The Solway Sharks, sponsored by Building Craftsmen (Dumfries), are delighted to announce the signing of 23 year old Belgian International defenseman Jens Engelen from HYC Herentals. Jens will join the Sharks with immediate effect and we are delighted to welcome him to the Sharks organisation.
Jens is a 6ft 3ins left handed defenseman from Belgium and he is a player who has a huge amount of experience at both club and international level. He had played in the Continental Cup and has represented Belgium in 14 IIHF World Championships at U18, U20 and senior level and made his senior men’s debut at 17 years old and went on to score 4 points in 5 games.
Jens come to the Sharks having played for Tilburg Trappers in the Dutch Eredivisie and also HYC Herentals in the Belgian league and he is highly regarded as one of the top up and coming young defensemen in Europe. He is an ambitious young man who wants to ensure he helps bring success to the Sharks and continue to further his career and both Jens and the club feel we will benefit from this deal.
Sharks Head Coach Martin Grubb was very happy to have signed Jens and commented “We have been looking for an import defenseman since we lost Juraj but we really wanted the right guy and were prepared to wait and then we spoke to Daniel at Advance Sports Management and he brought Jens to our attention and we are delighted to be able to bring him here.
Jens is a smooth skating, physically imposing player who even at 23 brings a wealth of experience and is no stranger to winning which is a key characteristic for us. He will continue to get better with the ice time he will get here and he is hungry to play at the very top so we will be looking to help him in achieving that goal. Any player who has played in 14 world championships is going to be a big help to this team and I can’t wait to start working with Jens.
Scott McMeeken and Rab Murray have been vital in talking to Daniel at ASM and between us we think we have managed to bring a player of real quality to the Sharks and also the NIHL and I’d like to thank them all for their hard work on this signing”.
Jens is expected to arrive in Dumfries this week and is hoping to be clear to play at Sutton this weekend and has told us he is excited to make the move to the Sharks and help the team try to win like we did last season and that after hearing about the team and the rink from his agent he cannot wait to get started.
Everyone at the Solway Sharks would like to thank Daniel and ASM for their help and professionalism in getting Jens in a Sharks uniform and we would like to welcome Jens to the club and also with HYC Herentals best wishes for the rest of their season and hopefully we may see some of our Belgian friends in Dumfries this season.
The Sharks are hoping to receive ITC clearance for this weekend’s game for Jens to play as we travel to Ice Sheffield to face Sutton Sting in the league and look to try and get our league campaign kick started with a win.
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