Category: Photos

Farewell to the 2023/24 season

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The Lions have played their last game of the 2023/24 season and will now be enjoying a well-earned rest until the summer, when try-outs for the 2024/25 campaign will get going.  If you’re interested in joining the team next season, then keep an eye on our website/social media as we’ll post details of trials closer to the time.

Until then, here’s a fantastic photo of this season’s squad, courtesy of Kim Jones.  Well done and thank you to all the players, fans and volunteers who’ve been involved with Lee Valley Lions in their first season back at the Den.

© Kim Jones

Photo © Kim Jones

Photos from Saturday’s game @ Ally Pally

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Beverly Irish has kindly sent me photos she took from Saturday’s away game defeat to Haringey Huskies. You can find the album here. If you take photos at Lions games and would like them featured on the team’s website, please contact us.  Phil Hutchinson also has lots of photos from the game on his Flickr site.  Phil and Beverly took the new photos that form the slider at the top of the home page and are used with their permission.

Hepburn Brothers Come Back to Lea Bridge Road

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The Lee Valley Lions are delighted to announce the return of brothers James & Matt Hepburn.

Top scorer for the Lions in 2014, former Captain & Guildford Flames player, James brings leadership and experience to the side in what will be his third season with the Lions. Unfortunately James had to miss the 15/16 season due to work commitments, but is now able to play again after moving closer to the club. In his previous stint at Lee Valley, James scored 39 points from 36 games.

“I’m really excited to be back with the Lions. I had two great years here before and it felt like we were starting to build something that has continued this past year. Hopefully we can continue to grow as a club and I am looking forward to being able to contribute to that process.”

Head Coach George Alley had this to say about James’ return.

“I’m delighted James is available to play again this year, he’s someone I’ve got a lot of respect for as a player, and as a person. The team will benefit greatly from having him around as he brings fantastic leadership qualities on & off the ice.”

Matt also returns for his third season with the team, originally joining halfway through the 2014/15 season. Another former Guildford Flame, Matt is a hard working centre who has filled in on defence as well during his time at Lea Bridge Road. In his two seasons as a Lion, he’s scored 15 points in 27 games.

“Matt, racks up a lot of hard yards. Whenever I saw him play last season, he seemed to pop up at the right time to score crucial goals, and constantly put his body on the line for the team.”

Matt had this to say about returning:

“Very excited to be resigning for the lions. It has been great to see some high tempo hockey in our open sessions. The team is starting to have a nice balance, lots of skilled, quick players and some grinders, and veterans like Jay who can bring solid leadership to the locker room.”

You can view James & Matt’s stats on the links below.

James Hepburn Stats
Matt Hepburn Stats

Remember, you can follow the Lions on Facebook & Twitter with #LeeValleyLions

First photos from Legends game

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Last night Lions of the past, present and future came together for the Lee Valley Legends game.  It was a close-fought contest with the current team nipping ahead to become the 7-5 victors.  It was great to see so many familiar old faces yesterday and a massive thank-you must go to George Alley, who masterminded the whole thing – not forgetting, of course, all the players who took part and everyone off-ice whose work and dedication went into organising such a great evening’s entertainment.

It felt strange for me, coming back to the Den without a camera in my hand for the first time in many years.  My successor, Pat Ayling, took lots of great photos last night, the first of which is a photos of the teams together, which can be seen here.  In the meantime, I’ve posted a few shots taken by Lola Cook (a member of the Cook family who played such a big part in helping out the original Lions – Mike, Ena, Peter and Julie) and used with kind permission.  You can see them here.