FIXTURE LIST & GAME SHEETS    CHALLENGE CUP   ELITE LEAGUE

CONTINENTAL CUP    PLAY-OFFS    PLAYER-STATS     HONOURS    SUMMARY

During the closed season it was revealed that Mike Blaisdell would not be returning. It was reported that he had been offered a new contract, but that the terms were not to his liking. Following a lengthy quiet spell it was announced that former Bracknell Bees coach Mike Ellis was to be the new head coach, but that there would also be a "hockey operations co-ordinator" from North America, who would primarily be responsible for scouting on that continent".
On the league front, the Manchester Phoenix were due to make a reappearance playing out of a new rink in Altrincham. Toward the end of June it was announced that Hull Stingrays would also joining the Elite league, making ten teams.
It was reported that the EIHL would operate a similar 'zero-tolerance' policy to that displayed the previous season in the NHL and World Championships. This was; "intended to improve the speed of the game and bring about an increase in goals, excitement and less of the clutching and grabbing that has been prevalent in recent seasons." To that end just before the season started the following rule changes appeared:-
Obstruction: Zero tolerance for hooking, holding, tripping, slashing, cross-checking and interference. Both hands must be on stick at all times. Players who use their stick or free hand across the body of an opposing player will be penalised. Players may still use their stick on the lower part of their opponent's stick to prevent him controlling the puck or making a pass.
Fighting: A player may have up to three fights in a game. For each fight the player will receive a major (five-minute) penalty. The third fighting major in any game will also include an automatic game-misconduct penalty. A player who instigates a fight in the final two minutes of a game receives a 5+game misconduct and an automatic one-game suspension, unless there are two willing combatants.
Abuse of Officials: Only the captain or an assistant captain can talk with the referee on the ice with regard to clarification and penalties.
Icing: Reversion to touch icing. Play to restart in the offending teams zone if the puck is touched first by a defender. Should the puck go through the goal-crease, icing will not now be washed out. Teams that ice the puck will be prohibited from making a player changes prior to the ensuing face off.
Tied Games: Five minutes overtime of four-on-four followed by a shoot-out if there are no goals in the OT period.
The first signings were announced early in June, when the services of defenceman Jan Krajicek, forward Matus Petricko and young British defenceman Danny Meyers were secured. The former two having both been with Newcastle the previous season, while the latter had followed former coach Mike Ellis from Bracknell. It was also reported that Geoff Woolhouse would once again be the back up netminder. A couple of weeks later it was announced that "Mopes" and "Clarkie" had re-signed. This was soon followed by the return of one of last season's favourites, Blaz Emersic. A few days later it was reported that Calle Carlsson had been given an assistant coach role with primary responsibility for; "spying on teams for upcoming fixtures and scouting players for the future, both home and abroad", but that he would also be available to play in emergencies. Whether this appointment was the same as the "hockey operations co-ordinator" announced earlier in the closed season wasn't mentioned, although some of the responsibilities seemed remarkably similar. Shortly after Matt Myers re-signed. Before the end of June the signing of 6'5" defenceman Corey Neilson was announced, touted as being; "too good to play in Britain". James Cooke was the next re-signee at the start of July. A week later it was announced that Curtis Cruickshank would not be returning. His replacement was to be Evan Lindsay, who would have a big hole to fill. He was soon followed by a newcomer to GB, Ryan Shmyr, a 6 foot 6 inch bruiser who, like Lindsay had played for Rio Grande in the East Coast league the previous season. He was followed by Rod Stevens who had played for the Giants for three seasons in the old ISL. Next came in short order, Steve Simoes and Sean McAslan, both new to GB. The reported final signing was defenceman Mike Rees. The team make-up differed greatly from the previous season, at six foot two and fourteen and a half stones average, it didn't look as if we would get pushed around as much as previously.
 
