Ice Dogs Season 5 Press Statements

GM Carnell today held his first meeting following the conclusion of the 606HL playoffs, congratulating Bearded Badgers on their playoff victory.

"I can today confirm that we have received two signed contacts back along with the pending signature of another couple of player for the upcoming season, these are pending league approval and will be announced later on."

I can also confirm that we will not be renewing the contacts of netminders Marty Turco and JS Giguere. Also leaving the club will be Jamal Mayers and Andrew Peters, who spent their time with the Hornets."

Carnell refused to name the returnees, but did confirm that other players will be spoken to and offered contacts, depending on what happens around the league.

He closed by confirming the status of All-Star defenceman, Shea Weber: "Shea is an Ice Dog for the forthcoming season, he is the keystone to our side and we will not be looking at trading him away at this time."

Derby Ice Dogs today strengthened their roster by acquiring Evander Kane from the Bearded Badgers.

GM Carnell said “This will strengthen our core and provide more offence, which is something we have been lacking over the past season.”

Kane picked up 45 points last season (20G, 25A) and 6 points in the Playoffs where he helped his team to win the Playoffs.

“He’s a good two way guy and with youth on his side, we hope that he makes Derby his home for a long time to come” Carnell continued.

The Club also picked up two draft picks for this seasons draft, which takes place tonight, whilst giving up a pick of their own and unsigned prospect Beau Bennett.

Signing news is to follow shortly with a trio of signings coming your way.

Pontus Aberg - First Round (20th Overall)
18 year old left winger Pontus comes with good skating ability along with good puck handling ability that is likely to land him a slot on the Hornets roster for the upcoming season. His passing and scoring ability will be worked on during the season, he is likely to play a regular role on the Hornets roster.

Jacob Trouba - Third Round (42nd Overall)
18 year old American Defenceman Trouba comes to the Ice Dogs franchise with a big physical presence. It is hoped he will develop his defensive skills to provide a physical presence on the Hornets team in the future.

Kim Jong-Il - Third Round (52nd Overall)
A big 18 year old North Korean defenceman is the first to be drafted to the Ice Dogs franchise. He is likely to continue to play his trade outside of the league to develop before returning to the franchise next season to re-evaluate his progression.

Henrik Howe - Fourth Round (62nd Overall)
Swedish Howe is a natural centerman that has great puck-handling skills who also knows where the net is. Howe is expected to stay in Sweden for this season before returning a better all round player.

Smiley Miley - Fifth Round (82nd Overall)
Smiley is a American born two-way center who has great face off winning skills, he takes care of his responsibilites at both ends of the ice.

GM Carnell today confirmed the departures of wingers Paul Kariya, Matt Cook and Petr Sykora along side 21 year old Devante Smith-Pelly

In a statement, Carnell said the following:
"We have held long talks with all the players that had contacts up for renewal, we hope to be in a position to confirm several players once the 606HL commission have confirmed the deals. We had hoped to bring more signing news, however negotiations are taking longer than first thought"

"Kariya, Cook, Sykora and Smith-Pelly join netminders Turco and Giguere along with Hornets Jamal Mayers and Andrew Peters in not being offered renewed contacts. We would like to place on record out thanks for all their hard work over their time here with the Ice Dogs organisation"

Kariya and Sykora were brought in last season to fill a gap left on the wing and provide valuable experience to the squad, Matt and Devante spent the season with the Hornets and have been released following below par performances during the season.

There are still 10 players who have not signed with the Ice Dogs franchise and news of their future is expected over the following days. Newly acquired Evander Kane is the only sure deal to be announced following the recent trade, but the others are still waiting to sign a deal or be released.

Carnell then commented on last nights draft;
"We will be speaking with our new guys that we acquired in the draft and let them know what we have in mind for them over the next season, whether that's playing for the Hornets or playing back in Europe to maintain their development."

In closing, Carnell notified the press that the Hornets new coach was heading to the arena to be unveiled later today

Mike Babcock was today unveiled as the latest Hornets head coach after signing a two-year deal with the Ice Dogs organisation.

Mike takes over from Terry Murray, who's contract was not renewed in the off season.

GM Carnell held a short press conference where he introduced Mike to the media and answered a few short questions:

"We are pleased to announce Mike as the new coach for the Hornets. Once we became aware the Monroeville Zombies would not be extending his contract, we arranged to meet him and discuss a possible deal. The initial meeting went well and we then arranged for Mike to visit the arena and get to discuss the finer details of what we would be looking at over the season."

"Mike brings experience to the team and will put every effort into getting the farm team off the bottom of the standings, we are looking at players to help him achieve this" Carnell continued: "He knows what we want from this season, and more importantly from the following season, we will continue to rebuild this term that will set us in a good place for the following year."

When asked what attracted Mike to the job his answer was simple "I was out of a job and needed something to secure me financially, the meetings with Carnell went well and I liked what his plans were, the deal was straight forward"

"The foundations are there for a good team, we have some promising net-minders in Enio Sclisizzi, Steve Self and Calvin Pickard who are continuing to develop their game and will be looking at stepping up to the Ice Dogs in the next few seasons, along with players like Jamie Ram on the defence and Willie Failing, Steve Junker, Sven BaertschiCriss Cross, Thomas Jurco on the forward lines, this stands good for the future of the organisation"

Babcock continued: "This season is a 'see how it goes' season, there are several players that are in their final year of their existing contact and I will be looking at them to step up and earn their new contact, there will be several new faces to the team, all with a point to prove and aim for the call up to the Ice Dogs"

Derby Ice Dogs today confirmed a trio of signings for the upcoming season, with captain Jamie Langenbrunner, P.M Bouchard and netminder Jaroslav Halak all putting pen to paper for the club next season.

