Tony Hand

Anthony Hand MBE (born 15 August 1967) is a Scottish former ice hockey player and coach. He was the first British player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986.

Tony Hand
Born (1967-08-15) 15 August 1967
Edinburgh, Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Forward
Shot Right
EPL team
Former teams		 Manchester Phoenix
Murrayfield Racers
Edinburgh Racers
Sheffield Steelers
Ayr Scottish Eagles
Dundee Stars
Edinburgh Capitals
Belfast Giants
National team  Great Britain
NHL Draft 252nd overall, 1986
Edmonton Oilers
Playing career 1983–2015

Nicknamed Two point Tony, he holds several national records, and scored over 4000 points in his career, more than any professional hockey player at any level. Still over a point-per-game scorer deep into his forties, Hand retired after the 2015 EPIHL league finals, after his Manchester Phoenix team lost.[1]

Hand served as the head coach of the Great Britain national team, a position he assumed in 2011 and resigned from in 2013.[2] Until the franchise folded in January 2017, he was the coach of the Manchester Phoenix. In 2017, Hand was honored by the International Ice Hockey Federation with the Torriani Award.

Early life

Hand was born on 15 August 1967 in Edinburgh, the second son to David and Lorraine Hand. He grew up in the Muirhouse area of the city and attended St Augustine's Catholic School. He started his ice hockey career with the Edinburgh-based Murrayfield Racers, playing for their junior team the Raiders and working part-time at the rink. His older brother Paul was also an ice hockey player.

Professional career

Early playing career

He made his senior debut on 20 September 1981 at the age of fourteen against the Fife Flyers when the Murrayfield Racers had a player shortage. He gained his first point against the Billingham Bombers on 17 October 1981 with an assist to a Chris Kelland goal. He finished the 1981/82 season having played 19 games, scoring 4 goals and adding 7 assists for 11 points. He followed it up the following year with 20 goals and 22 assists, a total of 42 points, in 24 games.

He established himself as a regular first choice player for Murrayfield side that finished 5th in the 1983/84 season, scoring 52 goals and 43 assists in 30 league games after scoring 12 goals and 8 assists in 7 Autumn Cup games. He reached his first Championship Playoff Final with Murrayfield but despite Hand scoring 10 goals and 5 assists in 6 games, the Racers lost 5–4 to Dundee Rockets. He went on to represent Great Britain at the World Junior Championships, scoring 6 goals and 3 assists.

In the 1984/85, Hand clocked up his 100th career league goal against Durham Wasps, scoring 72 in the season and broke Roy Halpin's league assists record with 107. He also scored 44 goals and 50 assists in 14 Autumn Cup and Championship Playoff games. With Murrayfield, he reached his second successive final after the Racers finished 3rd in the league but again they lost, this time to Fife Flyers. Representing Great Britain at the Pool C European Championships in Feltre in Italy, he played 3 games and scored 4 points. He also scored 2 goals while guesting for Dundee in the European Cup.

In the 1985/86 season, Hand continued to clock up the points scoring 72 goals and 110 assists from 35 games to help Murrayfield finish 2nd in the League behind Durham, including his 200th goal against Peterborough Pirates on 8 February 1986. In 15 cup and playoff games, he also scored 35 goals and 36 assists as Murrayfield won both competitions. They beat Durham 8–5 in the Autumn Cup and Dundee 4–2 at Wembley. Personally, he was awarded the Young Player of the Year award-winning a couple of weeks attendance at the Calgary Flames training camp to train with NHL players.

NHL draft pick

Instead of attending the Flames training camp, Hand went to the Edmonton Oilers' training camp after they had selected him in the 12th round (252nd and last overall) of the 1986 NHL entry draft. There he survived the full fourteen days of camp without being cut, despite breaking his only stick on the first day and having to borrow one from Marty McSorley. Playing alongside players such as Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, he impressed coach Glen Sather and was offered a contract to play junior hockey for a year. Suffering from homesickness, Hand turned it down but agreed to return the following year. Hand was the first of only three British-born and trained players ever to have been drafted by an NHL team (the second being Colin Shields and the third being Liam Kirk).

