NIHL Signing News

NIHL News

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

It has today been announced that forward Corey Stones has made the switch from Blackburn Hawks to Hull Pirates. Starting out with Bradford Bulldogs’ junior setup in 2010, Stones progressed to Hull Jets in the NIHL’s Laidler Conference before moving back to Bradford to join the Bulldogs’ senior team. Making good progress at junior level, Stones appeared to find it difficult to settle with just one team last season, playing for The Dragons, Blackburn Hawks, Bradford Bulldogs and Hull Jets across the NIHL’s Divisions One and Two, besides playing for Kingston Sharks’ Under 20s team. Though still developing his points production at this level, Stones will hope to put his strength to good use as he takes to the ice with the Pirates in September.

Photo Credit: IceHockeyMedia - Colin Lawson

In other news, Solihull Barons have confirmed that attacking trio Josh Bruce, Joe Henry and Niklas Ottosson will join the club for another season as new Head Coach Daniel MacKriel takes charge. Heading into his fifth season with the Barons, left winger Bruce will look forward to matching, if not bettering, the performances of his previous outing in which he contributed ten goals and nineteen assists in the twenty league games he featured. Previously, Bruce has enjoyed spells in the Elite League with Coventry Blaze and also the EPL with Telford Tigers and Slough Jets, meaning the winger will accept the challenge offered by new competition in the NIHL and will no doubt shine for his team with the hope that the Barons can build on last season’s playoff qualification. Also returning to the club, versatile forward and three-time EIHL champion Joe Henry is set to play a sixth consecutive campaign for Solihull after finishing as the side’s top points scorer with thirty nine points last season. Like Bruce, Henry accumulated more than seventy penalty minutes in his previous campaign but this certainly did not inhibit the forward’s firepower and, as such, he is another fantastic addition to MacKriel’s squad. Last but not least, Swedish import Niklas Ottosson has signed up for a fourth season with the Barons, having first joined when the club played out of the Laidler Conference in their 2014-15 campaign. Earning eighty points in this season, Ottosson has not disappointed fans since, racking up fifteen goals and twenty two assists in his most recent campaign. With these three strong signings undoubtedly the first of many for the Barons, this is certainly a promising start for Solihull as Head Coach MacKriel takes the reins. 

For more photos from IceHockeyMedia, please visit: http://www.icehockeymedia.co.uk/.