CHALLENGE CUP

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There are four qualifying groups as follows:- 
Grp A, Belfast v Manchester. 
Grp B, Panthers v Sheffield. Surprise, surprise. 
Grp C, Edinburgh v Newcastle v Hull. 
Grp D, Coventry v Basingstoke v Cardiff. 
The group winners to progress to the semis.
In their first group game Panthers lost 3-2 in Sheffield. The return the following night saw a 2-2 tie at the NIC. As there were only the two teams in the group this saw Sheffield through to the semi-final at Panthers expense. In the other semi Coventry beat Manchester 6-3 over the two legs, while Sheffield overcame Hull by the same score-line..  

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LEAGUE

ELITE LGE GP W(RW) L(OL) GF GA PTS 54 36(31) 18 (3) 186 130 75 54 34(28) 20 (3) 192 151 71 54 32(22) 22 (5) 174 152 69 54 30(26) 24 (8) 163 154 68 54 29(25) 25 (8) 182 149 66 54 26(21) 28 (6) 185 184 58 54 23(21) 31 (6) 160 185 52 54 24(22) 30 (1) 151 168 49 54 18(15) 36 (3) 114 174 39 54 18(14) 36 (3) 160 222 39

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RESULTS GP W(RW) L(OL) GF GA 6 3(3) 3(0) 23 18 6 3(3) 3(2) 25 23 6 5(4) 1(0) 23 14 6 2(1) 4(0) 15 21 6 5(4) 1(0) 29 14 6 4(4) 2(0) 17 13 6 0(0) 6(3) 12 18 6 4(3) 2(2) 21 16 6 3(3) 3(1) 17 11

