Hotshot Harvey to fire for the Mos

Oct 29, 2014 | All News, Player News

22 year old forward Frankie Harvey is set to bring goals to the Invicta Dynamos for the remainder of 2014/15 after the skater, who found the net 32 times whilst claiming 23 assists for the London Raiders last season, today penned a deal to switch to the Silver Blades Gillingham.

FrankieHarvey_banner_291014Frankie Harvey has spent his entire career with Romford having progressed through the junior setup and, after a standout year with under 16s in 2007/08 in which he claimed 67 points, he made his debut in the EPL at the age of just 16. By 2009/10 the young forward was then a regular in the UK’s second tier and he would ice 39 times for the Raiders – claiming 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points to become his team’s fourth highest scorer that year despite his youth and Romford struggling to compete. His displays inevitably caught the eye of international coaches and Harvey would also represent Great Britain at under 18s level at the World Junior Championships.

In 2010/11 the Romford Raiders dropped into the NIHL South’s top tier and Frankie Harvey opted to remain with them – the forward exceptional with 30 goals and 48 assists giving him 78 points from the campaign. Serious injury then reduced him to just 3 appearances in 2011/12 but the forward battled back the following season to manage 18 goals whilst playing a hand in 27 more across 26 league outings. Last term he then continued with the now renamed London Raiders despite the team having to relocate to Lee Valley and he remained instrumental regardless of a challenging campaign for the organisation. Harvey put the puck in the net 32 times whilst teeing up a further 23 strikes to help guide a very shortbenched Raiders team to a hard earned top four finish. Now he will be hoping to do even better as he signs up for the Invicta Dynamos with his sights set on an NIHL South Division 1 title challenge in 2014/15.

Speaking on the capture of Frankie Harvey, Head Coach Kevin Parrish declared the player one of the best British skaters in the division and revealed he was looking forward to having him feature as part of his line-up. Parrish said, “Frankie has been fiercely loyal to the Raiders over the years and was one of those talented players you end up appreciating from afar without ever expecting the good fortune to work with them. He’s a top quality Brit who could almost certainly be plying his trade in the league above and he will undoubtedly bring even more quality to the Dynamos over the remainder of 2014/15. He has great vision, a good hockey brain and will always earn his spot in front of goal and I look forward to having him link-up and combine with the rest of his teammates over the course of the campaign”.

The Head Coach then suggested his latest acquisition would need some time to settle when he said, “Frankie has been very open about the fact he has some work commitments over the next couple of weeks so he will initially be in and out of games but pretty soon he will be playing with us full time. After spending his whole career with the Raiders he is looking forward to a new environment and a new challenge and I’ve no doubt we’ll see the best of him once he finds his feet at the Silver Blades”.

Frankie Harvey becomes the second player to sign for the Dynamos in the space of a week following the capture of import defenceman Joonas Liimatainen and the pair could make their debuts as soon as this weekend. The Mos begin a double header at home to the Cardiff NIHL Devils on Saturday before a road trip to Swindon to face the EPL’s Wildcats in the English Challenge Cup on Sunday.