RYAN KUMMU's back in town with a play-off battle cry!

The big Canadian defender is back from a trans-Atlantic business trip.

And he reckons fit-again defencemen Malcolm Bell and Lee Cowmeadow can play a huge part in bringing big league hockey to Blackburn.

Back in December, when unfancied Blackburn Hawks led the British Ice Hockey League Division One table on the back of 15 straight wins, it was difficult to imagine that any team could stem the flow of goals from the sticks of Hawks' prolific forwards Oleg Sinkov, Steve Chartrand and John Haig.

But as Hawks' late-season form declined to the extent that seven defeats came from the last nine games, injuries to the unsung back players took their toll.

"I don't want to make excuses but we lost a lot of guys through injury and the way you build a successful team in this league is to build on the defence.

"And I think what's really hurt us has been the lack of consistency of our goalies and the fact that we've had vital players on the back line out through injury.

"If you look at past winners of the Stanley Cup, the Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadians, they were the teams that had the best defence and that's where you win hockey games and it's particularly so in play-off hockey.

"But we've had time to regroup and to get guys fit and the way to be successful is to get back to the basics - it doesn't have to look flashy or glamorous to win games. "It's largely up to the players and how much they want to win or not - as a coach you can lead the horse to water, but they have to take the reins themselves and get through."

Maybe so, but the presence of the inspirational Kummu, who missed the last three games on business in his native Canada, will provide a welcome boost to the rest of the squad as well as bringing the beleaguered defence much-needed relief.

"If the guys are prepared to put the effort in, which I know they are, I'm sure we're capable of reproducing our best form and doing well in the play-offs. Play-offs are a do or die situation and there's no 'ifs, ands or buts' - I'll take no fooling around or messing.

"If somebody's thinking about their injury or not looking like they can get it together they'll be replaced and sat out for the rest of the game.

"If that means going with seven or eight guys who are prepared to put in the ice-time, that's what we're going with.

"They have shown me they are capable of performing well, so that's the standard I expect."

Where does Kummu expect the biggest threat to come from?

"I don't know too much about Milton Keynes, but as for Bracknell and Guildford we have a team here than can compete seriously with those guys.

"There isn't any one team we'll be giving any special treatment to, but there won't be any we're unprepared for either."

Kummu isn't the type to rest on his laurels, but he is privately proud of the job done by a team most 'experts' tipped to struggle.

"One coach in our league recently described us as being no better than an eighth-placed squad.

"But that's a lot of bull as far as I'm concerned. We've got second place and we've done the best we possibly could - and that's not my accomplishment, it's down to the team.

"I'm proud for the whole team, not for myself - with the players we've had and the money we've had to spend I don't think we could have had a better season."

And, finally, a rallying call from the fiercely-determined Kummu to the Blackburn public?

"We're going to need all the support we can muster, the crowd have played a big part in our success and I don't want that to change.

"We probably have the noisiest crowd I've ever played in front of here and although I can't guarantee victory, I can assure them they'll see some exciting hockey."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.