ECHL: Icemen Add Two More to Defense Corps

The 2023-24 season roster building continues for the Jacksonville Icemen, who today announced two more players would be rejoining the team for the upcoming year. Defensemen Victor Hadfield and Connor Russell have both been signed to one-year contracts. Hadfield and Russell join a growing list of names that are returning to play in a Jacksonville next season, with the announcement of their re-signings following the announcements of the return of both Jacob Panetta and Julian Kislin.

This will be Victor Hadfield’s third season appearing in an Icemen uniform. He first joined the team during the 2021-22 season after playing 16 games for the South Carolina Stingrays. Last season Hadfield played in 44 games, registering seven goals and seven assists for the Icemen. Those fourteen points set new career highs for Hadfield through his first two professional seasons, though he also saw playing time being deployed as forward. He also appeared in two games during the team’s playoff run.

Connor Russell will be returning for his second season in Jacksonville. Last season the defenseman split his playing time between the Icemen and the Southern Professional Hockey League’s Huntsville Havoc while also seeing stints with fellow ECHL teams, the Iowa Heartlanders, and the South Carolina Stingrays. In the 16 games, Russell played for the Icemen, the defenseman collected just one assist. His ECHL career began during the 2021-22 season after competing collegiately for Brock University and the University of Ottawa.

The Icemen roster now has eight names set for the upcoming 2023-24 season, all of whom are returns to the Jacksonville line-up.