The Nottingham Panthers have confirmed the signing of netminder Jack Berry for the 2022/23 Premier Sports Elite League season.

Jack joins the Panthers from the SPHL’s Peoria Rivermen where he won the SPHL Championship last season. He was also named the SPHL Playoff most valuable player award after leading his team to a 6-3-0 record, posting a 2.44 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage across the nine games.

The netminder’s performances in Peoria throughout 2021/22 earned him ECHL call ups with the Atlanta Gladiators and the Iowa Heartlanders.

Before turning professional in 2020, Jack played four years with the University of Wisconsin in the NCAA, America’s top collegiate sports league, playing in 67 games during his time there.

Head Coach Gary Graham spoke to panthers.co.uk about adding Jack to his roster for the 2022/23 season:

“Jack is coming off a playoff MVP performance in Peoria where he led his team to the championship, he’s gaining more confidence with every passing year.

“He is young, hungry and is looking forward to backing up, and working with, our number one Alex Dubeau this season.

“We have a lot of trust in this goalie tandem and having these two guys on our roster should make for excellent competition during practices.”

The club will also be able to call upon British netminding pair Luca Sheldon (20) & Matthew Bloor (18) during the coming season.

Currently icing for the Nottingham Lions (NIHL 1) the duo will get the opportunity to train with the Panthers throughout the week and will serve as back-ups to Alex Dubeau on game days.

Having both Luca and Matthew available means that whilst one is backing up Alex the other will be able to continue to gain valuable in-game time between the pipes with the Lions ensuring their continued development on all fronts.

This is the first step in The Nottingham Panthers and Nottingham Lions having a closer working relationship during the upcoming season and beyond to ensure there is a pipeline to the pros created for the next generation of local talent.

Matt Bradbury of The Nottingham Lions gave his thoughts to panthers.co.uk about the link up: “We have been in regular communication with both Omar and Gary over the last few weeks and we are excited to be working closely with them. It’s an exciting time for ice hockey in Nottingham and we look forward to strengthening our partnership over the next year.

“This is an amazing opportunity for both Luca and Matthew as part of their development and it doesn’t get any better than this.

“We are so are grateful for the support from the Panthers to make this possible.”

*Main image @PanthersIHC Jack Berry signs for Nottingham Panthers.