Jun 22, 2009 09:10
Whitley Warriors coach Simon Leach last night added three more names to his roster for the 2009/10 campaign, confirming that Ally Brummitt, Shaun Kippin and Martin Crammond would once again be in action for the Hillheads club.“Both Martin and Ally had their first full season with the Warriors last year and I was delighted with their progress,” said Leach.“Ally came on leaps and bounds as the season went on, he is a solid defender who gets the job done and I will be looking for him to make the same progress over the coming months.“Martin is another who can be pleased with his first senior season,” continued the Whitley coach, “he is a hard-working lad who can be pleased with his first senior year and I expect he will continue to work hard to make further improvements to his game.”Kippin came back to the Warriors last summer after a couple of years with Northern League rivals Solway Sharks and Leach was delighted with the attitude shown by the Durham born player.“Shaun produced a very solid year for us,” he continued, “he has a work rate second to none and gives everything for the team when he is out on the ice, something I’m certain he will continue to do in the coming months.”Off the ice the Warriors are continuing to build up towards their summer charity event, when players, coaches and supporters will walk the 12 miles or so from Metro Radio to Whitley Bay Ice Rink to raise funds for the club and Cash For Kids on August 1st, with the Summer Barbeque being held that afternoon at Rockcliffe Rugby Club.Have something to say? Say it on our Message Boards.
Jun 09, 2009 15:01
Anyone who follows the NHL knows who Mike Babcock is and that he is Head Coach of one of the NHL's original six, the Detroit Redwings, but how many of you know that he spent a year in Whitley Bay as player coach of the Warriors?Babcock moved to England in 1987 and accepted a teaching job at Northumberland Community College. While teaching there he joined the Warriors as player/coach and only just missed out on the league title by two points. In 49 games for the Warriors, he contributed 45 goals and 127 assists, accumulating 123 penalty minutes. An impressive record to say the least and though he only played one season at Whitley he was a great success at Hillheads.Prior to his move to England Babcock played for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL in 1980–81 and spent a season with the Kelowna Wings in 1982–83. In between, he played a year under Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan and transferred to McGill in 1983 under coach Ken Tyler. Babcock also had a brief try-out with the Vancouver Canucks.Babcock graduated from McGill in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and also did some post-graduate work in sports psychology. In 146 career games with the Redmen, he tallied 22 goals and 85 assists for a total of 107 points and 301 penalty minutes, graduating as the second-highest scoring defenseman in McGill history.Babcock is the third McGill player to coach an NHL team (Lester Patrick guided the New York Rangers; George Burnett served in Edmonton) and in 2008, Babcock became the first McGill graduate to win the Stanley Cup. He was a two-time all-star rearguard at McGill from 1983–84 to 1986–87, where he also won the Bobby Bell trophy as team MVP.He has had a distinguished coaching career and entered the 2008–09 season with a lifetime 656–470–114 regular season coaching record in 15 seasons overall, including a 231–118–61 NHL mark in five seasons (two with Anaheim and three with Detroit). He also guided Team Canada to gold medals at the 1997 world junior championships in Geneva and the 2004 IIHF world hockey championships in Prague.Detroit marks the seventh coaching stint for the nomadic Babcock, a native of Saskatoon who has lived in six Canadian provinces (Saskatchewan, Quebec, Alberta, Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba) and four US states (Washington, Ohio, California and his current residence, Michigan).In 1988, Babcock was appointed head coach at Red Deer College in Alberta. He spent three seasons at the school, winning the provincial collegiate championship and earning coach-of-the-year honours in 1989.Babcock moved to the Western Hockey League in 1991 where he guided the Moose Jaw Warriors for a two-year term. He then served one season as bench boss of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, earning Canada West coach-of-the-year honours in 1993–94 after guiding Lethbridge to their first-ever appearance in post-season play and an entirely unexpected Canadian university national title with a 34–11–3 over-all mark.In 1994, he was appointed coach of the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs, where he posted a regular-season record of 224–172–29 over six seasons for a .564 winning percentage. He was named twice as the West Division coach of the year (1995–96 and 1999–00).From 2000–01 to 2001–02, Babcock guided the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, to a 74–59–20–7 record, including a franchise-high 41 wins and 95 points. The team qualified for the playoffs both years.He was named head coach of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks (then the Mighty Ducks) on May 22, 2002, and through two seasons, guided them to a combined 69–62–19 regular season record (including 14 overtime losses). In the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Ducks, he posted a 15–6 record, leading the Ducks to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals where they lost in 7 games to the New Jersey Devils.Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Babcock declined an offer to remain with the Ducks, and on July 15, 2005, was named head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. In three seasons, Babcock has led the Red Wings to a combined 162–56–28 regular season record and a 28–18 playoff record. Babcock and the Red Wings were eliminated by his former club, the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference Finals of the 2006–07 playoffs.In the 2007–08 NHL season, while coaching the Detroit Red Wings, Babcock achieved his 200th NHL career win. This was on December 15 against the Florida Panthers, with a 5–2 final score. Heading into the All-Star game, as the top team in the league, Detroit's Babcock was selected to coach the Western Conference in the All-Star game. On June 4, 2008 Mike led the Detroit Red Wings to another Stanley Cup championship by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games.He was announced as a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy for the 2007–2008 season, awarded to the coach who best contributes to his team's success but finished third behind Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens. [4]In June, 2008, Babcock signed a three-year contract extension with the Red Wings.Thus far into his coaching career he has accumulated a playoff record of 59-30.As I'm writing this Babcock is just one win away from lifting Lord Stanley's Cup, his Detroit Redwing's side leading the Pittsburgh Penguins by 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final, with game six to be played in Pittsburgh tonight.I'm sure most Warrior fans will be wishing Babcock good luck for the game and hoping that he get's his hands on the Stanley Cup once again!
