PARTIZAN PRESENTS TRIO FROM ELEJAMIENew coach and WCoH-winning defenseman to join the team - "He will instantly become a key player"BELUSHYA GUBA Last season was a bit of a disaster for Partizan Belushya Guba, at least by their own high standards. They finished 6th in the regular season and were embarrasingly swept by Shakhter in the quarterfinals, which meant they failed to qualify for the HCL as well. Other than coach
Gennadiy Ponikarov being fired, we have heard very little from the club during the off-season and the beginning of season 27 - until today, that is, when they made a big splash. The team held a press conference and announced no less than three major acquisitions: a new head coach, a World Cup of Hockey-winning defenseman and an 18 year old winger labeled as a future star - all three of them from the nation of Elejamie, a well known super heavyweight in international hockey who won the 29th WCoH and came within inches of repeating in WCoH 30.
New Partizan head coach is 40 year old
Andy Bailey. He is not the first foreigner to coach in Novaya Zemlya - Kaboomlandian
Paul Saxton was hired as head coach of the Novozemlyan U20 national team after WJHC 9 - but he is the first to coach a Novozemlyan club team. Many view Partizan BG as the epitome of Novaya Zemlya's conservative hockey establishment and were surprised to hear that the club had gone abroad looking for a coach, but general manager
Milomir Lapotnikov claims it was an easy decision.
"We felt it was time to go in a new direction," Lapotnikov said. "A lot of NZEL teams are stuck in the past, doing things the same way they have always done, but we wanted to look at how things are done in the rest of the world. And what could be a better place to look than Elejamie? If you look at their results internationally, they must be doing something right, don't you think? So we went there and talked to people, and that's when we came in contact with Andy. He is a great hockey mind and we had some constructive discussions. We are very happy to announce that he will be our new head coach."
Andy Bailey has worked as an assistant manager for Elejamie's national junior team, as well as coaching the Edgebaston Shamrocks junior team. He has previously been head coach for the Shamrocks senior team in the ENIHL for a couple of seasons. He is known as an analytical coach and a strong tactician who is able to adjust his game plan depending on the circumstances and opposition.
The second announcement was the signing of defenseman
Adam Keane. The 24-year-old is described as an offensive defenseman and has been a staple on the Elejamian national team, the Icy Elephants, ever since their debut in WCoH 26. Up until now, he has played for the Davenport Dockers in the ENIHL.
"This guy has a World Cup of Hockey to his name," Lapotnikov said of his new defenseman. "How many NZEL'ers can say that? Not a single one, that's how many. If you can name me a better defenseman in this league, I'm all ears. Adam will instantly become a key player for us."
The acquistion comes at a good time for Partizan, whose blueline underperformed for long stretches last season. Veteran
Andrei Yegorov has trouble staying healthy for a whole season nowadays, and as a result the team had to lean heavily on
Fyodor Ryzhkov, who looked gassed on many nights. Lapotnikov acknowledged this fact, saying that the arrival of Keane will make an enormous difference and also make the other defenders more effective as they don't have to play more minutes than they can handle.
Finally, Lapotnikov introduced the third signing of the day - 18 year old left winger
Bill Townsend from Coventry Puffins' junior program. Townsend featured on the Elejamian team in the recent WJHC in Ethane and comes highly recommended by coach Bailey.
"That's right," Lapotnikov said. "Andy has worked with the Elejamian U20 national team and he pointed us in Townsend's direction. According to Andy, Bill is ready to take the step from juniors. We watched him closely at the World Juniors and he is indeed a great young player. He reminds me a lot of
Manuel Aleixos, a dynamic sniper with a deadly quick release that just simply beats goalies. He is still young though, so we don't expect miracles right away. But he has all the tools to become an impact player for us."
The Elejamian trio had not yet arrived to Belushya Guba, but according to Lapotnikov they would make it in time for tonight's game against Metallurg. "Bailey, Keane and Townsend are being flown in as we speak," the GM said. "All the necessary paperwork has been filed with the Elejamian and Novozemlyan federations. We are good to go."
BREAKING NEWS: METALLURG STRIKES BACKThe defending champs sign Elejamian NT forward Ethan SwinburneMATOCHKINGRAD Only mere hours after Partizan announced their new additions from Elejamie, Metallurg Matochkingrad answered right back with a splash of their own. The club announces that they have reached an agreement with Elejamie City Ice Elephants forward
Ethan Swinburne. Swinburne is a 27 year old winger who has represented his native Elejamie at five World Cups of Hockey. He is described as a power forward who can create plays and does not shy away from the rough stuff. Since Swinburne has not yet arrived to Matochkingrad, the club chose to not call a press conference and instead released a written announcement.
"We are very happy to be a adding a player of Ethan's caliber to our team. He is a proven winner and a WCoH-champion," Metallurg said in their announcement. "Ethan Swinburne has all the qualities we want in a hockey player, and we are sure he will contribute to the continued success of our hockey club."
"Very, very good news for Metallurg fans. Although, I don't think this was a reaction to Partizan's signings," the Journal's hockey expert
Anatoly Timofeyev commented. "I know Metallurg has been scouting in Elejamie for a while. They wanted to get bigger and tougher up front, and Swinburne fits the bill perfectly. And, more importantly, he is skilled too. They needed a guy like him, especially in the Hockey Champions League were many teams play a more physical game than what we are used to in Novaya Zemlya. Coach
Dyatlova now has a classic luxury problem on her hands, does she play Swinburne with
Zakhar Golumbovsky - they would likely be unstoppable - or does she put them on separate lines to try and spread out the scoring threats?"
Alhtough unconfirmed, it is rumored that Metallurg had to pay a transfer fee of $250,000 to Elejamie City, and a player of Swinburne's ilk is likely to command a respectable salary. Can Metallurg afford it?
"That is a good question. I'm sure this caused some grumbling and growling in their accounting department," Timofeyev said. "However, their HCL success last season probably boosted their budget a fair bit this year. Plus, we know Metallurg is owned by the gigantic Novaya Zemlya Steel and they threat the hockey team as an entertainment expense to keep employees happy, more or less. I'm sure we will see more of this in the future, where the teams with financial backing will be able to attract top flight international talent and the have-nots will lag further behind. We may not like it, but that is where we are headed."
Metallurg will play Partizan in Belushya Guba tonight, and barring any unforeseen circumstances Swinburne will be in the line-up.