Last year was their first season of existence. The last team to play in Ayr, the Bruins, went out of business several years ago, and since then there has been no real team in the area for the fans to follow. Ayr play out of the new Centrum Arena, which has been several years coming. When the plans were announced, it was going to be the most exciting and impressive arena in British hockey. Unfortunately, the work was delayed for some time, and it now seems very little in comparison to Sheffield or the mighty Nynex.
Considering he had very little time to weave his magic, it came as no surprise when Ayr head coach Jim Lynch was named Coach of the Year. He has fashioned an extremely attractive team, that has totally embraced the European style of play and made it successful. So successful, in fact, that last year he took them to the B+H Cup final, third spot in the league and the Semi-final of the ISL Championships, only losing in the 6th period of Overtime, after 116 minutes of play! But 97-98 was to be their season. Already, with the play-offs still to play for, they have won three of the league's four honours. In december they reached the B+H Final again, and beat Cardiff in a very close match. They won the league trophy with a week to spare, and then took the Express Cup, beating Bracknell 3-2 in another close final. Few indeed would bet against them taking the final trophy, for a unique grand slam. Never before has a British team had four trophies to play for. The last team to do the Grand Slam were the steelers in 95-96, winning the League, B+H and Play-offs.
Bracknell's Performance Against The Eagles:
GP W L D O GF GA Pts
B+H Cup 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
League 4 1 3 0 0 12 23 2
Express Cup 3 0 3 0 0 5 14 0*
Play-offs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Overall 7 1 6 0 0 17 37 2
* One game played in the knock-out stages, so no points awarded.
The Ayr Roster 97/98
No Pos Name D.O.B. Nat Height Weight
3 D Angelo Catenaro 15/01/65 Can 5'10" 182lbs
4 D Scott Young 26/05/65 Can 6' 1" 195lbs
5 D Alan Schuler 21/09/68 Can 5'10" 190lbs
6 D Vince Boe 23/12/70 Can 5'11" 190lbs
8 F Mark Woolf 30/09/70 Can 6' 0" 195lbs
9 F Jamie Steer 24/02/69 Can 5'10" 180lbs
10 F Mark Montenari ??/??/?? Can ?'??" ???lbs
12 F Matt Hoffman 06/07/71 Can 6' 3" 218lbs
16 F Shawn Byram 12/09/68 Can 6' 3" 210lbs
17 F David St Pierre 27/03/72 Can 5'11" 180lbs
21 F Karry biette 24/02/73 Can 5'10" 185lbs
23 F Jeff Hoad 26/01/73 Can 5'10" 185lbs
24 D Ryan Kummu 05/06/67 Can 6' 3" 203lbs
25 F Darren Colbourne ??/??/?? ??? 6' 0" 195lbs
27 F Sam Groleau 11/04/74 Can 5' 8" 180lbs
30 F Dainius Bauba 10/01/72 Lit 6' 1" 187lbs
32 G Rob Dopson ??/??/?? Can ?'??" ???lbs
34 G Colum Cavilla ??/??/?? Can ?'??" ???lbs
44 D Joey Mittelsteadt ??/??/?? Can ?'??" ???lbs
?? ? Dennis Purdie ??/??/?? ??? ?'??" ???lbs
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