Before returning home to Scotland, Hand played briefly for the junior Western Hockey League's Victoria Cougars, with whom he had trained before the Edmonton camp, and scored eight points in only three games. He returned to Scotland a few months later due to exhaustion from the demands of training, playing and press interest.

Despite the interest of other British clubs, Hand returned to play for the Racers, where he won his first Heineken League Premier title, the Regal Scottish Cup and Scottish League. He broke the 200-league-point barrier for the first time, scoring 105 goals and 111 assists in 35 games, and scored his 300th career goal against Nottingham Panthers in February 1987. However, the Racers lost in the play-offs to Durham Wasps. He also won a bronze medal with the Great Britain Under-21s in Pool C of the World Championships in Denmark.

The following season, Hand went back to Canada to train with the Cougars before heading to Edmonton where he played for the Oilers against Team Canada and assisted a Kevin Lowe goal. Again he was offered a contract with the Oilers' farm team, the Nova Scotia Oilers, but again turned it down, afraid of being stuck in junior hockey earning less than his contract in Edinburgh.

In his autobiography, Hand wrote that this was perhaps a mistake and that perhaps he should have re-negotiated the offer. In the foreword, Sather expressed his disappointment that "he didn't accept my deal because he could have advanced in North America. His progress would have been celebrated." Indeed, Sather also says "At the training camp I could see that he had a great ability to read the ice and he was the smartest player there other than Wayne Gretzky. He skated well: his intelligence on the ice stood out. He was a real prospect."

Return to Britain

Hand returned in October 1987 for Murrayfield's first ill-fated trip onto the continent to play in the IIHF's European Cup where, after beating Bulgarian side Slavia Sofia in a preliminary round, the semi-pro team from Scotland were thrashed by full-time sides from the Netherlands, Sweden and (Germany).

On the domestic front they again won the Heineken League as well as the Scottish League and Cup double. However, in the Norwich Union Cup & Championship play-offs, Durham Wasps again proved to be their nemesis. After beating Murrayfield 11–5 in the final of the Autumn Cup competition, Durham also knocked them out of the Wembley Semi-final 11–8 despite Hand scoring a Championship record 7 points in the match. Hand ended the 1987–88 season with 125 goals and 135 assists in 52 league and cup games having scored his 400th league goal against Whitley Warriors on 13 March.

During the close season, Hand trained with Geneve-Servette and was offered a contract as their fourth import, but in the top Swiss league which allowed only three imports to play in game, he turned it down. Instead he returned to Murrayfield where, in an indifferent year, he scored 114 goals and 162 assists in 49 games, including his 1,000th point and 500th goal.

Having won the Scottish league and cup double with Murrayfield, Hand was selected for the GB senior team for the first time, making his debut in the World Championships Pool D competition in Belgium. In 4 games, he scored 6 goals and 12 assists to help Britain to a third-place finish and receiving his first World Championship medal.

At the end of the 1989–90 season, after winning the Norwich Union Cup and the Scottish double, Murrayfield reached the Wembley play-off for the fifth time in seven years but lost to Cardiff Devils on penalty shots with Hand missing the deciding shot. He played 45 games, scoring 73 goals and 117 assists. In March 1990, he won a Gold medal and the MVP award during Great Britain's Pool D promotion campaign in Cardiff scoring 5 goals and 8 assists in 4 one-sided games against Australia and Spain.

The following season was a disappointing one for Hand as Murrayfield won only one trophy, the Capital Foods Scottish Cup and Great Britain could only finish fifth in the Pool C competition in Denmark. On a personal front, Hand scored his 600th league goal against Durham Wasps and a record 11 assists against Trafford Metros in the quarter-final stage of the Norwich Union Cup. Overall, he scored 85 goals and 147 assists for Murrayfield in 52 games plus 9 goals and 12 assists in 8 games for the GB side.

