Team faced prospect of closing
When the Paisley Pirates return to the ice on Saturday for their first game in more than a year and a half, the significance won’t be lost on head coach Ian Turley.
Not since March last year have the Paisley club’s players laced up their skates and entered a rink prepared for an hour of end-to-end, swashbuckling ice hockey action.
The moment is going to be especially sweet for Turley and the entire team given they faced the very real possibility of going out of business altogether just a few months ago, when the future of their Braehead Arena base was still very much up in the air.
Thankfully their neighbours the Clan secured the ice rink after former owners Intu went into liquidation, with both set to kick off their new seasons early next month.
This weekend the Pirates are heading to Auchenharvie Ice Rink in Stevenson for a friendly match against Scottish National League (SNL) rivals North Ayrshire Wild that will signal the club are finally back in business.
Delighted Turley told Express Sport: “This will be our first game since March last year and I honestly just can’t wait to see us get back on the ice again.
“While my one and twoyear-old kids and work has kept me busy since then, there has definitely been an emptiness without it.
“I was involved with coaching the GB under-16 side recently and it wasn’t until I got back on the ice with them that I realised just how much I’d missed it.
“It feels like a totally fresh start and it will be even more significant given everything that happened with Braehead Arena.
“That could genuinely have been the end of the road for us, which would have been so hard because you always want to bow out on your own terms. To go out like that would have been a huge blow.
“The news the Clan were able to take over the rink was massive for us. It’s our 75th anniversary this year and it would have been awful to not have been able to skate again.
“We are one of the oldest clubs in the UK and now we can finally focus on building for the future, which thankfully for us starts this weekend.”
Returning from the coronavirus won’t be straightforward for the Pirates, especially as they’ve lost ten players since their last match against Dundee Comets in March, 2020.
Turley is confident they’ll be able to fill the gaps in their roster ahead of the SNL restart, which looks set to take place next month.
The head coach is also hoping there’ll be plenty of Pirates fans travelling down to Ayrshire on Saturday to support the club in the significant friendly clash, which faces off at 6.30pm.
Turley said: “The squad is a bit lighter than we would like. There’s still a few spots to fill but there’s no need to panic just yet.
“We’ve lost ten players from when we last played. Some have decided to stop playing altogether, while some have seen their jobs change over the course of the pandemic. No-one has left on bad terms though.
“This year is definitely a rebuild year for us, but we’re looking forward to that challenge.
“Fans are allowed into Auchenharvie this weekend, which is brilliant for them and the players.
“We’ve seen over the pandemic that sport played without the fans just isn’t the same.
“It becomes so much meaningful when you have even just a hundred fans there to watch any game.
“Hopefully we’ll get plenty of Pirates fans heading down to watch the game, which I know would give the players a massive boost.”