Hercules Ice Hockey Apparel sponsored Solway Sharks are delighted to announce the launch our official Solway Sharks prospects program. The prospects program is designed to bring in new fresh talent to the senior squad from the Solway Sharks Junior club and have them be part of our National League squad for the season ahead gaining vital training time on and off the ice preparing them for life as a professional player with the overall goal of them breaking into the first team.

The partnership between Solway Sharks, Solway Sharks Junior Club and Dumfries Ice Bowl has had a long tradition of producing home grown talent and pushing them on to as high a level as possible. Be that Elite League, NIHL or GB Junior Honours the club holds a phenomenally successful list of names who have come through that development pathway including current squad members Liam Stenton, Scott Henderson, Stuart Kerr, Callum Hepburn, Connor Henderson,Lewis Houston, and Bari McKenzie to name a few.

With that in mind the ownership team of John, Phil, & David were very keen to keep this going and allowing the coaching staff to make this more of an official agreement, Bringing the players into the fold to give them the best chance of making that jump from Junior to National league as early as possible.

Sharks Head Coach, Martin Grubb commented

“I am incredibly happy we have been able to continue this development pathway and formalise a prospects program. This kind of program is vital to the future of our team and ensures we keep producing high end players and giving them this opportunity, I’m convinced we will see many more to come through the ranks. These 5 players trained with us all throughout last season with Logan Reid making the bench on one occasion and at 16 years old that’s a fantastic achievement in such a strong squad. Each of these players gives us something different to work with and our aim is to have them in and around the senior squad as much as possible allowing them to witness firsthand the commitment and effort levels it requires to be a professional while constantly learning on and off the ice.

The jump between Junior hockey and NIHL National is a significant one, so our plan is to loan these young players out on 2-way deals gaining valuable game time while still being committed to the Junior club and skating with us as much as possible. We will announce details of these in due course as it is imperative that we allow the players to get valuable game time as well as the extra training to enhance their development.”

Sharks Junior Chair, Leanne Thomson commented

“SSJIHC are delighted to see these young players continue their development with the Senior Sharks now they have been promoted. The pathway between our junior and senior clubs has been a massive part of the Solway Sharks success over the years with a large percentage of the team coming through our ranks.

When the club was promoted and the new ownership group came in we were obviously delighted for the club and its been fantastic to see that this pathway is also really important to John, Phil & David. As the introduction of the official prospect programme shows their commitment to keep producing Sharks players via the Junior Club for years to come.”

Everyone at the club is really looking forward to seeing these guys develop both as people and players in the coming years and develop into Solway Sharks players for years to come. We know they will do well, and we are excited to give the young players in the club an opportunity to aspire to be Sharks as we have lots more talent in our junior club”.

Please join us in welcoming in the first official Solway Sharks Apprentices to the team

Logan Reid – Netminder – 22/23 Season GP 20 GAA 2.33, SV% 0.911, Shutouts 5

Owen Rae – Defence – 22/23 Season GP 23, G29 A 27 TP 56 Across u16 and U19 leagues

Ewan Duignan – Defence – 22/23 Season GP 29, G16 A 17 TP 33 Across u16 and U19 leagues

Bailey Thomson – Forward – 22/23 Season GP 32, G 43 A 54 TP 97 Across u16 and U19 leagues

Tomas Vyrostek – Forward – 22/23 Season GP 20, G65 A 21 TP 86 Across u16 and U19 leagues