The Deeside Dragons NIHL2 team have added to
their squad ahead of the forthcoming Laidler Division season with the arrival of
a former senior Dragons player, some returning Ducks and a few 2-way juniors.
Cameron Kushnirenko
(Photo by Keith & Jenny Davies)
Cameron Kushnirenko played for the senior
Dragons team in the Laidler Division in the 2019/20 season and brings with him
a wealth of experience at Division 2 level.
The former Bradford junior has played some
170 senior competitive games with two seasons with the Bulldogs, one at Altrincham
and three at Sutton Sting to go with his season with the Dragons.
He has scored 14 goals and 49 assists from his
defensive role and notched up an impressive 543 penalty minutes over his 7
senior seasons.
Dragons NIHL2 Head Coach Gary Shaw said of
Kushnirenko:
“I am pleased to welcome
Cameron back under my wing for the coming season. He originally came to Deeside
with a bit of a reputation for mouthing off at the officials and got a lot of
penalties for this, which I addressed and I had him focus on his work on the
ice and this reduced his penalties vastly.”
“The hard work he has now put in has made him a very good defenceman and
he is a player that we can rely on to help bring the young players on. So, I'm
looking forward to the positive impact that I know he will bring to our future
players.”
Two players who played for the team last season when they were known as
the Deeside Ducks are back for the new campaign.
Liam Yarwood
(Photo by All Sports
Photography)
Liam Yarwood made his senior debut last season and played in 15 Ducks games,
scoring 1 assist, while Callum Garwell made 1 Laidler Division appearance.
The whole point of the Dragons NIHL2 team is to encourage young talent and
act as a stepping stone between the Deeside junior teams and the Dragons senior
side.
This worked very well last season with the erstwhile Ducks team giving senior
debuts to over 20 young players who might not have had the chance to play at NIHL
level so early in their careers and the policy will continue this season.
This season again, the club have identified a number of promising players
from the Under 19s team who will be able to play up to gain extra experience and
ice time with the Dragons in the Laidler Division.
These include defenceman Lewis Edward, who is a former Telford Tigers and
Dragons Under 16 player, netminder Finn Ogden who is the younger brother of Dragons
player Cody Ogden, and Leo Hyman who is another promising junior netminder. 
Finn Ogden
(Photo by Andrea Petrie)
The Dragons NIHL2
team begin their season with back to back friendly matches against Bradford
Bulldogs before their NIHL Laidler Division campaign gets under way.
They will take on the
Bulldogs at home at Deeside Leisure Centre on Saturday 30th August –
face off 5.15 pm – and travel away to West Yorkshire for the return fixture the
next day.
