Paul Dixon (born 4 August 1973) is a former

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 ...

and

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

from

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, England. He is currently the head coach for the

Guildford Flames The Guildford Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and they play their home games in the Guildford Spectrum. They compete in the top-tier of hockey in the United Kingdom, the Elite Ice Hockey League. Founded in ...

of the

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 ...

, the top-tier of hockey in the United Kingdom.

Playing career

After working his way through the

Durham Wasps The Durham Wasps were an ice hockey team located in Durham and was one of England's most well-known names in ice hockey. The team was bought by Sir John Hall and moved to the neighbouring city of Newcastle Upon Tyne in August 1996. The Newcas ...

youth system, Dixon made his first appearance for the senior side in the 1989/90 season. After the 1990/91 season, Dixon moved to the Hull-based

Humberside Seahawks Humberside Seahawks later known as Humberside Hawks and then Kingston Hawks, were an English ice hockey club from Kingston upon Hull. Founded in 1988, the club played their home games at Hull Arena. The club went through several name changes due ...

where he helped them gain promotion to the Heineken League Premier Division Dixon then played a season with the

Sheffield Steelers The Sheffield Steelers are a professional ice hockey team located in Sheffield, England. They were formed in 1991 (see 1991 in sport) and play their home games at the Utilita Arena. They are currently a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League. ...

where he and the team achieved the same feat. He moved back home to play for the Durham Wasps for 3 years until they were sold and moved to

Newcastle Upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

in 1996, where he spent another 3 years playing for the Newcastle-based team, now known as

Newcastle Vipers From 2002–2011 the Newcastle Vipers were an ice hockey club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The club was a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League, and the British National League. History Predecessors Previously, the city was repre ...

. In the summer of 1999 Dixon made the move south to

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

-based outfit the

where he remains as player/head coach. From the start of his Flames career Dixon was given the alternate captain position. After being awarded the Alan Weeks Trophy in 2001, he was made captain of the side, a position he held until taking over as head coach in 2007, thus making him the longest serving Flames captain. During his time with the Flames, Dixon was selected to the British National League first all-star team on three occasions (2001, 2004 & 2005) and the second team once (2003), as well as the

English Premier Ice Hockey League The English Premier Ice Hockey League (EPIHL) was an ice hockey league of 10 teams, all of which were based in England. Headquartered in Blackpool, the EPIHL was one of two professional ice hockey leagues in the United Kingdom (the other being th ...

first all-star team in 2006 & 2007. and second all-star team in 2008 and 2009. Since 1999, he has helped the Surrey team to an ntl: Christmas Cup championship as well as a BNL league title, two BNL play-off championships, 2 EPIHL League titles and 2 EPIHL Cup titles. He currently sits in 6th for All-time Flames points, and is the highest scoring defenceman.

Playing record

Year by Year Record Includes Play-Offs & Cups ''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes. All Stats from either Eurohockey.net' or Guildford Flames' websites ''

Coaching career

For the 2005/2006 season, head coach

Stan Marple Stanislaus Henry Marple is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and coach. Marple played twelve seasons in various British leagues, most notably for the Guildford Flames, for whom he later served as head coach. He is currently the gene ...

announced that Dixon would be undertaking assistant coach duties while still playing for the Guildford Flames. During the 2006/2007 season, Marple announced it would be his last and that Dixon would take over as player/head coach after the season. His first new signing was star forward Lukas Smital from local rivals the

Bracknell Bees The Bees Ice Hockey Club are an ice hockey team from Slough, Berkshire, UK. They compete in the National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) National League, the second tier of English Ice Hockey. History Early years The Bracknell Bees were formed in 1 ...

. In his first season as Flames coach Dixon led his team to another EPIHL Championship with a 30–5–5 league regular season record, earning him EPIHL coach of the year. 2008/09 was less successful with a 3rd-place finish in the league and no silverware with a regular season record of 34–17–3.

Coaching Career statistics

Including League, Cups and Playoffs

International play

Dixon was first selected to play for

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

in the 1995

IIHF World Championship Division I The IIHF World Championship Division I is an annual sports event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The divisional championship is played in two groups. History From 2001 until 2011 the two national teams that lost the relegati ...

(Formerly Pool B). Between 1995 and 2004, Dixon made 54 Appearances scoring 4 goals and adding 15 assists. It was widely thought that Dixon had retired from International Ice Hockey, which was disproved in January 2008 with Dixon's inclusion into the GB squad for the Euro tournament in France, although he had to pull out through injury.Great Britain name squad
. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 28 August 2008.

International playing record

Year-by-year record ''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes. All stats from either Eurohockey.net''

Honours and awards

*Best defenceman at the European Junior Championships Pool C 1990–91 *Player's Player 1999–00 * Best British Defenceman 2000–01 *Named to the BNL All Star First Team 2000–01, 2003–04 and 2004–05 *Named to the BNL All Star Second Team 2002–03 *Named to the EPIHL All Star Team First 2005–06 and 2006–07 *Named to the EPIHL All Star Team Second 2007–08 *Named EPIHL Coach of the Year 2007–08

External links

Eurohockey.net Profile
*
Guildford Flames Official Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Paul 1973 births British Hockey League players British National League (1996–2005) players Durham Wasps players English ice hockey defencemen English Premier Ice Hockey League players Guildford Flames players Newcastle Cobras players Newcastle Riverkings players Sportspeople from Sunderland Living people Ice hockey player-coaches