The English Premier League's Sheffield Steeldogs have confirmed that British forward Tom Squires has moved to join the Hull Stingrays on a permanent basis following the recently signed two-way contract.
Former Sheffield Steelers forward Squires signed the two-way deal on Wednesday and made his debut in the crucial Challenge Cup victory over the Cardiff Devils on Thursday - bagging the all-important game winning goal to send the Rays to the Quarter Finals.
The 21 year old - who recorded 20 points in 52 games with the Steelers last season - then made a surprise second appearance for the Stingrays last night - despite his parent club the Steeldogs taking on the Manchester Phoenix in the EPL - adding an assist in a 3-2 win over the Fife Flyers.
The Sheffield based EPL side have had a torrid start to the season winning just three of their 14 regular season fixtures with Squires registering just two assists in 11 games. Their poor start to the campaign was compounded last night as they - minus Squires - went down 9-1 to northern rivals the Manchester Phoenix.
Following the loss the Steeldogs released a frank statement on their fortunes named "No stone will go unturned" before a further statement on Squires release read:
“Obviously it is a blow because he has been one of our key players this season. He brings energy and speed to the line-up and has been playing really well for us," said Cloutier.
Former Sheffield Steelers forward Squires signed the two-way deal on Wednesday and made his debut in the crucial Challenge Cup victory over the Cardiff Devils on Thursday - bagging the all-important game winning goal to send the Rays to the Quarter Finals.
The 21 year old - who recorded 20 points in 52 games with the Steelers last season - then made a surprise second appearance for the Stingrays last night - despite his parent club the Steeldogs taking on the Manchester Phoenix in the EPL - adding an assist in a 3-2 win over the Fife Flyers.
The Sheffield based EPL side have had a torrid start to the season winning just three of their 14 regular season fixtures with Squires registering just two assists in 11 games. Their poor start to the campaign was compounded last night as they - minus Squires - went down 9-1 to northern rivals the Manchester Phoenix.
Following the loss the Steeldogs released a frank statement on their fortunes named "No stone will go unturned" before a further statement on Squires release read:
The Bradfield Brewery Sheffield Steeldogs would like to wish Tom Squires all the best in his move to Hull Stingrays' Elite League Team for the remainder of the season.
It was great to see Tom back in a Steeldogs shirt, but Tom was given an opportunity to play for Hull in recent weeks and Hull have requested Tom's services for the remainder of season.
We would never stand in the way of any Sheffield player's progression and the Sheffield Steeldogs wish Tom all the best for the future.
The loss of netminder Ben Bowns and 55 goal scorer Janis Ozolins to the Stingrays in the summer appears to have had a huge impact on the club and, despite the addition of forward Derek Campbell and defenceman Dmitri Rodin - two members of the Rays successful 11/12 squad - the Steeldogs find themselves down in 9th place.
Of the signing Stingrays player-coach Sylvain Cloutier - who it is believe expressed an interest in taking Squires on a full-time deal to Steeldogs head coach Andre Payette following his impressive first two appearances in Rays colours - said:
“We are extremely pleased to be able to have Tom with us now for the rest of the season. I have liked Tom for a long time and he has played well in both games for us, getting a big goal in Cardiff. He is a good, young British player who will make a contribution to the team. He has experience of playing in the Elite League with Sheffield Steelers and he proved he can play at the top level. It gives us a bit more depth to the line-up too.”
Meanwhile Squires said that he was happy to be returning to the Elite League full-time adding that the deal was a "mutual thing":
“I am really happy to have made the move permanently. It is the league I want to play in and it was nice to get the two-way deal in the first place. It was a mutual thing with Steeldogs. They were great letting me go on the two-way and Clouts was happy with how I played in the two games so the timing was ideal. It is good to see Hull doing well. Whenever I played there it was always a tough place to go and get points. They have a good group of guys and they are all playing for each other. I hope to produce some points. Clouts has shown a lot of faith in me and I hope to repay that faith by helping the team in any way I can.”
The move for Squires coincidentally comes at the perfect time from a depth perspective for the Stingrays as they also confirmed today that Canadian forward Cale Tanaka - who has surprised pre-season doubters by scoring 11 points in 17 games - will be out for six to eight weeks with a ruptured AC shoulder joint.