Jun 08, 2009 10:10
Whitley Warriors coach Simon Leach has picked up a second player from north east rivals Billingham Bombers - who are unable to play for a couple of seasons due to refurbishment of the Forum ice rink - adding netminder James Flavell to his squad for the 2009/10 campaign.“We’ve been after James ever since Thomas Murdy confirmed he was going to play for Elite League outfit Coventry Blaze,” said the Whitley boss.“Along with Thomas, he was one of the stand-out keepers in the English National League last season,” Leach added, “and you only have to look at his performances against us to see that.“So we are delighted to have someone of his quality and ability on board at Hillheads to compliment the keepers we already have.”Flavell, 21, joins the Warriors after coming through the Bombers junior system, although he did have a year in America when he played for Cranks ‘AAA’ in Michigan.Now the closure of the Billingham Forum means he must move again and Flavell is looking forward to his new challenge.“Whitley are a good side, with a good fan base similar to Billingham, so I should have no trouble settling in,” he said.“I’m really looking forward to the move and know I’m coming to a team that will be challenging for honours.“I’m especially pleased to be playing in the Northern League again,” he added, “Billingham didn’t take part last season, but I really enjoyed going to places like Fife and Dundee and am looking forward to that again.”Leach has also confirmed that Liam McAllister will shared netminding duties with his new signing and is looking for further improvements from the youngster over the coming months.“Liam has worked very hard with goalie coach Kevin Dean and made terrific progress in the last year,” he said.“He played in some vital games for us at the back end of last season, never letting us down once, and I’m sure he will keep that up this year to push James hard in training every week.”Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that despite losing their promotion/relegation play-off battle with Manchester ENL Phoenix, Blackburn Hawks have now been reprieved and will replace Billingham in Division One North of the English National League.The Phoenix finished runners-up in Division Two and are promoted, along with league winners Telford Titans; while relegated Newcastle ENL Vipers are joined by new outfit Sutton Sting in the second tier.Have a comment or want to share your views and opinions? Then visit our Message Boards to discuss this article.
Jun 01, 2009 11:16
As you can see the new website is now up and running and full of information about your favourite hockey team.Remember to check out all of the new features, such as the FanZone for desktop wallpapers, supporter's club information ad more.If you are new to ice hockey check out Hockey 101 where the fastest team sport on earth is explained.Thanks for your patience while the site was down, as the site is new there may be a few little bugs so if you encounter any problems please let us know by emailing us at admin@whitleywarriors.net or leave a note in the Feedback and Suggestions forum on our messageboards.
May 27, 2009 22:17
Whitley Warriors last night confirmed their second new signing of the close season when coach Simon Leach announced that Billingham Bombers skipper Paul Windridge would be joining the side for the 2009/10 campaign.Windridge, who had a testimonial on Teesside at the end of last season, has previously played 17 times for the Warriors during the 1994/95 campaign (scoring 4+8) at a time when there was no ice hockey at Billingham; and now with the Bombers put on hold for a couple of season’s while their Forum ice rink is re-developed, the 37-year-old forward is back at Hillheads.“Obviously it’s sad that there is no hockey in Billingham for now, but I need to be playing for a few more seasons yet, so coming back to Whitley was the best option for me” he said.“I’m looking forward to playing for Whitley again,” he added, “and very hopeful of winning trophies with a bunch of players I know very well.”Following the recent acquisition of Peterborough Phantoms forward Adam Reynolds, Warriors coach Simon Leach was delighted to add Windridge to his squad as well.“Paul is a player of high quality and vast experience, “ said the Hillheads boss, “he has been around a long time and knows exactly what is required to be succesful.“There were times when I felt we maybe lacked a bit of that cutting edge in some of the big games last season, so I will be looking to his experience to help us in that department.“While it’s disappointing we won’t have those big derby games against the Bombers for a couple of years,” Leach added, “I’m delighted to welcome Paul back to the WigWam.“His signing, along with that of Adam Reynolds, shows how much we are trying to improve the quality of the Whitley squad; and I’m hopeful of bringing in a couple more new players in the next few weeks,” he confirmed.Meanwhile, Leach has also announced that his side will be in action on August 23rd (face-off 5.30pm) when they take on a team of former Warriors players; with the highlight of the night being the presentation to Hilton Ruggles of his British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame certificate.
Sun 23/08 - 5:30pm
