Jon Cotton – End of an era

PETERBOROUGH,U.K-As the teams took to the ice for the start of the 2008-09 English Premier League season one familiar face was missing. For the past 18 seasons the hugely popular Jon Cotton has been an integral part of the British ice hockey set up, particularly in the EPL and the old British Ice Hockey League. This season the vastly experienced and hard working forward found himself without a team and decided that the time was right to call it a day and hang his skates up. “I always told myself that the summer when no-one called me and asked me to play for them I knew that was when my time was up,” Cotton said. This summer the only call came from his former team-mate, and now coach of the Peterborough Islanders in the English National League, Jesse Hammill who asked him to turn out for the city’s second string side. However, due to personal reasons, Cotton was unable to take Hammill up on his offer and his skates are now hanging in his garage.

Cotton’s career began way back in 1982 when his family moved to Canada due to his father’s work with the Royal Air Force. Cotton and his brother Darren fell in love with the game almost instantly. Three years later and the family returned to the UK and settled in Peterborough and the brothers took up playing for the city’s u-14 junior team straight away. Cotton progressed well through the junior ranks and ended up being selected for the Great Britain National side for their European Championship campaign. During this period he also began to break into Peterborough’s senior team, the Pirates during the 1989-90 season making six appearances and picking up two assists. One of Cotton’s proudest and most memorable moments came during this time as a junior in the team. The team made the Wembley finals weekend and Cotton was able to be a part of the Pirates efforts to win the trophy, although they fell short. Cotton was able to learn a lot during this time from the vastly experienced team around him containing the likes of Paul Heavey, Paul Hand, Mike Dark and former NHL star Todd Bidner. One of his team mates during his first spell with the Pirates was Darren ‘Doc’ Durdle, who would also line up alongside Cotton in Blackburn and Bracknell. Cotton said of Durdle “He is probably the most talented offensive defenseman ever to play in the UK,” Cotton said  I asked Cotton to list his best lines of all the players he has played alongside, both imports and British players.
The import line chosen was back stopped by the legendary Finnish goalie Pasi Raitanen. Lining up with Durdle on defense would be Ryan Kummu who was selected in round 12 of the NHL’s 1987 entry draft by the Washington Capitals. Moving to the forward lines and the left wing slot would be taken by Oleg Sinkov who was in Blackburn when Cotton signed there “He scored more highlight reel goals in one season than any other player I know, one of the most dedicated players I have seen, he would still be on the ice training when most players had left the rink,” Cotton said.  The centre position would be taken by someone some of the Peterborough fans rate as the best player in their history – Danny Shea. A surprising choice at right wing to some would be Brent Gough. Gough has played in a Phantoms shirt now for three seasons, but has made such an impact that Cotton has included him. “I judge players by how tough they are to play against and he is the most consistent import I have seen for a few years, I played against him whilst I was with Chelmsford (Chieftains) and he was my team-mate last season in Peterborough, he rarely takes a night off and I think he is the best two way player in the EPL at present,” Cotton said.  Moving to the British line up and Cotton selects the “dependable and reliable” Stephen Wall in goal. With James Hutchison and Greg Randall making up the defense pairing it would be a tough defensive unit for any side to break down. Cotton would not pick himself, but he did pick his brother Darren“He has been blessed with an array of talent and when a great player like Jesse Hammill says that a player has more talent in his little finger than Hammill himself, you know he must be good,” Cotton said.  Darren’s line mates are Craig Peacock and David Clarke. “Peacock is a tremendous talent who will be the star British player in the EPL this season, he has started the season on fire for the Phantoms. It will not be long before he is playing in the Elite league and for the national team,” Cotton said  “Simply put Clarke is the best British player in the game at present, he has all the attributes you would expect a power forward to have and is a pure goal scorer that I feel will lead Nottingham to the league title this season.” After starting out in Peterborough he moved to Bracknell Bees in 1993 and spent two years there before moving up north to Blackburn for a couple of seasons and then back south again to Peterborough. One of Cotton’s most memorable moments came when wearing Blackburn’s colours. “I scored two goals whilst playing for Blackburn Hawks in a game against Manchester that was shown live on Sky Sports, If I remember correctly we won 12-9 and there were over 16,000 fans at the MEN arena,” Cotton said.  After being in Blackburn for two years he returned home in 1996 and it was this season that was Cotton’s most productive. In 56 games he picked up 73 points but only 10 penalty minutes. Cotton returned for the Hawks in 1997-98 making just one appearance as well as playing for the Invicta Dynamos nine times before moving to his second “home” in Essex with the Chelmsford Chieftains. It was during his second season he was able to contribute 56 points in 19 games and help the club to a trio of trophies and the team were instantly regarded as legends in Chelmsford as they won the EPL, EPL playoffs and the Millennium Cup.
