This page will feature all the news from the summer. I'll try and keep all the rumours up to date, cause what else is there to do during the summer? Anyone heard any good stories? Please, don't send me the "news" that the Cheif will be signing for Nottingham, or that Dale Junkin is signing for Basingstoke/Cardiff/Sheffield/Nottingham/Manchester/Ayr/Newcastle. I've heard them before!
24th August
Right I'm back, and I've hardly missed any news. Bracknell have made one more signing, defenceman Todd Kellman from Bowling Green University. The 22 year old was a draft pick for St Louis, but has played the last four years at Bowling Green. He's 6' 2" and should be a good addition to the squad.
Jeff Johnstone has re-signed, but Paul Holden won't be signing for us. It seems he's decided to study full time. Obviously, we wish him good luck.
Next week's friendlies with Telford have been replced by matches against Newcastle, due to the Tiger's B+H commitments.
22nd July
Bracknell have signed a new sibling partnrship to replace the Ellises. The duo are the Burkes - Dennis and Greg. Dennis is a 22 year old forward who played last season for the Hamm Eisbaron in the German Second Division last year, scoring 44+56 in 42 games. He is 6' 1" and wieghs 190 lbs (errrm, I make that about thirteen and a half stone). His brother, Greg, is 28 and plays in defence. Greg is also 6'1" and weighs 200 lbs (fourteen and a bit stone). He played for Kaufbearen in the German Elite League last season.
21st July
I'm going away for a few weeks so the news will be posted on the guestbook (hopefully) until I return.
21st July
Bracknell have signed Paul Holden from the Slough Jets. He's apparently a big, goal-scoring defenceman and last year he took the majority of the Jets' Player's Awards, so he should be a good addition to the squad. Meanwhile, it's reported that the Bees haven't infact signed Jeff Johnston, as he wanted more money than he was offered.
15th July
Andy Pickles has signed for the Peterborough Pirates. This means that Bracknell now has no Brits in the first team, except for those who picked their passports up in Canada. Sadly this seems to be the trend with most of the ISL teams, and there's not a lot we the fans can do about it. Personally, I always felt that Andy was given a hrad time last year, so I'm in a way glad he left, as at least he'll now get ice-time. However, it's a shame that Bracknell do not seem interested in deeloping our own players.
Shayne McCosh has re-signed with the team, despite having been rumoured to be leaving for Germany. Contracts have been offered to other players, but these do not, as yet, include any of the remaining players from last year's squad, although they're not definitely ruled out yet. And the B+H Cup fixtures are now available on the fixtures page.
11th July
Bit late with this, but....... Bracknell's B+H Cup Group will include Basingstoke, Cardiff, Nottingham, Peterborough and Slough. The top four will go through to the quarter-finals, along with four from Ayr, Manchester, Newcastle, Paisley, Sheffield and Telford.
9th July
Brian Pellerin has re-signed for next season, whilst Shayne McCosh is reported as being very close to signing. Jane McDougal is "very hopeful" that he will sign. Aren't we all?
7th July
Once again I've let myself get behind. OK, well the news just breaking from the Bees camp is that hot forward Dale Junkin has re-signed for next year. Also returning, it has just been announced, is Jeff Johnstone. Already confirmed as returning are Matt Cote, Dave Whistle, Rob Stewart, Chris Brant, Wayde Bucsis, Joe Ferraciolli and Mark Bernard. Dave Langford has left to join the Slough Jets, and his replacement is to be Brian Greer, formally of the Muskegon Fury in the Colonial League. Another new signing is Wayne Crawford, Player/Coach of the Guildford Flames last year. Although 37, it is expected the (very) veteran defender will bring something to the defence. Hopefully, this will be more than his pension book.
Some pre-season friendlies have been agreed for the Bees also, with them playing back-to-back games against the Moo-moos in the Wella cup, followed by games against Telford the following week. Bracknell are at the Playground on Sat Aug 23rd, with the return match being the following night. They then travel to telford on Sat 30th, and play the return game on the Sunday.
12th May
Yes, alright, the news front has been a bit quiet recently, sorry. Plus, I'm in the middle of exams, so....... Anyway, according to Gary Burkey, the Hotline reports that Junker, Cosher, Butch and Pelly are all "very close" to signing. and a good thing too!
16th April
More news from the Bobblehat. "Put May 25 in your diary. There will be four hours of hockey at the Hive on that day as the Bracknell rec teams will face each other in a mini tournament. Each side will be icing a Bee or former Bee. The one day tournament is being held to honour the memory of Jez Ealey. The Hurricanes, B52s, Blackhawks and Phoenix will face each other in a series of 15 minute games with the evening finishing with the two finals to decide to decide the overall winner of the Stan Lee Cup. The Chief, who is currently visiting relations in Canada, is hoping to be back in time to ice for the Hurricanes; Dave Whistle will ice for the B52s; Rob Stewart for the Blackhawks and Kevin King has confirmed he will ice for Phoenix. The match rules will not allow any of these players to score a goal!!!!! The evening will also have a little of the atmosphere of a Bees game as Darren has donated his time to cover the competition. Bracknell Ice Rink has donated the ice time and with each team paying £150 to enter, with raffle and programme proceeds it is hoped to raise nearly £1000. Entrance fee will be £1.00."
