BASINGSTOKE, UK – The Bison have added two more excellent additions to their roster for the forthcoming season in the EPL with the signing of Canadian forward Joe Rand and Welsh defenseman Alex Symonds.
Rand who hails from Hamilton, Ontario made an immediate impact in his debut year in Britain as he led the scoring the ENL South One as he massed 93 points from 36 games for third placed Wightlink Raiders.
This saw him light the lamp 47 times and the 26-year-old outstanding season means he deserves a crack at the EPL this coming year and is sure not to disappoint.
Before coming to Britain, Rand played a season in Germany and before that had five years at the University of Toronto and also had a season and a half in the OHL.
With the signing of Rand the Herd now have just one forward import slot remaining on their first two offensive lines with the likes of Doug Sheppard, Greg Owen, Joe Greener and Joe Miller already signed.
With the addition of a third Joe, the Bison can now have their own Joe line of Rand, Miller and Greener.
For Rand the major different will be playing on the big ice at Basingstoke instead of the reduced pad size on the Isle of Wight in Ryde, but that should be no problem.
“I am looking forward to coming to Basingstoke as I have trained their before and liked what I saw.
“I am not afraid to go into the corners or park myself in front of the net and score ugly goals for the team,” said Herd new boy Rand.
“He is a good two way player which is what I always look for as well as being big, strong and physical,” said Basingstoke player/coach Sheppard.
Along with Rand, the team have also added some more steel to their defence with signing of Symonds who was with new Bison boss Sheppard last season in Slough.
The Welshman started his career in with his hometown team the Cardiff Devils in the Elite League and also had spells in the EPL with Telford Tigers and Peterborough Phantoms before returning to the Welsh capital to play for the Devils once more.
Last term the 23-yeear-old was at Slough winning the play-off crown and is a solid stay at home defenseman.
His stats match this up with one goal and 12 assists last season
“He is great on the penalty kill and very good at shutting down first line forwards,” said Sheppard.
“I am looking forward to coming to Basingstoke and believe Doug is putting together an excellent team,” said new signing Symonds.
Contact the author Graham.Merry@Prohockeynews.com
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