1991–92 started badly for Hand with an eight-game ban for a drug offence when a cold remedy gave a positive result for traces of ephedrine. However, the domestic season got better for him personally as he was awarded a place on the All-Star team and was voted Players' Player of the Year. He was also the League's top scorer with 60 goals and 80 assists in 36 games and captained the Scotland side that beat England 7–6 in the 49th Home International, scoring three of the goals. For the Murrayfield team though, the season was full of controversy and disappointment which ended without qualifying for the play-offs.

In March 1992, the Pool C competition was held in Hull and in a group containing Australia, Belgium, Hungary, North Korea and South Korea, the GB team won the gold medal and promotion to Pool B. Hand finished top scorer with 6 goals and 12 assists in the 5 games to win the Best Forward award.

End of an era

Despite good offers from many teams over the years, Hand had remained with the Murrayfield Racers until they folded in 1994. Even then he joined the newly formed Edinburgh Racers, scoring over 200 points in a season for the third time in his career. However, after a single season with the Edinburgh Racers who also went bankrupt, Hand finally moved to the Sheffield Steelers, in the Superleague. Four years later, another return to Scotland came with a move to the Ayr Scottish Eagles. It was also around this time that Hand was offered a place on the roster of HPK of Finland's SM-Liiga

Coaching career

In 2001, Hand started a coaching career as player-coach of the newly formed Dundee Stars of the British National League, before returning to Edinburgh to coach the Edinburgh Capitals, where he has coached twice (2003–2004 and 2005–2006). Between these two spells at Edinburgh Hand was player-coach of the Belfast Giants. In 2004 Hand received an MBE for services to ice hockey.

On 19 April 2006, Hand was announced as the head coach of the Manchester Phoenix for the 2006–07 season. Hand has now released his autobiography, Tony Hand: A Life in British Ice Hockey, written with Mike Appleton. Still playing aged 41, in November 2008 he scored his 4000th career point against Hull Stingrays.[3]

Hand was named the head coach of the British national team on 30 December 2011. He signed a contract for four years.[4]

As of 2018, Hand is the director of hockey for the Murrayfield Racers.

