Tenth forward signed as Fife Flyers finalise import roster for new season

He is the tenth new skater to be added to coach Tom Coolen’s forward line which contains not a single player from the 202-23 campaign which saw the team miss out of the play-offs.

Eriksson joins Flyers 24 hours after the announcement of the signing of his namesake, Johan, from Dundee Stars, and is billed by the coach as “a big, strong winger.” The six foot three skater comes to Flyers after a career spent in his native country bar one season in Poland.

Eriksson made his playing debut in the Swedish top tier at the age of 18 with Luleå HF.He went on to ice in 91 games in the HockeyEttan and 207 in the HockeyAllsvenskan.

In 2021-22, he headed to Poland icing with GKS Katowice contributing 14 goals and eight assists across 37 games in a championship winning season. Last season Eriksson returned home to Sweden icing with IK Oskarshamn in the SHL and latterly Vastërås IK in the HockeyAllvenskan.

Coolen said, “Anthon is a big, strong winger with experience at the highest level in Sweden. He plays with passion and skill. He will win battles on the ice and win the hearts of the fans in Fife.”

His signing was announced just one day after ninth import forward, fellow Swede Johan Eriksson has joined the Kirkcaldy club. He split last season with spells at Guildford Flames and Dundee Stars. The 30-year old, six foot one, right-shooting forward spent most of his hockey career in his home country before switching to the EIHL last season. Eriksson also has experience playing in the top tier in France, and the Central European EBEL League.

At Flames, Eriksson logged 11 points in 18 appearances before being cut. He then joined Jeff Mason’s Stars where he registered 17 points from 36 league games.

Coolen said “Johan is a proven scorer. He is big and strong and looking to improve his offensive totals from last year. He has been working hard all summer and is ready to go."

Eriksson joins a forward line that includes American, Canadian and Finnish skaters. The players are expected to arrive in the next few weeks ahead of the opening Challenge Cup ties against Glasgow Clan on September 23-24.