NIHL North update

BLACKBURN, UK – Newly promoted Solway Sharks have announced their first signings in their quest to put together a squad capable of mounting a

serious title challenge. Sharks’ coach Martin Grubb has welcomed back record breaking top scorer Adam Reynolds and long serving captain Mark Gallagher as the club prepares for life in NIHL1. Grubb was delighted the pair agreed to return saying, “Adam and Mark are two players I spoke to well before the season finished and along with a few others I identified them as key signings. I’ve been working hard on securing the services of the players we want and when you look at what these players give us it’s clear why we wanted to retain them.” Reynolds bagged an impressive 54 goals & 73 assists as Sharks were promoted last season with a perfect record, while Gallagher weighed in with 31 goals & 72 assists. Deeside Dragons have announced the signing of Aaron Davies following his departure from Blackburn Hawks. Davies becomes the second Hawk to land in Wales this week, alongside assistant coach Ric Hughes. Dragons also confirmed Andrew Chappell, Gary Dixon and Matt Wainwright have all signed again, while it’s believed forward James Parsons will shortly agree another season. Davies is the third player to leave the Hawks in just under a week, leaving Player/Coach Jared Owen the difficult task of easing supporters’ worries. “T here are lots of rumours and negative stories flying around about the team at the moment,” said Owen. “We’ve lost some good players, but we’ve known about the possibility of this happening for a while now.” He stressed the majority of last season’s play-off final team would return and confirmed he expected to make a number of exciting new signings. “There’s no point announcing names until they’re confirmed, but there’s no need to hit the panic switch. We’ve worked hard the last two years to improve this squad year on year and we’re doing exactly the same this season. I’ve noticed a few comments saying we haven’t even announced trial dates. We currently feel we’re in a position where we don’t need to hold trials to fill roster spots; we’ll fill them with players we’re targeting and looking to sign. I appreciate times like this create mass panic, but we’ve plenty of time to finish our team building. Have faith and try to stay positive.” Former Hawks star Rick Bentham has left Peterborough Phantoms to return to the North West, but is thought to favour remaining in the EPL. Champions Billingham Stars have been quiet so far losing Andy Fletcher to retirement, while Dave Thomas could be doubtful to return due to work commitments. Whitley Warriors defender Andrew Cook has announced he won’t be returning to Hillheads and long serving Nottingham Lions forward Chris Colegate has retired. Contact the author at: Michael.Black@prohockeynews.com