London Raiders have confirmed Sean Easton has joined the club’s coaching staff.

Easton switches to the Raiders from NIHL1 South rivals Chelmsford Chieftains and will link up on the bench with Alan Blyth.

A statement on the club’s Facebook page said: “The operation of the Raiders over the past three seasons has been a mixture of imminent year planning and future operation.

“The team’s frustration at losing its own rink and with that the very successful junior programme has barely been compensated by the knowledge that in time both would be available again.

“With the rink completion now expected to be well under 12 months away we had to expect that becoming part of the plans for a brand new hockey club, in a new local rink, run by some of the most enthusiastic of fans and coaches, would be a tempting proposition.

“Sean Easton is to join Alan Blyth and the Raiders management for the 2017/18 season and we confidently expect that relationship running the Raiders will cement a coaching union which, with the addition of other key staff in the new Romford Leisure Development, will quickly return the Romford name to the “club team” column of the conference and GB squad lists.

“Sean is a very well-respected coach at senior level and for his work with developing players locally and at conference and national level. His significant achievements at National League and various junior age groups are very well known and would fill a very lengthy CV.

“Sean and Alan will be working together this coming summer to strengthen the team both numerically and in the methods used on and off the ice, so the fans should expect regular announcements of returning players and we expect some key additions.”

(Image permission: John Scott)