The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild are pleased to announce that highly-rated forward Mikey Gilbert will be returning to the club for the forthcoming 2022/23 NIHL season.
This will be Gilbert’s sixth season with the Wild and in his five seasons to date at Widnes – along with the Covid lockdown cup series, he has played 131 games for the Wild, contributing 70 goals and 100 assists, picking up 143 penalty minutes.
He was a member of the Wild teams that won three Laidler Play Off titles in a row in 2017,18 & 19, secured the Laidler Division league title in 2019, won the 2021 NIHL North Cup and Division 1 National Championship and helped the club to a 3rd place finish in the league and the Moralee Cup last season.
Gilbert originally came up through the junior system at Altrincham and played NIHL games for the Manchester Minotaurs and Altrincham Aces for four seasons before moving westwards along the M56 in the summer of 2017.
Mikey is also the Head Coach of the Wild Junior Academy and under his stewardship, the Widnes junior development system has grown steadily and now has teams competing at Under 10, Under 12, Under 14, Under 16 and Under 18 levels. He was also a bench coach for the recent England Under 23 international game that was played at Widnes.
Talking about his return to the Wild team for the new season, Gilbert said:
“It’s good to be back for another year with the Wild this season. I can’t wait for it to begin and to play in front of the best fans in the league! I am looking forward to getting on the ice with the team and some new additions too, and am excited to see what Hags has in store for us this season.”
“Hopefully we can have another successful season and build on last year.”
Wild Player Coach Richard Haggar said of Gilbert:
“Mikey had a stop-start season last year through injuries but his energy, enthusiasm and commitment is second to none. His leadership skills were there for all to see even when he wasn’t able to play and he will once again be our assistant captain for the year. I will also be looking to add more points to his game this season and really kick on.”
Mikey Gilbert will once again wear the number 16 shirt. His home, away and warm up shirts are available to “own and loan” at cost of £80.00 per shirt for the season.
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