Tony Hand’s ice age shows no signs of coming at an end. At 40, the Manchester Phoenix player-coach will celebrate his 25th season in the professional ranks next year.

Awarded an MBE for his services to ice hockey in 2004, Hand has done it all in the British game but the Edinburgh-born player still has goals to achieve.

As assistant coach to the Great Britain team, he is one of the guardians of the sport’s future and he would dearly love to see the day when a team from these shores graces the Olympic stage again.

Not since 1948 (when Britain finished fifth) have the GB team qualified (they won gold in 1936) but Hand has not given up hope even though the competition is much stiffer these days.

“That’s what we’re striving for and we’re making progress. I think it will take a few years but I think one day it will happen,” Hand says.

Raised in Edinburgh, Hand made his debut for Murrayfield Racers at the age of 14 when the team were short of players and even he could not have envisaged how far his journey in the game would take him.

Five years later, he became the first British-born and raised player to be drafted in the National Hockey League when the Edmonton Oilers selected him in the 12th round.

Hand went on to survive the first 14 days of training camp without being cut and trained alongside the great Wayne Gretzky.

After it, he was offered a contract to play Junior Hockey with the team but opted to return to Scotland and rejoin the Racers where he won his first Premier League title.

Glen Sather, who offered him his contract in Canada, is convinced he could have played at a decent level and wrote in the player’s autobiography: “At the training camp, I could see he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky.”

Hand did return to Canada and played for the Oilers in an exhibition game against Team Canada but he turned down the chance to being farmed out to a feeder team in Nova Scotia and again returned home.

Having played with Murrayfield, Sheffield, Ayr, Dundee, Belfast and now Manchester, Hand has seen the game from every level.

“It’s been a roller-coaster. When I first started out at Murrayfield, the team had three imports and now a lot of teams have ten imports,” he states.

“That can work two ways. It can help young British players develop as they learn from the imports but they can also struggle to get in the team.

“Ice hockey has gone a bit like football when clubs can take on so many imports - sometimes 16 or 17 - and it means that something has to give; usually it’s the team.

“The standard is now a lot higher than when I first started playing but teams can fold because of the expense of taking on too many players.

“A lot of clubs are working hard on the junior programmes and the imports can help with this and I think clubs are now more aware how important this is than in the past.

“I couldn’t really say much about the Scottish talent coming through as I don’t see the players often enough being down here.

“But I know there are two or three breaking through who have a lot of potential and there are more opportunities now than when I first started.”

Regarding the prospect of British players going all the way to the NHL, Hand knows more than most how huge a step it would be.

“The NHL tend to recruit from North America and from the big ice hockey playing countries in Europe like Russia, Sweden and Finland,” he continues.

“I think it’s very difficult for a British player to make it to the NHL. There are two or three playing in Europe at the moment but it’s a big step to the NHL.

 “It was a good opportunity for me and I don’t look back on it with any regret – you do what you do in life. It was a great experience and something I’ll cherish for as long as I live. To go to a team that had won four or five Stanley Cups was just out of this world.

“I didn’t get to play alongside Gretzky as he was on a different level but I did get to train with him. Of course, you could tell how good he was - he was the best in the world.”

Hand has no plans to give up playing at present but knows that one day he will need to face up to it.

“You say every year that it is going to be your last year and I’ll just keep playing as long as I’m enjoying it,” he concludes.

“I do more coaching now than playing and I’ll just wait and see what the future holds.”

RM
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