Mike Hargreaves (killer)

Marc Roy Smith (Marcroy)

Steven Osman (Ozzy)

Richard Hargreaves (Gravy)

The 5’10 180 pound Bristol born player becomes the first piece of the puzzle as the dogs strive to make an impact on the English National League. Nicknamed ‘Killer` for his aggressive style of playing.

Mike also brings a wealth of experience to the team. The 29 year old veteran has played over 700 professional games in a 13 year career which has seen him play for the
Swindon Wildcats, Isle of Wight Raiders and most recently Oxford City Stars.

Mike started playing at the age of 14 in the Bristol Junior set up but due to a lack of a senior team Mike was forced to leave the club to carry on his development in the sport.
At the age of 17 mike made his senior debut with the Cardiff Capitals of the old ED1 (English Division 1) League. After a short stint in Cardiff finishing up his junior days Mike left the organization due to the Cardiff Devils entering the Newly formed
Super league .

Looking to start his Senior Career Mike headed Oxford bound to hold down a regular slot at senior level, but this was short lived and due to financial reasons the club released several players Mike being one of them after only 6 games. A couple of phone calls later and Mike had signed for the Isle of Wight Raiders. From 1998 -2003 he became a regular in the First team, not only becoming a fan favorite but picking up a host of individual points as well as team awards.

2004 - 5 years after Mike had Joined the club he opted for a fresh challenge and chose to leave the island and sign for the Swindon Wildcats.

A new role, a new challenge was what the doctor ordered and again it didn’t take long
for people to see what this Bristolian could do , Mike was soon given the Assistant Captain role thanks to his willingness to compete and ‘team play’. Mike went on to enjoy 3 seasons with the Cats helping them to 3rd in the league in 05/06 season their best result since the club renamed themselves. 06/07 Mike re-signed again for the Isle of Wight Raiders and was welcomed with open arms and the Assistant Captain role .
Another 2 seasons with the Raiders and Mike chose again to leave, mainly down to the
travelling from Bristol.

07/08 and after 12 seasons away Mike re-signed for the team that gave him his first taste of senior hockey - the Oxford City Stars His wealth of experience was a massive factor in the stars success helping them to 3rd sport and a playoff berth; unfortunately a first round exit to Bracknell meant an ‘early summer’.

Rich Hargreaves comments: Mike has something I can’t teach ‘Experience’ he’s a strong leader and knows the game inside out, his knowledge of the
game will be a big part in development of the younger players in the squad, Mike can play anywhere on the ice which again is a massive plus point.

Mike Hargreaves comments: I am really happy to be a part of a new chapter of ice hockey here in Bristol, I hope my experience will help on and off the
ice . It’s going to be a hard season but I’m looking forward to the challenge.

My parents got me my first hockey kit aged 8 after being told I had a natural skating ability by a manager from a Peterborough team. I started playing u10's for Peterborough Bulldogs, swiftly moving to Staffordshire because of my father's RAF posting. Telford was the closest rink and this is where I stayed through the ages. I started of playing Defence until I made the change to be a right winger in the 14's. Becoming assistant captain of the U14's and eventually captain of the U16's Telford Rockets. At age 14 I was playing for the Midlands Conference Under 15's Team alongside playing up for the Telford Trojans U19's and the short lived Telford Wildfoxes EPL. I continued to play U19's and EPL until the end of my A-levels where I took a break while at University of Brighton which had no rink. I studied BA (Hons) Illustration at Brighton University,
gaining experience in the field of design by freelancing for different record companies and
bands like Bella Union in London and Crystal Castles from Canada. I did a work placement in New York with an amazing design duo called Urban Inks, who have their work displayed in the Museum of Modern Art. Then I traveled all over Canada in the back of a bus being a roadie for a band before moving to Bristol to further my future in design, after the move to Bristol, and getting my kit back out of the loft and stared practising with the Bristol Warriors Rec team.

Rich Hargreaves: Marc is a great skater with alot of speed he’s not the biggest of players
but doesn’t mind getting his nose dirty. Iv’e heard and seen nothing but good thinks about Marc and i really think he’ll suprize many people in the League .

Marc Roy Smith: I look forward to joining the Pitbulls, playing a good standard of hockey and pushing myself. Hopefully the team fits into the league well and we become
one of the stronger competitors.

“OZZY “ First started playing Hockey when he was 6 years old, he took part in a hockey School in Swindon, then went
on to progress in the Swindon Junior Academy moving up through the age groupsfrom under 10’s to under 14’s In this
time he won 2 national titles, one in under 10’s and one in under 12’s.

While playing under 14’s Steve decided to take some time away from Ice hockey to concentrate on Roller Hockey, he
joined the Swindon Flames and captained them for 2 years in these years we came 2nd in the national and European
championships. While playing for this team Steve was noticed by the GB manager due to being the top point scorer in
the league 2 years running and due to our teams progress.

Steve went on to Play for Team GB on 5 occasions, Playing against Nhl drafted players in the German and Swiss teams,
they went on to finish runners up twice in International Tournaments.

