Tim Cranston (born 13 December 1962) is a retired 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 ...

player who holds

dual Dual or Duals may refer to: Paired/two things * Dual (mathematics), a notion of paired concepts that mirror one another ** Dual (category theory), a formalization of mathematical duality *** see more cases in :Duality theories * Dual (grammatical ...

Canadian and British nationality. He played in Europe between 1985 and 1999 except for one game in the 1986–87 season played in the

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 ...

. He was also a member of the

Great Britain national ice hockey team The Great Britain men's national ice hockey team (also known as Team GB) is the national ice hockey team that represents the United Kingdom. A founding member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) in 1908, the team is control ...

between 1993 and 1997. Whilst living in the United Kingdom, Cranston was the founding chairman of the British Ice Hockey Player's Association (GB). Currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cranston is working as a sports agent and lawyer for the sports and entertainment industries. He was inducted into the

British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame The British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1948 and is the third oldest ice hockey Hall of Fame in the world, behind the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame (also founded in 1948) and the International Hockey Hall of Fame (founded in 19 ...

in 2010.

Playing career

After playing

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

, Cranston moved to Europe to play for

GIJS Groningen Gijs is a Dutch masculine given name, which is a variant of Gijsbert, derived from the German name Gisbert. The ''Gis'' element is derived from ''gisil'', meaning "pledge" or "hostage".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Gisbert" Retrieved on 24 Janua ...

in the 1984–85 season of the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

. He then split the 1985–86 season between VEU Feldkirch in the

Austrian Hockey League The ICE Hockey League (International Central European Hockey League), known as the win2day ICE Hockey League for sponsorship reasons, is a Central European hockey league that also serves as the top-tier ice hockey league in Austria, it currently f ...

and

Genève-Servette HC The Genève-Servette HC (also called Servette or GSHC) is a professional ice hockey club based in Geneva, Switzerland and competing in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. The team plays their home games at the ...

in the Swiss Nationalliga B. During the 1986–87 season, he again played in the Nationalliga B, but this time with EHC Basel, as well as playing for EV Füssen in the German 1.Liga Süd before he finished the season playing one game for Nova Scotia Oilers in the

. Cranston returned to Europe and the Swiss Nationalliga B for the 1987–88 season to play for

SC Herisau SC Herisau is a Swiss 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 hocke ...

. He again split the 1988–89 season when he played for EV Duisburg in the German 1.Liga Nord and the

Fife Flyers Fife Flyers is the oldest professional ice hockey club in the UK, established in 1938. The Flyers play their home games at Fife Ice Arena in Kirkcaldy which has a capacity of just over 3000 (seated and standing). They joined the EIHL in 2011. ...

in the Premier Division of the

British Hockey League The British Hockey League was the top-flight ice hockey league in the United Kingdom from 1980 until 1996 (with a short break between 1981 and 1982), when it was replaced by the Ice Hockey Superleague and the British National League. The league r ...

(BHL). Remaining in the United Kingdom, Cranston then joined the Cleveland Bombers in Division 1 of the BHL for the 1989–90 season. A successful season saw Cranston named to the All Star team and promotion for Cleveland to the Premier Division. Cranston again played for Cleveland during the 1990–91 season before he moved to 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 ...

for the 1991–92 and 1992–93 seasons. During the 1991–92 season with Durham, he helped them to win the league championship and the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. Joining the Sheffield Steelers for the 1993–94 season, Cranston remained in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

for the next five seasons. A successful period for both Cranston and Sheffield, he helped them to win the league championship and the playoffs in the 1994–95 season, a Grand Slam of the

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

, the league championship and the playoffs in the 1995–96 season, and the playoffs in the inaugural season of the

Ice Hockey Superleague The British Ice Hockey Superleague (BISL, also known as the Sekonda Ice Hockey Superleague from 1998 to 1999 for sponsorship reasons) was a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom between 1996 and 2003. Devised in 1995, it replaced ...

, 1996–97. Cranston played his final season with the Edinburgh Capitals in the British National League during the 1998–99 season.

