New Signings: Pavel Krajcovic and Brett Shepherd

 

* Due to events beyond Pavel's and the Bees control he is unable to join the team. Good luck Pavel *

 Bees add import netminder to the roster with the signing of Pavel Krajcovic

Bees have announced the first import netminder in the league with Pavel Krajcovic joining the team from HK Delikateso Bratislava in the Slovakia 3 league. Pavel has a wealth of experience from playing most of his career to date in Slovakia and Sweden with a brief spell in Hungary. His stats are consistently high, recording a save percentage of .924 last season in the regular season and .934 in the playoffs.  A fellow countryman of Bees coach Dominik Gabaj, Pavel not only brings a high quality minder to the team but also a international qualified net minding coach which will benefit new signing Brett Shepherd.

Pavel is 29 years old and fills the second import spot for the team. Interestingly he will wear #69, probably one of the least worn numbers within hockey of all levels.

Brett Shepherd steps up to the NIHL with the Bees

Brett, Bees first netminder signing for 2023/2024, has joined the Bees from Slough Jets who play in NIHL1. He played his junior hockey in Streatham making the move to the NIHL1 with Streatham IHC in the 2017/2018 season. In 2018/2019 season he made the move to Slough Jets where he has racked up some impressive stats. His save percentages in the last two regular seasons of .915 in 2021/2022 and .917 in 2022/2023 have put Brett in the top 5 goalies for NIHL1 in both seasons and obviously Coach Dom sees the potential for Brett to develop under the wings of Pavel Krajcovic and make his mark in the NIHL. Brett has donned the black, white and gold for the Bees once when he stepped in to play in 2021/2022 when both our first and back up goalie were unavailable. Although not able to get the win, Brett not only gave the team a taste of what he could do but also walked away with the man of the match on the night.

Brett is 22 years old and is the second player to fill a spot in Bees category 2 under 25's section and will wear #36. 

    Thoughts on Bees net minding duo

Firstly, this is no big surprise as many have rumoured that this may happen especially as both Adam Goss and Matt Smital had departed of their own accord. We know Adam's reasons but perhaps Matt was aware that an import goalie was on the cards and wasn't happy to stay under those conditions. If Matt leaving was before the import goalie decision then, given the limited number of unsigned NIHL standard goalies available, Dom may have had no choice other than go down the import goalie route. 
At the time of writing the Bees are the only NIHL team to appoint an import goalie. There are 8 clubs that are still to fill their maximum 2 goalie slots and you have to say that some of them are unlikely to use an import goalie given the quality of minder they already have on their books. So why have Bees gone down this route? It's fair to say that the Bees can't compete financially with many teams in the league, they have to be more savvi with how they spend their money. This import goalie will hopefully mean that Bees won't find themselves on the wrong side of a close score line as they did on numerous occasions last season. Brett Shepherd is a credible and exciting back up, top 5 in his league in the last two seasons and his stats tell you all you need to know about his potential. Working alongside Pavel can improve his game to a whole new level whilst playing in a league more in keeping with his capabilities. It's a win win for the Bees as it provides quality net minding plus goalie development meaning that they also have a solid back up too. It doesn't come without it's risks though as it is a strategy most other teams will not chose and will not only depend on Pavel avoiding injury but for the rest of the team to be able to defend three opposing imports on the ice at the same time in crunch situations. Let's hope the gamble pays off, only time will tell! 

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