Panthers started the campaign with an away game in Belfast. Despite out-shooting their hosts 45 to 25 Panthers lost after OT, on penalties. They made up for this the following night by coming from 3-1 down to overcome the Bison 9-4 at the NIC. A hard fought 2-1 win over the Phoenix at the NIC followed. Panthers then faced a double header is Scotland against the Caps. The first game was a narrow 6-5 overtime win, coming back from 5-3 down at one stage. The second an equally narrow 4-3 success, this time in regulation. On the last day of September the unbeaten Devils came to the NIC and went down 4-2, in an entertaining encounter. Panthers found themselves at the top of the league. Unfortunately they came unstuck the following night going down 3-2 in overtime at Hull. The following weekend, 2nd placed Giants visited the NIC. Despite being generally outplayed and thoroughly out-shot by a short benched Giants, thanks to David Clarkes' finishing ability and Evan Lindsays' heroic display between the pipes Panthers ran out 4-2 winners. Following their return from their European foray, Panthers faced the Caps at the NIC having been displaced in the absence from top spot by the Giants. With Petricko missing and Myers injuring himself early, Panthers struggled to penetrate Caps rearguard and the resultant 2-1 loss was no surprise, although the turning point came at the end of the 2nd period when the ref gave Panthers a series of quick-fire penalties to leave them 3on5 and the Caps took advantage. Worryingly for me if David Clarke is shut out, Panthers appear to be shut out. The following night saw a 3-2 penalty shot loss against the Phoenix in Sheffield Scimitars rink, so so far our Continental Cup foray appears to have done us no favours. Things took a turn for the worse when Hull came to the NIC the following Wednesday, and went home 3-0 winners. As this wasn't a season ticket game I imagine there were quite a few disgruntled regulars. The following Saturday saw the first visit of the season by the Steelers. In a game in which they largely dominated and after being 4-1 up, Panthers managed to blow it and lost 5-4 after penalties. A 1-0 loss at Coventry the next night followed, despite Panthers having over 16 minutes on the PP. Panthers had slipped to 3rd. Nov 11th, away against the cellar dwelling Bison. yet again Panthers had almost 10 minutes of PP and over a minute of 5on3 without finding the back of the net. I'd be surprised if anyone in the league has a worse power-play then the Panthers to date. Hardly surprising then that Panthers lost 2-1 and in the process slipped down to 4th. With the gap narrowing, if Panthers couldn't turn around their horrendous slump in form they could soon find themselves in the lower reaches of the standings. The winless streak ended at eight games the following night with a 3-2 win over bottom club Newcastle in the north east, Matus Petricko notching 1+1. The losing streak may have resumed in the return encounter a week later. Three "give-aways" and an empty netter resulted in a 5-3 loss, despite out-shooting the Vipers 48 to 18. Changes were supposedly on the way, but on this showing I wouldn't have known where to start. Lindsay looked totally incapable of saving anything he shouldn't and seemed to let in a number he should. The defence were spending too much time trying to help out the forwards, who seemed totally incapable of creating anything for themselves and the teamwork in evidence earlier in the season appeared to be nothing but a distant memory. The following night Panthers managed a 5-4 penalty shot success over the homeless Phoenix at Ice Sheffield. Quite a feat considering they had come back from 3-0 down as the Phoenix scored on three of their first nine shots. David Clarke with two again led the way. Rod Stevens & the returning Sean McAslan each notched 1+1, with McAslan also grabbing the penalty shot winner. It was business as usual at the NIC in the next game as Panthers lost 2-0 against Hull, despite heavily out-shooting the visitors again. On the back of this defeat, Blaz Emersic felt the axe as Panthers sought a remedy to their goal-scoring drought. Immediately after Panthers managed to post a 5-3 win at the NIC over league leaders Belfast. Sean McAslan amassing 3+1 to lead the way to Panthers first win at the NIC for six weeks. They followed this up the next night in the Tin Shed with yet another penalty shot loss after the Steelers tied the game up at 3-3, 30 seconds from the hooter. It was normal service resumed the following Saturday as the Blaze left the NIC with a 5-2 win in their back pocket. Evan Lindsay looked like a rabbit caught in headlights for much of the game. As usual there was lots of huff and puff, but little shape to the side missing Clarke & Rees. The