FIXTURE LIST & GAME SHEETS    CHALLENGE CUP   ELITE LEAGUE

CONTINENTAL CUP    PLAY-OFFS    PLAYER-STATS     HONOURS    SUMMARY

Promising Brit Mark Richardson was the first confirmed signing on May 1st. A week or so later it was reported that Corey Neilson would be returning along with an old favourite PC Drouin. A couple of weeks later two more signings were announced. "Rasto" would be performing between the pipes again and another old favourite, defenceman Robert Stancok, would be returning. Early in June the signing of Manchester Phoenix sharp-shooter Johan Molin was announced, shortly followed by the return of enforcer Ryan Shmyr and another old Panther, Marc Levers. In mid June it was finally revealed that top "Brit" David Clarke had finally left Panthers bound for Italy. Toward the end of the month better news appeared. 2006/07 top points scorer Sean McAlsan had re-signed. After a gap two further signings were announced "old boy" Patrik Wallenberg and ex-Bison Jim Shepherd. Just before the start of the season the final newcomer was announced, defenceman Steve Pelletier.
Pre-season training in France ended on a more than satisfactory note as Panthers came home having won the Epinal four team international trophy. The two top lines of Wallenberg, Molin & Shepherd and Drouin, Richardson & McAslan looked to have plenty of scoring threat.
Panthers opened their season at the NIC with the inaugural Charity Shield match-up against League Champions Coventry Blaze. Panthers ran out 7-6 winners in a real shoot-out to pick up the silverware.
The Knock-out Cup would be played for again, but once again Panthers would not participate.
 
CHALLENGE CUP

RESULTS GP W(OT) D L(OT) GF GA 1 1 0 0 4 3 1 1 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4 4 1 1 0 0 5 4 SF 2 2 0 0 10 5 F 1 1 0 0 6 3

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CUP GRP A GP W(OT) D L(OL) GF GA PTS GD 4 3 (0) 1 0 (0) 12 7 7 5 4 2 (0) 1 1 (0) 13 9 5 4 4 1 (0) 2 1 (0) 9 6 4 3 4 1 (0) 1 2 (0) 14 18 3 -4 4 0 (0) 1 3 (0) 9 17 1 -8

Panthers opened their Challenge Cup campaign in Belfast near the end of September and came away with their first away win of the season, a narrow 4-3 victory. They followed this up with another Challenge Cup win away in Cardiff, this 3-0. They followed this up on October 7th with a 4-4 tie at the NIC against the Bison, when in truth Panthers had struggled against the fast skating, hard checking Bison. Panthers now needed a point to qualify for the latter stages and duly obliged with a hard fought 1-0 victory over the league leading Blaze at the NIC.
In the first leg of the semi-final, Panthers, still minus a replacement for PC Drouin, faced the Vipers and won narrowly 5-4 after being 3-1 down early in the 2nd period. In the return in the north east ten days later Tom Askey was making his debut in the net and Panthers amazingly ran out 5-1 winners to take the tie 10-5, far and away Panthers best performance of the season to date. In the other semi final the Steelers overcame Cardiff 6-4 on aggregate.
In the first leg of the final, Panthers overcame Sheffield 6-3 in the HOS, despite being out-shot 42-21. For once Panthers had a bit of luck as the Steelers were without first choice netminder Jody Lehman. In the return at the NIC Panthers were out-shot 37-26 and lost 4-3. But the overall 9-7 victory meant Panthers were the Challenge Cup Champions and had their third trophy of the season.