Honours and awards

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1982–83 Murrayfield Racers BHL 22 18 21 39 23 2 2 1 3 0
1983–84 Murrayfield Racers BHL 30 52 43 95 28 6 10 5 15 6
1984–85 Murrayfield Racers BHL 36 72 92 164 36 6 13 11 24 4
1985–86 Murrayfield Racers BHL 32 79 85 164 49 6 13 13 26 4
1986–87 Victoria Cougars WHL 3 4 4 8 0 — — — — —
1986–87 Murrayfield Racers BHL 35 105 111 216 86 6 9 19 28 4
1987–88 Murrayfield Racers BHL 36 81 111 192 54 5 17 6 23 16
1988–89 Murrayfield Racers BHL 35 86 126 212 57 4 8 10 18 12
1989–90 Murrayfield Racers BHL 32 53 91 144 26 6 9 10 19 10
1990–91 Murrayfield Racers BHL 34 60 96 156 46 7 8 17 25 8
1991–92 Murrayfield Racers BHL 36 60 80 140 46 5 8 12 20 2
1992–93 Murrayfield Racers BHL 35 66 119 185 100 7 14 19 33 8
1993–94 Murrayfield Racers BHL 44 73 149 222 44 6 9 15 24 10
1994–95 Edinburgh Racers BHL 42 71 136 207 28 8 13 21 34 20
1995–96 Sheffield Steelers BHL 35 46 77 123 65 8 6 10 16 4
1996–97 Sheffield Steelers ISL 41 13 32 45 26 8 3 6 9 4
1997–98 Sheffield Steelers ISL 28 9 30 39 16 9 2 9 11 4
1998–99 Sheffield Steelers ISL 36 11 27 38 6 5 1 4 5 0
1999–2000 Ayr Scottish Eagles ISL 40 8 35 43 52 7 0 4 4 0
2000–01 Ayr Scottish Eagles ISL 46 19 36 55 42 7 2 5 7 0
2001–02 Dundee Stars GBR II 44 25 79 104 18 10 7 17 24 4
2002–03 Dundee Stars GBR II 35 22 56 78 99 — — — — —
2003–04 Edinburgh Capitals GBR II 36 21 63 84 38 11 2 14 16 2
2004–05 Belfast Giants EIHL 30 10 27 37 48 8 0 6 6 34
2005–06 Edinburgh Capitals EIHL 45 15 38 53 4 4 2 2 4 0
2006–07 Manchester Phoenix EIHL 51 17 55 72 60 2 0 0 0 20
2007–08 Manchester Phoenix EIHL 61 24 63 87 60 2 0 0 0 0
2008–09 Manchester Phoenix EIHL 52 17 50 67 74 — — — — —
2009–10 Manchester Phoenix EPL 54 25 95 120 52 3 1 3 4 4
2010–11 Manchester Phoenix EPL 54 25 108 133 65 3 2 3 5 0
2011–12 Manchester Phoenix EPL 21 6 26 32 12 3 0 3 3 4
2012–13 Manchester Phoenix EPL 47 10 67 77 52 4 3 6 9 8
2013–14 Manchester Phoenix EPL 53 18 64 82 104 4 1 7 8 2
2014–15 Manchester Phoenix EPL 44 11 46 57 36 4 0 4 4 0
BHL totals 484 921 1338 2259 688 82 139 169 308 108
ISL totals 207 65 174 239 144 36 8 28 36 8
EPL totals 273 95 406 501 321 21 7 26 33 18

International
Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1982 Great Britain EJC C 4 6 4 10 0
1983 Great Britain EJC C 3 3 2 5 2
1984 Great Britain EJC C 6 9 7 16 4
1984 Great Britain WJC C 4 6 3 9 16
1985 Great Britain EJC C 3 4 0 4 0
1986 Great Britain WJC C 5 10 1 11 6
1987 Great Britain WJC C 5 8 5 13 16
1989 Great Britain WC D 4 6 12 18 2
1991 Great Britain WC C 8 9 12 21 12
1992 Great Britain WC C 5 6 12 18 4
1993 Great Britain WC B 7 6 8 14 2
1994 Great Britain WC 6 0 0 0 0
1999 Great Britain WC Q 4 1 0 1 6
2000 Great Britain WC Q 3 1 0 1 4
2000 Great Britain WC B 7 2 8 10 2
2001 Great Britain WC D1 5 3 13 16 0
2002 Great Britain WC D1 5 2 4 6 2
2007 Great Britain WC D1 5 0 3 3 0
Senior Tier I totals 6 0 0 0 0
Senior Tier II totals 36 15 36 51 16
Senior Tier III totals 13 15 24 39 16
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References
  1. Lambert, Dave (19 July 2015). "The Scottish Wayne Gretzky Finally Hangs Up His Skates". thehockeynews.com. The Hockey News. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  2. https://www.bbc.com/sport/0/ice-hockey/22997907
  3. "Hull 1 Phoenix 7". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  4. Merk, Martin (30 December 2011). "Team GB in Tony's hands". IIHF.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  5. Podnieks, Andrew (25 April 2017). "A league of their own: IIHF Hall of Fame names 20th induction class". IIHF. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  1. ^ "Capitals joy as Hand signs deal". Edinburgh Evening News article. Retrieved 18 February 2006.
  2. ^ "Tony Hand (GBR)". Eurohockey profile. Retrieved 18 February 2006.
Preceded by
Paul Heavey		 Manchester Phoenix Head Coach
2006–2017		 Succeeded by
Team folded
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