following night was no better, a 6-3 loss at the Skydome. Lindsay paid for his lack of form since the Continental Cup by being released at the start of December and was replaced by Slovak, Rastislav Rovnianek. Panthers turned in one of their best results to date with a 5-3 success in the 2nd game at the Devils new home in Cardiff. Replacements Cardarelli and Rovnianek were instrumental in the success as Cardarelli scored 1+1 and Rovnianek 92.9%. The new goalie did even better the following night earning Panthers first shut-out of the season at the NIC against the Bison. The following weekend saw back to back fixtures against the cellar dwelling Vipers. Panthers won 3-2 in the North East in the first game. The following night the Vipers, showing little attacking ambition, played the perfect road game and Panthers looked as if they could have played all night without hitting the twine and lost 1-0. What a dire game this was to watch. Vipers Brit Jonathan Weaver stood out for me, seemingly on the ice all evening and never putting a foot wrong. The next game was in Sheffield, the script was a re-run of the Panthers v Steelers norm this season. After leading 2-0, Panthers went on to lose 3-2 in OT. On Boxing Day Panthers good form against the Devils continued with a 4-1 success at the NIC. Two days later Panthers lost 7-4 in Belfast, with Rasto Rovnianek being hung out to dry a few times too many. With the loss went any forlorn hope of a league title. A dismal 4-0 loss in Cardiff followed 24 hours later. A week later and it was back to the NIC and another loss, this time in OT. David Clarke scored all Panthers 3 goals in this game, but our "import" forwards were again notably absent from the goal-scoring column. The following night saw a first win of the season over the Hull Stingrays by 4-2. A few days later Panthers managed a, rare for them, shoot-out win over the Devils in Wales. The first of the following week-ends games saw a 4-2 loss in Basingstoke, for whom Cruickshank starred again. The following night the Caps lost by the same score at the NIC. On Jan 18th Panthers turned in their best performance to date, downing the league leading Blaze 6-4 at the NIC. They followed this up with an impressive 5-2 win over the Phoenix at the NIC a few days later. A pretty dire encounter against the Vipers followed, Panthers coming from 2-1 down to win 3-2. A short strength Vipers demonstrated their intentions by managing one shot on Rovnianek in the first period. A predictable 3-1 loss in Sheffield followed, Dan Tessier getting 2 including the empty netter to seal the win. By now Paul Moran was in a Steelers uniform & Steve Simoes had been released. Panther bounced back the following night, Rasto Rovnianek posting his second shut-out and David Clarke scoring twice, as Hull were blanked 5-0 on Humberside. Back at the NIC it was the Steelers again and another one goal defeat, this time 1-0, as both David Clarke & Ryan Shmyr were thrown out by Moray Hanson. Once again following the Steelers disappointment and with Ryan Shmyr sitting the first of a three game ban, Panthers bounced back to beat the Devils 6-1 at the NIC. The yo-yo ride continued the following night with a 2-0 loss in Coventry, despite Panthers outshooting their hosts 35 to 23. Once again Panthers bounced back, downing the Blaze 4-3 in OT in the return at the NIC two days later. This was followed up by a gutsy 6-3 win over the fading Giants at the NIC and an impressive 5-1 win over the Vipers in the north east. It was the same old story against the Steelers though in the next game at the NIC as Panthers lost by the odd goal in 5 with Geoff Woolhouse getting a rare outing in the net following Rovnianeks' injury. Still with the "House" in net Panthers overcame the Phoenix 4-2 in Altrincham two days later, but it was a re-run of their previous visit to the Bison the following Saturday as Panthers lost 4-2, still with Woolie in goal. Trevor Gallant assisting on both Panthers markers in his first appearance He had an immediate impact in his first game at the NIC the following night as an understrength Capitals succumbed 10-1 at the NIC. The first line of Gallant, Stevens & McAslan combining for 6 goals and 10 assists. Gallant made his mark again in the next game, a 4-3 penalty shot loss in Belfast, with a goal and an assist. In the penultimate home league game Panthers came back from 2-0 and 4-2 to win 6-4 in a shoot-out against the Bison and in the final the following weekend Hull were dumped 6-1. The major disappointment in this game was when Trevor Gallant vented his frustration at ref Boniface and found himself taking an early shower on the back of 10+Game misconduct penalties in the first period. In the final league game in Edinburgh Panthers ran out 4-1 winners.

