Ones to Watch VS Telford Tigers

Wildcats One to Watch

Name: Edgars Bebris

Tonight, the Wildcat to Watch is a player adapting to a new position this season but he’s no stranger to the fans at the Link Centre. Having played his whole career as a forward Edgars Bebris has moved back to the blueline for this season to potentially give the Wildcats the offensive defenceman they’ve been after for years.

After being born in Latvia Bebris moved to Sheffield and came up playing his junior hockey in their system but in 2007 he moved back to Latvia in order to finish off his junior career. Following this he played for two years in the top leagues in Latvia and Belarus, he had a decent record of 26 points in 47 games while playing senior hockey in his native country.

It was after these two seasons that Bebris returned to the UK, he signed with the Sheffield Steeldogs in the EPL and he remained with the team for the next 4 seasons. During this period, he scored 157 points in 212 games.

Over the next 4 season Bebris’ time was split between Peterborough and Manchester, this went right up to the collapse of the Manchester Phoenix where Bebris left and joined the Phantoms midway through the final year of the EPL.

After the collapse of the EPL Bebris was left with a choice, drop down to NIHL1 or try and make it in the UK’s top league. He chose the Elite League and signed with Coventry, however he only played with the Blaze for half a season before joining the Wildcats for the first time in late 2017.

Bebris stayed with the Wildcats up until the pandemic hit, he played in 110 games during that period and scored 131 points in that time. During the summer of 2020 when the new season was completely up in the air Bebris signed for MK Lightning but because of the season inevitably being cancelled he never played a game for them.

With the resumption of hockey in 2021 Bebris was once more a Wildcat and he kept up his point per game performance, his last one as a forward, he scored 43 points in his 41 games that year.

That brings us to this season and Bebris’ move to defence did come as a surprise to the Wildcats fanbase but it is a move that could prove to be a masterstroke. With his size and reach coupled with offensive talents then he could become a very good offensive defenceman in this league.

Tigers One to Watch

Name: Jason Silverthorn

Tonight’s one to watch is a 43 year-old veteran who will be entering his 26th season in ice hockey, Jason Silverthorn is back to lead the Tigers as their captain once again. Born in Ontario in Canada, he came up playing in the minor junior leagues in Canada and afterwards moved into the NCAA system in the United States where he completed 4 seasons with Elmira College while he completed his education.

Following graduation Silverthorn tried his hand in some of the minor professional US leagues where he stayed for 2 years before deciding to make the trip over the Atlantic into Europe. His first venture was in Holland where he played one season and after this he moved to the UK where he has played ever since.

His first season was spent with the struggling Edinburgh Capitals and rather predictably this only lasted the single season, from here he moved down to Wales where he played for two seasons with the Devils in the Elite League. In these two seasons he posted point per game numbers, very respectable in a competitive league.

Silverthorn is probably most known for his time in Hull with the Stingrays organisation, he played with Hull for 5 consecutive seasons and was always amongst their top point scorers. It was with Hull that he began a trend of wearing a letter on his shirt that continues to this day, he was an ‘A’ for his last three years in Humberside.

With the arrival of the Red Hockey takeover in 2014 the Telford Tigers moved to secure the services of Silverthorn and he performed superbly finishing second in the scoring charts as the Tigers won only their second league title in their history. This season is the 8^th consecutive that Silverthorn has played with Telford and each of these years he has been the club captain, he will be hoping to lead the Tigers to more success this year.