The Gold and Blue army are the heart and soul of the Raiders
We are delighted to offer a warm Raiders “welcome home” to another former Romford Junior as 24 years old Jacob Ranson returns for his fourth stint as a senior Raider. The speedy and tenacious forward has made 85 appearances (ranked 88th overall for Raider appearances), scoring 20 goals and 13 assists for 33 points (ranked
Raiders latest signing is……. Well you be the person to name him! He is waaaay over 6 feet tall on a good day and wraps a cuddly interior with a cuddly exterior and we think the youngsters are going to love him and the crowds are going to enjoy his antics on game day. The
Just as we thought things had settled Raiders prepare for an addition and its a big one. Watch this space for news of this and the first fans events to whet your appetite for the big National League season
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.
Welcome to Romford and the UK to 22 year old Czech Marek Malinsky.
Marek is 6 foot tall and weighs in at 195 lbs and is experienced as both a forward and defender.
Last season Marek played for Kalix HC in Sweden 1 League, making 27 appearances, scoring one goal and seven assists.
Marek played the majority of his junior hockey career at HC Hradec Kralove. At Under 16 and Under 18 level he scored 42 goals and 55 assists for 97 points in 125 appearances. In Czech Under 20 Division 2, Marek scored 20 goals and 17 assists for 37 points in 36 appearances.
Marek had two teams in seasons 2016/17 and 2017/18 in North America playing for Kingsville Kings in Greater Metro Hockey League (GMHL) making 48 appearances scoring 25 goals and 31 asssits for 56 points; and in Federal Hockey League for SCS Fighting Saints and North Shore Knightsd making 21 appearances scoring seven goals and noine assists for 16 points.
New to the UK this season, Mareks previous team history can be found on Elite prospects here ↓
17 year old Netminder Brad Windebank steps up from being the regular Raiders 2 netminder to replace the departed Ben Clements and to hopefully start a legacy that will in time rival that of Michael Grays.
Last season Brad played a pivotal role in the Raiders NIHL2 team, earning recognition from players around the league in being voted to the League All Star second team. Brad missed just one game for Raiders 2 (due to a Raiders 1 call up) being in the net for 1483 minutes facing 987 shots conceding 99 goals for a 89.97% save percentage. Brad also spent 110 minutes in the net for Raiders 1 conceding 3 goals from 50 shots for a 94% save percentage. Brad also made six league appearances for the Raiders Under 18 team and had a 98.7% save percentage.
Brad played his junior hockey for Romford until RVW closed down; and played three seasons in the Chelmsford junior organisation, two at Under 15 and last season at Under 18 Brad has had a save percentage exceeding 90% , with a best of 93.5% in his final Under 15 season.
Brad has been a regular in the South East Regional team at every age group winning the tournament MVP at Under 11. He has made six appearances for England Under 13 in Pee Wee competitions, and has made five Great Britain Under 16 appearances in two tournaments where he produced a save percentage exceeding 95% in both.
Raiders are delighted to announce the return of Players’ Player of the Year Michael Gray for his tenth season in Gold and Blue. A regular “man of the match” award winner last season, and arguably missing out on a few more in the eyes of many, Michael’s popular return was in little doubt in the eyes of Raiders management.
Last season, Michael made 45 appearances for the Raiders, spending 1859 minutes between the pipes, facing 1192 shots conceding 109 goals for a 90.86 save percentage.
Michael’s return for the Gold and Blue will extend all club netminding records (netminding minutes; appearances, shots faced; saves) that he currently holds. Michael has made 294 appearances for the Raiders (12th position overall) and 117 more than the second best appearance record for a netminder (Russ Jackson).
To date he has spent 13635 minutes between the pipes for the Raiders, has faced 8550 shots and conceded 857 goals for a 89.98 save percentage. In addition Michael appeared for Romford Spitfires in seasons 2006/07 and 2008/09 making 21 appearances for a 88% save percentage
Michael played most of his junior career in the Slough organisation where he made his senior debut for Sough Harrier Hawks at 14 years of age. After a spell playing for Chelmsford Under 19s, he moved to play for Romford’s second team (Spitfires) and the Under 19 Buccaneers.
Michael subsequently had a season icing for Streatham Redskins and apart from a brief spell at Invicta Dynamos and a season not icing, Michael has iced for Romford / London Raiders and Romford Spitfires since 2006.