Hull Pirates are delighted to announce the signing of British forward Jason Hewitt for the 2016/17 season.
The 32-year-old has a wealth of experience in British hockey, spending the last 13 years playing at top flight level.
During his ten-year spell at Sheffield Steelers in the EIHL, Hewitt scored 97 goals and contributing 157 assists, also tallying up over 1000 penalty minutes.
The forward has also enjoyed success in his time at the top level, winning four Elite League titles with Sheffield.
Hewitt also has international honours with Great Britain, as well as featuring for the Steelers in the Champions Hockey League.
Speaking about joining, Hewitt said “it was a good opportunity and a good fit with what I am doing right now, I’m excited to get going.
“I’m an energy guy, hopefully the Hull fans will take to me when I get there, I’m a hard worker and I will do what it takes for the team this year.”
Speaking about personal targets this year, the forward stated “everything I’ve ever done has been through hard work. I’ll plan on playing the same game and whatever rewards that come with that is what I’ll be happy with, I’ll do whatever it takes to try and make this team successful.
Discussing this year’s roster, Hewitt added “I’ve looked into the roster for this season and I’m excited with the guys they have brought in, it’s an improved group so we’ll see where it takes us.”
Head Coach Dominic Osman added “we’re really happy to be able to bring Jason to Hull. He was one of the guys who we were talking to, he’s one of those guys who we brought in to take our group to the next level.
“Anytime you can get a guy with that experience coming on-board, it’s going to be a massive improvement to what we already have now.
“He’s going to be a guy who is going to be counted on to play, top two lines obviously, and he’s a guy who bring experience. He’s coming down from the Elite League, which is a good league and it’s continuing to get better. He’s still able to play at that level and anytime you can bring in a guy who can play at that level to us, it’s of course going to be massive.
“You look at the organisation he comes from, it’s absolutely top class, it’s probably the top organisation in the country and he’s been there for ten years. It’s incredible to be able to have a guy like that coming to our club.
“He’s going to be a huge part of our team next season.”
Hull Pirates owner Shane Smith is also happy to see Hewitt make the move to Hull. “I’m absolutely over the moon with this one,” Smith stated, “bringing Jason on-board is absolutely massive for us. We have a young team, with the building of our team from top to bottom, from the backroom and everything else, Jason really fits the bill to what we want.
“That also goes for our professional aspect as well, he’s been at one of the most professional clubs in the country and to me, every year the Steelers go to a whole different level.
“When you look at what the whole team there is achieving, that is something that we can all learn from and help us progress forward.
Having Jason in that professional environment for the last ten years, well his track record says it all, you’re not at Steelers for ten years unless there is something about you.
“When you look at what he has won over those years, it’s playoffs, cups, leagues, he knows what it takes to win and to lead.
“There are people I know who know him from around the Steelers and nobody has a bad word to say about him, 100% praise and he’s a real leader without wearing an ‘A’ or a ‘C’. You don’t get away with things and he holds people accountable and that can only be a good thing for us with the young team that we have got.
“We do have some older guys and the imports, but when you look at it we have seven or eight guys who are under-22, they can only learn from him as well as everyone else that we have got.
“For me, we have got the guy that we want and the guy that we believe will take us in the right direction. He’ll help us to move forward and to progress and to keep building.
“I know sometimes people don’t like choices that people make but we are doing what we feel is best for us as a team and what we need to move forward with and we feel that we have got the guy that we want and that will do the job for us.”
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