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CONTINENTAL CUP

TABLE GRP D GP W OW D L OL GF GA PTS GD Saltzburg Red Bulls 3 2 1 0 0 0 16 6 8 10 Sonderjysk 3 2 0 0 0 1 13 9 7 4 Rouen Dragons 3 1 0 0 2 0 8 13 3 -5 3 0 0 0 3 0 6 15 0 -9

Panthers went down 6-2 in their first Continental Cup game against Rouen. The tournament hosts scored three power-play goals and two 4on4. Corey Neilson and Jan Krajicek scored Panthers goals in the 3rd period to bring the score briefly back to 4-2, but a quick breakaway goal followed by a 5on 3 powerplay goal sealed it for the hosts. In the second game the following afternoon against Salzburg, Panthers lost 5-2. James Cooke & Rod Stevens bringing Panthers back to within a goal from 3-0 down. In the final game Geoff Woolhouse got some rare ice-time and picked up the MOM for Panthers. Once again from 3-0 down, goals from McAslan & Clarkie narrowed the gap to one, before the Danes ran out 4-2 winners. Nottingham Evening Post reporter Mick Holland had this to say about the tournament:-
Panthers returned from France today desperate to get back into Elite League action after a hugely disappointing Continental Cup series. After Friday's 6-2 hammering by hosts Rouen - who coach Mike Ellis expected to beat - they were always going to be chasing the other two games. They went down 5-2 to group winners Red Bulls Salzburg on Saturday before last night's 4-2 defeat against the Danes SonderjyskE. But far from ruining Panthers' start to the season, Ellis believes the experience will make them a stronger unit. "Having seen three very good, very fast skating teams, they have shown us we have to take our fitness up to another level," he said. "I already consider us to be the fittest in the league but now we will be working even harder. They have set the standard. I know it's been a tough three days but we will start tomorrow after a day's rest. For players like James Neil, James Ferrara, James Cooke and Geoff Woolhouse - who deserved his man of the match in the last game - the experience has been invaluable. The fans were also magnificent. They all made us feel very proud and it's a shame we couldn't have given them something more to celebrate, At least no one has got the jump on us back home in the league. We have games in hand on Belfast and the rest so we have to set ourselves new targets."
In Saturday's game, Salzburg ripped into Panthers from the off, but were helped by some strange calls from the French referee, with two power-play goals seeing them lead 3-0 by the 14th minute. On one occasion, Matt Myers was racing clear to the net and was hauled down. But with the ref ignoring the obvious infraction, Salzburg swept down to the other end to score their second goal. Their third came when coach Ellis was off the ice for a mysterious tripping call. Although Panthers had a couple of five-on-three power-play chances, it wasn't until captain Clarke, Ellis and bench coach Calle Carlsson had a lengthy chat with the official that the calls became a little more sensible. And just five minutes into the second period, just as Salzburg had killed off a penalty, Cooke sparked a brave Panthers fightback, converting at the far post from a Ryan Shmyr cross. Although having Matus Petricko kicked out with a harsh game misconduct penalty for complaining about another call, it was Panthers who started to take the game to the Austrians who began hitting penalty problems themselves. But with Myers off for high sticks, Panthers stunned the Austrians when Rod Steven latched onto an Ellis clearance, outstripped the defenceman to take it wide and fire home (36). Unfortunately, that was as good as it got for Panthers and Salzburg re-grouped to net twice more in the final period.
Last night against Sonderjyske, Panthers' power-play - which had misfired for most of the weekend - failed to hit the mark when the Danes got into penalty problems early on. Teenager Neil went close with a quick snap-shot and Rod Stevens had another chance blocked. Back-up goalie Woolhouse, given his first start, looked sharp but when Sonderjyske had a series of power-plays of their own, Katulis broke the deadlock when he squeezed the puck under the young goalie's pads from close in (17.51). And in the second period, further goals from Canadians Rooney and Burgess, from a clear icing call, put the Danes well on top. In the final session, though, they had the French fans - who needing Panthers to win to keep their side in contention - on their feet when Sean McAslan took advantage of a slip by the goalie to score on the power-play (46.09). It paid off with a quick-fire second from skipper David Clarke (49.55) but penalty problems saw Sonderjyske net the clinching fourth through Lykkeskov (53.20). McAslan's reaction after he had been tripped before the goal saw his game ended with a misconduct penalty.