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LEAGUE

ELITE LGE GP W(OT) L(OT) GF GA PTS 54 41(5) 13 (2) 217 127 84 54 38(5) 16 (2) 190 128 78 54 33(3) 21 (3) 172 133 69 54 33(4) 21 (2) 184 150 68 54 28(4) 26 (4) 159 174 60 54 26(3) 28 (3) 164 174 55 54 23(3) 31 (3) 162 179 49 54 19(3) 35 (3) 155 208 41 54 16(3) 38 (5) 172 224 37 54 13(1) 41 (7) 119 197 33

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RESULTS GP W(OT) L(OT) GF GA 6 4(1) 1(1) 23 11 6 4(0) 2(0) 22 17 6 4(1) 2(0) 19 16 6 2(0) 4(1) 15 21 6 4(1) 2(0) 20 17 6 5(0) 1(0) 25 13 6 4(0) 2(0) 15 11 6 4(0) 2(0) 20 12 6 1(0) 5(1) 13 15

The league campaign opened on the weekend of Sept 8th & 9th. The 8th saw a 2-0 success over the Phoenix at the NIC, while the 9th saw a 4-2 loss against the Vipers in the north east. A visit to Sheffield mid-week followed and another 4-2 defeat, despite out shooting their hosts almost 2 to 1. A narrow 3-2 win over the Devils followed with an embarrassing 5-1 loss in Hull the following night. Belfast went down 6-4 at the NIC the following Saturday in a game with 6 PP goals, while the poor away form continued the next night with a 2-1 loss in Manchester, the fourth on the trot, despite once again out-shooting their hosts.
To this point Panthers had out-shot their opponents 157 - 122 in their four games away from the NIC, in the process scoring a meagre 6 goals, while conceding 15. The opposition goalies combined Save% was 96.2, Panthers was 87.7. The goals against average were 3.8 against and 1.5 for. Little wonder zero points had been gleaned away from the NIC. 
Jim Shepherd was released after picking up a lengthy ban for spearing. Tough and out of character for the player, it perhaps gave the coach a bit of a get-out following the moderate start to the season and Shepherd became the self appointed victim for the chop. 
After two good away Challenge Cup wins Panthers squeaked a 6-4 win over the Caps at the NIC.
It was then announced in the South Wales Echo on October 5th that Kevin Bergin had been signed by the Panthers to replace Jim Shepherd. The transfer also appeared with a confirmed status on the Euro Hockey database. 
The first visit to the NIC of perennial bogey side Sheffield ended in a predictable 2-1 loss. Despite the managements talk about building a side capable of challenging for the league title it seems obvious that the first requirement is top line "Brits", like the Blazes' Jonatham Weaver, Vipers' David Longstaff and Ashley Tait, Ash got both Steelers markers. 
The following weekend saw Mike Ellis quoted as saying: "We're 0 and 3 against the teams above us and that's not good enough.. They are the teams we must be beating. We have the players to win the league and now I want them to prove to me and everyone else they are title contenders. If we turn around this weekend with four points it could turn the league upside down and send out a warning to the rest of the teams that we mean business. At the moment we are four points behind the target I have set and I want to claw that back." The first game at the NIC a new low as Panthers meekly succumbed 4-1 to league title hopefuls Newcastle. The difference between the sides was stark. Panthers, although with some decent individuals, were totally outplayed by the team play of Newcastle and rarely threatened the Vipers goalie. The following evening Panthers couldn't even manage one and went down 4-0 to potential champions Coventry. Having been outscored 8-1 over the two games, Mike Ellis' pre-weekend words looked pretty silly on Monday and left him threatening changes. Whether one of those changes would be his own remained to be seen. 
The following Wednesday the cash-strapped Bison, having recently released Steve Lyle & Peter Campbell,  visited the NIC. After a game fight they eventually went down 5-2.
The following weekend saw Panthers most impressive result to date, an 8-2 success away in Hull, where they had suffered a humiliating 5-1 loss earlier in the season. Sadly the following night they lost 2-1 at the NIC against the in form Cardiff Devils. 
As Panthers record against the teams inhabiting the top half of the table continued to be poor, PC Drouin felt the cold draft of an early release early in November, although his line-mates had hardly set the league alight. Once again though the incumbent coach's policy of signing a forward line filled with wingers seemed to be being exposed.
The following weekend, minus the released PC Drouin, saw a regulation 5-2 win at the NIC against Hull, followed by an abysmal 6-2 loss to the in form Devils in Wales. Three short handed goals against didn't help. But the voices of disgruntled fans were getting louder.
During the following week it was announced that Dwayne Hay had been signed to replace the departed PC Drouin and would be in for the following weekend. No sooner had this been announced than we were told Hay, wouldn't be coming after all after re-injuring himself in training.
Following the 5-4 Challenge Cup win over Newcastle at the NIC, Panthers went to Edinburgh and again managed to come from behind to beat the Caps, again 5-4. There were rumours that both Stancok and Rovnianek were to be released the following week and we were still without Drouin's replacement. Within a couple of days it was announced that "Rasto" had been released, to be replaced by Tom Askey, who had been in Italy with the team Dave Clarke went to, Alleghe. Following the stunning 5-1 win in Newcastle in the challenge cup semi, Panthers went to the form team Cardiff Devils. A 3-2 penalty shot win ensued. Had the corner been turned? 
Tom Askey posted his first shut-out in his third appearance in the 2-0 NIC win over the Phoenix on the 5th December and followed this up with another 22 shot shut-out of the Vipers in a 4-0 success in the North East the following weekend. This was Panthers 7th consecutive win.
