Manchester Phoenix player coach Tony Hand has completed the signings of the British contingent for the forthcoming season, the first in the English Premier League. Hand has acquired youngsters James Neil and Robert Lachowicz from Elite League side Nottingham Panthers and will now turn his attention to signing the foreign imports for Phoenix’s first foray in the second tier of British Ice Hockey.
However with the British players all signed up and ready to begin preparations for the new season, the Phoenix line-up is already looking very strong, with former Elite League players Stephen Fone (Coventry Blaze), Greg Wood (Coventry Blaze), Iain Bowie (Edinburgh Capitals) mixed with a strong young nucleus of players from last season’s squad including Luke Boothroyd, Adam Walker and inspirational leader Hand. Fans of the Altrincham based club have reason to believe that Phoenix should be pushing for a top half finish with the likes of Peterborough Phantoms, Milton Keynes Lightning and Guildford Flames also in the mix to compete for the title. Equally the Basingstoke Bison, another team which dropped a division from the Elite League at the end of last season, should not be discounted when the season gets underway. Meanwhile the Swindon Wildcats have snapped up former Nottingham Panthers back-up netminder Geoff Woolhouse, whom the Phoenix faithful saw last season at the Ice Dome. For those fans who are a little disappointed in the Phoenix’s exit from the top flight, the current rosters forming in the EPL show that the standard of play, whilst not Elite League standard, will be good and the league is shaping up to be very competitive indeed with all teams making impressive signings which should make for another exciting rollercoaster season.
Meanwhile this weekend saw confirmation that the Bracknell Bees will also ice in the EPL next season, much to the delight of ice hockey fans in general as the Bee’s are a well recognized team and the yellow and black jerseys should be no stranger to the Phoenix fans next season as the Bee’s used to be regular visitors to the Storm Shelter back in the days of the Manchester Storm and the Superleague.
Over the next few weeks Phoenix’s Tony Hand will look to start adding his international players to the roster, however with the EPL rules on foreign talent different to that of the Elite League, expect Hand to take his time in finding the right players to do the job next season. With the Elite League allowing teams to ice ten imports, the EPL is designed to allow more British players to play in the league therefore only four imports will take to the ice for the Phoenix next season, non of which will be returnees from last season. The players must have an E.U passport as apposed to getting a work permit, which players coming from North America would need should they wish to play ice hockey in the UK. This does somewhat decrease the amount of players available to player/coach Tony Hand for next season, but by no means installs the idea that the imports will be lower quality than seasons gone by, in fact, the Phoenix coach now has the theoretically the same funds as last season to spend on four international players as apposed to ten, therefore those four imports should be of the highest quality and the fans should await with optimism as to the talent that Tony Hand brings to Altrincham next season.
However with the British players all signed up and ready to begin preparations for the new season, the Phoenix line-up is already looking very strong, with former Elite League players Stephen Fone (Coventry Blaze), Greg Wood (Coventry Blaze), Iain Bowie (Edinburgh Capitals) mixed with a strong young nucleus of players from last season’s squad including Luke Boothroyd, Adam Walker and inspirational leader Hand. Fans of the Altrincham based club have reason to believe that Phoenix should be pushing for a top half finish with the likes of Peterborough Phantoms, Milton Keynes Lightning and Guildford Flames also in the mix to compete for the title. Equally the Basingstoke Bison, another team which dropped a division from the Elite League at the end of last season, should not be discounted when the season gets underway. Meanwhile the Swindon Wildcats have snapped up former Nottingham Panthers back-up netminder Geoff Woolhouse, whom the Phoenix faithful saw last season at the Ice Dome. For those fans who are a little disappointed in the Phoenix’s exit from the top flight, the current rosters forming in the EPL show that the standard of play, whilst not Elite League standard, will be good and the league is shaping up to be very competitive indeed with all teams making impressive signings which should make for another exciting rollercoaster season.
Meanwhile this weekend saw confirmation that the Bracknell Bees will also ice in the EPL next season, much to the delight of ice hockey fans in general as the Bee’s are a well recognized team and the yellow and black jerseys should be no stranger to the Phoenix fans next season as the Bee’s used to be regular visitors to the Storm Shelter back in the days of the Manchester Storm and the Superleague.
Over the next few weeks Phoenix’s Tony Hand will look to start adding his international players to the roster, however with the EPL rules on foreign talent different to that of the Elite League, expect Hand to take his time in finding the right players to do the job next season. With the Elite League allowing teams to ice ten imports, the EPL is designed to allow more British players to play in the league therefore only four imports will take to the ice for the Phoenix next season, non of which will be returnees from last season. The players must have an E.U passport as apposed to getting a work permit, which players coming from North America would need should they wish to play ice hockey in the UK. This does somewhat decrease the amount of players available to player/coach Tony Hand for next season, but by no means installs the idea that the imports will be lower quality than seasons gone by, in fact, the Phoenix coach now has the theoretically the same funds as last season to spend on four international players as apposed to ten, therefore those four imports should be of the highest quality and the fans should await with optimism as to the talent that Tony Hand brings to Altrincham next season.
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