Jersey's ice hockey club is seeing "real growth in numbers", its chairman says.
Far away from the heartlands of ice hockey in North America, the Jersey Stingrays are padding up and skating out into the rink.
As the calendar flips into 2026, the club is making the most of the short ice hockey season which ends in January after only getting under way in October.
Beginning more than a decade ago, the club has evolved from players donning rollerblades, to regular time on the ice at a temporary rink at Weighbridge Place run by Jersey Development Company (JDC).
Club chairman Simon Soar said the sport was seeing "real growth in numbers" now it had access to ice and it was pushing for a more permanent facility.
Mr Soar said the popularity of the club had "ebbed and flowed" over the years but the establishment of a junior side had instilled confidence in the future of the sport in the island.
"We probably have over 50 kids who have come and enjoyed the sport with us so far and it is growing," he said.
"From our side we are very hopeful for the future.
"The question is can we get more ice? Can it be a bit more permanent?
"We are not complaining - we are over the moon we have this and we are very grateful to JDC.
"But we are going to be greedy, we always want more."
He said better facilities would give more opportunities to youngsters.
"As the club grows, we could expand to give kids in Jersey an additional sport," he said.
"A lot of the kids who play hockey have struggled with other sports, but hockey has become their thing.
"Trying to keep them off the ice is a challenge and it has been brilliant."
Gavin Glazier, who moved to Jersey from Canada more than 20 years ago, said playing for the club was a "great opportunity to get back to my passion".
"It's not so much a connection with home but a connection with people in the sport that I love," he said.
"I was really surprised to see the amount of interest shown by a lot of islanders.
"I just hope it carries on."
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