STORM BLITZ ISSUE #39 Tuesday 22 April 1997 Sponsorship of Storm Blitz will hopefully be confirmed in a couple of weeks. If you have any comments on Storm Blitz, please feel free to e-mail inter.the.storm@poboxes.com any time. --------------------------------------------------- In this issue : * Kurt Kleinendorst * Guildford snub Superleague * GB lose to Belarus and end Pool A hopes * GB lose 3-2 to Switzerland * More Pool B results * Pool A TV Coverage * Inter The Storm relaunch news * Two new Storm Web pages * Storm Blitz stats * Get back issues of Storm Blitz * How to unsubscribe to Storm Blitz --------------------------------------------------- > KURT KLEINENDORST Thanks to Mark Jones of ThunderFlash for most of the following info: Kurt is from Minnesota in the USA and is described as being a family man. Female Storm fans already seem impressed by his "good looks". He played for the New York Rangers between 1980 and 1986 although spent most of his time with the farm teams. He comes to the Storm from the Head Coach position at the East Coast Hockey league side Raleigh. He's been recommended by both the Ogden linked Ottawa Senators and the NHL. > GUILDFORD SNUB SUPERLEAGUE Guildford Flames who competed in the Premier League last season and were expected to move into the Superleague next season have decided to instead compete in the new Premier League next season. Guildford Chairman John Hepburn said that the management of the Flames as well as the Board have spent a lot of time thinking about the league structure and where the Flames fit in that structure. They came to the decision that Guildford will play in the Premier League next season. They are convinced, having spoken to the BIHA, that the quality of the league will be very good. The Chairman added that Guildford have a long term goal to be a part of the Superleague. "We think that being in the Premier League right now, and growing our players long term, is something that is right for the team and right for Guildford". > GB LOSE TO BELARUS AND END POOL A HOPES Great Britain's hopes of Pool A ended in their final game as they lost 6-2 to leaders Belarus. Belarus took the lead in the first period before Andre Malo scored the equaliser. The second period saw four unanswered goals to Belarus and so GB went into the third period 5-1 down. Doug McEwan pulled a goal back to reduce the score to 5-2 but Belarus rounded off the victory with another goal to win 6-2. The result means that GB finish in 6th position. P W D L +/- Pts Belarus 7 7 0 0 +27 14 Kazakhstan 7 5 1 1 +10 11 Switzerland 7 3 2 2 + 4 8 Austria 7 2 3 2 + 0 7 Poland 7 2 2 3 - 5 6 G Britain 7 2 1 4 + 6 5 Holland 7 2 1 4 -17 5 Denmark 7 0 0 7 -25 0 > GB LOSE 3-2 TO SWITZERLAND Great Britain now have only a slim chance of promotion to Pool A after a 3-2 defeat by Switzerland. By the end of the second period Switzerland had taken a 3-0 lead and it looked like a shutout was on the cards. In the third period Paul Adey scored and then Rick Strachan made it 3-2 to give Britain hope, but Switzerland held out for the win. The result put GB in fifth position in the table meaning that they MUST beat Pool B leaders Belarus to go into the play-offs for Pool A qualification. > MORE POOL B RESULTS Swtizerland 2 - 5 Kazakhstan Poland 4 - 6 Austria Holland 2 - 10 Belarus (these first three results I missed earlier in the week) Belarus 6 - 4 Austria (this result promotes Belarus to Pool A) Kazakhstan 6 - 4 Denmark Holland 3 - 1 Poland Austria 2 - 2 Switzerland Kazakhstan 5 - 3 Holland Poland 5 - 2 Denmark > POOL A TV COVERAGE All coverage is on EUROSPORT on cable or satellite TV. FRI 25 APR 1830 - 1900 Highlights SAT 26 APR 0000 - 0030 Highlights 1700 - 1930 LIVE Sweden v Italy 1930 - 2030 LIVE Finland v France (end) 2030 - 2100 Highlights SUN 27 APR 0000 - 0100 Highlights 1300 - 1530 LIVE Latvia v USA 1530 - 1630 