Phoenix give Juniors chance to shine

Tuesday, 20th November 2007

Manchester Phoenix player coach Tony Hand is putting his faith in some of the clubs junior talent as he seeks to add experience to the club for future campaigns.

Hand has recently invited netminders Benn Schofield and Adam Summerfield together with forward Phil Hamer to join his Elite League squad in training and they proven themselves worthy of the call to join the senior team roster for the remainder of the season.

Hand commented, “Aran Fox came to me a couple of weeks ago and advised that his situation was such that he needed to get a full time job and that he’s have to put hockey on the backburner so to speak for a while. Obviously, the team needs a back-up goalie so I invited Benn and Adam to join us in training to see how they would fare.”

Schofield plays for the Phoenix English National League team while Summerfield has been earning rave reviews at the Under-18 level as the Phoenix squad has begin the season in 100% winning fashion. Hand added, “both of them have done well in training and seem eager to make the most of the opportunity we’ve presented them with. They’ll continue to play for their normal teams, but will alternate in the back-up role for the senior team.”

Phoenix have also given Under-18 forward Phil Hamer the same training opportunity and a club spokesperson noted of the prospect, “He seems a good kid, works hard and has done really well for the Under-18 team this season. By bringing the three lads into the mix at training with the senior professionals is important in many ways. They get to train at a totally different level and that can only be good for the club in the long-term as it’ll help their current teams and gives us the chance to call on our own younger guys to step up when necessary and hopefully perform well in special circumstances. Like Benn and Adam, Phil has been registered with the Elite League and is eligible to play if we need to draft him in.”

Phoenix give Juniors chance to shine

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