A Steeldogs Double
Sheffield Steeldogs congratulate two of its members, N/M Ben Bowns and Team Manager, Shirley Packwood, on their inclusion in the 2012 London Olympic Games, as announced at Sunday's game.
Ben Bowns has had the honour of being selected as one of the 8,000 Olympic Torch bearers and will be carrying this in Warmsworth on Tuesday, 26th June, (time will be published when known) as the torch continues its journey south, coming within 10 miles of 95% of the people in the UK.
Ben Bowns has played for Sheffield Junior and Senior ice hockey teams since he was 6 years old and also has been selected for international GB duty his country at junior and senior levels throughout his career. Most recently he has been named in the Team GB (Senior) squad who will be taking part in the World Championships, with confirmed selections to be made shortly.
Ben's current season with the Sheffield Steeldogs has been outstanding and he is currently the top EPL netminder with a 93% save rate out of 52 games played. He recently made the EPL record books with back-to-back shut-outs against Milton Keynes Lightning in the EPL Cup Semi-finals, helping to take the team into the Finals against recently crowned League Champions, Guildford Flames. The Final game of the two-legged series is being played on Wednesday 28th March in Guildford.
Steeldogs are currently in 3rd League position going into the final weekend of the regular season, with the Quarter Final Play-off games x2 being played over Easter weekend.
On his selection as an Olympic Torch carrier, Ben commented “It will be a great honour to be part of the Olympic events and hopefully it will also raise the profile of ice hockey.”
Shirley Packwood is one of life's volunteers, both in and outside the ice hockey world. She has been a part of Sheffield Junior and Senior ice hockey clubs for many years, and as manager of the Scimitars and then Steeldogs over the last ten or more years.
Shirley volunteered to be a part of this great event and has been selected to help in the Events ServicesTeam. She will be a part of the army of volunteers who will be making the Games run smoothly by looking after the needs of the spectators. Her jobs will include security checks, ticket checking, meeting and greeting spectators and showing them to their seats. Shirley will be based in Horse Guards Parade which will be hosting Beach Volleyball for her two week spell.
Shirley commented “ It’s a once in a life time opportunity as I very much doubt the Olympics will be staged in Great Britain again in my life time. It was a privilege to be chosen from the 250,000 people that applied to volunteer. In total there will be 70,000 volunteers stationed up and down the country carrying out many varied roles. It will be a new challenge for me as I will have to learn about a whole new sport so that if someone asks me a question about it I will have to know the answer.”