Hall of Fame inductees

.

Manchester Phoenix coach, Tony Hand MBE along with Vancouver-born Steve Moria who played mainly for Cardiff Devils were today inducted into the British Hockey Hall of Fame.

The duo was nominated for the accolade in recognition of theircontribution to British ice hockey.

Hand made his debut, at age 14, for Murrayfield Racers in 1981 and thirty three years later ended his playing career with Manchester Phoenix. The game has taken the Edinburgh boy to all sorts of places, starting in his home city, to the heights of North America and the NHL, with Edmonton Oilers. He was the first British player to ever be drafted and was part of a team that included legendary figures Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier.

But his desire to return home proved too great and he played the major part of his career in Britain with, for thirteen seasons, the Sheffield Steelers in the ISL before moving to Ayr Scottish Eagles for seven terms and the playing in Dundee Edinburgh and Belfast for a total of twelve seasons. He then decided to step down a league into the EPIHL and end his career in Manchester where he is now coach.

He has had his shirt retired by three clubs: he was that good. Most notably for his service with Sheffield but he was also given recognition in Manchester and most recently in Edinburgh.

Hand also played for GB over fifty times between 1991 and 2007.

Steve Moria arrived in Britain in 1987, initially temporarily but played ten successful years with all conquering Cardiff Devils who retired his shirt in thanks.

He played twenty eight games for the GB and ended his career with Basingstoke Bison as player coach after they had dropped out of the ISL. He finally decided to call it a day after the 2012 season with Basingstoke during which time he was inducted into the University of Alaska’s Hall of Fame.

Tweets by @eurohockey