Head Coach Gary Shaw on the D2 Dragons' bench (photo by Adam Bassett)
Deeside D2 Dragons Head Coach Gary Shaw has declared the development
team’s season so far a "success" and added:
“We as a coaching group are happy with the way the team is starting to
compete in every game. We are having some really close matches between
ourselves and the teams that are above us in the table.”
“The juniors of the team are becoming stronger in their performances and
learning quickly how to control the puck during play and we are having some
very strong performances, which is our goal for this team.”
“Which is now leading to more of them training at the next level Dragons
and they are performing well at practice at that stage.”
The D2 Dragons were formed during the summer after a rebranding of the
Deeside Ducks team that played in the Laidler Division last season and they
have continued their policy of giving regular league match experience to
promising younger players.
So far this season, the D2 Dragons have given senior NIHL debuts to 7
players, retained many of the youngsters who made the big step up form junior
hockey last year and have also recruited a few former senior Dragons players to
their ranks as well to offer some stability and guidance to these young
protégés.
As of the end of the 2025 calendar year, the D2 Dragons team have won 5
of the 14 league games that they have played and sit in 5th place
out of 9 teams in the Laidler Division table.
Now, while that may only sound like a fairly “average” performance, at
the same time last season the Deeside Ducks - who were playing their first
league season with a lot more NIHL debutants - had only managed two wins from
15 starts and were second from bottom.
So in terms of points on the board – along with first ever wins over
Altrincham Aces and Kingston Sharks – significant progress has, indeed, been made.
James Shaw is the D2 Dragons’ leading points scorer at this stage of the
season with 15 goals and 5 assists from the 12 games that he has played. James
Parsons is second with 9+6 from 13 games and Chris Jones is the leading playmaker
with 11 assists.
A total of 32 different players have iced for the development team, of which
22 have got on the scoresheet with at least one goal or assist.
Shaw added:
“We are in a good position in the table this year and have won more
games than we did last season, and if we can pick up some more points we can
keep our position which is just below the top four.”
“Our goal to provide the opportunity for our junior players to improve
their skills is in a strong position as two more 16 year olds we give the
opportunity to ice for the team.”
“We finished the year off with a solid performance to beat a tricky
opponent (Nottingham), who also are providing the opportunity for young players
to get more confidence at senior level.”
“So, our goal for the next part of this season is to keep our current
position in the league and build on the momentum that we are currently
developing with our team and hopefully provide more opportunities for the next
generation of young players coming through the club.”
The D2 Dragons face four away games in a row when play restarts in the
new year – in Sheffield on 4th January, Coventry on 10th, Altrincham
on 11th and Nottingham on 8th February.
They are next at home on Saturday 14th February when they
take on Coventry Blaze at Deeside Leisure Centre.