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PLAY OFFS

With the additions to the Elite league the play-offs were organised more along the lines of the NHL, 1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th and 4th v 5th. This saw Panthers matched against our season long nemesis the Sheffield Steelers in the quarter finals.
In the first game Panthers managed to turn around their season long lack of success against the Steelers and ran out 4-2 winners. As so often in Panthers v Steelers games the penalty count was pretty impressive - 147 minutes racked up by the Panthers and 104 by the Steelers. In the return the following night Panthers lost 3-1, leaving the tie even at 5 each. After a scoreless OT, only Corey Neilson & Sean McAslan were successful with their penalty shots and Panthers were through to the semi-final 6-5 on aggregate, where they would face Belfast Giants.
In the first semi-final 3rd place finishers Cardiff overcame league champions Coventry 3-2. Later 5th placed Panthers put out the league runners up Belfast 2-1 after a penalty shoot-out. Once again Corey Neilson and Sean McAslan were successful while Belfast were blanked by Rovnianek.
The following afternoon Panthers faced the Cardiff Devils in the final. The game followed a similar pattern to the semi-final and finished 1-1 after OT. In the shoot-out only Trevor Gallant was successful, having failed in his two previous efforts in the quarter and semi-finals, and Panthers were crowned British Champions for only the second time and the first since 1989/90. 
Sean McAslan & Trevor Gallant lead the rush after penalty shot hero Rastislav Rovnianek thwarts Devils sniper Mark Smith:-
Post game comments from the NEP:- 
Mike Ellis:- "Hopefully this will be the start of something big for Nottingham Panthers. I wasn't very happy with how the guys played in the semi-final against Belfast and I let them know that Cardiff would beat us if we played like that again. The final was an unbelievable game with due credit to Cardiff and a great advert for the sport in this country. Rasto (Rovnianek) was outstanding. I knew if we scored one penalty shot we'd win because he was unbeatable."
Rastislav Rovnianek:- "It was a great way to end the season. I look forward to flying back to Slovakia tomorrow to be with my daughter who had an operation a few weeks ago. It's just like last season, when my team won the play-offs on a shoot-out. As long as we win I don't mind how we do it."
David Clarke:- "I stood on the ice for five minutes after the game, still trying to realise we'd won it. It only sunk in when I went up to lift the trophy. What a great moment. There has been a lot happened at this club while I've been here but this is the ultimate. Just unbelievable. I thought I'd got the game-winner but even when they equalised, I didn't think we'd lose."
Matus Petricko:- "It's getting a little bit regular for me and Jimmy (Jan Krajicek) after winning it with Newcastle last season. But whenever you win the last one, the biggest game of the season, it's always very special."
Corey Neilson:- "My favourite move worked on the penalty shoot-out against Sheffield and then Belfast. But unfortunately my old team-mate from Florida, Phil Osaer, figured me out as I'd tried that move on him so many times before! "At least Rasto did the stuff at the other end."
Joe Cardarelli:- "This is the biggest moment of my career, no doubt. It's a great feeling and though I've said I am going to retire, it may be a little harder to do right now!"
Ryan Shmyr:- (With tongue firmly in cheek) "It's 18 years since Panthers last won it, eh? But then I haven't been here until this season have I?"
Danny Meyers:- "I've been involved in four play-off finals and lost each one, I was wondering if I was jinxed. Now I'm ready to go on and win a few more."
Pete Hunt (Skate technician):- "I was there for the last one 18 years ago - it's been a long time coming but thoroughly deserved for a great season. And credit the coach for that."
James Cooke:- "What a way to celebrate my 21st birthday. I hope I can still remember what happened in the morning!"
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PLAYER STATS

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SUMMARY

After a solid start to the season Panthers venture in the Continental Cup seemed to crush their confidence and try as they may things went from bad to worse. Blaz Emersic was the first to fall by the wayside around mid November, having scored a mere 1+3 in 23 games. He was replaced a couple of weeks later by previous seasons top scorer Joe Cardarelli. A couple of weeks following Emersics' departure Evan Lindsay was released following a series on less than impressive displays and an obvious collapse of confidence. He was replaced by Slovak goalie Rastislav Rovnianek. At the end of January the popular Steve Simoes was shown the door. 7+9 in 45 games was deemed insufficient return by coach Ellis. He had also asked Paul Moran to go on loan to Bracknell until seasons end, as he looked to free up some wage-cap cash to sign a "top-line centreman". Moran declined, asked for his release and signed for the Steelers. A fifth placed finish in the league was disappointing to say the least. The aforementioned centreman was announced at the end of the first week in February, Trevor Gallant, although Panthers fans would have to wait until the end of the DEL season at the start of March before his arrival. As it turned out the coach's personnel decisions were vindicated when Panthers went on the win the Championships with Gallant scoring the winning penalty shot in the final and Rovnianek starring throughout, in the process turning himself into something of a cult hero.

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2006/07 HONOURS