Wildcats One to Watch

Name: Colby Tower

Date of Birth: 12/02/1997

Nationality: Canadian

Height: 5’9”

Weight: 12st 13lbs

Position: Centre/Right Wing

Shoots: Right

 

The Wildcats player to keep an eye out for this evening is new to the team this year and opened his scoring account with team last weekend, scoring a superb solo effort which ended with a backhand shot into the roof of the net. Colby Tower was born in Nova Scotia; Canada and he grew up playing hockey in the Nova Scotia junior system.

 

At the age of 17 Tower was signed in the QMJHL for the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, the QMJHL is one of the best junior hockey leagues in Canada and this is just one example of Tower’s pedigree. In total he played 96 games for the Screaming Eagles, scoring 28 points before being moved to the Quebec Ramparts during his second year and Tower played a further 19 games here.

 

After his two seasons in the QMJHL Tower spent the following two years playing in minor junior leagues scoring 54 points in 63 games. By this point he had finished his junior hockey days and had a decision to make, Tower chose to enrol at Nipissing University and he played for 3 seasons in the Canadian USports system. Similar to the NCAA in the United States the USports system is the top level of university sport in the country.

 

Tower spent 3 seasons playing with Nipissing University and in that time, he played in 64 games, scoring 38 points including 13 goals.

 

This now brings us to the current season and while Tower’s previous scoring numbers have not been spectacular, he has played a lot of games at a very high level. Also, from what we have seen of him in preseason I think it is safe to say the Wildcats have managed to get a great player who should only go from strength to strength as he adapts to the league and his new team.

Tigers One to Watch

Name: Matty Davies

Date of Birth: 15/02/1990

Nationality: British

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 11st 11lbs

Position: Centre/Left Wing

Shoots: Left

 

The One to Watch for this evening is a British forward Matty Davies, he was born in Hull and came up through their junior system, but he is also someone who is familiar to Wildcat fans as he spent a two year stint in Swindon during the 2000’s.

 

Back in 2005 Davies made his senior debut with the Kingston Jets in the old ENL and next year, in his first full season in senior hockey he played with the Solihull Barons in the EPL. He put up an impressive points total given he was just 16 at the time, Davies scored 35 points in 43 games and it was this performance that led Pete Russell, then GB Under 20s coach, to bring him to Swindon.

 

Following his time in Swindon, Davies got his chance in the Elite League with his hometown team, the Hull Stingrays. For the next 5 seasons he played for Hull and this was only interrupted by a short stop with Peterborough in the EPL, for the 5th and final season of the Hull Stingrays as a franchise, Davies was given the honour of captaining his boyhood club. The Hull Stingrays franchise folded and was relocated in Manchester as the Storm and Davies moved with them to captain an Elite League side once again.

 

His season in Manchester proved to be his last in the UK’s top tier and Davies took the decision to move down a league with the Telford Tigers, he was part of the all-star Tigers team won the EPL at a canter.

 

His time in Telford was short lived and following this Davies took the chance to move back home and he played for the Hull Pirates for the next 3 years until the team were forced to miss a season due to a rink refurbishment and then subsequently fold. During the hiatus for hockey in Hull, Davies joined the Leeds Knights and scored 41 points in 34 games to help the Knights in their first season as a team that included an appearance in the Autumn Cup final.

 

This season however, the opportunity arose to resurrect hockey in Hull and with a consortium of local business owners Davies has become part owner of the Hull Seahawks. This season he is taking on the Player/Coach role so it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his very high playing standards along with this additional responsibility.