The Nottingham Panthers have confirmed the signing of netminder Jack Berry for the 2022\/23 Premier Sports Elite League season.<\/p>\n
Jack joins the Panthers from the SPHL\u2019s Peoria Rivermen where he won the SPHL Championship last season. He was also named the SPHL Playoff most valuable player award after leading his team to a 6-3-0 record, posting a 2.44 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage across the nine games.<\/p>\n
The netminder\u2019s performances in Peoria throughout 2021\/22 earned him ECHL call ups with the Atlanta Gladiators and the Iowa Heartlanders.<\/p>\n
Before turning professional in 2020, Jack played four years with the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA, America\u2019s top collegiate sports league, playing in 67 games during his time there.<\/p>\n
Head Coach Gary Graham spoke to panthers.co.uk about adding Jack to his roster for the 2022\/23 season:<\/p>\n
\u201cJack is coming off a playoff MVP performance in Peoria where he led his team to the championship, he\u2019s gaining more confidence with every passing year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is young, hungry and is looking forward to backing up, and working with, our number one Alex Dubeau this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of trust in this goalie tandem and having these two guys on our roster should make for excellent competition during practices.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club will also be able to call upon British netminding pair Luca Sheldon (20) & Matthew Bloor (18) during the coming season.<\/p>\n
Currently icing for the Nottingham Lions (NIHL 1) the duo will get the opportunity to train with the Panthers throughout the week and will serve as back-ups to Alex Dubeau on game days.<\/p>\n
Having both Luca and Matthew available means that whilst one is backing up Alex the other will be able to continue to gain valuable in-game time between the pipes with the Lions ensuring their continued development on all fronts.<\/p>\n
This is the first step in The Nottingham Panthers and Nottingham Lions having a closer working relationship during the upcoming season and beyond to ensure there is a pipeline to the pros created for the next generation of local talent.<\/p>\n
Matt Bradbury of The Nottingham Lions gave his thoughts to panthers.co.uk about the link up: \u201cWe have been in regular communication with both Omar and Gary over the last few weeks and we are excited to be working closely with them. It\u2019s an exciting time for ice hockey in Nottingham and we look forward to strengthening our partnership over the next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an amazing opportunity for both Luca and Matthew as part of their development and it doesn\u2019t get any better than this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are so are grateful for the support from the Panthers to make this possible.\u201d<\/p>\n