15th April
Thanks to Bobblehat for this from the Reading Evening Post.
"Jim Fuyarchuk has turned his attentions to Team Canada as he bids to strengthen Bracknell Bee's squad for next season. Bee's coach is watching his country's Olympic side as they attend training camps and play games against Team USA. And he has already spoken to one prospective recruit. But the club are a long way short of any new signings."
14th April
This was taken from the Reading Evening Post recently. Thanks to Mike "Bobblehat" Blackmun, my snout in Bracknell! "Jim Fuyarchuk has made a scouting mission to Scandinavia in search of new talent for Bracknell Bees. Fuyarchuk watched the end-of-season play-offs in Norway and Sweden and has already opened negotiations with players interested in coming to this country next season.
Bees' coach..........said 'Sweden is a very strong hockey country and their top players are looking towards the NHL, but obviously there's a level of players below that who are still very good that we are interested in. Going over there was very beneficial. I was able to get a chance to see different players and their are a few prospects who I have spoken to.'
Fuyarchuk is understandably reluctant to reveal the identity of any of his targets for fear of them being poached by other clubs, but he said, 'I feel confident in getting a strong core back to the club while bringing in some new players so that we can be more competitive next season.'
Fuyarchuk also revealed that netminder Mark Bernard, voted player of the year by supporters last season, will definitely be back at the John Nike Leisuresport Complex.(hooray!!) Bees have taken up the option of a second year on his contract, and he joins Chris Brant, Rob Stewart, Matt Cote and player-assistant coach Dave Whistle in having deals which will keep them at Bracknell until the summer of 1998.'A lot of guys have said they are going to return", added Fuyarchuk, "but until we actually hammer out details and get them signed I am not going to say anything.'Fuyarchuk is also reluctant to finalise his squad before the Superleague has made a decision on whether to limit the club's rosters in the interests of trying to create parity.
'There is talk that all teams should have an equal number of players - say for example 22. That would cut costs and make competition more equal. Last year Cardiff had something like 27 players on their roster whereas we had 21. We went down with 5 injuries while they were never short-handed so there was an imbalance there. But at the same time if I'm going to be limited to a shorter line-up then I have to be very selective, so there's a lot to think about. I can't see anything being settled for two or three weeks.'"
Also there is confirmed news that the Bees are definitely looking for a major sponsor this coming season. It seems John Nike has at last seen sense!!!
12th Apr
OK, some late news for you. Firstly, Bracknell's Player of the Year Awards were presented at the Annual Dinner-Dance. They were:
Supporter's Player of the Year: Mark Bernard
Player's Player of the Year: Rob Stewart and, errrm, somebody else.
Coach's Player of the Year: Dave Langford
Defender of the Year: Matt Cote (what a surprise!)
Forward of the Year: Dale Junkin
Highest Scoring British Trained Player: Andy Pickles
26th Mar
The Bracknell Times recently carried this interview with Jim. "Asked in hindsight if he would have made major changes to the squad (Jim) said
'Hindsight is worth a million dollars but I still feel that the overall factor that kept us lower in the league than we deserved was the injuries. Its easy to say that this player didn't play well and so on but, looking at the type and number of injuries we incurred, the players returning from these injuries needed more time to settle back into the team. Some players didn't play well because they simply needed that extra recovery time that was not available.
Rather than changes, a couple of extra players on our roster would have helped. I thought we brought in some very good players this season, in particular Dale Junkin and Mark Bernard(Ed. and Mike "Bobblehat" Blackmun - Hear Hear!).
I am confident of keeping players for next season but the problem will be what the big money teams might do. If they come in offering huge salaries then we will have a tough time..........
......I would like to have the new team signed up by next week if I could but, realistically, the way the sport is it will be mid-August and I will still be looking for a couple more players. It still may be November before they sign.'"
22nd Mar
This was taken from the Reading Evening Post. "Bracknell Bees' top players will have until the end of next month to make up their minds about rejoining the club for another season. Bees are determined to avoid being kept waiting during the summer while those players offered new terms delay re-signing in the hope of receiving a better offer elsewhere ........(Martin Weddell) told Jim that if he doesn't get an answer within a certain time then to forget him and look elsewhere .......Weddell is eager to have the nucleus of next season's team in place by the end of April..........he added that all the squad had expressed interest in continuing their career at Bracknell, and most had left personal equipment at the complex for storage....... we have identified a hard core of players that we would like to see return........the playoffs were a big disappointment for us and there will be some personnel we will not be taking back. We will look to get a keener edge. Some of the other teams are a bit sharper around the net and that's how we want to be.........the Bees have already started looking to strengthen their line up for next season and Jim has got a hit list of who he wants but will not release these names because other teams do not know they are available and we don't want to get in a bidding war." Those players known to be returning (so long as contracts are honoured) are Matt Cote, Rob Stewart, Dave Whistle and Chris Brant.