How has the season gone for the Stingrays so far? Have things settled down post-Campbell?
In the absence of Campbell the Stingrays have been short of options and the lines have been consistent as a result. After a poor run in the immediate aftermath of the Campbell incident the team managed to find its scoring touch and picked up some impressive wins. It's the unimpressive defeats, 2 at home to Dundee, home and away v Edinburgh and two at home to Cardiff that stand out as games that shouldn't have gone the way they did. At their best Bowns is a game saver who can be called upon to make 40+ saves per night and the Rays have too much offensive speed for opponents to deal with. At their worst all those shots fly past Bowns and the offence skates into trouble and can't pass their way into scoring position.
The Challenge Cup group has been kind to Hull the past couple of years. Any particular reason for this?
A group of Nottingham, Sheffield, Coventry and Cardiff is kind, is it? The Stingrays had no points from their first 5 CC games and were 3-0 down after the first period of game 6 but managed to go through with a game to spare. Making it through with just 3 points (which they will if they lose to Sheffield) says more about Coventry's futility in this competition than it does for the Stingrays.
It's a great achievement for the Stingrays to make it out of this group 2 years running but a quarter final, probably against Belfast, is where this run will end in all likelihood. Cloutier and the boys won't mind too much if that's the case. Winning the Gardiner Conference is the team's main aim. The game on Sunday at home to Braehead is immeasurably huge compared to the Sheffield game. It might be the most important Rays game of the season so far.
Other than the always dangerous Tendler, anyone that will give the Steelers nightmares?
Guillaume Doucet is the man to watch. Speedy, good hands, good finisher. He's been playing with Jason Silverthorn and Carl Lauzon and they've built up a good rapport over the last few weeks. It's not all about the Tendler line any more. The Stingrays have 2 lines that can score on any given shift. Also keep an eye on Omar Pacha joining the rush from defence.
Jamie Chilcott is a young Brit D-man, back in Hull after a spell in north America. He's very quietly been solid for the Stingrays and, like Paul Swindlehurst at Dundee, has got absolutely no publicity or recognition from fans of other teams for his level of play. After the Phillips brothers and Steve Lee he's the next Hull defenceman off the production line and could well follow their skate tracks into the GB team in the near future.
Is there anyone on the Steelers roster that the Stingrays should be wary of?
At home to Belfast a couple of weeks ago the Stingrays just couldn't get the puck off them. Given the way the Dowd-Sirianni-DiCasmirro line likes to keep possession we might see more of the same. I could see them having lots of possession in the game and lots of shots from the outside. Hull give up a lot of shots but Cloutier doesn't mind too much if they're from 'bad' areas. Sheffield will need to find a way to get quality shots away from the slot and from close range. If they do then they should win with room to spare.
Hull's 3rd line of Squires-Mariani-Chamberlain isn't going to set the world on fire. Hard working and reliable, yes, but not much of an offensive threat. Kyle Mariani is a D-man filling in as a centre in the absence of Campbell. Between the three of them they are 1+5 - that's not much when you consider the ice time they get. If they can keep the Steelers 3rd line Brits (Hewitt, Phillips, Nell, Hill) off the scoreboard they'll consider that job done and hope the top two lines can outscore their counter parts.
Any predictions?
This game doesn't matter. Hull need the win to give the home fans something to cheer, Sheffield just want to avoid another slip up against a Gardiner opponent. In truth, the narrative of these teams' weekends will only be known after Sunday's games. The Steelers must beat Fife and beat them well, the Stingrays must beat Braehead at home to keep their season on track and the Gardiner title as a realistic prospect. If either team had a recognised and reliable back up we'd see them in goal I'm sure, but in a game where fringe skaters might get more ice time than usual the Steelers depth in that department should help them through. They are a better team and should take this one by a couple of goals, although it won't answer any of the questions hanging over either team.
You can purchase discounted tickets for the game - details here: http://hullstingrays.net/
Alternatively, you can watch the webcast - with commentary by Jonathan - by visiting this link: http://hullstingrays.net/
Huge thanks to Jonathan for such an in-depth response.
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