The Deeside Dragons (known for sponsorship reasons as the Steel 4 Structures Dragons) are a Welsh ice hockey team that play in the National Ice Hockey League, north division. They play their games at Deeside Leisure Centre, Flintshire, and replaced the previous team Flintshire Freeze. They won the North League championship in the 2015/16 season, with a record of 24-3-1 as well as the 2015/16 Laidler Playoffs. From the 2022/23 season the club had Aspray Chester as the clubs title sponsor. This changed for the 2025/26 season to Steel 4 Structures.
The 2022/23 season sees the return of ice hockey to North Wales for the first time in over 2 years, due to the ice rink being used as a field hospital and later a vaccination centre for North East Wales.
In July 2015 it was reported that the Dragons had been bought by Red Hockey Limited, a British Company who own the Telford Tigers English Premier League Ice Hockey team as well as having stakes in Manchester Phoenix and Bracknell Bees.
In 2015/16, the team won the league, gaining promotion to NIHL North 1 (Moralee). During the season there were issues between the owners of the Deeside Dragons and Flintshire County Council which resulted in the ownership of the Dragons being removed from Red Hockey. Despite prior fears with the ownership of the Deeside Dragons logo these have been quelled with a rebranded logo. On the final home game of the 2015/16 season the Dragons were involved in an incident which saw their opponents Widnes Wild walk off the ice in the second period and refuse to continue the game. Dragons player Alex Roberts received a three-game ban as a result of this incident.
In July 2016 it was announced that Scott McKenzie had left the Widnes Wild to join the Dragons as player-coach. He left the following year.
At the end of the 2017/18 season the Dragons were relegated to the North Division 2 league.
Season-by-season record
SeasonPosition Wins Draws Losses±2012-1321716882013-1421828612014-15515217312015-16124311322017-18 (NIHL1)102032 -3472018-1979221 -432019-206120152
Club roster 2022-23 (*) Denotes a Non-British Trained player (Import) NetmindersNo.Nat.PlayerCatchesDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract30 Philip Pearson L Stockport, England 2022 from Bradford Bulldogs22/2337 Michael Rogers L Warrington, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/23
DefencemenNo.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract11 Billy Perks 2001 (age 21)Wales 202222/2313 Matthew Wainwright L Chester, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2314 Reece Cairney-Witter L Bradford, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2315 Lewis Otley R Sheffield, England 2022 from Malungs IF22/2319 Joshua Richardson R 1998 (age 24)Chorley, England 2022 from Bradford Bulldogs22/2321 Micheal Jones R England 202222/2355 Ross Kennedy R St Asaph, Wales 2022 from Leeds Knights22/2391 Marc Lovell L Chester, England 2012 from Flintshire Freeze22/23
ForwardsNo.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthAcquiredContract4 Charlie Spridgeon 2001 (age 21)England 2022 from Telford Tigers 222/235 James Parsons 'C' L St Asaph, Wales 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/237 Alex Parry England 2022 from Altrincham Aces22/239 Gary Dixon R Liverpool, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2322 Karl Bacon Wales 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2323 Simon Furnival R Warrington, England 202222/2329 Andy McKinney R Hamilton, ON, Canada 2022 from Telford Tigers22/2333 M.J. Clancy L Chester, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2361 Jared Dickinson R Salford, England 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2372 Chris Jones R Ely, England 202222/2379 Petr Valusiak* L Ostrava, Czechia 2022 from Blackburn Hawks22/2388 Christopher Keating 1988 (age 34)England 2022 from Altrincham Aces22/23
Team StaffNo.Nat.NameAcquiredRolePlace of birthJoined From Michael Clancy 2022/23 Head coach Chester, England Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1 Matt Compton 2018/19 Assistant coach Chester, England David Clancy 2022/23 Goaltending Coach Rinteln, Germany Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1 Bruce Morton 2014/15 General Manager England91 Marc Lovell 2016/17 Player-Assistant Coach Chester, England Charles Humphreys 2022/23 Equipment Manager Wales Blackburn Hawks, NIHL 1
2021/22 Outgoing +OutgoingNo.Nat.PlayerShootsDate of birthPlace of birthLeaving For
References