Raiders are delighted to welcome 22 year old Swede Jesper Eriksson, a 6 foot 4 inch , 15 stone forward who joins from Ulricehamns IF in Sweden Division 2.
Jesper grew up playing in Sweden splitting up his time in the Elit, SuperElit, and the Allsvenskan divisions of his U16, U18, U20 career.
Jesper started his Junior Hockey in his home town of Vallentura before moving south to IHK Taby HC, just north of Stockholm, at Under 18 to play at Junior Regional Elite level. He then moved to Brynas IF where he played Under 20 National league.
In total he made over 200 junior appearances scoring 71 goals and 44 assists for 115 points.
He made his senior debut in 2021 back in hometown Vallentura in HockeyEttan.
Proving his appetite for hockey, Jesper moved to North America for the next two seasons in GMHL (Greater Metro Hockey League), firstly for Niagara Predators where he made 25 appearances scoring 28 goals and 30 assists for 58 point. He then moved to Bradford Rattlers for last season where he was his team’s second highest points scoring where in 52 appearances he scored 40 goals and 61 assists for 101 points for a team who ended the season as GMHL Champions.
Jesper also picked up the award as GMHL Most Sportsmanlike Player.
During those seasons, Jesper also made a few appearances in Alps HL for KEU Feldkirch and for Forshaga in Sweden Hockey Ettan.
This season Jesper has been playing in Sweden Division 2 for Ulricehamns IF where he had scored 4 goals and 8 assists in 24 appearances to date.
Jesper is keen to fit in quickly as the next part of a wide variety of hockey experiences as he explained.
“This year before I got the opportunity to play here. I played in Ulricehamn in the Swedish division 2 and before that my career has been like a roller coaster. I feel like a have played around the whole world!
“The past two years was in North America and was a really good experience for me and my hockey and feels like the type of hockey fits me better.
“I am really excited for this UK trip and ready to play and show my skills here too . So I just want this journey with the Raiders to start and meet my new teammates and get to work!
Sean Easton is understandably delighted and relieved that his search has unearthed a potential gem.
“After countless days of searching high and low, with the pressure of deadline day looming, we finally found our guy.
“6’4 Jesper Ericsson, comes to us from Sweden. At only 22 he has experienced a lot of levels of hockey in Sweden plus a two-year stint in Canada where he was his teams 2nd top point scoring forward.
“Jesper will bring good size to our team as well as a smooth pair of hands and moves extremely well for a big guy.
“I am happy to have added the quality and depth to our ever changing lineup, and am really looking forward to meeting Jesper today.
Welcome to Raiders Jesper.
