New Signing: Brendan Walkom

Dominik Gabaj has a partner, Brendan Walkom is in town!

The wait is over as Bees have announced who will fill their second import slot. Brendan Walkom joins the team from a four-year placement at Bentley University in Massachusetts. The left shooting forward is 24 years old and the son of Stephen Walkom who currently serves as vice president and director of officiating for the National Hockey League (NHL). Whilst his stats from the last four years may not be as impressive as you might hope, this player excelled during his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite, the Selects Academy and Amarillo Bulls and has the potential to be a major threat in the NIHL.

Having played with one import for the majority of last season, this addition will have a huge impact on the team especially as both imports can ice at the same time (new ruling for 22/23 season) and will provide some relief for Dom who might actually get a chance to rest between shifts. Coach Sheppard has an eye for talent and Brendan will no doubt be a great signing as the team push for a top four finish this season.

How good is he?

Simply, it's very hard to tell. Playing in a league with players who have signed NHL contracts clearly isn't going to be easy and as a result the stats without context look poor. We really won't know how good he is until the season gets underway in September when we can get a good look at his ability and bonding with the team.

Improvement on Ornmarker?

On the same day of the signing of Brendan, Niklas Ornmarker signed for a team back in Sweden. He had sparks of brilliance at the start of last season, but spent the majority of his time on the ice carrying an injury and just couldn't get going in a Bees jersey. Had he of not had the season ending injury, who knows what could of been - but for now Brendan seems like a huge step up from the Swedish forward.

Powerful import pairing

You're a goal down with 2 minutes to play, and you can throw Gabaj and Walkom out on a line together joined by the likes of Juha Lindgren and Josh Smith. The relaxing of the one import on the ice rule is going to be very interesting - at points last season teams had no idea how to stop Dom, and now you've got two of them? Defences are going to have their work cut out next season if they're going to stop the power of the Bees.

Dreaming of lifting silverware?!

We say it every year, myself being one of them, after lifting the everyone active shield as well as beating the Wildcats twice in pre-season last year. But is 2022-23 the year that everything will come together, goals start flowing and the defence shuts down the opposition time and time again? Before we get over excited over our chances next season, signings in the defensive area of our team needs to be addressed. 

Defensemen: The start is brilliant, two very experienced D-Men already signed along with Luke Jackson who is improving season by season. Yet - three defensemen is not enough to compete at NIHL level. Realistically another three are needed to make a solid 3 line defence, because we saw the problems only having 5 defenders early on the season had on our results once injuries arose.

Goaltending: Should Dan Weller-Evans be made our first netminder, that would be a lot of pressure on someone who hasn't had too much start time over the last few seasons. Someone of an equal ability I think is vital for our team so that goaltending can continue to be a strengh of our team for not just next season but the future to come.

The season is closing in, 59 days left to go until that first pre-season challenge game where we can see Brendan Walkom in action!