Stevenage Beefs ready for season following strong preseason.

The Beefs entered pre-season with one goal in mind and that was to get a good look at some of the young fringe players currently pencilled in for the farm. Guys like Cam Fowler, Blake Comeau, Austin Watson and David Rundblad were all give shots in the pro.

We feel we got a good look at these guys and some are ready some are not but we are very happy on the whole. In fact all of the aforementioned players had reasonable outings.

Rundblad was a +1 in 3 games and Watson put up an assist alongside a +4 also in 3 games before both were sent back to the farm to finish preseason.

Fowler and Comeau were the guys management wanted the best looks at however and were pencilled in to play 5 of the Beefs 8 preseason games. Comeau put up 2 goals and an assist to go along with 12 hits and a team leading 33.33 shooting %. Comeau is banging on the door of a top 6 spot with this team, Beefs GM Homer said. He is ready to step in at a moments notice if required and we are extremely happy with his development. Add on the fact that he put up 3 goals and 4 assists in just 3 games with the farm shows he won't be staying there for too long.

Fowler, as mentioned was scheduled for 5 games but with the suspension to Greg Zanon he ended up icing in all 8. He scored one goal, blocked 9 shots and had 17 PIM's for the Beefs to go along with a team leading +6 rating. Homer had this to say about the future superstar 'He didn't put up huge numbers like his linemate for the preseason but he has proven that he is more than capable of playing with the big boys'. Fowler will report to the Baby Beefs for the regular season where he will see top line minutes along with plenty of powerplay time but expect his name to be near the top should the Beefs run in to injury troubles.

One unexpected change has been in goal. Brian Elliott had a rough preseason allowing as many goals as Starter Kiprusoff in half the games and had not shown the same level of play as he had last season. His age means he can pass freely through waivers so the Beefs have sent him to the farm to backup Carey Price while calling up Jeff Deslauriers who would have had to pass waivers once the season started. Deslauriers had a strong preseason with a 2.31 GAA and .925 sv%. Elliott will be first in line should Deslauriers go down to an injury.

Be sure to tune in next week to see the defending champs take on the Boston Shamrock's in their season opener where there is sure to be some bad blood left over from the playoffs before the Beefs raise the banner in their home opener against the rival Iowa Chops.

Note there has been a change to the schedule so we will see the raising of the banner done in the Beefs season opener as they host the New York City Crunch on day 2 of the season. Be sure to tune in Monday to see it, tickets on sale now in the new arena.