SOLWAY Sharks will enter a development team into Scotland’s premier ice hockey competition next season.
The newly approved Scottish National League team will be affiliated with the established Sharks junior side.
Scottish Ice Hockey say that the launch of a Sharks Scottish National League team will “strengthen their development pathway and provide more opportunities for emerging players”.
The Dumfries ice hockey outfit have become well-established in the Planet Ice NIHL National Division since joining the league ahead in the 2023/24 season.
And head coach Martin Grubb said: “This is a positive step forward for ice hockey in Dumfries as we add to our player development pathway.
“The addition of an SNL team shows how we have grown as a club and also shows our commitment to developing a long term vision that will allow players to develop without having to go to another club like we’ve had to do over the past few seasons.
“We set up the prospect programme and now we can expand this in to an SNL team to allow players the chance to maximise their potential with a clear pathway from LTP right through to the National League and that can only be a good thing for Dumfries and for ice hockey in this country.
“There has been a lot of hard work gone in to making this work and it shows that by working together we can grow the game in Dumfries and it’s an exciting move for the clubs and Dumfries Ice Bowl.”
