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This prompted Randall to join the junior ranks of the team, working his way up through the teams including the Cougars. In 1985, he finally made his debut at the countries highest level, taking part in a challenge match and scoring on his debut against the Crowtree Chiefs.

Mixing working at the Old Ice Center along with playing for the Panthers, Randall also managed to cram in formal qualifications at Clarendon College (Leisure Management).

Randall continued on through years winning the British Championship in 1989 and appearing for Team GB in the World Championships in 1998. His playing career stats ended in 2002 at 839 games played. 317 goals, 507 assists and 506 PIMs.

He now spends time in his native country looking after the Edmonton Oilers arena. He and his wife have three children and Randall is currently enjoying life coaching under 11’s. We are sure he will make just as good a coach as he did a Panthers Legend.

Greg was born on 4^th December 1970 in Vancouver.  He joined the Panthers at the beginning of the 1996-97 season, the first season of Superleague, having previously played for North Michigan University and Richmond Renegades.

Centreman Hadden took a while to settle in Britain, despite scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal in the team’s Benson and Hedges Cup triumph against Ayr Scottish Eagles.  His first season was solid rather than spectacular, and some supporters were rather surprised to see him offered a new contract in the summer.  However, he proved the doubters wrong, going from strength to strength in subsequent seasons.  Never the most skilful stickhandler around, Greg’s main assets were his speed and his big slapshot.  He was also an excellent face-off man, who could be relied upon to win the crucial draws for his team.  In a disappointing season overall, Hadden’s improved form was one of the high spots and this time, his return was welcomed by the Nottingham faithful.

Season 1998-99 was Hadden’s best in a Panthers shirt.  The line of Hadden, Steve Roberts and Paul Adey was soon topping the scoring charts.  Roberts’ season was ended by injury, but with Jarret Zukiwsky filling his slot effectively, Hadden’s excellent scoring form continued throughout the year, as Panthers won the Benson and Hedges Cup again and finished third in the league.  Along the way, he set an ISL record for goals in a game, with five in a home encounter with Bracknell, finished as the league’s top goalscorer with 29 (also an ISL record) and was voted onto the all-star team.

Back for a fourth season in 1999-2000, Greg added another 28 goals in a difficult campaign and continued to be the side’s biggest offensive threat.  As the team moved into the NIC, Hadden was retained again by coach Dampier.  The first season in the team’s new home was a tough one for everyone, and Hadden’s form dipped alarmingly early on.  He managed to rediscover his confidence though, and had recaptured his goalscoring touch by the end of the season.  His face off skills even set up the famous goal by Robert Nordmark that sent Panthers into the play-offs with 4 seconds remaining in the last league game at Newcastle!  It was his late-season showing that won Greg another new contract for 2001-02.  That proved to be another disappointing season for the team, but Hadden remained a consistent goalscorer and was always reliable in the face off circle.

The 2002-03 season proved to be Greg Hadden’s last, as he decided to retire from hockey to pursue a career in the fire service back in Canada.  The club rewarded his efforts with a testimonial game during the season.  As ever, he delivered his fair share of points for the team and along the way broke the Superleague all-time goalscoring record and also set a new record for games for a single club in ISL action.  Those were fitting milestones to bring down the curtain on his career with the Panthers.

In times when club rosters change almost totally every year, playing seven seasons with one club is a major achievement.  Greg Hadden is one of the most popular players to wear the black and gold – with fans and fellow players alike, as proved by his several “Players’ Player of the Year awards” - and his ISL goals and appearances records are testament to his contribution in the Superleague era.  His overall record with Panthers was 393 games played with 353 points (174+179).

Paul Leonard Adey was born in Montreal in 1963.  He played his junior hockey for Hull Olympiques, where he still holds the single-season points record.  After attending the Hartford Whaler’s NHL training camp, Paul was due to link up with the Canadian national team, but missed out due to injury.  He arrived in Nottingham in October 1988 with a big challenge ahead of him.

At that time, with three imports per team, the normal approach in the British league was to have two import forwards to rack up the goals and a single import defenceman.  That season, Panthers coach Alex Dampier was trying a different method – two import defencemen, Terry Kurtenbach and Darren “Doc” Durdle, and a single forward.  Original choice Bruce Thompson failed to produce the required points and Adey arrived as his replacement.  After making an immediate impact of a slightly different kind, thrown out of both games on a Scottish weekend double-header for fighting, Adey soon began to rack up the points and his hard-working style, eye for goal and speedy skating proved the ideal mix as a lone import forward.  Ably supported by the rushes of Durdle and his British line mates, local players Nigel Rhodes and Simon Perkins, Adey ended the season with 171 points, as the Panthers finished third in the league standings and went on to win the British Championship playoffs at Wembley with a 6-3 victory over Ayr Bruins in the final.

The side struggled somewhat in subsequent years, but Adey’s attitude and point scoring were a constant high point, as he often battled against the odds without a regular import line mate.  In 1991-92, he was joined by the prolific Dan Dorion and helped the Panthers to an Autumn Cup victory over the Humberside Seahawks.  Paul enjoyed his best year in terms of points in the 1994-95 season.  Paired with Rick Brebant, Adey ended the season with a massive 120 goals and 223 points.  After capturing the Autumn Cup, the Panthers looked set to sweep the board but a dip in form late in the season saw them pipped in the league and playoffs.

