Vipers draw blank

Feb 1 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

THE Elite League’s transfer window closed at the same time as football’s last night without any new faces at the Vipers.

The Newcastle Arena club had been working furiously to bring in a new centre ice but coach and co-owner Rob Wilson had to admit defeat after Slovakian Marek Ivan became the latest player to reject a move to Tyneside.

After seven days in which the Vipers thought they had re-signed former stars Cory Morgan and Rod Hinks, the former Nottingham Panther also came close to joining. “Hinksy unfortunately was a situation where he was happy to come and the team in Switzerland (Neuchatel) seem to have done the dirty on him,” said Wilson.

“He was desperate to come to us but after it was all agreed they decided to sell him to another team (Bietigheim-Bissingen). We were going to buy him from them but then they started messing around Hinksy and put him in a difficult situation. When Hinksy fell through we tried to revive a deal for Marek Ivan but couldn’t.”