Ones To Watch VS Sheffield Steeldogs

Swindon Wildcats One to Watch

Name: Reed Sayers

The one to watch for our home team tonight is a young forward right on the cusp of having a real breakout year in the NIHL National, Reed Sayers has huge potential and he’s beginning to deliver on that this year.

Sayers is Swindon born and bred and came up through the junior system in the town, from a young age his talent as a forward has been very evident and he’s never found scoring a problem. At the age of 16 Sayers joined the Okanagan Academy in Swindon and he had a superb scoring record in the two years he played with them, he played 38 games and scored 115 points.

It was in 2017 that Sayers also made his debut in senior ice hockey first with the 2^nd Swindon Wildcats side who play in NIHL2 but it was in this season that he also made his debut with the senior Wildcats side that year while they were competing in NIHL1.

For the following two season Sayers split his time between Okanagan, Swindon Wildcats 2 and Cardiff Fire. He got game time in junior, NIHL2 and NIHL1. At this young age getting game time is all important so by playing as much as he could it really did supercharge his development and made him ready for the step up to the NIHL National with the senior Wildcats team. It was also during this time that Sayers made his only appearance at an international level, he was selected to play with Great Britain U-18s for their World Junior campaign in 2018-19.

Following the resumption of British ice hockey post-pandemic in 2021 Sayers was signed up full time for the Wildcats and in his debut season in the NIHL National Sayers put up 14 points in the 44 games he played. His promise was evident from this debut season and Sayers re-signed for the Wildcats this year and is currently on pace to score 40 points in 56 games this season if he maintains his performance levels.

Sheffield Steeldogs One to Watch

Name: Matt Bissonnette

Tonight’s one to watch for our oppenents is a high scoring import forward who has returned for his second year with the Sheffield Steeldogs. Bissonnette was born in Quebec, Canada and played in the major junior leagues in Canada during his junior career.

In the 5 seasons that he played in the QMJHL Bissonnette played for 4 separate teams including the Moncton Wildcats, Chicoutimi Sagueneens, Lewiston Maineiacs and Acadie-Bathurst Titans. He found most of his success with Acadie-Bathurst, in 112 games with them he scored 140 points including 52 goals.

After finishing his major junior career Bissonnette made the move over to Europe and played for 2 years with Chamonix in the Ligue Magnus in France where he put up just shy of a point per game. Following this spell in France he made his way to the UK and signed with the Manchester Storm in the Elite League, he had a good first year with the Storm scoring 43 points in 43 games.

In the next season Bissonnette had a very disrupted time playing for Manchester and Belfast in the Elite League before finishing the year with Epinal in France. After this season he returned to the Elite League with the Dundee Stars and this was to be his last year in the Elite League.

In the 2019-20 season Bissonnette signed in the NIHL National with the Hull Pirates and he was an instant success, in the 17 games he played he scored 35 points including 27 assists. During the pandemic hit season of 2020/21 he chose not to play and then with the return of hockey for the 21/22 season and the choice of Hull to sit out the year Bissonnette was quickly recruited by the Sheffield Steeldogs. He had a great year with the Steeldogs, scoring 76 points in the 40 games he played. This form was enough to earn him a contract for this season and he’s had a solid start to the season in Sheffield, so far Bissonnette has scored 18 points in 14 games, this would put him on track for 71 points across the full season.