Pure goal scorer Alexander Polunin will move his 5-9, 171-pound body from Russia to Zurich, Switzerland soon to play for the Lions. The Moscow native was the second player selected in the draft, behind Dominik Lakatos of London. Polunin is definitely the most EURO-ready player in the draft. It was said before the draft that he…
Once the Season 9 draft started, it took new London GM Eric Smith exactly 51 seconds to make his first EURO League pick. The team with a new GM, new nickname and logo also has a new superstar in Dominik Lakatos. The 18-year-old Czech is already third on the depth chart at right wing for…
For virtual leagues like ours, the next couple of days are going to be nervous ones because many prospects are going to turn into players with attributes. In Helsinki, which should get not one, not two, but three young stars, the partying has already begun. Some players will have great PO ratings. Matthew Barzal scored…
Bratislava owner Juraj Dluhy must be hard to please. His team surpirsed the field and came within a game of winning the championship, but he is decidedly glum these days. “The players did well and we got a couple of nice banners,” Dluhy said. “But I made less money than I did three seasons ago.…
There are some new general managers in the EURO League this season who already don’t understand all the fuss about Erik Forssell. Here’s a quick primer to bring you up to speed on the league. The main characters All league decisions are made in an office in Vienna, on Schulerstrasse, around the block from the…
Life in the EURO League is so good, nobody wants to leave it. Only five players who played at least a game in Season 8 retired, according to Season 9 rosters that came out today. The most notable is German defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, 38. Seidenberg began his career as a 6th-round draft pick of the…
Some coaches got a little better over the last season, while others didn’t seem to pay attention or try to improve. Coach of the Year Dave Tippett of Minsk and Willie Desjardins of Lisbon obviously spent their free time on road trips with the iPads, studying video and taking online self-improvement courses. On the other…
Just to keep telling the history of this league, here is a list of players who retired before the start of Season 8. Several more will retire in a week or so, once we move into Season 9. The list is sorted by Games Played. A limited number of columns fit into this space. You…
Two days doesn’t seem enough time to recover from the grueling 7-game series Minsk and Bratislava endured, but the Hussars and Eagles will do battle soon in Game 1 of the Season 8 EURO Cup Finals. Minsk got past Belfast and Bratislava edged Lisbon on a Milan Gulas goal in overtime of Game 7. Minsk…
Four teams remain to battle for the Season 8 EURO Cup and three of them were in this very place a season ago. The Southern Conference final features Lisbon HC versus the Bratislava Eagles. Last year, Lisbon swept the Eagles, winning the first two games in Bratislava, both in overtime, with Jared Spurgeon and Max…
