I found out tonight that the Lions’ ex-coach, legendary Dave Richards Snr, passed away earlier today. Dave was an extremely well-known figure in British ice hockey and there are many out there who played alongside him, were coached by him or were otherwise fortunate to know him. Dave was a true character. Our thoughts are with Dave Jnr and the rest of his family during this very sad time.
Author: Julianne
Pro Hockey News article on Blair’s departure
Streatham player, Dave Carr, has written a great article about Blair’s departure from Lee Valley and his time with other clubs in British hockey. You can find it at on the Pro Hockey News website.
Farewell and thanks to Blair
On behalf of everyone involved with the Lions, I would like to say a massive thanks and farewell to our coach and team captain, Blair Dubyk.
Blair has made the decision to relocate back to his native Canada and he will be sorely missed at the Den. Under his leadership the Lions have seen definite, marked improvement and have had some great games over the past two seasons, including some shock results (I don’t think anyone would have predicted a 12-1 win over Bristol, for a start).
The Canadian National Anthem was played before last night’s match and Blair received the send-off he deserved over at the Princess of Wales pub afterwards.
Farewell, Blair, have a safe flight home and thanks so much for everything you have done for our team.
Website changes
The more observant among you will have noticed that I have made a few changes to the home page, swapping the Junior Lions’ logo to their current one and adding in adverts for our numerous sponsors (in no particular order). Manager Beverly Irish is arranging for both the senior and junior teams to have full-colour programme covers and all our sponsors will have adverts in there.
Also, once this season is over I intend on converting the website over to a WordPress format, which will make it easier to maintain, plus I’m already working on refreshed design to give a more modern look. This might mean that some features have to start afresh, such as the forum and photo galleries, but this depends on whether or not it is possible to convert or incorporate the existing installations. If there are any particular website features that you would like to see (or see the back of), please do get in touch.
Full team list
I’ve been given the full team list and they are as follows (in no particular order!):
Blair Dubyk, James Scott-Joseph, Romanas Fedotovas, George Alley, Ruth Cattell, Jack Ball, Scott Beeson, Joe Berry, Shane Bojenko, Phil Carson, Gary Dodds, James Gosling, Steve Grout, James Hatfull, Calum Heath, Richard Hodge, Joshua Irish, Adam Peach, Glenn Roper, Philippe Mueller and Janus Hutcheon.
It’s great to see so many of last year’s players returning and the squad being strengthened by a couple of talented ex-Lions. Let’s hope we have a great season ahead of us.