Edinburgh Capitals have confirmed the signing of former Murrayfield Junior Archie Holmes for the 2022-23 Scottish National League campaign.
The 19 year old forward grew up playing at the Murrayfield Ice Arena before moving to Canada for a year in 2016-17. After an impressive trial in Prince Edward Island, he attended school and played hockey for Kings-Edgehill School U18s based in Nova Scotia. This was a valuable experience for Archie in his hockey career before returning to Edinburgh to again join the Junior system.
Archie was a top scorer in the U16 Scottish Leagues for the next two years whilst also playing up for the U20s. In 2019-20, unknown to Archie, he played his last year as a junior due to the pandemic and split his time between the U20s and Murrayfield Racers in the SNL. He scored 5 goals and 12 assists in 14 games for the Racers in the SNL. He was part of the Racers Stuart Robertson Cup and NIHL North 1 Cup wins and re-signed with the Racers for the start of the 2020-21 season. However. Archie never took to the ice due to the Racers withdrawing from the league.
Last season, Archie trained with Dundee Comets and played a couple of early games in the NIHL Cup before sitting out the rest of the season. He is now eager to get back on the ice and help the Capitals this coming season. “I signed up with the Caps because Edinburgh has been a vital part of my hockey journey and it’s my home. It’s good to be back. I’m looking forward to the rink opening again and getting back on the ice with a good group of guys. This season I hope that the team will gel as it is a new team and we will hopefully do well in the league. I also hope to improve more as a player playing at a higher level than junior hockey.”
Holmes is well known to Coach Steven Lynch due to him playing for Scotland in every age group as a junior. The Capitals boss is thrilled to have Archie on board. “Archie is another exciting player returning to Murrayfield. He’s a player with good speed, and an eye for goal and brings a great work ethic to the rink every night. He’s another product of MJIHC which ultimately, Caps fans want to see and at 19, we have a player at a good age where the coaching staff can hopefully develop him further.”
More signings will be announced very soon.
LET’S GO CAPITALS!
Photo: Ian Coyle
