Deeside Dragons
CityQueensferry
LeagueNIHL
ConferenceDivision 1 North
Founded2012
Operated2012 - present
Home arenaDeeside Leisure Centre
ColorsRed, Green & Black
     
General managerEngland Shaun Bebbington
Head coachMike Clancy
CaptainWales James Parsons
MediaJakob Forster
Websitehttps://dragonsihc.com/
Championships
Conference titles1 (2015/16)
Playoff championships1 (2015/16)

The Aspray Chester Deeside Dragons are a Welsh ice hockey team that play in the National Ice Hockey League, north division.[1] They play their games at Deeside Leisure Centre, Flintshire, and replaced the previous team Flintshire Freeze. They won the North League championship in the 2015/16 season, with a record of 24-3-1[2] as well as the 2015/16 Laidler Playoffs. For the 2022/23 season the club has Aspray Chester [3] as the clubs title sponsor.

The 2022/23 season sees the return of ice hockey to North Wales for the first time in over 2 years, due to the ice rink being used as a field hospital and later a vaccination centre for North East Wales.

In July 2015 it was reported that the Dragons had been bought by Red Hockey Limited,[4] a British Company who own the Telford Tigers English Premier League Ice Hockey team as well as having stakes in Manchester Phoenix and Bracknell Bees.

In 2015/16, the team won the league, gaining promotion to NIHL North 1 (Moralee). During the season there were issues between the owners of the Deeside Dragons and Flintshire County Council[2] which resulted in the ownership of the Dragons being removed from Red Hockey. Despite prior fears with the ownership of the Deeside Dragons logo these have been quelled with a rebranded logo. On the final home game of the 2015/16 season the Dragons were involved in an incident which saw their opponents Widnes Wild walk off the ice in the second period and refuse to continue the game.[5] Dragons player Alex Roberts received a three-game ban as a result of this incident.

In July 2016 it was announced that Scott McKenzie had left the Widnes Wild to join the Dragons as player-coach.[6] He left the following year.

At the end of the 2017/18 season the Dragons were relegated to the North Division 2 league.

Season-by-season record

Season Position Wins Draws Losses ±
2012-13 2 17 1 6 88
2013-14 2 18 2 8 61
2014-15 5 15 2 17 31
2015-16 1 24 3 1 132
2017-18 (NIHL1) 10 2 0 32 -347
2018-19 7 9 2 21 -43
2019-20 6 12 0 15 2

Club roster 2022-23

(*) Denotes a Non-British Trained player (Import)

Netminders
No. Nat. Player Catches Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
30 England Philip Pearson L 5 August 1987 Stockport, England 2022 from Bradford Bulldogs 22/23
37 England Michael Rogers L 17 August 1997 Warrington, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
Defencemen
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
11 Wales Billy Perks 2001 (age 21) Wales 2022 22/23
13 England Matthew Wainwright L 19 November 1993 Chester, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
14 England Reece Cairney-Witter L 14 February 1995 Bradford, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
15 England Lewis Otley R 30 July 1999 Sheffield, England 2022 from Malungs IF 22/23
19 England Joshua Richardson R 1998 (age 24) Chorley, England 2022 from Bradford Bulldogs 22/23
21 England Micheal Jones R 4 September 1981 England 2022 22/23
55 Wales Ross Kennedy R 30 January 1998 St Asaph, Wales 2022 from Leeds Knights 22/23
91 England Marc Lovell L 2 June 1982 Chester, England 2012 from Flintshire Freeze 22/23
Forwards
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Acquired Contract
4 England Charlie Spridgeon 2001 (age 21) England 2022 from Telford Tigers 2 22/23
5 Wales James Parsons 'C' L 22 September 1987 St Asaph, Wales 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
7 England Alex Parry 1 July 1992 England 2022 from Altrincham Aces 22/23
9 England Gary Dixon R 8 June 1986 Liverpool, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
22 Wales Karl Bacon Wales 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
23 England Simon Furnival R 11 August 1984 Warrington, England 2022 22/23
29 EnglandCanada Andy McKinney R 13 April 1991 Hamilton, ON, Canada 2022 from Telford Tigers 22/23
33 England M.J. Clancy L 17 June 2000 Chester, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
61 England Jared Dickinson R 17 September 1994 Salford, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
72 England Chris Jones R 25 May 1988 Ely, England 2022 22/23
79 Czech Republic Petr Valusiak* L 7 September 1986 Ostrava, Czechia 2022 from Blackburn Hawks 22/23
88 England Christopher Keating 1988 (age 34) England 2022 from Altrincham Aces 22/23
Team Staff
No. Nat. Name Acquired Role Place of birth Joined From
England Michael Clancy 2022/23 Head coach Chester, England Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1
England Matt Compton 2018/19 Assistant coach Chester, England
England David Clancy 2022/23 Goaltending Coach Rinteln, Germany Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1
England Bruce Morton 2014/15 General Manager England
91 England Marc Lovell 2016/17 Player-Assistant Coach Chester, England
Wales Charles Humphreys 2022/23 Equipment Manager Wales Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1


2021/22 Outgoing

Outgoing
No. Nat. Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth Leaving For

References

  1. ↑ "Deeside Dragons at eliteprospects.com". Eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  2. 1 2 Powell, Dave (17 February 2016). "Deeside Dragons crowned Laidler Conference champions". Chesterchronicle. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Aspray Chester Title Sponsors of Deeside Dragons".
  4. ↑ "Deeside Dragons Ice Hockey team bought by Red Hockey – Deeside.com". Archived from the original on 2016-06-30. Retrieved 2016-04-14.
  5. ↑ Porter, Gary (4 April 2016). "Watch Deeside ice hockey bust up that left player with head injury and saw one team walk off". Dailypost.co.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  6. ↑ Powell, Dave (14 July 2016). "Deeside Dragons appoint Scott McKenzie as new player/head coach". Chesterchronicle. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
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