Ian Taylor has left his post as Chief Executive by mutual agreement to take up new interests. Chairman of Superleague, Martin Weddell, said. "The whole Board thank Ian for his valuable contribution over the last four years and wish him and his family well for the future."

In his place, the Board have appointed Brian Storey, who previously acted as ISL's League Secretary. Mr Weddell stated. "We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to bring Brian back into the ISL family in what is a pivotal role in leading the Superleague into a new era of development. During Brian's previous employment with the league, he built up a tremendous amount of respect with the Board, clubs and fans. I am personally delighted with the prospect of working with Brian again."

Storey, aged 54, lives with his wife in Altrincham, Cheshire, and has two children. He was League Secretary of the ISL from 1997 to 2001.

He will take the title of Chief Administration Officer, and will deal with all matters involving the league and the corporate governance of the ISL. The Board see this as a positive step forward that will maintain the League's development as it strives, along with its partner hockey organisations, to expand the sport of ice hockey and continue to raise its profile in the UK.

Delighted to be re-joining the Superleague, Storey commented. "This is an exciting time for me personally, to be asked to take on this challenging role and return to the ISL. I will need the help of everyone connected with the sport, and the ISL clubs in particular, to meet that and achieve our objectives. All hockey fans know we have one of the most exciting team sports, which is enjoyed by all the family. We need to see it grow further, expand and challenge some of the more traditional sports in the UK."Storey will take up his appointment at the end of May 2002.

GB closed this year�s World Championship campaign with a tight game against Norway on Saturday, which gave the team fourth place finish overall.

Although the game was close, the 2-1 loss was a disappointing end to a week that everyone involved had such high hopes for. GB were out-shot 38-21 by Norway, but Joe Watkins held firm in nets and kept GB in the hunt all the way through.

The first period was scoreless, but there was plenty of action away from the puck with 42 minutes of penalties being called. GB opened the scoring at 25-19 on the powerplay, through Paul Berrington assisted by Rob Wilson. Norway replied at 36-47 with a shorthanded effort and the scoreline remained equal until the final period when Norway had the last say at 46-33.

The total penalty count for the match was GB 53, Norway 36, with Scott Campbell ejected for spearing in the third period.

The top scorer of the Championships for Great Britain was Tony Hand with 2 goals and 4 assists, whilst the top netminder was Joe Watkins with a save percentage of 91.04.

For statistics and information of all games visit www.iihf.com and click on Tournaments.

Final Standings
Team GP W T L GF:GA TP
Denmark 5 5 0 0 40 : 10 10
Hungary 5 4 0 1 19 : 9 8
Norway 5 3 0 2 26 : 11 6
GB 5 2 0 3 18 : 16 4
Romania 5 1 0 4 10 : 31 2
China 5 0 0 5 7 : 43 0

Results and Fixtures:
14.04.02 Romania 1-8 Norway
14.04.02 Great Britain 3-5 Denmark
14.04.02 Hungary 6-0 China
15.04.02 Denmark 12-2 Romania
15.04.02 Norway 12-2 China
15.04.02 Great Britain 1-4 Hungary
17.04.02 China 0-13 Denmark
17.04.02 Romania 2-5 Great Britain
17.04.02 Hungary 3-1 Norway
19.04.02 China 3-8 Great Britain
19.04.02 Norway 3-4 Denmark
19.04.02 Romania 1-4 Hungary
20.04.02 Norway 2-1 Great Britain
20.04.02 China 2-4 Romania
20.04.02 Denmark 6-2 Hungary

2002 IIHF World Championship Div I, Group B
Szekesfehervar, Dunaujvaros
HUNGARY

After two opening defeats, GB today grabbed their second victory in this year�s World Championships. GB were backed by Stevie Lyle in goal for their 8-3 win against China, who had lost previously to Hungary, Norway and Denmark. GB out-shot China by 38-21 and Lyle is now ranked third amongst netminders.

SCORING DETAIL

55.14 3 - 8 PP1 GBR 21. TAIT, Ashley (27. WILSON, Rob)
51.04 3 - 7 EQ GBR 11. TASKER, Michael (5. CLARKE, David)
49.30 3 - 6 EQ CHN 4. YIN, Kai
45.30 2 - 6 EQ GBR 12. HURLEY, Darren (10. BERRINGTON, Paul 17. WISHART, Gary)
39.59 2 - 5 EQ GBR 19. HOAD, Jeff
36.36 2 - 4 SH1 GBR 4. STRACHAN, Rick (9. HAND, Tony)
35.56 2 - 3 PP1 CHN 11. LIU, Yongquan (14. PAN, Yuqiang)
25.09 1 - 3 EQ CHN 25. ZHANG, Lei (9. CHEN, Guanghua) 24.12 0 - 3 EQ GBR 12. HURLEY, Darren
15.18 0 - 2 EQ GBR 12. HURLEY, Darren (26. ELLIS, Michael 17. WISHART, Gary)
13.31 0 - 1 EQ GBR 19. HOAD, Jeff (18. SHIELDS, Colin 20. CAMPBELL, Scott)

2002 IIHF World Championship Div I, Group B
Szekesfehervar, Dunaujvaros
HUNGARY

After two defeats, GB bagged their first victory in this year�s World Championships yesterday afternoon against Romania � who themselves had yet to get into the win column.

GB put their faith in Stephen Murphy in nets and although not kept very busy in the game (GB heavily out-shot Romania 45-17) he did not let his team down.

