The Invicta Dynamos’ 2012/13 ‘Coach’s Player of the Year’ is back with the club for another season as utility man Arran Strawson put pen to paper for a second term.

25 year old Arran Strawson arrived at the Dynamos in the summer of 2012 but he had caught the eye of Head Coach Kevin Parrish as early as 2008/09 when his Sheffield Spartans side provided the opposition in the ENIHL National Final.

The Yorkshire outfit were beaten that day but Parrish was impressed by the blue liner’s abilities saying, “We actually came up against Arran in a number of clashes and I feel he shone each time. He was a stand-out defenceman in all of our meetings and had many of the qualities any coach would want on their side”.

Following that fixture, Arran Strawson remained with Sheffield’s ENIHL representatives until 2010/11 when the skater stepped up to appear for his hometown club in the league above. 31 EPL outings were followed by a switch to the ENIHL North’s Sutton Sting before a move down south, and to the Isle of Wight, the following year.

By 2012/13, Strawson had then finally found his way to the Dynamos where his no nonsense approach to the game made him an immediate hit with the club’s supporters. The physical skater began the campaign icing primarily as a defenceman but he showed his versatility by finishing the year up front and securing a number of vital goals in the playoffs.

He would end the season having made 48 appearances, netted 8 goals and chipped in with 22 assists for a total of 30 points. He had also amassed 84 minutes of penalties.

Having agreed terms for 2013/14, Arran Strawson will now spend a second year in Kent and his Head Coach is pleased to have secured his services for another season.

Speaking on just his second summer acquisition Kevin Parrish said, “Arran was new to the club last term but, for me, he was one of the stand-out performers. His attitude in training, on the bench and on the ice was always about driving the team forward and it was for this reason that he scooped the ‘Coach’s Player of the Year’ award at the post season presentations”.

The man in charge then commented on what his skater brings to the ice when he said, “Arran is a player who can do a job wherever required and he really stepped up to the plate when the team needed a performance last season.”

“His tally of assists was impressive, he developed a knack of grabbing important goals and his hard hitting style of play was a key feature for the Dynamos throughout the campaign. I am confident we will see more of the same in 2013/14”.

Utility man Arran Strawson becomes the second player to make the team’s roster ahead of the puck drop in September as he joins Alan Lack in the line-up for the new season with Head Coach Kevin Parrish set to reveal further names in the near future.

Picture supplied by David Trevallion