AFTER several years of persuasion Blaze have finally landed their man after Canadian forward Neil Trimm agreed to move to the Skydome from fellow Elite League club Braehead Clan.
The-32-year-old Ontario native, joins the Blaze on the back of a stand-out season in Scotland that saw him finish in the top ten of the Elite League goals, assists and point charts.
Blaze director of hockey, James Pease, revealed Trimm had been a target for some time and he is delighted that Trimm has opted to move south of the border for the 1015/16 season, having missed out on his signature two years ago.
“It’s no secret that we have been great admirers of his for a while now and we were close to getting him here two seasons ago,” said Pease.
“He really wanted to try mainland Europe though so unfortunately it never quite happened.
“When the chance came for him to come to the UK, we didn’t have any roster spots open so he ended up signing with Braehead and we’ve had to wait until now to be able to finally get him here.
“Braehead had the option on Neil for this season and we had to wait to see how that played out before we could get things finalised.
“Neil wanted to come here and we really wanted him so we decided to wait this one out before making any further moves on other players.
“He is a great fit for this club, is a good person, terrific player and now, a Blaze player. He has been worth waiting for and we are very happy.”
Before coming to the UK, Trimm enjoyed great personal success in the Central Hockey League where he recorded a highly impressive 277 points in 277 regular season games.
A short spell in Denmark followed at the start of the 2013/14 season before he signed for Clan part-way into that season and went on to score 142 points in just 114 games.
Blaze head coach, Chuck Weber, is equally pleased that the wait was worth it.
He added: “Neil is a skilled forward who will be able to make a huge impact at both ends of the ice for us.
“He is a player I really like and initially we didn’t think it would be possible to bring him here.
“He gives us versatility in being able to play both on the wing and in the middle and his production has been outstanding since he joined the Elite League.
“I’m also really looking forward to the combination of both size and skill that he will bring to our forward group. He is another solid piece to our puzzle as we continue to fill out and announce our last few import slots.”
