It is a welcome back to yet another former Romford junior from the Hornets National Championship Under 16 winning team who has stepped up to the current Raiders. 23 year old Jake Sylvester signs up for a fifth consecutive Raiders season, after an injury hit Spring Cup campaign during February and March.
Jake moved from terrorising the Raiders defence (amongst others) whilst at Chelmsford to making a goal-scoring Raiders debut against Streatham at Lee Valley in 2017. Jake has continued to score on a consistent basis since, averaging almost one point per game, with 133 points ( 77 goals and 56 assists) in 140 Raiders appearances. He currently stands in 37th place in all time scoring (second highest of current Raiders) and in 45th place for all time appearances.
During a successful junior career at Romford, he iced 58 times for the Hornets scoring 56 goals and 36 assists for 92 points. In the final season at RVW in 2012/13, Jake made a total of 35 appearances for Hornets and Buccaneers, scoring 70 goals and 41 assists for a total of 111 points.
After moving to Chelmsford he progressed through their junior development programme into senior hockey for the Warriors in NIHL2, making his Chieftains debut in 2014/15 season and made 82 appearances scoring 32 goals and 30 assists for 62 points, picking up a clutch of trophies as part of the successful Warriors and Chieftains squads
Jake is looking forward to a “normal” season” and getting some fans back into the stands.
“I think we learned a lot during the Spring Cup and can carry it into the new season. I think we are all working to be as competitive as ever and hope to be challenging the top teams in the play offs come the end of season.”
The squad stability is key for Jake.
“I think having a core that have been together a few years will help. We know what we are going to get from certain players and how they play and I think it helps reading the game and adapting in a fast environment. We need to take advantage of that early in the season and hit the first game in full stride”
Sean Easton has worked with Jake for many years and understands what makes Jake tick.
“Jake is a natural goal scorer. He finds the areas well and once the puck is on his stick in front of goal there is only one outcome.
“I have coached Jake for a long time. He is a great character to have around the room and his enthusiasm is second to none.
Welcome back Jake.
