Individual News
4th of September 2007
History will be made on Thursday night when Epinal will become the first ever French Elite League side to play in Basingstoke.
It will be a great occassion and a chance for fans to witness the differing style of hockey that exists across the English Channel.
The visitors come from a small city in the north east of the country near the French/German border, and last season made the final eight play-offs being knocked out by Angers, having the year before made the last four.
For Bison summer signing Stevie Lyle he is no stranger to playing against most of the Dolphins line-up, as he was with French league champions Morzine last term.
The side are led by Shawn Allard, their Canadian player/coach and he last played in Britain with the Hockey Stars for Hope in 2006.
He was the founder of this charity which raises money for kids who have the passion , but not the financial resources to enjoy the game of hockey.
They played in Bracknell in April last year as part of their tour, with a team which included a host of well known NHL hockey stars.
Back in France, Allard has assembled a good looking side which is made up of a mixture of players from right across the hockey world.
The club's top three points scorers from last term are all back in Jan Plch, Jan Simko and Michal Petrak.
Slovakian right winger Plch topped the chart with an impressive 50 points from 26 regular games, while fellow countryman Simko was not far behind on 31. The top scoring trio was completed by Czech Republic's Petrak.
The top scoring Frenchman on the team is Guillaume Chassard, he was the third highest goal scorer last time around and made his debut with the team in 1997.
Two new players adding more clout to the offence are Ilpo Salmivirta and Simo Romo who both plyed their trade last year in the Finnish Mestis League.
The only Brit on the team is former Nottingham junior Daniel Scott, who played last season in the EPL with Romford and Solihull.
Top offensive defenceman Slovakian Peter Slovak is once again on the Dolphins' blue line and he is joined by two new Canadians from Ontario.
Justin Vienneau, a tough guy with over 500 minutes in penalties in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Stephane Gervais an offensive minded guy, straight out of the University of British Columbia.
Once again the netminding duties for the fourth consecutive season is shared between experienced duo Slovakian Stanislav Petrik and Frenchman Franck Constantin.
Tickets are still available for the game on (01256) 355266 and the start time is 7.30pm.
It will be a great occassion and a chance for fans to witness the differing style of hockey that exists across the English Channel.
The visitors come from a small city in the north east of the country near the French/German border, and last season made the final eight play-offs being knocked out by Angers, having the year before made the last four.
For Bison summer signing Stevie Lyle he is no stranger to playing against most of the Dolphins line-up, as he was with French league champions Morzine last term.
The side are led by Shawn Allard, their Canadian player/coach and he last played in Britain with the Hockey Stars for Hope in 2006.
He was the founder of this charity which raises money for kids who have the passion , but not the financial resources to enjoy the game of hockey.
They played in Bracknell in April last year as part of their tour, with a team which included a host of well known NHL hockey stars.
Back in France, Allard has assembled a good looking side which is made up of a mixture of players from right across the hockey world.
The club's top three points scorers from last term are all back in Jan Plch, Jan Simko and Michal Petrak.
Slovakian right winger Plch topped the chart with an impressive 50 points from 26 regular games, while fellow countryman Simko was not far behind on 31. The top scoring trio was completed by Czech Republic's Petrak.
The top scoring Frenchman on the team is Guillaume Chassard, he was the third highest goal scorer last time around and made his debut with the team in 1997.
Two new players adding more clout to the offence are Ilpo Salmivirta and Simo Romo who both plyed their trade last year in the Finnish Mestis League.
The only Brit on the team is former Nottingham junior Daniel Scott, who played last season in the EPL with Romford and Solihull.
Top offensive defenceman Slovakian Peter Slovak is once again on the Dolphins' blue line and he is joined by two new Canadians from Ontario.
Justin Vienneau, a tough guy with over 500 minutes in penalties in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and Stephane Gervais an offensive minded guy, straight out of the University of British Columbia.
Once again the netminding duties for the fourth consecutive season is shared between experienced duo Slovakian Stanislav Petrik and Frenchman Franck Constantin.
Tickets are still available for the game on (01256) 355266 and the start time is 7.30pm.