General Manager, Carnell confirmed that captain Langenbrunner had signed a one year deal, whilst Bouchard and Halak had signed two and three year deal with the Ice Dogs.

Talking about the signings, Carnell broke each one down – “The club needs stability, and Jamie has been around since the inaugural season and knows what it is like to play for the club, he is a natural leader both on and off the ice”

Langenbrunner, who has played every game for the club, has amassed 114 goals and 145 assists in 328 for the club, a franchise record, he has captained the team from the start, and is expected to wear the “C” again this upcoming campaign.

“Bouchard is another core player, he also knows what it takes to play here and will strive to push the Dogs forward again this year, Bouchard possesses good accurate passing and can chip in with the odd goal as well, he isn’t physical but he doesn’t take penalties as well which means you can get the most out of him every game”

Bouchard will be playing his fourth season as a Ice Dog, and the team will be looking at him to provide more offensively this season.

Final signing of the day is netminder Jaroslav Halak, who is expected to take the starting spot “He has come up through the farm team and progressed nicely, Matthew and Jaroslav shared their duties and we expect both to compete every session for that starting role.” Halak played in 42 games during the season, picking up 13 wins and posting 0.88 save percentage and recording two shut outs.

GM Carnell expressed he will be speaking with other GM’s about player availability over the forthcoming days to see if he can strengthen his side ahead of Free Agency

Derby Ice Dogs have welcomed back Kristian Huselius to the team after originally being released along with tough guy Derek Boogaard both signing one year deals with the club.

GM Carnell spoke to the media on the latest two signings:

"At the end of the season, we spoke to Kristian and decided to see what happens once free agency opened up, this was after terms on a new deal couldn't be agreed" he continued "Both parties are now happy that this was the best move and we look forward to welcoming Kristian back to the club"

"Huselius was coming off the back of a four million pound deal and the Ice Dogs were wanting to cut the players wages down to just under the million pound mark" his agent said. "Once the free agency market opened up, it was clear that it was the best option to return to Derby and re-negotiate terms"

Boogaard stands 6ft 7 and weighs in at 262lbs and is expected to protect the Ice Dog stars this season.

"Boogaard comes to the Ice Dogs knowing his role, he is expected to protect and thats it! We are not paying him to score, we pay him to fight!" said GM Carnell

There are still a few offers currently out to other players, that should be signed before the half way stage of the pre-season games, but all details will be kept secret until paperwork is signed and back with us


Ice Dogs Head Coach confirmed the signings of Alexei Ponikarovsky and Christopher Higgins before the clubs opening pre-season games.

32 year old Ponikarovsky, stands at 6ft 4 and weighs in at 222lbs has signed a one year deal with the club. GM Carnell had this to say about the Ukraine signing:

"We first talked to Alex earlier in the summer about the move, but things didn't come togehter, we then reopened talks and thrashed out a deal quickly. He will provide a good checking presence to the squad along with his defencive mind, he will be a good fit on the left wing."

Second signing of the day came in the form of right winger Christopher Higgins, another defencive minded winger who has put pen to paper for the upcoming season:

"Higgins will be a great pick up for the team, he thinks defence first, which is key for us, he doesnt take a shift off and will finish his hits again"

American Higgins tips the scales at 203lbs and stands 6ft and had this to say to the gathered media:

"I've heard nothing but positive things about the set up here in Derby, the results haven't been the best, but we are aiming to climb the table once again this season and I hope to be a part of that"

A good pre-season for the Ice Dogs will see them head into the regular season with confidence after winning 4 games out of 8 against the other division teams.

Shea Weber and new recruit Evander Kane lead the way with points, picking up 11 off 8 games. Joe Pavelski and Pierre-Marc Bouchard put in a good performance as well to earn their spots on the roster for the upcoming season.

"It was a good pre season from out point of view" said GM Carnell "We just need to carry this into the regular season when it kicks off. It was a good team performance, with guys producing over all lines"

The Ice Dogs lead the league in hits and PIM's but also did the work on the special teams, finishing 5th overall on the PP% of 24.32% and 3rd overall on the PK with an impressive 88.14%

"We had a stong presence in the face off circle with all out guys winning the majority of the draws, which mean't we were controlling the play instead of chasing the puck for the first part of the shift"

The Ice Dogs have announced taht Jamie Langenbrunner will once again wear the "C", his assistants will be Pavel Kubina and all star defencemen Shea Weber

GM Carnell said "Once again it was the teams decision, they nominated Jamie to continue as the club captain and we are happy with that decision. Jamie is a leader on the ice and off it, he is very proffesional with his never say die attitude"

Langenbrunner said "Wearing the "C" means so much to me, the team put a lot of faith in me and I will do what it takes to get the club to the position it should be, in Shea and Pavel, I have the perfect deputies"