David Longstaff. Photo by IceHockeyMedia.
Whitley Warriors are delighted to announce that David ‘Lobby’ Longstaff will be the clubs player/coach for the 2016/17 season. Lobby guided Warriors to a runners up spot in NIHL North Division 1 last term while the team also impressively qualified for the end of season play offs in Sheffield.
A number of Whitley’s promising young players made great strides in senior hockey last term and much credit for the emergence of players such as Kyle Ross, Craig Johnson and Liam Smedley must be given to Longstaff and his assistant coach Dave Holland.
Lobby shared his thoughts on re-signing for Warriors this season.
“I’m delighted to lead the Warriors as the clubs player/coach once again for the upcoming season. We enjoyed last year and we hope to build on that during the 2016/17 campaign.
“Teams in NIHL North 1 are improving year on year so we will of course have to improve ourselves and give everything we have every time we step out onto the ice. There will be one new side in our league this year the Deeside Dragons so it will be interesting to see how they do after the success they enjoyed in Division 2 last season.
“It has already been confirmed that Andre Payette will be part of the Warriors set up going forward which is great news for the team and club as a whole as Andre brings a great number of qualities to the table. I have been speaking to a number of players recently and it is anticipated that Warriors will be able to release the names of some members of our squad in the coming days.
“I hope everyone has an enjoyable close season and I hope to see all the fans back at Hillheads when we get back into action out on the ice.”
Warriors fans should keep an eye on the clubs website and social media platforms in the coming days as the club plans to release details of players who have signed for Whitley for the upcoming term.