Romania drew first blood with a powerplay effort after just 1.43, but it took until 17-39 for GB to equalise - Tony Hand, GB�s leading scorer in this year�s World Champs, firing home on a powerplay. From then on, GB continued to add to their side of the scoreboard. Rob Wilson combined with Hand and David Longstaff at 37-04, again on the powerplay. At 49-08 David Longstaff scored assisted by Rick Brebant � GB�s third straight with a man advantage. Ashley Tait and David Longstaff combined to provide Rick Brebant with GB�s fourth goal at 52-21 and then just 38 seconds later, Jeff Hoad, assisted by Colin Shields and Paul Dixon, scored GB�s final goal of the game.

However, Romania had to have the last say and hit the final goal of the game (another powerplay!) at 55-03.

The win kept GB fourth in the standings.

2002 IIHF World Championship Div I, Group B
Szekesfehervar, Dunaujvaros
HUNGARY

GB started Joe Watkins in goal for their game against Hungary on Monday night. GB were 2-0 down against the host nation after 06-52. Colin Shields � GB�s top scorer � closed the gap with a powerplay strike at 13-32, but it was to prove their only goal of the match. After a scoreless second period, Hungary put two more on the scoreboard (54-40 and 57-16) for a 4-1 victory. GB were outshot 16-29. Watkins is now ranked 3rd after 2 days play.

2002 IIHF World Championship Div I, Group B
Szekesfehervar, Dunaujvaros, HUNGARY

With Stevie Lyle in goal, GB opened their World Championship campaign yesterday (14th April) with a disappointing 5-3 loss against Denmark.

GB opened the scoring at 04-55, and were cruising 3-1 up by 27-34. However, 4 straight goals from the Danes spelt disaster for GB and they slipped to their first defeat of the Championships. GB's goals were scored by forwards Colin Shields, Tony Hand and Darren Hurley. The shots on goal count was 22-29 in Denmark's favour.

GB's next match is tonight against hosts Hungary at 8.00pm local time.

Results and Fixtures:
14.04.02 Romania 1-8 Norway
14.04.02 Great Britain 3-5 Denmark
14.04.02 Hungary 6-0 China

15.04.02 13:00 Denmark - Romania
15.04.02 16:30 Norway - China
15.04.02 20:00 Great Britain - Hungary
17.04.02 13:00 China - Denmark
17.04.02 16:30 Romania - Great Britain
17.04.02 20:00 Hungary - Norway
19.04.02 13:00 China - Great Britain
19.04.02 16:30 Norway - Denmark
19.04.02 20:00 Romania - Hungary
20.04.02 13:00 Norway - Great Britain
20.04.02 16:30 China - Romania
20.04.02 20:00 Denmark - Hungary

Panthers' Brent Pope was axed from the Great Britian squad, to allow Rick Strachan the chance to finish his international career in the world championships. The full squad includes only one Panthers player - Ashley Tait, the squad is as follows:-

NETMINDERS:- Steve Lyle, Stephen Murphy, Joe Watkins

DEFENCEMAN:- Scott Campbell, Paul Dixon, Neil Liddiard, Craig Nelson, Rick Strachan, Rob Wilson, Scott Young

FORWARDS:- Paul Berrington, Rick Brebant, David Clarke, Mike Ellis, Tony Hand, Jeff Hoad, Darren Hurley, David Longstaff, Colin Shields, Ashley Tait, Michael Tasker, Jon Weaver, Gary Wishart

The following is taken from The Evening Chronicle
Four interested parties are vying to bring Superleague ice hockey back to Newcastle.

Chief executive Ian Taylor today revealed the ISL has received three bids for the franchise as well as another expression of interest. These will go before the league's board on Wednesday, when one of the bidders could be given the go-ahead to put together a detailed proposal for the club.

The last owners, Fablon Investments and the Eye Group, failed to ice a team this season and had the franchise stripped from them by the Superleague, which ran with just seven teams. But sources close to Fablon insist they still want to run the team and they could well be behind the expression of interest.

As for the three actual bids, the Chronicle understands two of them may not pass the league's due diligence. The league has refused to reveal the identities of any of the bidders, the whole process bound by confidentiality.

But former Dundee Rockets' owner Tom Stewart is interested in the franchise. Taylor believes time is on the league's side as they look to expand once again to eight teams for next season.

He said: "The process starts when the board considers the bids and the outline information. I would like to think there are a couple which are very credible. What the franchise needs is someone to take charge on a long-term basis. As for the timescale, the Sheffield franchise was not awarded until August 22 last year."

"The board could view a full proposal for the Newcastle franchise in early May and in reality no team needs to do a lot before then."

As for the �150,000-plus owed by the former owners, Taylor said the board would have to make a decision on the debt should Fablon be involved.

'I'm looking forward to my second year.' Said Leslie. 'I really enjoyed my first season in Britain, I like living in London and the fans are great. 'I'm excited about the progress made in reaching the Final Four and I want to build on the momentum we gained towards the end of last season. My first priority is to re-sign this year's key players so that we have a strong nucleus of returning players'.

Mike, the 30-year-old ex-NHLer who emerged the league's best goalie along with being voted the club's Most Valuable Player and the fans' favourite, will be joining Amur Tigers Khabarovsk for a week before playing for them in two exhibition games against the Japanese national team.

Belfast coach Dave Whistle said "There's no question about me wanting him back in a Giants' jersey next season, but I have to be realistic. The financial rewards he can get elsewhere are more than he can get here. I know he wants to play at a higher level and he's at the age where he needs to earn the big money while he can".

London Knights
London Knights will open negotiations with head coach Bob Leslie this week and up to ten players could return to the club next season.

Amongst the players likely to return is Vezio Sacratini who has announced his wish to return, while captain and former Panther Dave Struch and Paul Rushforth are rumoured to be close to signing new deals.

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