The YKK sponsored Widnes Wild are thrilled to announce the return of long-term forward #16 Mikey Gilbert for the 23/24 season.

Michael Gilbert is another key Widnes player, well known to many fans, who stepped up during last year to assist newly appointed Joey Coulter in a coaching role midway through the season. Gilbert started playing in 2010 for the Manchester Phoenix U16 at just 13, and progressed through the academy, whilst also icing at senior team Manchester Minotaurs for 2 seasons. He finished his junior career in 2015, ending with over 100 points from 89 games.

Before joining the Wild in 2017, Mikey played 2 seasons for NIHLD2 side Altrincham Aces and quickly made an impact on the ice, which carried forward to his future seasons in a Wild jersey. Gilbert also has an influential role off-ice, being head coach of the academy set-up for the Widnes Wild, helping to develop players for the future teams. In his 5 seasons at Widnes, playing over 100 games, Mikey has contributed 157 points (66 goals + 91 assists) and will be aiming to continue putting points on the board for the Wild this season.

Player-coach Joey Coulter was pleased to keep Mikey in the squad for the upcoming season, stating;

‘Michael Gilbert is a pleasure to work with and I’m looking forward to seeing him take the next couple of steps in his development at Widnes next year. He’s already an established player but he has a lot more to offer and I think he slides right into our style of hockey. Gilbert is a coach’s dream as he loves to implement the systems in place, very effective on special teams and just all round plays the game the way I think will lead us to success this season. Mikey does all the little things right, he’s not a highlight reel guy and a lot of his on-ice contributions probably go unnoticed to the untrained eye, but I know for sure he will be a big player for us this year.’

Meanwhile Gilbert said;

‘It’s good to be back in the yellow and black again with the best fans and in a great set up. We had a tough season last year and I’m looking forward to Joey’s first full season at the helm and playing for the team he is building. Can’t wait to get back going again so we can prove just how well we can play together as a team and get back to winning ways.‘