Romford change it up

ROMFORD, UK – Romford Raiders have moved quickly to address their import situation with the signing of flashy forward Juraj Huska. The Raiders made the move after a disappointing weekend, in which they fell to a pair of defeats to close rivals Chelmsford Chieftains and Invicta Dynamos. After an explosive start to the season, Romford have managed just three goals in their last three games, and were shut out away at Chelmsford, the first time a team has ever failed to score in an Essex derby. The Raiders now hope that Huska will help to end their scoring woes. The 28 year old has a host of clubs on his resume, but has already proven his abilities in the UK with Telford Tigers in the EPL. In 06/07 the Slovakian put up over a point per game for the Tigers. In 42 games he put up 55 points (32+23), terrorising netminders with his fierce slap shot. Huska has spent the majority of his career in the Slovakian second tier, most often with HKM Zvolen II. He spent the last two seasons with HKM Lucenec and HK Detva, and has also appeared for French side Montpellier. On the signing, a Romford spokesman said: “Juri actually skated with us at the tail end of last year but we had a few irons in the fire at the time and eventually plumped for Darius Pliskauskas. Things are different now and signing Juri will definitely increase Danny Marshall’s offensive options and just freshen up the team generally.” Romford were forced into the change after import forward Algimantas Visockas’ poor start to the season. The Lithuanian tries hard, but he has not had the impact required of an import. He has only managed one goal and one assist in the opening weeks of the season. He has also been unavailable for some games due to work commitments, which has had a detrimental effect on the fluency of the Romford lines. Without a point-scoring import, the Raiders have relied too heavily on Danny Marshall and Frankie Harvey, leading to the duo being targeted by opposition. The Romford spokesman added “We are very serious about being a competitive force in this division so the Sundays-only situation with Al (Visockas) was never going to continue without some movement. We probably needed a change anyway and investing in a points scorer like Juri demonstrates that we still intend to be challenging for honours. Al has done nothing wrong so we’ll keep three imports on the books and he will continue to be available for selection if we need him.” While Visockas has struggled, Romford’s Swedish defenceman Pierre Wilhelmsson has dazzled. A strong presence on the blueline and a threat on the rush, he has turned into a real find for the Raiders. Romford management will hope that Huska can prove to be just as effective as Wilhelmsson, and kick start the Raiders’ season. Contact the author dave.lambert@prohockeynews.com