Phoenix sign new British forwards

Last Tuesday brought the news of two new British forwards to next season's Phoenix team.

Ciaran Long joins us from Basingstoke Bison where he iced for only one season. Long made a great impression scoring 15 goals and 15 assists in 39 games and becoming a very versatile member of the team, playing as a winger across two lines. The 20 year old from Birmingham started his career with the Swindon Wildcats where he iced in his first game at only 14 years old. He continued to play with Swindon until the 2009-2010 season when he joined the Slough Jets and was part of the EPL Playoff winning team.

Long is a very feisty player and racked up a total of 114 penalty minutes last season. He agitates the opposition but is very capable of scoring goals. I think that Long is a good signing for Phoenix and shows that Tony Hand is moving away from signing someone to take on the role of the "enforcer" and is looking for physical players who can skate. I would like to see him playing on both the 2nd and 3rd line to mix things up a bit but I think that Tony Hand will play him on the 3rd line with Tom Duggan. I can't see him fighting Payette but I can see him annoying players enough to make them drop the gloves. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do next season.

Josh Ward played on a three way contract last season with the Nottingham Leopards, Nottingham Panthers and Peterborough Phantoms scoring 5 goals and 13 assists. The 19 year old was a product of the junior system in Nottingham and has spent most of his career there. He managed to get himself into the Panthers team in the 2009-2010 season and scored his first goal in the January against Newcastle. He also helped them to win the Elite League Playoffs the following season.

Ward has a lot of energy when on the ice and I think that the team need this. I think that him and Tom Duggan will run, sorry, skate rings around the opposition especially if they are playing on the same line together. If Duggan, Ward and Long do end up as the 3rd line, the energy and passion that these players have will be a great combination and Long may be the key to stopping the cheap shots that Duggan picked up last season. I think that Ward will continue to develop his skills and career with us and I'm hoping that his presence within the team will create a better drive than last season to fight to win the games.

I'm looking forward to more Phoenix news this Tuesday and maybe news of some imports!!!! ;)