a great high scoring four years at a top NCAA division 1 school before his first pro season in the CHL where he was a +15 and chipped in 32 points in 65 games. Another smart, physical and offensive D-Man. Perhaps our number 1 guy at the back though will be Brennan Turner. A 2005 Chicago Black Hawks draft pick, he comes to us from the higher level ECHL and also has a bit of AHL experience. He has size, speed and experience at some high levels and can drop the gloves if need be and if he gives it his all over here, I feel he could be one of the league’s best D-Men. Our only returning import D-Man was to be Matt Suderman, however we were unforunately hit by the news recently that Suds’ would not be playing hockey this year due to illness. At the time of writing this, a few good names are in the frame to replace Matt in The Stars lineup, all of whom on paper look like upgrades and while we might end up with a better D-Man out of this, it’s just a shame it had to come about in such unfortunate circumstances. Finally our two young Brits Euan Forsyth (a returnee) and Steven Chalmers (a signing from Braehead) will be trying to prove they are worthy of as much ice time as they can get and while they are not going to turn any heads this season, both are capable of doing more than just making up the numbers.

Our biggest improvements this season come with our forwards. Dan Ceman, Brent Hughes and AJ Maclean all return to the team on the import side of things. Ceman and Hughes scored 72 and 56 points respectively last season and were the heart and soul of our team. As a coaching duo they have shown absolute effort and commitment in improving this team and winning games which is why despite our poor start last season, there were no calls to change the coach. AJ Maclean is not a big scorer but he truly plays for the jersey and is one of the league’s best penalty killers and is a great influence in the locker room and his return has been rightly welcomed by the Stars fanbase at large. Our returning Brits this season are John Dolan and Gary Wishart. Both long time Stars servants had decent campaigns last season with a respective 22 and 29 points and with a better group of forwards around them this season will be more than capable of turning a few heads from the third line. These two are very much unknown outside of Dundee but this could be a breakout season for both. Joining JD and Wishy will be new Brit Lee Mitchell. Lee has what JD and Wishy don’t and that is bags of EIHL experience and a great scoring touch he replaces local boy Tristan Harper who has replaced Lee at Hull and in Mitch I feel we have got the better end of that deal. Young Lee’s points will be invaluable to the team next season and in some ways I feel this could turn out to be our most shrewd signing if he produces. Finally, our two new imports. Jeff Hutchins is an EIHL veteran who has scored highly wherever he has played and that is exactly what we needed this season. His leadership and scoring touch and physical edge give us the kind of player we craved last season . He will be key to any success we have. Last and by no means least, the man who I feel is the signing of the summer for The Stars and the biggest statement we could make in terms of improving our scoring output, Jarrett Konkle. 192 points in 246 ECHL games – those are Jade Galbraith type numbers and this is exactly the kind of player we were crying out for last season. There’s no doubt about it, Konkle will be THE guy for us next season. I’m fairly certain he will be our top scorer and the spark that lights the fuse under our offense. If we are to achieve any success next season, it will have to flow through Konkle and his scoring output.

So what held us back last season? Too much reliance on big physical guys, the lack of a dynamic points scorer and poor netminding. I feel all of these issues have been addressed as well as they could have. I genuinely believe we will be the surprise team of next season and will beat every team at least once. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic but I’m under no illusions that we’ll challenge for the league. This is a marathon, not a sprint and we need to get a bit better at each stage. We have a better team than we did last season and because of that I am one very happy Stars fan.

Finally, to briefly talk about how the rest of the league is shaping up. Belfast and Nottingham are once again leading the way with signings teams like us can only dream of at the moment. I feel it will be a close run thing between the two of them but with a British netminder and some mouth watering imports, I give the nod to Belfast for the league. Sheffield seem to be signing some top guys once again but the loss of Simon, Globke and Domish along with their off ice troubles means I don’t think we’ll see them make a serious challenge to retain their league title. Coventry and Cardiff have lost a lot of top guys and so I don’t think we’ll see them near the top again. However, they are always there or thereabouts and both have great coaches and are signing some high scoring guys. Braehead, Fife and ourselves are too close to call at the moment. As I write this, Braehead and Fife haven’t really signed enough guys to make an accurate prediction but if we take who they have signed so far and apply that quality to their overall teams I think they will be very similar to us. However, I am going to put on my rose tinted specs and predict that we will finish above them. I feel very sure that Hull and Edinburgh will be the bottom two this season. Hull have retained the awesome Jereme Tendler but their new imports are not impressing me at all and I think they will struggle. Edinburgh? Well, I would seriously question anyone outside of their own fan base who doesn’t think they will be taking home the wooden spoon again.

With that in mind, this is my prediction for next season’s EIHL league standings

1. Belfast
2. Nottingham
3. Sheffield
4. Coventry
5. Cardiff
6. Dundee
7. Braehead
8. Fife
9. Hull
10. Edinburgh