2 years ago Ozzy decided to Restart Ice hockey and came back to Swindon and immediately was signed to the First
team after a long absence, Steve played the second half of the season and got to grips with the game again.

This year Steve has been playing for Swindon Panthers and has picked up where he left off, becoming the 3rd Top
goal scorer in the league with 42 points from 13 Games.

Rich Hargreaves comments: Ozzy has a natrual eye for the net and his record in the past has shown that, being a top
scorer not only in his team but in the league Steve is the sort of player that is a dimond in the rough, he was our top
scorer back in December’s friendly against the Tigers and I have no doubt he’ll be right up there at the end of
this season, centermen are normaly known for being the creative player’s on the forward line so to get that and a great
finnisher will be huge plus for us. He also brings great size, good hands and great speed and is going to fit in great with
the sort of Team I,m putting together.

Ozzy Comments : I am really looking forward to playing for Bristol Pitbulls this year and there are some great players
eligible for the team that I will get a chance to play with, this will improve my game.

As Bristol gets ready to welcome senior ice hockey back to the City for the first time in 16 years, the Bristol Pitbulls have been busy getting everything in place for the start of the 2009/2010 ENL South Division 2 campaign. Here a background of the man who will lead the club in its inaugural season. Player/coach Richie Hargreaves.

Alate starter to the sport Richie first got a taste for playing when around 13/14 years old. Taking to the sport like a duck to water, he started playing for the junior side out of the Frog more Street rink. A season of playing U16s he then had to make a move to Cardiff to progress his playing as Bristol didn't have an U19s team at the time. He stepped up to senior hockey for the first time with the Cardiff Capitals playing in English League Division 1.He would then take the opportunity to travel to Canada and play Junior A with Shelburne Wolves. However due to the strict criteria for import players, as he’s was classed ,he had to unfortunately return home. He also had tryouts with St. Michael's Majors and Peterborough Pete’s who play in the OHL.( Ontario Hockey League).A place where a majority of NHL players played their Junior hockey. Once back in the UK Richie played back in Cardiff with the Rage in the British National league. He then was signed at Oxford City Fox blades back in the English League. However due to that clubs financial difficulties he was released. He was snapped up by English Premier League side the Wightlink Raiders on the Isle of Wight. He enjoyed 5 relatively successful seasons on the holiday isle. Picking up numerous personnel accolades. As well winners medals in his time at the club. One of his most memorable years was finishing as the highest British trained scorer in the league that season. This was when he got an opportunity to test himself in a higher league as he was signed for Basingstoke Bison in the Findus British National League. Whether he wasn't ready for the move or not he later returned to the island to continue his career. However it wasn't long before he made the move back up a more permanent one. He stepped up to the top level in the country. Back at Basingstoke Bison this time playing in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Prestigious clubs such as Cardiff Devils, Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers were his opponents on a weekly basis.He didn’t waste any time and by the end of the Season picked up the clubs “best British Forward”. When London Racers were formed and accepted into the Elite League to play in the Capital he was given the opportunity to bring his talents to the fledging new side. Highlights no doubt in his career has to probably not only  playing alongside former NHL players Scott Nichol and Eric Cairns at the Racers but going on to Play for his country ice and roller hockey , firstly picking up a Bronze in Finland then the ultimate goal a Gold in Hungary in the (IIHF world Championships)  . After London he returned to be nearer home and signed at the Swindon Wildcats in the English Premier League. A 3rd place finish and being knocked out of the playoffs at the quarter final stage being the highlights of that year. After 2 seasons at the Cats he was to move back up to the Elite League. A 3rd spell for the Basingstoke Bison was to follow. He finished that year back at a former club as Wighlink Raiders called on his services as they made a push for the playoffs. The following season he signed for contenders Slough Jets. A move that proved to be a good one as they finished the season with the English Premier League Playoff Championship title scoring the game winner  in the finals . Another achievement in his illustrious career. After nearly a decade of playing in the country top 2 levels of the sport and playing nearly 850 pro games Scoring 700 points and a massive 2,000 penalty points  , Deciding to drop down a League and go back to were it all started  .Oxford City Stars were to finish 3rd in the league and lose out to Bracknell in the playoffs. However this is were Richie got himself into coaching as the club parted ways with the head coach and Richie was appointed in November 2008.Citing work commitments and wanting to be nearer to his family who he adds have been very supportive of his career from his early days he was fundamental in establishing a return of the sport to his his hometown. Being the founder of the Bristol Pitbulls he added his comments on why he wanted to re-establish senior hockey in the City:”

 This is were I'm from and as a youngster I was lucky that my parents were happy for me to travel to pursue my dream of playing professional ice hockey. With the lack of a senior team back then, a lot of young kids just gave up, and I want to provide that platform and opportunity for them to progress their playing days"

 Richie concluded” We will have an entertaining team that works hard for each other and aim to be challenging for honours, and it should see a good night out for all the family"