Elvis Veldze - MVP for Fylde Flyers (Photo by Adam Tranter) |
Having said that, this particular signing is rather special as
Widnes Wild’s new Latvian forward Elvis Veldze was previously with the Fylde
Flyers team that we used to work with and so is worthy of a mention.
The returning Widnes Wild player coach, Ollie
Barron, looks to be putting together a very strong team for the forthcoming
NIHL North 2 (Laidler) season with many of the top names from last season coming
back for another crack at the league title and, with the signing of a second
import to boost the line-up, he has certainly set his stall out.
Elvis is a very exciting player to watch. He is very tall,
has a rocket shot and used to score goals from behind the half way line – although
that was, obviously, easier at the Flyers‘ SubZero home rink in Cleveleys which
was only half the size of everybody else’s….!
In his first game for Fylde in October 2011, he scored 5
goals in the Flyers’ 18-6 defeat away at Solway Sharks - which may not sound much
but they had been shut out 16-0 the previous week at the same venue - and that eventually
turned out to be the highest score by a visiting team away at Solway all that
season. Now, I don’t have any particular
figures to back this up but I doubt that many visiting players have scored 5
goals away at Solway over the years…
Elvis was the Fylde Flyers’ top goal scorer In the 2011/12
season with 33 goals in 25 games and finished their second top scorer overall
with 33+20, behind another current Widnes player Bobby Caunce who was top with
27+37. The following season, he had trouble balancing work / training and travel
commitments and only managed 5 games for the Flyers in which he scored
2+1.
Elvis picked up 26 PIM in this game against Blackburn Eagles in 2012/13 (Photo by Lisa Jones) |
The Flyers struggled to be competitive in the two years that
they existed and were unable to develop as a team as they had trouble attracting
new players to come and play on their “compact and bijou" playing surface. This
meant that we probably never got to see the “real deal” Veldze.
He has spent time in the intervening years playing back in
his native Latvia so will, undoubtedly, return to these shores a more experienced
and rounded player. It will be interesting
to see how he fares this season playing with a competitive team on a fully sized
rink!