David Phillips (born 14 August 1987 in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

, England) is a British professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

, currently playing for

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

(EIHL) side Belfast Giants. Phillips was previously with

Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák ( en, Dunaújváros Steel Bulls), is a Hungarian ice hockey team that currently plays in the MOL Liga. They play their home games at Dunaújvárosi Jégcsarnok, located in Dunaújváros. Team Name Over time the team's ...

in the Erste Liga.

Playing career

Phillips began his career within the Kingston upon Hull club in England, playing for Kingston Crunch under-16, Kingston Predators under-19 and then Kingston Jets of the English National League in November 2003. He then moved up to the

Hull Stingrays Hull Stingrays were a British ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull who was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League from 2003 until 2015. They played their home games at Hull Arena. The Stingrays replaced previous clubs Humberside Seahawks ( ...

in the British National League, a team which joined the Elite League in 2006. Phillips established himself as one of Britain's top defencemen and served as assistant captain of the Stingrays in the 2007–08 season. He moved to the Belfast Giants for the 2008–09 season, becoming new coach

Steve Thornton Steve Thornton (born March 8, 1973) is a Canadian-born British former professional ice hockey player. He is currently the Director of Hockey Operations for the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League. Career Thornton was born in Gloucest ...

's first signing. Establishing a career high 25 points in 54 games, Phillips helped the Giants to be crowned Champions of the Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup. On 28 April 2009, Phillips re-signed to remain with the Giants for the following season. However, with NHL ambitions, and following an impressive performance in a

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

evaluation camp, Phillips was signed to a two-way contract with

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

affiliate team, the

Rockford IceHogs The Rockford IceHogs are a professional ice hockey team based in Rockford, Illinois. They are members of the American Hockey League (AHL), having begun play in the League starting in the 2007–08 season. The team plays their home games at the ...

on 12 July 2009. He participated on an invitation in the Blackhawks training camp, before returning to the IceHogs to begin the 2009–10 season. After making his North American debut against the

Peoria Rivermen Peoria Rivermen is the name of four minor league hockey clubs: *Peoria Rivermen (IHL), named as such 1984–1996, formerly the Peoria Prancers 1982–1984 *Peoria Rivermen (ECHL), 1996–2005 *Peoria Rivermen (AHL), 2005–2013 *Peoria Rivermen (SP ...

on 4 October 2009, Phillips was briefly loaned to ECHL team

Toledo Walleye The Toledo Walleye are a professional ice hockey team based in Toledo, Ohio. The Walleye are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the ECHL. The Walleye were founded in 1991 as the Toledo Storm and play their home games at ...

, scoring his first North American professional goal, before he was recalled to the IceHogs to remain for the majority of the season posting 6 assists in 52 games. On 8 April 2010, it was confirmed that Phillips had agreed to a one-year deal with fellow AHL team, the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

for the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season. Phillips was then assigned to the Walleye of the ECHL to begin the 2010 season. After appearing in one game with the Wolves in November he was returned to Toledo. With only five points in 31 games with the Walleye, on 12 November, Phillips was reassigned by the Wolves to fellow ECHL team, the Gwinnett Gladiators. On 25 December, Dave was released from his contract with the Wolves and shortly joined fellow AHL team, the

Lake Erie Monsters The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team began play in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters and since 2015 has served as the top affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hock ...

, on a professional try out on 5 January 2011. After posting three assists in 10 games with the Monsters, Phillips returned to the Gladiators. Towards the end of his first stint with the Monsters, Phillips signed with Australian-based team, the

Adelaide Adrenaline The Adelaide Adrenaline is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2008 as the Adelaide A's to replace the defunct Adelaide ...

, for the forthcoming

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

season on 12 January 2011. On 10 May 2011, it was announced that Phillips would be returning to Britain and the

with the Coventry Blaze. After the

announced they would not take part in the 2015–16 season, who Phillips was to play for, it was made public that the newly reformed Manchester Storm along with Matty Davies would sign both players for the coming season. In 2016, Phillips signed with the Sheffield Steelers, remaining with the team until 2020. However, following the suspension of the 2020–21 Elite League season, Phillips signed abroad for a third time after agreeing to join Hungarian Erste Liga side

. In February 2021, Phillips moved to Sweden to sign for Hockeyettan side Karlskrona HK. Later that month, Phillips signed for UK NIHL side

Sheffield Steeldogs The Sheffield Steeldogs are a semi professional ice hockey team, based at the iceSheffield complex in Sheffield, England. History The club came into existence during the summer of 2010 as a replacement for the previous tenants of the iceSheffie ...

ahead of their Spring Cup series, before returning to the Sheffield Steelers in time for the 2021 Elite Series. In May 2023, Phillips became the sixth men's

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

ice hockey player to win 100 senior caps, a milestone he reached at the

2023 IIHF World Championship Division I The 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The Group A tournament was held in Nottingham, United Kingdom from 29 April to 5 May and the Group B tourname ...

. Phillips then re-joined the Belfast Giants ahead of the 2023–24 Elite League season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

*
David Phillips' profile and statistics
from the Belfast Giants * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Dave 1987 births Living people Adelaide Adrenaline players Belfast Giants players British National League (1996–2005) players Chicago Wolves players Coventry Blaze players Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák players English ice hockey defencemen Gwinnett Gladiators players Hull Stingrays players Lake Erie Monsters players Manchester Storm (2015–) players Sportspeople from Kingston upon Hull Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players SønderjyskE Ishockey players Toledo Walleye players Sheffield Steelers players British expatriate ice hockey people English expatriate sportspeople in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in Hungary English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate ice hockey players in Hungary Expatriate ice hockey players in Latvia Expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Expatriate ice hockey players in Australia