Deeside Dragons are holding a special testimonial match on Saturday 26 July at Deeside Leisure Centre to honour the long service of Marc Lovell and James Parsons, who both retired from playing at the end of the season.

Marc Lovell was a Deeside junior player, graduating to senior hockey with the Flintshire Freeze in the 1999/00 season, and has some 600 appearances at ENL/NIHL level or higher to his credit.

As well as 20+ seasons with the Freeze and Dragons at Deeside, he also played one season with Manchester Phoenix in the Elite League and three seasons with Telford in the EPL.

James Parsons was also a Deeside junior, made his senior debut in 2004/05 and went on to play over 500 competitive matches at ENL/NIHL level with the Flintshire Freeze and Deeside Dragons, notching up over 700 points over a 20-year period.

Aside from a season at Blackburn in 2021/22 when the Deeside rink was closed after Covid and a few loan appearances in the EPL with Telford Tigers and Manchester Phoenix, he has played his entire career at Deeside.

The testimonial game will be contested between two teams that have been put together especially – “Team Larry” (after Lovell’s club nickname) and “Team Snip” (for James Parsons). Each team will have a mixture of current and former Dragons on their bench, along with former team-mates, other friends from the world of ice hockey and family members.

Special one-off playing shirts have been designed for the occasion and a number of them will be raffled off at the game to help boost the testimonial fund.

How to watch

Tickets for the Larry & Snip Testimonial game cost £10 for adults, £4 for children and £8 for concessions. They can be bought in advance here.

The Larry & Snip Testimonial will take place on Saturday 26 July at Deeside Leisure Centre. Doors open at 4:30pm and face-off is at 5:15pm.

To send us your latest club news, please click here!