The next game was away in Belfast. On the day of the game it was reported that Johan Molin would miss the game with a shoulder injury, but that two Brits had been signed from Bracknell Bees, who looked as if they were to close following the loss of their backer, Kurt Reynolds & Shaun Thompson. The outcome was a 2-1 win with Marc Levers scoring the game winner 25 seconds from the end. Two days later Panthers scraped by Edinburgh 3-2 in OT at the NIC. They kept the winning run going with a 4-2 success over the Vipers the following Saturday. That run came to an abrupt end just before Christmas with a 5-2 thumping in Coventry.
The Blaze came to the NIC on Boxing Day in the re-match and lost 3-1, Corey Neilson netting an empty netter to seal the win. It was business as usual though against the Steelers as they went away from the NIC with a 3-2 penalty shot win on Dec 29th. Panthers had been without No.1 goalie Tom Askey out ill. Geoff Woolhouse did a solid job in his absence. The House was in net the following night also as Panthers got back on the winning track with a 5-2 victory in Hull. Patrick Wallenberg having a 3 point game. A few days later Panthers won the return against the Stingrays 2-0 at the NIC to move up to 3rd in the league, but couldn't manage to make it a four point weekend , going down 2-1 in Belfast despite out-shooting their in-form hosts. Panthers bounced back the following Saturday with a 5-3 win over the injury hit Devils, Sean McAslan coming back to life after a quiet scoring run with 2+2. After a long journey to Edinburgh the following night, the Panthers slumped to an abysmal 3-0 loss to the cellar dwelling Caps. The first game the following weekend saw a narrow 5-4 win at the Bison followed by a 6-2 drubbing by the Giants at the NIC. Panthers quite simply couldn't hold the Giants impressive front line and hadn't enough themselves going forward to threaten an upset. In games against the top teams in the league Panthers import forwards, Wallenberg, McAslan, Molin & Bergin are almost invisible. Having said that man for man against the Giants forwards Courtenay, Awada, Sutter & Dutiaume along with their supporting cast of Cameron & Campbell it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Wage cap? Makes one wonder.
The following weekend Panthers followed up their Challenge Cup win in Sheffield with a 6-2 beating of league leaders Coventry at the NIC and followed this up by winning 4-3 in Manchester the following night, the first 4 points in two days of the season. The status quo was maintained at the top of the league though as all top 5 clubs won both games of the weekend.
The following weekend saw Panthers play two away games. The first in Sheffield saw a 2-1 loss as Jody Lehman turned in his usual stellar performance against the Panthers, turning aside 44 of the 45 shots Panthers amassed. The second saw Panthers bounce back to crush Cardiff 5-1 in Wales despite being heavily out-shot.
A shock 2-1 home defeat against 9th placed Edinburgh followed the following Saturday, despite them managing a measly 14 shots throughout the game. Panthers bounced back the following night to blank the Vipers 3-0 in the north east. 
It was lacklustre again in the next game midweek at the NIC as the Bison went away with a 3-2 penalty shot win. The following weekend the Steelers came to the NIC. WOW! 6-1 what more can one say. Remarkably Marc Levers led the way with 3+1 after Mike Ellis juggled his lines for this game following the recent goal-scoring drought. Levers was partnered by Wallenberg (+2) & McAslan (1), while Bergin (1+1) was partnered by Molin (1+2) & Neilson (+2). Myers, Ferrara & Shmyr making up the 3rd combo. For only the second time this season Panthers made it a 4 point weekend with a 2-1 success at Basingstoke.
Following Panthers victory in the Challenge Cup they faced a tough weekend against the league's top two teams, Belfast at the NIC followed by Coventry in the Skydome. The first game resulted in a resounding 5-1 win over the Giants, with Panthers managing to convert a high proportion of their goal attempts for a change. The second saw a 4-3 penalty shot loss. A return against the Blaze a week later at the NIC saw an embarrassing 5-1 loss.
Panthers got back on the winning trail midweek with a 6-2 win at the NIC over the Vipers. Geoff Woolhouse made a rare start in goal and returned a very creditable 93.9 save percentage. This game was followed by a good 6-3 win in Belfast, Panthers were now just a point behind 3rd placed Giants, and Geoff Woolhouse again played between the pipes as Tom Askey was rested.
The following Tuesday Panthers entertained the Bison, who were to face the Blaze in the first leg of the KO Cup the following night. Geoff Woolhouse was again in net and the Bison also had back-up Dan Green between the pipes. Panthers ran out 7-0 winners, Geoff picking up his first shut-out and both Rob Lachowicz and Sam Bullas scored their first goal for the club.
The penultimate home league game saw the Hull Stingrays go home 4-2 losers following a typical end of season affair in which Panthers totally dominated, but ex-Panther Ladislav Kudrna stood on his head at times in the Stingrays net to keep the score respectable.
Panthers final away game was in Sheffield. Ashley Tait scored an empty netter to seal a 3-1 win for the Steelers. Once again Panthers league outings against the Steelers had returned a mere 2 points, not good enough for intended league champions.
The league campaign came to a close the following Saturday, with a disjointed, directionless 4-2 loss to Manchester at the NIC. Although clearly the stronger team, Panthers gifted the opposition their goals by constantly being caught out of position and abject turnovers. 

