Cardiff Fire are pleased to announce that 4 players will join Lewis Lunn in singing two-ways with Cardiff juniors.
16 year old Yaqub Barnwell, 17 year old Louis James, 17 year old Tobias Gale and 16 year old Arthur Leceau will join up with the Fire on two-way agreements with Cardiff under 18’s for the 2023/24 season.
Director of Hockey Mark Cuddihy added:
Cardiff has always been a powerhouse for junior hockey development. We haven’t had as many guys step up from juniors over the last few years as we’d have liked, those that have did great. I am delighted that we have agreed 5 players on agreements with Cardiff juniors to further develop them for senior hockey.
Cardiff juniors are back in the A league and have some very promising kids coming through, thanks to the great work that Jason Stone and his coaching team are doing. Stoney and I go back quite a few decades and it’s been fantastic to have a strong link with the senior and junior clubs to further develop these great lads.
Head Coach Elis Sheppard continued:
It is positive that the Fire have re-introduced a strong relationship with the junior system over the previous seasons and I am excited to say this has continued.
Toby Gale and Arthur Luceau joined up with the team towards the latter end of the season and proved to be valuable assets to the team.
Toby brought pace to the team, along with a never say die attitude on the ice. In the offensive zone, he also generated good goal scoring opportunities by making himself available for passes. I believe another year of playing senior hockey will improve his overall game and will continue to develop him into an all-round ice hockey player.
Arthur unfortunately suffered a season ending injury during the last season, so we were unable to see him play as much as we liked. However, within the games he did play, he did not look out of place considering he was new into senior hockey. I am excited to see Arthur progress with a full season of senior hockey.
Louis came to us via the trials during the summer. I was impressed with Louis’ skating ability and positioning in defence. I spoke with Louis after the trial and he expressed his desire to be part of the team and progress. It was a no brainer to include him as part of our team this season.
Yaqub also came to trials during the off season. I was impressed with his calmness on the puck and his poke check ability. Yaqub is only young, but it will be beneficial for his development to be introduced into senior hockey this season.
Welcome to the Fire family Yaqub and Louis, and welcome back Tobias and Arthur! #FireItUp
Photos by James Assinder
