Edinburgh Capitals are delighted to announce the return of netminder, Craig ‘Chambo’ Chalmers for the 2023-24 SNL campaign.
Craig arrived at the club last summer having backstopped the Kirkcaldy Kestrels to the SNL title back in season 2021-22. He brought a wealth of experience to the team having played several years previously in the SNL, most notably with Aberdeen Lynx where he spent 6 seasons. He also spent a season as a backup goalie in the EIHL with Dundee Stars in 2013-14. Learning his trade from the eventual Netminder of the Year in Dan Bakala.
Craig knows what it takes to win and he will be determined to play his part this coming campaign in the hope that we can grab some silverware. He dressed in every one of our 31 games last year. He failed to ice in only three of those encounters. In total Craig played 1630 minutes facing 824 shots conceding 125 goals.
When asked about his return he had this to say, “It was great to see hockey back in Edinburgh again after a quiet couple of years. I really enjoyed being part of the rebuild team and that made it an easy decision to return for the 2023/24 season.
We narrowly missed out on silverware last season and we are all keen to make that happen this year.
When I spoke to Lynchy, he mentioned the plans he has for developing the team. Combining this with what we already have will give us a strong start to the league campaign and everyone will be working hard over the summer break to make sure that happens!”
The netminding position is always vital and Head Coach Steven Lynch was delighted to get Craig back once again, “I’m delighted to have Craig back for another year. He was our first signing as the Capitals reformed and I remember he was nervous about signing first because, at that point, he had no idea who else would be joining us. Needless to say, in the end, he had nothing to worry about as we assembled a strong team in front of him.
He went on to have a solid season for us once we gelled and once we started playing better defensively as a team, Craig saw the benefit of that statistically as he faced fewer shots from high percentage areas.
He was another that made it clear early on that he wanted to return due to the set-up we have here and the good dressing room atmosphere. He’s a quality person that’s well-liked by the boys and now that he has had a year in Edinburgh under his belt, we’ll be looking for Craig to take his game to another level to help us achieve our goal.”
We will be hoping to announce another goalie very soon.
LET’S GO CAPITALS
