Time is on Stingrays' side says Cloutier

The East Yorkshire club looked doomed earlier this month after former owners Mike and Sue Pack were forced to shut the club down due to a lack of funding being available to cover the cost of the entire 2010-11 campaign.

But as the result of a rescue package put together by league rivals Coventry Blaze - reigning regular season champions - enabling the club to ice this season, Stingrays will now not start their campaign until early October, a month later than their rivals.

"We're going to be busy recruiting players to replace those who have left because of the initial closure," said Cloutier.

"I'd like to have my roster finished so I can sort my gameplan for the season to see what kind of team we're going to have.

"Obviously we're going to have to see what becomes available.

"But I'm also going to use this month to go and see some games and see what the other teams have. I'll go and scout them so that when we do play them we'll be well-prepared for them."

After missing out on early summer signings Matt Suderman, Chris Korchinski, Guillaume Lepine and James Archer, Cloutier received a further blow at the end of last week when defenceman and prospective captain Josh Mizerek decided not to take up his offer to play at Hull.

The news was tempered somewhat by defenceman Trevor Read committing himself to the club, along with returning winger Konstantin Kalmikov and 24-year-old Canadian rookie forward Andrew Coburn.