WIDNES Wild have announced two new signings to boost their - already impressive looking - squad for the forthcoming 2018/19 Laidler Division season.

The most notable is Czech player Michal Novak who is completely new to the UK leagues. He has played all of his hockey to date in the Czech Republic and Slovakia making some 240 senior appearances and scoring 45 goals and adding 72 assists.

Talking about the new signing, Widnes Wild player coach Ollie Barron said: “Mike approached me in the off-season, looking to get back into the game after some time away from playing. Mike has skated with us, and I really like the look of his play. I’m sure he is going to be a dangerous goal threat for us this year."

The second new signing is Daniel Fay from Bracknell who is moving to Liverpool to study at Liverpool University.

Defenceman Daniel was part of the Bracknell junior system before joining the Bracknell Hornets NIHL D1 team in the 2016/17 season.

Last year Daniel continued to play with the Hornets in D2 as well as icing for the former EPL team, the Bracknell Bees, in NIHL South D1.

Dan was in contact with a number of teams, however, Wild player coach Ollie Barron was keen to have him join Widnes and invited him to visit and train with the team over the summer.

Three more players from last season’s team have also agreed to return for another campaign in the yellow and black of the Wild.

Popular defenceman Tom Jackson will be returning to the club for his 6th season.

He played junior hockey at Hull and also played for the senior Jets team before switching to Widnes midway through the 2013/14 season. Jackson has made 154 appearances for the Wild across all competitions, notching up 7 goals, 25 assists and 217 penalty minutes.

Joining him will be Tom Ratcliffe, who played his early hockey with the Manchester Phoenix junior teams at Altrincham before joining the Wild for their debut 2013/14 season.

He spent part of the 2015/16 season gaining invaluable hockey experience in the USA where played for Charlotte Rush in the USPHL tier 3 junior league, scoring 5+8 in 37 games.

Ratcliffe has played 106 games for Widnes over his 6 seasons, scoring 17+24 and picking up 292 PIM. He also played 14 league and cup games for Elite League team Manchester Storm in the 2016/17 season.

The third returnee of the week is Geoff Wigglesworth, who also played in Manchester before joining the Wild in the 2013/14 season.

Geoff has played two separate spells for Widnes, switching to north-west rivals Deeside Dragons for the 2016/17 season and then rejoining the Wild mid-way through last season.

In 75 games overall for the Wild, he has scored 44 goals and 41 assists.

The Wild will take to the ice for the first time next Sunday 2 September when they play last season’s league champions Sutton Sting in a challenge match at Planet Ice Widnes.

The Sting have won promotion to the higher Moralee Division for the forthcoming season and have assembled a strong squad, so it will provide a good opportunity for Wild player coach Ollie Barron to asses his own new look team.

The game faces off at 5.30pm and doors open at 4.45pm.

The full fixture list for the 2018/19 Laidler Division season can be seen on the club’s website at www.widneswild.co.uk and information about shirt sponsorship and buying season tickets can also be found there.