The Gold and Blue army are the heart and soul of the Raiders
The Sparkling Sapphire sees two home games this weekend as the Second team face Oxford at home on Saturday 7th and will be wanting a repeat of the significant wins enjoyed against the stars earlier in the pre-season challenge games. 5-15pm face off as usual and if you cannot make it to see live then
Raiders Junior head Ben Pitchley has decided to bare his head, all in the aid of a very worthy cause Head here ↓ to find out more about Kirsty Hopgood and the cause Ben is helping to support. Ben’s Charity appeal And go here ↓ for the just giving page coordinating the funds Kirsty Hopgood
Another two game weekend for Raiders senior team as they head to Bracknell on Saturday intent on maintaining their dominant form against the Bees. It is then back to home action on Sunday in the Sapphire as Raiders take on Basingstoke and will be remembering the penalty shoot out against the Bison just 3 weekends
Jacob Ranson returns home for another season in the Gold and Blue
Raiders are happy to welcome back Current GB Under 18 international Callum Burnett for his fourth season Gold and Blue. Callum, the first player born in the 21st century to make a Raiders appearance, returns to the Gold and Blue having played in the Under 18 World Championships for Great Britain in both of the past two seasons making 9 appearances. He also played for England Under 19 in the annual challenge against Scotland last season.
Defenceman Callum made 19 appearances (tasking him to 79 appearances in total and 97th position in overall appearances) for the Raiders last season scoring five assists. In addition he made 23 appearances for Raiders 2 scoring four goals and 10 assists for 14 points. Callum also found time to make four appearances for Raiders Juniors Under 18 scoring twice.
Callum made his Raiders debut in an NIHL league game at Invicta in January 2017 and later that season scored his only Raiders 1 goal, the Raiders 4th goal in a 4-4 draw at Bracknell Hornets.
Callum started his junior career at Rom Valley Way but following the closure of the Romford rink, Callum moved to Slough Jets to progress through their junior ranks. In season 2017/18, Callum moved to Chelmsford making 11 appearances for Chelmsford Under 18 Mohawks, scoring four goals and eight assists for 12 points. Callum has also making appearances each year for South East in the Inter Regional Conference, captaining the team in 2018. Callum has also made 13 tournament appearances for Great Britain Under 16s, scoring twice with assists on two further goals.
23 year old forward Lukas Sladkovsky joins the Raiders having split last season between HC Orlova and HC Tabor both of whom play in Czech Division 3 scoring a total of 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points. Lukas is 6 foot 1 inch 187lb and shoots left handed.
Lukas played the majority of his junior career for Sparta Prague averaging a point a game at Under 16 and Under 18 levels. For their Under 20 team, Lukas made 53 appearances scoring 23 goals and 7 assists for 30 points.
Lukas also had a season in GMHL League in Ontario Canada for Bracebridge Phantoms scoring 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points. In 2014/15 he had half a season in German NL2 for Landshut Under 19 averaging nearly 1.5 points per game and at Under 20 level scored 28 goals and 13 assists for 41 points in 21 appearances in Slovakia Under 20 Division 2.
Lukas’s senior career has seen him play for HC Slovan Usti nad Labem in Czech Division 2 and HC Decin in Czech 3 before a season playing in Federal Hockey League (FHL) splitting the season between North Shore Knights (in Canada), Watertown Wolves (USA) and Cornwall Nationals (Canada) making a total of 18 games scoring 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points.