Whitley Warriors can confirm that defencemen Paul Matthews and Josh Maddock will be part of Simon Leach’s squad next season along with power forward Jordan Barnes. All three players iced for Warriors last term as Whitley qualified for the end of season play offs. The club would also like to confirm that young blue liner Christian Johnson will unfortunately not be playing for Warriors next term as the teenager is moving to Aberdeen in Scotland to study Chemistry at University.
Jordan Barnes and Josh Maddock have both been part of the Whitley set up for a number of years now and the two long term Warriors both appeared in every competitive Whitley game last term. Jordan was able to notch 7 goals during the campaign while also proving that he could stick up for himself and his teammates when required. Blue-liner Josh enjoyed a solid season in defence and picked up 4 assists along the way.
Paul Matthews came out of retirement to ice in defence for Warriors mid way through the 2013/14 campaign impressing a great many NIHL North observers with his displays for Whitley in the 2nd half of the season. Despite only icing on ten occasions, Paul was still able to contribute 7 points to the Warriors cause.
Paul spoke about continuing to ice for Warriors this coming campaign and also about the dynamics of the Whitley roster.
“I decided to re-sign for next season after enjoying my time back on the ice. My concerns were picking up injuries and taking a younger players spot but fortunately both of those reasons never came to fruition.
“The Warriors are a tight knit unit and I felt I slotted straight in when I returned and have been encouraged by all to re-sign for the coming season.
“We have lost Christian Johnson who is re-locating and Karl Culley who has retired but we have added Dean Holland to our roster who I think will be a great addition and I know Simon is working hard on players for the new season.
“As far as my ambitions go I hope we can finish higher in the league next year by being much stronger on the road and more ruthless in any games we take the lead in.”
Warriors now have 10 players confirmed on their roster for the 2014/15 season and fans are reminded to check Warriors website on a regular basis as up to date Warriors news will be released on a weekly basis on Warriors Wednesdays