Season 1996-97 saw the beginning of the Superleague era, and Paul Adey remained with the Panthers in the new import-dominated line up, helping the side to a Benson and Hedges cup win against Ayr.  He finished as the team’s top scorer, notching his 1000^th point with a goal in a televised game against Cardiff, and was voted onto the all-star team, a notable achievement considering the improvement in the standard of the league.  After a disappointing season in 1997-98, Paul returned to top form the following year, in arguably the best Panthers line-up of the modern era.  The side won the Benson and Hedges Cup, lost in the finals of the Challenge Cup and playoffs and only a run of injuries prevented a genuine league title challenge.  Adey played on a hugely successful line with Greg Hadden and Jarret Zukiwsky, finishing second to Hadden in scoring and earning another ISL all-star team spot.

This was to prove Paul Adey’s swansong in the black and gold.  After protracted contract negotiations, he left the team to play for Milan in Italy, before joining Sheffield for the latter part of the following season.  After retiring from playing, Paul was appointed co-coach with Alex Dampier for the 2001-02 season, taking over in sole charge for the playoffs that year.  Adey was head coach for the next three seasons.  Despite building good squads, his teams never seemed to gel consistently and, after alleged dressing room unrest and surviving management ultimatums (and handling the public “one game to save your job” affair with considerable dignity), his services were not retained after the 2004-05 season.  The highlight of Adey’s time as coach was the 2004 Challenge Cup victory, when an overtime goal by Kim Ahlroos defeated the Steelers on their own ice (made a nice change!).

There is no doubt that Paul Adey is one of the best players to have appeared for the Nottingham Panthers.  He is the club’s all-time leading scorer (828 + 781 = 1609 points) and has the distinction of having been involved (as player or coach) in every Panthers trophy win in the modern era bar the 1986 Autumn Cup triumph.  His attitude and fitness throughout his career were an example to any professional player.  While he came in for criticism as coach, his playing record speaks for itself and that is ultimately what we should remember him for – he gave us one thousand, six hundred and nine reasons, after all!

Born in Winnipeg to a Ukrainian family, Chick Zamick is arguably the most talented player ever to wear a Panthers shirt and was rated one of the leading players in European hockey in the 1950s.

A centreman, Zamick arrived from Canada as a late replacement for the 1947-48 season, reputedly with just a few pounds in his pocket and wearing a suit he borrowed from his brother.  Despite his diminutive size, he made a huge impact on the Panthers and on British hockey.  He ended his first season in second place in league scoring, and went one better the following year, recording ten hat tricks in the British National league alone, winning the league’s Player of the Year and a spot on the all-star team.

When the Panthers won their first league title in 1950-51, Zamick was once again the league’s top scorer and was voted “Most Popular Player”.  In the same year, he was voted Nottingham’s “Sportsman of the Year” (the first of two occasions he won the award), beating legendary figures like Tommy Lawton (Notts County FC) and Reg Simpson (Nottinghamshire CCC).

He missed a large chunk of the following season through injury, but still recorded the best points per game average in the league and retained his place on the all-star team!  Zamick led the Panthers in scoring in each of the next six seasons, topping the 100-point mark on each occasion, earning another four all-star selections and playing a huge part in the Panthers’ league title triumphs in 1954 and 1956.  He was even player/coach of the team in 1957-58!

Chick Zamick eventually left the Panthers in 1958 to take up a coaching role in Switzerland.  He subsequently returned to make his home in his adopted city of Nottingham.  Along with former team mates Les Strongman and the late Lorne Smith, Chick was a guest of honour at the final game in the old Nottingham Ice Stadium.  In November 2005, he unveiled a plaque at the NIC celebrating his scoring exploits and his contribution to Nottingham ice hockey.

Zamick led the way in appearances (624), goals (778), assists (645) and points (1423) in the first era of Panthers hockey and is second on the all-time points list.  His name is the first on the lips of any Panthers fan from those days, and I only wish I had had the opportunity to see his skills on display for the team.

Born in Winnipeg in 1924, left-winger Les played his junior hockey in Saskatoon and had trials with the Detroit Red Wings.  After serving in the Canadian Air Force and working as a policeman, he decided to give European hockey a try.  He arrived from Canada to join the inaugural Nottingham Panthers line up in the 1946-47 season and quickly made an impact, averaging a point a game.  His points output increased from the following season alongside prolific new line mate Chick Zamick.  In total, Les played eleven seasons for the Panthers, five of them as Captain, and also had spells with rivals Wembley Lions and in Switzerland and Sweden, where he had his first taste of coaching.  In 1950-51, Strongman was voted onto the all-star team and captained the Panthers to their first ever trophy, the English National League title, a feat the team repeated under his captaincy in 1953-54.

After broadening his experiences in Wembley and Europe in the mid-1950s, Les returned to the Panthers towards the end of the decade, and was still an important member of the team when the club folded in 1960.

After a gap of twenty years, the Panthers were re-formed by Gary Keward in 1980.  Looking around for a coach, Keward found Les Strongman, who had settled in Nottingham after his playing days were over, running a newsagent’s shop almost opposite the ice stadium.  The former hero agreed to coach the reformed team in its early days, even making one appearance on the ice in an end of season challenge game that first year (at least I got to see him play once!).  Even when his tenure as Panthers coach ended, Les continued his association with Nottingham hockey, serving on the club’s committee for a number of years and coaching the second team Trojans and later the junior Cougars, who benefited from his vast experience until he returned to Canada just a few years ago.

In total, Les made 508 appearances for the Panthers and recorded 733 points (402+331) with 330 PIMs.