Having won the old Division 1 title in their first season, many Manchester fans were expecting something big from their team in the new ISL. Unfortunately for them, Manchester misjudged the standards and finished seventh. Indeed, they did improve a great deal towards the end of the season, but did not have the opportunity to turn that into any significant league gains. Many put this turn of fortune down to Manchester’s release of former Bracknell player Shawn Byram, a great forward but also well known for having an attitude. This man will always be a favourite of mine for being the man to tell Mike Urquhart up exactly which orifice to shove it. However, it seems he and Lawless quarrelled during a game at Sheffield, and he was released soon after. Many say that the improvement on morale was obvious, without Byzer there to cause problems. It still came as something of a surprise, however, when Head Coach John Lawless was sacked. Ogdens felt that a change was in order if they are to fill the 17,500 seat Nynex arena. The new coach is Kurt Kleinendorst.
This season, Manchester look to be one of THE teams to to watch. They currently lie top of the Superleague, and have just been put out of the B+H Cup at the Semis. They have some great forwards in their line up, including two of the fasted players in the league, Jeff Tomlinson and Stefan Ketola. Alongside these two plays Brad (Rubaduk) Rubachuk, last year just a goon, now a solid, hard working forward who is the excellent foil for the two two speedy wingers. Unfortunately, for all their attacking riches, they have very little in defence. Swede Mikael Wiklander comes with a big shot and adds some prescence on the PP line, but other than that, there is very little there. This is made up for slightly by two very good goalies, including ex-Washingston Capitals netmind, Jim Hrivnak. The coach, Kurt Klienendorst has had many years of experience in the ECHL, and has turned the Storm around from one of the worst teams in the league, to silverware favourites. They recently also signed the sacked player coach of Newcastle, Rick Brebant, who has been playing very well since. However, a spate of injuries and bad form has made their title chances now look very slim indeed.
GP W L D O GF GA Pts
B+H Cup 2 0 1 1 0 6 7 0*
League 4 1 3 0 0 11 23 2
Express Cup 2 0 1 1 0 4 12 1
Play-offs 2 1 1 0 0 9 10 2
Overall 10 2 6 2 0 30 52 5
* Both games at the knockout stage, so no points awarded.
The Manchester Roster 97/98
No Pos Name D.O.B. Nat Height Weight
7 D Dale Jago 08/06/68 Can 5' 9" 170lbs
9 F Craig Woodcroft 03/12/69 Can 6' 1" 200lbs
10 F Dave Morrison 12/06/62 Can 6' 1" 190lbs
14 F Jeff Tomlinson 23/04/70 Can 5'11" 185lbs
15 F Mike Morin 20/07/71 Can 6' 0" 190lbs
22 F Eric Flinton ??/??/?? ??? ?' ?" ???lbs
25 D Kevin Hoffman 02/05/67 Can 6' 0" 185lbs
31 F Domenic Maltais 31/05/72 Can 5'11" 185lbs
34 F Hilton Ruggles 01/06/63 Can 6' 0" 190lbs
35 G Grant Sjerven 13/03/70 Can 6' 1" 180lbs
39 G Jim Hrivnak 28/05/68 Can 6' 2" 205lbs
41 F Brad Rubachuk 11/06/70 Can 5'11" 180lbs
42 F Stefan Ketola 09/02/72 Swe 5'11" 176lbs
44 D Troy Neumeier 03/09/70 Can 6' 2" 195lbs
51 F Jeff Jablonski 20/06/67 USA 6' 0" 190lbs
55 D Stephen Cooper 11/11/66 Bri 5'10" 200lbs
93 F Rick Brebant 21/02/64 Can 5' 9" 178lbs
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