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PLAY OFFS

Panthers interest in the play-offs came to an end at the first hurdle. Facing Cardiff Devils, they lost the first leg at the NIC 4-3. Having managed to turn things around in Cardiff by leading 2-0 the following night, the game eventually ended 3-3 and Panthers had lost 7-6 on aggregate.
In the first semi-final at the NIC Coventry beat Newcastle 4-2, while Sheffield overcame Cardiff 2-1, to set up a Coventry v Sheffield final. At least Cardiff's quarter final win saved Panthers fans the embarrassment of losing yet again to the Steelers at the NIC, or is that just pessimism?
Sheffield blanked Coventry 2-0 in the final and another season was done and dusted.

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PLAYER STATS

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SUMMARY

Once again the season promised more than it delivered. I personally saw few game this season. I had decided quite early that this season's roster looked weak up front and we would struggle to score goals. As it turned out we scored a few more than the previous season, but in the games against those expected to be challengers, notably as usual the Steelers, Panthers came up short by and large. Sean McAslan comfortably surpassed his previous season points total. Patrik Wallenberg & Johan Molin were obvious plusses. Tom Askey came in to replace the struggling Rasto Rovnianek in the net, but he too couldn't produce the goods when it mattered most. Ultimately the main failing was in Mike Ellis being unable to find the necessary forward power following the release of PC Drouin, which eventually saw the signings of two defencemen, Eric Nelson & Jon Coleman. This saw three Brits, Matt Myers, Marc Levers & Mark Richardson having to carry more of the scoring threat than they probably could or should.
Mike Ellis' tenure in the coaching role looked pretty tenuous following the early exit from the play-offs.

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2007/08 HONOURS