Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Sanche on road back to Dundee
KITMART Dundee Stars have re-signed forward Philippe Sanche for the 2022-2023 Elite League campaign.
The 27-year-old versatile attacker returns to City of Discovery for a second consecutive season after completing his first year of pro-hockey.
In his rookie season, Sanche featured in 58 games, scoring 28 times and adding assists.
The 5ft 5in shift forward joined the club from Canadian college league USports, where he iced with Concordia University Stingers for four seasons. He was brought in last summer to provide an offensive punch to the Stars attack and for his leadership qualities, after captaining his junior team Blainville-Biosbriand Armada in his final season in the QMJHL.
Sanche impressed coaches and fans up and down the country with his clinical finishing and skill, but he also extended his streak of appearing in at least two play-off games in every season since 2010.
Discussing Sanche, Stars head coach and general manager Jeff
Mason said: “From coaching against him, I saw how much of an impact he had for the team last season. He is a quality offensive player, who was liked by his teammates and by the fans.
“I am extremely happy to get him back and he is going to be heavily counted on to provide offence for us and to help lead the team going forward. I expect big things from him next season.”
After securing the return of another member of last season’s roster, Mason spoke about the importance of having players who are used to our unique league.
Mason added: “In a league where there is a lot of player turnover year-on-year, you get a lot of new players who do not always know what to expect.
“However, when you have a player coming back who has quality and calibre, you know what you are going to get from him. Phil clearly enjoyed his time in Dundee and wanted to come back, which is great as we certainly want people that want to be here and to be a part of the club, so it was important for me to get him back.”
Sanche said: “I am excited to be back for another year.
“We did some great things last year and I was really happy with my talks with Jeff and his visions going forward, so I am really excited to get back to Dundee.”
The native of Mercier, Quebec, added: “It was a great experience last year, especially the play-offs against Sheffield. The fans were electric and it was amazing to see.
“So, that will be the goal again for this season, to make it to the Final Four and hopefully we can have a better set of results at that weekend, but we certainly have better ambitions for this year.”
Sanche, who comes back to Dundee to play under a new head coach, then explained what helped him make the decision to return to Scotland.
He said: “Jeff was not talking about the future too much, but more about how I felt about my game last year and what can we do to improve the club, which I really liked.
“I think he will bring a different experience to the team. He comes across as a true professional and it is clear to see he wants to do great things with the Stars.”