Sheridan goalie Downie signs pro contract in England

The Sheridan Hawks of the NA3HL are proud to announce that former goaltender and NAPHL alum James Downie has signed a professional contract with the Manchester Storm. The Storm play in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League, a professional ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. It is the highest level of ice hockey competition in the United Kingdom.

Downie, 21, was born in Fife, Scotland, where he trained and played youth hockey until moving to Cattai, Australia at an early age. 

The 6'2/201 lbs. goaltender joined the Hawks after starting the 2019-20 season with the Louisiana Drillers. Playing for Sheridan in net for 23 regular season games where he went 16-5-1-1 with two shutout wins, and had a .919 save percentage. He was also selected to and played in the 2020 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament that season for the Frontier Division team.

During the 2020-21 season, Downie played in 12 games going 11-0-0-0 with a .940 save percentage and 1.61 GAA. 

Downie brings some history to Manchester, as he is the son of former Storm and Blackburn Hawks netminder, Colin Downie, who played for the club in 1995/96 and again in 1999-2000.

Prior to playing in the NA3HL, Downie spent two seasons playing in the NAPHL for the Meijer AAA 18U team. That included an appearance in the 2018 NAHL 18U Top Prospects Tournament for Team East.