Vectis Tigers
Encyclopedia
The Wightlink Tigers are an amateur English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team from the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...

, they are currently in pool A of the southern conference of the ENIHL. Although no promotion or relegation system exists between the leagues (apart from between the two ENIHL divisions), the ENIHL is seen as the third tier of English ice hockey. The Isle of Wight also have a team in the EPIHL called the Wightlink Raiders
Wightlink Raiders
The Wightlink Raiders are an ice hockey team based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England. They are sponsored by Wightlink and play in the third-tier English National Ice Hockey League...

 although they play at the same arena the teams currently are not linked in any way.

History

At the end of the 2006/2007 hockey season the EIHA (English Ice Hockey Association) made a decision that the current junior ice hockey format in England needed updating. After much discussion it was agreed that juniors would now end at 'under 18s'. This left many Junior players across the country with a sudden loss of teams to play for. Players not good enough for the English Premier League (EPIHL) but who didn't just want to play Recreational (Rec) hockey were left with only one choice but to play in the ENIHL (Formally English Division 1). Roy Meadows along with the help and support of Campbell MacFarlane as well as many other committed helpers formed the basis of what became the Wightlink Tigers. It also gave the chance for many Isle of Wight Wildcats
Isle of Wight Wildcats
The Isle of Wight Wildcats are a Youth Ice hockey team based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight and are coached by Justin Attrill. They are sponsored by Wightlink and play in the second-tier of the South under 18 youth Ice hockey league . The Wildcats are a source for the Wightlink Raiders and the...

 players to contiune playing Ice Hockey on the Isle of Wight

After a failed attempt a few years previous of bringing an ED1 team to the Isle of Wight, it was great news in July 2007 it was announced the Wightlink Tigers had been accepted to play in the Southern group of the ENL.

The Tigers did not have the best of starts to their history, losing their first 15 games of their opening season. However, there have been moments where the Tigers have pound for pound matched some of the better teams in the league.
On February 17, 2008, the Vectis Tigers recorded their first competitive win in the clubs history, beating namesakes the Telford ENL Tigers 5-2 in the last game of the season.

2008-2009

The first names for the 2008-2009 roster were announced 08/08/08 and include returnees Micheal Treadwell and 2007-2008s players player Aaron Taylor joined by former Solihull Barons
Solihull Barons
Solihull Barons are an English ice hockey team from the town of Solihull who play at Solihull Ice Rink on Hobbs Moat Road. They were formed in 2005, although they are named after the team of the same name who played at the same ice rink between 1972 and 1996...

 player Elliott Foley. Micheal Palin and Joe Osborne return as Captain and Alternate respectively while Ex-Wightlink Raiders
Wightlink Raiders
The Wightlink Raiders are an ice hockey team based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England. They are sponsored by Wightlink and play in the third-tier English National Ice Hockey League...

 player Steve Gosset makes the move down to the ENL to concentrate on his studying. Former Gosport players David Webb, Kent Johnson and Alex Murray join the squad followed by Daniel Giden who along with Scott Carter bring a wealth of British EPL hockey experience to the team from the Wightlink Raiders
Wightlink Raiders
The Wightlink Raiders are an ice hockey team based in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England. They are sponsored by Wightlink and play in the third-tier English National Ice Hockey League...

. Jason Coles joins mid way through the season and the team is guided to 2nd spot in the league behind last years EPL team the Chelmsford Chieftans. Playoff hockey was at Ryde Arena and saw the Tigers take on The MK Thunder who finished 2nd to bottom in the South 1 league. The latter came out victorious and stayed up.

2009-2010

The Wightlink Raiders drop from EPL to ENL South 1 which sees an exodus of players make the step up. David Webb, Kevin Tanner, Kent Johnson, Steve Gossett, Kieran Annis and Alex Murray all left for the Raiders which left large holes in the Tigers Roster. Returnees included Jason Coles as Captain, Adam Rich, Niall Bound, Joe Osbourne, Ricky Attrill, Richard Nembhard, Rowen Salter, Tony Blaize, Aaron Knight, Martin Goddard, Thomas Eklund, Graham MacFarlane, Chris Randall, Richard Gutteridge and Jamie Lee. Returning was veteran Paul Sanderson after a season out. Juniors icing with the tigers this season included Aaron Edwards, Richard Wilks, Jordan Rickets and James McEllan. The first game of the season was played against the Wightlink Raiders as a friendly with raiders coming out top on a 9-0 win. Niall Bound left soon after to step up to ENL 1 but were joined later in the season by Ricky Rutherford and Nathan Webb from the Haringey Greyhounds
Haringey Greyhounds
The Haringey Greyhounds are a British ice hockey club based in Harringay, England.The team was founded in 1990, as the second team at Alexandra Palace, the first being Haringey Racers. In 1992, Racers collapsed, leaving Greyhounds as the rink's first team. They entered the English Conference and...

. James Eklund made the step up from newly formed Rec team the Solent Vikings.

2010-2011

Returnees include James Eklund, Ricky Attrill, Graham MacFarlane, Ricky Rutherford, Martin Goddard, Joe Osbourne, Richard Gutteridge, Nathan Webb, Jason Coles, Tony Blaize, Christopher Randall and Jamie Lee. New to the squad are Peter Scovell who after uni for 3years has returned to hockey for his first competitive season after Juniors. Dan Giden and Scott Carter return after a year out from the sport. Elliot Folley is back in the net after a stint with the Swindon Wildcats. Making his first season in competitive hockey is former junior Shaun harris. Also back is former captain Micheal Palin after finding it hard to commit last year due to work commitments. Not returning are both renowned tough guy Adam Rich and Rowen Salter who make the switch to the Solent Vikings due to work and family commitments. Aaron Taylor is out after braking a foot last year and has not returned.
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