LIVE Russia v Slovakia (end) 1700 - 1930 LIVE Sweden v Canada MON 28 APR 0000 - 0030 Highlights 0730 - 0800 Highlights 1100 - 1130 Highlights 1300 - 1400 Finland v Czech R 1600 - 1700 Latvia v Italy 1700 - 1930 LIVE Norway v USA 1930 - 2030 LIVE Slovakia v France (end) 2300 - 2330 Highlights 2330 - 0030 Germany v Russia TUE 29 APR 0730 - 0800 Highlights 1100 - 1130 Highlights 1400 - 1530 Highlights 1700 - 1930 LIVE Finland v Germany 1930 - 2000 Highlights 2300 - 2330 Highlights WED 30 APR 0730 - 0800 Highlights 1100 - 1130 Highlights 1300 - 1530 LIVE Italy v USA 1530 - 1630 LIVE Russia v France (end) 1700 - 1930 LIVE Canada v Latvia 1930 - 2030 LIVE Czech R v Slovakia (end) 2300 - 2330 Highlights THU 1 MAY 0730 - 0800 Highlights 1600 - 1630 Highlights 1630 - 1900 LIVE Canada v USA 2300 - 2330 Highlights FRI 2 MAY 0730 - 0800 Highlights 0930 - 1000 Highlights 1700 - 1930 LIVE Sweden v Latvia 1930 - 2030 LIVE Finland v Slovakia (end) 2030 - 2100 Highlights 2200 - 2230 Highlights 2230 - 0030 Highlights I have no details yet of coverage after 2nd May. > INTER THE STORM RELAUNCH NEWS Oops, for several reasons I haven't finished the updated "beta" of the new Web pages. Hopefully they will go online by Wednesday night. > TWO NEW STORM WEB PAGES There are two more Storm pages out there on the Internet. The first is Thunder & Lightning, a page that briefly appeared a few weeks ago but after initial HTML problems, it is looking pretty good. Rivalling ThunderFlash, the original Storm Internet Fanzine, Thunder & Lightning looks at the lighter side of ice hockey and is unique in that it is written totally by women. The other new page doesn't seem to have a name as such, but I'll call it Colin's Storm Pages. The site contains fixtures, results and player profiles of the Storm. Thunder & Lightning : http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/9069 Colin's Storm Pages : http://www.polyhex.demon.co.uk/storm1.htm > STORM BLITZ STATS Despite it being the close-season, the number of subscribers to Storm Blitz is still growing with those having un-subscribed being negligible. There are currently a total of 151 subscribers of which 131 are Manchester Storm fans. There are five Sheffield Steelers fans subscribed while the remaining 15 people represent 13 different teams - the fourteenth subscriber is described as Neutral and the fifteenth hasn't revealed his team! The other Superleague teams are Cardiff Devils and Basingstoke Bison. The Premier League representatives are Kingston Hawks and Telford Tigers. From the Northern Premier League we have Whitley Warriors, Fife Flyers and Castlereagh Knights. Other UK teams are the new defunct Liverpool Leopards and Milton Keynes Kings. From Denmark there is Esbjerg, one of the teams we played at the start of the season. There are two NHL representatives - Calgary Flames and Detroit Redwings, while Junior team Simcoe Storm (a Storm around the World!) receives Storm Blitz also. > DOWNLOAD BACK ISSUES OF STORM BLITZ All previous issues of Storm Blitz are still available. If you didn't get them, or want them again, you can now download them from the Internet in a .zip file. The URL of these will be confirmed soon. If you don't have web access, I can e-mail you the .zip files. > HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE TO STORM BLITZ Easy! Send an e-mail to inter.the.storm@poboxes.com telling me that you don't want Storm Blitz any more. Also use this address if you wish to change e-mail addresses or if you have any comments. *** END OF STORM BLITZ ISSUE #39 *** INTER THE STORM can be accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/3859/storm.html INTO THE STORM "BETA" can be accessed at: http://www.zy.u-net.com/storm/index.html ---------------------------- Storm Blitz sponsorship will hopefully be secured over the next couple of weeks ----------------------------