Cotton left the club after the treble-winning season and moved back home again and spent two years playing for the Pirates in the British National League. Financial problems and a change in leagues meant the club would be renamed the Phantoms for the 2002-03 season and they would be challenging for the EPL title. They won the title and also picked up the EPL cup with Cotton contributing 65 points and being the highest scoring British player on the team that year, closely followed by brother Darren.  Two more seasons in Cambridgeshire and Jon was off again, this time back down the M11 motorway to Essex and captaining the Chieftains. He topped the British scoring charts again in 2005-06 in Chelmsford and was third on the list the following year only beaten by Greg Randall and brother Darren. It was during the 2006-07 season that Cotton reached a milestone few reach. A cold night in October 2006 against local rivals Romford Raiders and a goal from the Chieftains allowed Cotton to reach the 1000 points mark in British ice hockey. From his junior days right through to the present Jon has scored at every level and this night made him a legend in the fans eyes. The applause and stick tapping from the fans and players, even those from Romford, brought a tear to the eye of Cotton.
Cotton picked up one final piece of silverware in his final season as the Phantoms won the British knockout cup. That would be the end of his playing days. I asked Cotton whether he felt he could have given more. “Looking back I am quite happy with my playing career, I like to think that I gave an honest account of myself most nights, It would have been nice to train and play fulltime with out having to go to work all day but I do not think I would change anything I have done,” Cotton said  “I have made a lot of friends through this great game and I just hope that hockey at all levels gets the publicity over the next few years it deserves.” Obviously someone with this amount of experience and knowledge of the game would be a valuable asset as a coach, however Cotton doesn’t really see himself as taking up coaching “It is not something I see myself doing in the future even though I feel I have picked up enough knowledge over the years to make a contribution as a coach, If I did go in to coaching it would probably be at junior level, they don’t answer you back . ” Cotton said smiling
Cotton has been popular at every club with time to talk to every fan that has stopped to talk to him and always willing to pose for pictures making him one of the most liked players in the sport, although he doesn’t see this as anything special. “I would never class myself as being a fans favourite but I have always been aware of the importance of interacting with fans, whether they like it or not, players are role models to both the young and old at all times whilst they play,” Cotton said “Without the fans coming through the door week in week out there would be no hockey for us players, I still remember the players that took the time to say hello or give me a stick when I was younger and I remember how happy that made me feel, I have always enjoyed talking to fans and I will mostly miss seeing the smiles on the younger kids faces.” So where does Cotton go from here? “At present I am done, as soon as things did not work out with the Phantoms I made a commitment to spending as much time as I could watching my son’s in their respective sports. My eldest son Jordan plays football and Jake has just started his first season playing hockey with the Phantoms U10s,” Cotton said  “I am just watching from the sidelines like all proud parents do with a big smile, I urge all supporters to take the time to go and watch their clubs junior players play as I guarantee they will love it. Spending more time with my family is something that I am enjoying as for eight months during the season your weekends are hockey related,” “I would like to emigrate to Canada in the next five years as my wife Rachael has finally warmed to the idea after years of persistent nagging“from me.”
I asked Jon to sum up what he will miss most from playing. “Hockey has been my life for over twenty years and it is hard to step away from the game, I would have loved to have played one more season but it was not to be, I have played a long time and it has been tough coming to terms with the fact that I would not be playing this year,” Cotton said  If you ask any retired hockey player what they miss the most about the game I guarantee that most will say they will miss the banter and camaraderie in the locker room, no matter how old you are that is the one place you can go and act like you are fifteen years old.”
I am sure that as a fan I speak for every fan who has had the pleasure of watching Jon Cotton over the last 18 seasons that we wish him well in his retirement and want to say a big “Thank you” for the memories and moments he has given us. Contact the author at Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com