Chris Allen to Serve as Player-Coach in English Premier League

Blenheim’s Chris Allen has been named the player-coach of the Peterborough Phantoms for the 2011-2012 season. The Phantoms play in the English Premier Ice Hockey League, a second-tier league to England’s Elite Ice Hockey League.

Upon recently being named coach, Chris, 33, told the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, “I am already gearing up for what I am sure is going to be a very exciting season. Hopefully with 15 years experience in professional ice hockey I can really help move the team on and hopefully win some silverware.

“We know we will be going up against teams with bigger budgets than us. That is just a reality of the game but that is no bar to success. I think the team did great getting to the English Premier League Play-off Finals and I want us to build on that to become a top four team next season.

“As long as we can get the right blend of players in and make the right choices over the summer I think we can really surprise a few people. It is a big challenge but one that really excites me and I can’t wait to get going.”

Peterborough is 121 km north of London and has a population of 164,000 residents.  Chris played six games for Peterborough before finishing his hockey season in Italy.

David Reddick is also the author of the popular CK Hockey Heroes Blog, www.ckhockeyheroes.com.