Tony Hand, greatest British Ice Hockey player, retiring at seasons end

Tony Hand, greatest British Ice Hockey player, retiring at seasons end

Tony Hand, the greatest British Ice Hockey player is retiring at the end of the season. His reasoning being that, whilst he can still play, it is time to let the younger players come through and he can concentrate on bringing new players through as coach of the Manchester Phoenix. Tony Hand's career started as a 14 year old in 1981 and is finally bringing it to a close 34 years later at the age of 47 years.

Tony Hand's career started as a 14 year old for the Murrayfield Racers in the defunct, one season, Scottish National League in 1981-82 season where he maintained a 1.00 PPG rate through the eight games. He only originally played because of a player shortage and he scored his first assist on a Chris Kelland goal on the 17th of October 1981.

The Scottish  National League only lasted that season, but in the same season the  Murrayfield Racers also took part in the NIHA. The NIHA was tougher and Hand dropped to three points through 11 games. But Hand had started and was to begin to make his mark in the following seasons.

After scoring 42 points in 24 games in the 1982/83 season for Murrayfield he established himself and began to dominate. His production continued to increase as the seasons went on and in just in his second full-time season he had his first 50 goal season, scoring 52 in just 30 games for 8th in the scoring list. The following season (83/84) he earned his 100th career and took control of the assist lead in the leagues history surpassing Roy Halpin's 107.

Despite his dominance the Racers lost the first two seasons in the finals against the Dundee Rockets and the Fife Flyers. In the 1985-86 season they managed to win it and Hand started to attract interest from across the pond, being invited to a training camp with the Calgary Flames. In the end, he was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers with the 252 pick in the 12th round and he decamped to their camp instead earning the chance of training alongside Wayne Gretzky. He was only the second British born player to be drafted.

Despite being offered youth contract to play in the Western Hockey League with the Victoria Cougars, but he found issues with the stress and press attention and return to Scotland shortly after citing homesickness having scored eight points in three games. The NHL's loss was the British games gain as he returned to the more familiar surroundings of the Murrayfield Racers. He didn't hold back and completely destroyed the league scoring 105 goals and 111 assist for an incredible 216 points.

He briefly returned to Canada and played for the Edmonton Oilers, but again he turned down a deal. Something which he later said he regretted;

In his autobiography, Hand concedes that this was perhaps a mistake and that perhaps he should have re-negotiated the offer. In the foreword, Sather expressed his disappointment that "he didn't accept my deal because he could have advanced in North America. His progress would have been celebrated." Indeed, Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect." Tony Hand

He returned to his dominance in the British League in the next three seasons putting together 220 goals and 328 assists for a total of 548 points in just 103 games for a great 5.32 PPG. Hand continued to play for the Racers until the 1993-94 season before they folded at the seasons end. In total for the Racers he put together an incredible 1932 regular season points in just 409 games for a 4.72  PPG pace.

After another 200+ point season with the Edinburgh Racers in 1994-95 season he moved to the Sheffield Steelers after the Racers also went bankrupt. He remained at the Steelers until the end of the century before returning to his homeland, where he became a bit of a journeyman playing for Ayr, Dundee and Edinburgh in just five seasons.

After a season spell in Belfast for the 2005-06 season and a brief return to the Edinburgh Capitals for the 2006-2007 he settled in Manchester taking a head coach position with the Phoenix, playing in the English Ice Hockey League. Hand had been a play-coach at Dundee, Edinburgh and Belfast before this move. He remained with the  Phoenix until the end of his career, this year and to date he has scored 708 points showing that, despite his advancing year he is still able to be a highly effective player.

Hand has left an indelible mark on the British game, but with him putting up his skates there is an opportunity for a new generation of British players to make their own names now. One to keep out for is a 2016 draft eligible player called Samuel Duggan, playing in Sweden for Orebro in the J-18 Elite system. He has potential to be drafted.

As for Hand, the  Manchester Phoenix managed to advance to the Finals weekend in Coventry on the 4th and 5th of April at the SkyDome. It would be a great way for him to end his career by winning the title.