Stingrays live to skate again

Owners Mike and Sue Pack last week announced at a tearful press conference that they would have to close Stingrays down after being unable to find the necessary finance to fund another season of top-flight hockey.

But on Tuesday afternoon the Coventry ownership team of Mike Cowley, Andy Buxton and coach Paul Thompson confirmed they had take control of the East Yorkshire strugglers.

Sylvain Cloutier - a former Coventry player - will continue as player-coach at Hull and it's hoped he can retain the majority of the roster that had previously been signed up for the coming campaign.

Due to the upheaval, it's thought that Hull's first game will not be until October 3, although that still has to be ratified by the league.

Buxton, who along with his fellow Blaze owners has helped build the club up from scratch, said the agreement to thorw Hull a lifline had brought an end to a "crazy" few days.

"We've only had a very short time to get our heads around this to make sure that we believed we could make a success of it," he said.

"Right now we don't have all of the answers to the many questions I'm sure people are going to have but over the coming few days and weeks we'll hopefully be able to communicate just about everything that people want to know."

Cloutier was due to arrive back in the UK tomorrow anyway, initially to collect his belongings after last week's demise of the Stingrays left him looking for another job.

But now he will arrive with his family in tow to plan for a second season at Hull Arena, keen to try and retain as many of the players who he had signed up during the summer as he can.

As yet, only three of the 15 players on Cloutier's roster have fixed themselves up with other clubs, including former Sheffield Scimitars forward James Archer who has been snapped up by former Elite League club Manchester Phoenix, who are now plying their trade in their EPL.

Defenceman Matt Suderman has also sorted another roster spot, at league newcomers Dundee Stars, while Guillaume Lepine the no-nonsense defenceman lined-up to replace Stephen Burns who quit midway through his two-year deal has gone to Nottingham Panthers.

The Packs, having relinquished control of the club, are believed to be involved in an advisory capacity over the coming days and weeks, while the Blaze operation finalise their own Stingrays management team.