#15 James Griffin returns for 2019/20
MILTON KEYNES, 4 June 2019: The one a lot of fans have been waiting for. James Griffin – Griff – will resume his defensive duties for MKL for the 2019/20 season.
Oxford born Griff brings massive experience of over 350 games at Elite League level and is joining us for a fifth successive season.
He has a string of personal and team honours to his name, including Young British Player of the year, junior conference all-star selections, playoff championships and international medals.
MK Lightning Head Coach Lewis Clifford said ”Obviously I am delighted to have Griff on board for next season and I’m looking forward to working with him again after enjoying a successful period together in the old EPL.”
“Griff is a guy who any team in the league would be ecstatic to sign, he is an outstanding defenceman, plays extremely hard every night and his skating ability and natural sense of positioning and timing makes him very hard to beat.”
A real fan favourite, Griff always puts his heart and soul into every fixture, and his athleticism and physical play bring real momentum to the team. He is also a hero to many absolute beginners, having joined in with Hockey Excellence training last year.
He memorably had a bit of a scoring hiatus, which was spectacularly broken with goal which led to wild celebrations and a whole new line of merchandise celebrating his goal.
Clifford thinks this might change this season, commenting “Playing back in the Elite League the last couple of years hasn’t allowed Griff to show his offensive capabilities as much as he would like, but I certainly think we will see him contributing regularly in the offensive zone as well as being a lynchpin in our end.
Talking about how it feels to play for MK Lightning, Griff said “The fan base here is so special and it’s amazing to play in front of crowds like that – the Lightning fans back the team on the ice no matter what. It’s very special to have the chance to play in an atmosphere like that.”
Seeing the team Clifford is building he added: “There are some excellent signings and more lined up and I genuinely believe Lightning will be a competitive outfit. With the crowd behind us, I don’t see any reason why we can’t be challenging for a trophy next season.”
If you’ve ever met him off the ice, you’ll also have seen his personal qualities, as Cliff confirms “A huge part of the signing that’s just as important to me is that he is a great guy and someone who will make us a better organisation on and off the ice.”
“It’s a pleasure to be back at the Lightning for another season.” finished Griff.
Griff will of course wear the number 15 jersey which is now available for Own and Loan.
Please give a warm welcome back to James Griffin.
Own & Loan Jerseys
You can now apply for the James Griffin “Own and Loan” jersey by emailing dave@b2promodesign.com – please indicate which jersey you would like.
*** PLEASE BE AWARE: The League has decided that all teams will reverse their Home and Away shirts at the midpoint of the season so Home will become Away and vice versa.***
Remember this is purely on a first come, first served basis:
HOME (LIGHT COLOUR) JERSEY: £200
AWAY (DARK COLOUR) JERSEY: £200
WARM-UP JERSEY: £125
Payment in full due by 1st October 2019.
Visit https://www.letsplayhockey.org/ownandloan2019 for more information.
