David Clarke becomes EIHL all-time leading scorer

Since making his debut in the EIHL in the inaugural 2003/04 season, David Clarke has played every season with the Nottingham Panthers, apart from a brief spell for Alleghe in Italy during the 2007/08 season.

He begun his EIHL career with a 30-point season which was good for fourth best among Brits that year, but fast forward to 2018 and his lengthy career has reached another milestone. With an assist on the Panthers first goal during their 5 - 2 loss to the league leading Cardiff Devils on Sunday night, the point was also the 712th in Clarke's all-time EIHL career, moving him one point above former record holder Ashley Tait.

Tait, currently with the Belfast Giants, spent most of his career with the Coventry Blaze, but now it's 36-year old Clarke who is the man to beat.

In 14 seasons with the Nottingham Panthers, Clarke has had an A or a C on his jersey for all but the last two seasons (as he has become the teams Player-assistant coach), Captaining the side in the 2006/07 season as well as from the 2013/14 season until the 2015/16 season. A veteran of the EIHL and the Great Britain national team, Clarke is one of just three men to reach the 700 point plateau in all EIHL competitions, as this weekend saw long-time Belfast Giant and former Philadelphia Flyers draft pick Colin Shields join Clarke and Tait on that list.

Shields registered two-goals and an assist in the Giants 5 - 1 victory over the Sheffield Steelers on Saturday night to close in on the top two on the list.

Another milestone was met on Saturday night, as Ross Venus iced in his 500th game for the Coventry Blaze. A veteran around the league at just 23-years old, Venus made his Blaze debut as a junior back in 2010 and has gone on to help the Blaze to an EIHL Playoff Championship in 2014/15, and has iced 8 times for the GB mens team, having previously captained the Under 20 side in 2013/14.

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