Brand new Peelers police team makes its bow at the Planet

A BRAND new ice hockey team took to the ice for the first time at the

Planet Ice rink in Widnes last week – with the debut training session of the Peelers IHC Northern Police club.

The Peelers are named after the founder of the UK police service Sir Robert Peel and the club is aimed at people who have an association with the police including Police Officers, PCSOs, Special Constables, civilian staff and former members or employees.

It has players with a wide range of experience and ability from former GB internationals down to complete beginners.

Despite only having been in existence for a few months, the fledgling club actually has some 60 team members in total from 12 different police forces and constabularies across the north of England.

However, due to shift pattern working and travelling distances, the plan is to rotate training sessions around other rinks across the country so that everybody gets an equal chance to be involved.

The players were put through their paces at Planet Ice by Peelers club coach Neil Herring, who has a vast experience in the game having previously been involved with the Manchester Storm and Hull Pirates teams, and Belfast Giants GB international gold medal winning player Paul Swindlehurst – who was a guest coach for the session at Widnes on Thursday.

Sergeant Andy Cooper of Cheshire Police, one of the organisers behind the new team, said of the initiative: “I’m a complete novice and, up until March, I had never picked a hockey stick up. It’s always been a goal to play and an opportunity to learn came along with this new team.

‘‘It’s great to have the Elite League coaches supporting the session – it also buys interest for the more advanced players going forward to be coached by pros.”

Vanessa Crickmore-Clarke – who also plays for the Widnes Wild women’s team and won the women’s league title last season – is one of the more experienced players on the Peelers team.

She said: “I had a really excellent time – it was a positive event after the impact of the virus. It’s really good that the development of the team was able to happen despite the pandemic.

‘‘Any coaching will help; you can always learn something new.

‘‘It’s good to be able to sharpen up your abilities and be able to brush your skills up.”

The Peelers IHC are hoping to play a charity game against the “South Wales Enforcers” police team next year and, over time, there are also plans to set up tournaments and a league with other emergency services teams.