Off ice career

Cranston completed his degree in Law at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

in 1993. He was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales in 1996 and the Bar of Nova Scotia in 2001. With ice hockey in the United Kingdom becoming more popular in the late 1980s and the influx of player's, Cranston, with Joanne Collins, formed the Ice Hockey Player's Association (GB) in 1994. He was the founding chairman and has remained the Association's legal adviser. During his time at

, Cranston married his English girlfriend, Anna, He also opened a sports bar, The Player's Cafe, with Sheffield rock band,

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in 1976 in Sheffield. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums, backing vocals), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), a ...

, members

Joe Elliott Joseph Thomas "Joe" Elliott (born 1 August 1959) is an English–Irish rock singer, best known as the lead singer and one of the founding members of the hard rock band Def Leppard. He has also been the lead singer of the David Bowie tribute ba ...

and

Rick Savage Richard Savage (born 2 December 1960) is an English musician best known for being the bass guitarist and one of the founding members of the English rock band Def Leppard. Savage and lead singer Joe Elliott are the only two remaining original ...

. Returning to North America in 1999 when he retired from playing, Cranston became a sports agent and formed his own company, Cranston Sports Management, with whom he has represented or trained such players as Sidney Crosby and

Marek Svatos Marek is the West Slavic (Czech, Polish and Slovak) masculine equivalent of Marcus, Marc or Mark. The name may refer to: * Marek (given name) * Marek (surname) * Marek, the pseudonym of Bulgarian communist Stanke Dimitrov (1889–1944) * The titl ...

. He has also continued to work as a lawyer in the sports and entertainment industries. Cranston was a candidate in the

2021 Nova Scotia general election The 2021 Nova Scotia general election was held on August 17, 2021, to elect members to the 64th General Assembly of Nova Scotia. In April 2019, the Electoral Boundaries Commission released its final report entitled, ''Balancing Effective Represe ...

in the

Halifax Atlantic Halifax Atlantic is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The Member of the Legislative Assembly since 2013 has been Brendan Maguire of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. ...

riding for the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia. He was not elected.

Honours and awards

*Named to the BHL Division 1 All Star Team in 1990. *Awarded

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

by Sheffield Steelers on 4 November 1998. *Number 4 jersey retired by Sheffield Steelers. *Inducted to the Sheffield Steelers Hall of Fame in 2005. *Inducted to the

in 2010.

Records

*Most assists (67) and

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

(113) for Sherbrooke Beavers in 1980–81. *Most points (133) in the Dutch Eredivisie in 1984–85. *Most

penalty minutes A penalty in ice hockey is a punishment for an infringement of the rules. Most penalties are enforced by sending the offending player to a penalty box for a set number of minutes. During the penalty the player may not participate in play. Penaltie ...

(78) for the Cleveland Bombers in 1989–90. *Most goals (71), assists (47) and points (118) for the Cleveland Bombers in 1990–91. *Most goals (69) and points (132) for the Sheffield Steelers in 1993–94. *Most penalty minutes (126) for Sheffield Steelers in 1994–95.

Career statistics

International play

Played for the

in: *1993 Pool B World Championships *1993 Olympic Qualifying Tournament *1994 World Championships *1995 Olympic Qualifying Tournament *1996 Pool B World Championships *1996 Olympic Qualifying Tournament *1997 Pool B World Championships

International statistics

Footnotes

References

A to Z Encyclopaedia of Ice HockeyEuropean Hockey.NetIce Hockey Journalists UKThe Internet Hockey Database''The Sheffield Star''Sheffield Steelers Hall of Fame
*''Sheffield Steelers! Monthly''
''The Sunday Mirror''

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cranston, Tim 1962 births Living people British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame inductees British ice hockey forwards Canadian ice hockey forwards Candidates in Nova Scotia provincial elections Cleveland Bombers players Durham Wasps players Edinburgh Capitals players EHC Basel players EV Füssen players Fife Flyers players Füchse Duisburg players Genève-Servette HC players GIJS Groningen players Hull Olympiques players Lawyers in Nova Scotia Murrayfield Racers players Nova Scotia Oilers players SC Herisau players Ice hockey people from Halifax, Nova Scotia Sheffield Steelers players Sherbrooke Castors players Canadian sports agents VEU Feldkirch players Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Naturalised sports competitors Alumni of Durham University