As The Northern Echo re-launches its online coverage of the Vipers, PAUL WHITE attends the official shirt launch event, where the club not only unveiled its new kit, but also its new look team.

ANOTHER new net minder, a new captain and major changes throughout.

As the new-look Mobilx Vipers took to the ice for an exhibition match against their ENL colleagues, Rob Wilson stood on the bench and directed traffic. Having retired from playing after 20 years - 14 of them in England - the mainstays of the Vipers defence have now gone.

Because, as well as Wilson's decision to concentrate on his already award-winning coaching career, former captain Jonathan Weaver has also departed, leaving for Coventry. The "C" is now worn proudly by David Longstaff.

These are just the start of the changes as the fans get their first glimpse of the 2007/8 Vipers.

A host of new names have arrived, including highly-rated net minder Ryan MacDonald, who joins from the Fresno Falcons in the ECHL.

MacDonald will be backed up by Richard Lawson, who makes a step up from the ENL Vipers, having made his first moves into the EIHL side towards the end of last season, during Ohio-bound Mark Lee's impressive spell between the pipes.

Only Jez Lundin and Richie Thornton return on the D from last season, joined by former Viper Pavel Gomenyuk, who has made his way back to Tyneside from Hull.

Mark Gouett, Ben Storey and Petr Kratky make up the defence, joining from the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, EHC Linz and HC Briancon respectively.

Returning to the forward lines with Longstaff are youngsters Nathan Taylor and Ben Campbell, along with North East veteran Shaun Johnson and the iconic Andre Payette.

Again, the forward line contains a host of new faces, with Sergiy Rublivsky having followed his former Hull Stingrays team mate Gomenyuk to Tyneside, British forward Colin Shields returning to the UK from the Idaho Steelheads, Derek Campbell and Jeff Hutchins arriving from Elite League opponents Manchester and Belfast, and promising Ukrainian youngster Aleksandr Shevchenko joining from Sokol Kiev.

Despite his changes, however, Coach Wilson does not believe his side will be fancied. But it has never been the Viper way under Wilson to let that worry him.

He said: 'We're not one of the glamour clubs in the league and that sits perfect for us. The pressure is really on the likes of Belfast, Coventry, Nottingham and Sheffield who have spent big.

'We had a similar situation in our first Elite League season, the top four or five didn't really see us as a threat and we really caught them by surprise. I'm not expecting a repeat of that season as things really worked in our advantage, but I do believe that we'll be able to beat any team on any given night.

'We're in a unique situation as we're not really expected to do anything, that's going to be a massive motivation for us to go out and prove people wrong. Nottingham are going to expect nothing less than the league title this season, Sheffield have spent big to try and bring silverware back to South Yorkshire and even Basingstoke have really pushed the boat out. This season we're very much the underdogs.

'I've got confidence in the guys that we've brought in, after last season I really wanted to shake things up and I strongly believe we're a solid looking hockey club right now. We lacked in a number of areas last season, I've tried to rectify that with the players that have been brought in.'