Parry praised as he steps down

Telford Tigers team manager David Candlin has paid tribute to fans favourite Jason Parry after announcing his retirement from the on-ice team.

Parry, 30, has decided to stop playing ice hockey, but his experience and skills will not be lost to the Tigers as he has agreed to take on a role behind the bench - starting tonight at home to defending champions Guildford (5.30pm).

"Jason has been a loyal and dependable servant of ice hockey in Telford for half his life and is extremely popular in the dressing room," said Candlin."The Christmas break gave him time to re-evaluate his priorities and, although I understand that he wanted to step away from playing because he has other commitments away from the rink, I was very keen to ensure he stayed within the organisation.

"Jason has agreed to join me and coach Claude Dumas behind the bench for the rest of this season, helping us and continuing to support and encourage his team-mates.

"On behalf of everyone at the Tigers I want to thank Jason for his contribution to the club in a playing capacity.

"I am hopeful that he will enjoy this new view of the sport enough to stay with us beyond this season," added Candlin.

Parry, who works as a duty officer at Telford Ice Rink, has long undertaken an ambassadorial role for the team, visiting schools throughout the borough and giving talks about sport and health.

He also supports teaching in the rink's Ice Zone educational unit and this season took on the role of coach to the Telford Venom under-12s squad.

Although Parry's decision to retire from playing has saddened the club, it is not entirely unexpected - as he indicated when he re-signed last summer.

"I'm getting on a bit now, so my priority is to help the team progress," said Parry at the time.

"Maybe I won't be playing so much this year, but I would like to be helping out more on the bench and doing what I can with the youngsters.

"I'd like to help the next batch of young players. We've seen Adam Brittle and Tom Carlon come through and off to their next step.

"Those sort of people I've seen progress from being very young and hopefully we have some more now ready to come through.

"I want to be able to encourage the young guys."

Tigers, second bottom of the English Premier League, are away to Peterborough tomorrow.