Raiders defenceman seeking success on landmark occasion

Cooper will join a select group in the club’s history as Raiders welcome Bees IHC to Romford’s Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre, for a 7.30pm face-off.

Only four other players have reached the 400-game landmark and Cooper, 27, should surpass Rich Tomalin (423) at some point during the 2023-24 campaign.

Grant Taylor (504), Ben Pitchley (582) and Danny Marshall (926) occupy the top three spots in the all-time list and Cooper said: “It’s crazy how time flies. I never thought I would rack up this many appearances.

“It’s a proud personal achievement and hopefully I can continue to move up the list.

“But it’s a massive game for us on Friday against our rivals. They’re in good form, but we know we can beat them.”

Raiders make the long journey north of the border to Scotland for the first time in almost 30 years to take on National League newcomers Solway Sharks on Saturday.

Tomalin, whose son Joe made his Raiders debut last weekend, was among the goalscorers as they beat Dumfries Vikings 6-2 in the old British League First Division in January 1994.

And the current Raiders skated to a 4-2 home win over Sharks on the opening weekend of the season, with Cooper looking forward to the return meeting.

“First trip up to Scotland on Saturday, a new rink for us to play in against a decent side,” he added.

“It’s a must-win game for us and a win will make that journey home that little bit better!”

Raiders had mixed fortunes in back-to-back home games last weekend, beating Swindon in a rearranged match on Saturday but losing to Peterborough 24 hours later.

They raced into a 4-0 lead against the Wildcats – whose Link Centre rink is currently closed for repairs – and were 6-1 up with 15 minutes left, before the visitors closed the gap to one in the last minute.

Adam Laishram and Zack Milton bagged braces for Raiders, with Mikey Power and captain Aaron Connolly also on target.

But former Raiders import Lukas Sladkovsky put Phantoms ahead inside a minute on Sunday, before Laishram levelled.

And parity did not last long as the visitors regained the lead and sealed the points midway through the final period.

“It was good to get the win over Swindon after the previous performance at home [a 5-1 defeat],” said Cooper.

“And it was great to see Bryn [Capps] and Joe [Tomalin] get some ice time as they’ve deserved it, the future looks bright for them.

“But it was a tough loss to Peterborough, we were nowhere near our best. I know we were missing a couple guys but that’s no excuse, we knew we should’ve been better.”

Raiders were without Jake Sylvester in both matches last weekend due to illness, while George Norcliffe missed Sunday’s game.

But long-serving Cooper is pleased with the early signs, adding: “We’ve had a better start to this campaign than last year.

“We know we still have an import to add to our team so it’s only looking up from here.

“I think the new boys have come in and fit in right away. We have a great bunch of guys in the room and I think we’ll have a better year and hopefully bag some silverware.”