Elliott Dewey says he cannot wait to get started with Everyone Active Raiders after agreeing to join for the 2022-23 season.

The 25-year-old defenceman has spent the past fours seasons with his home-town club Basingstoke Bison, serving as captain for the last two campaigns.

And he will join a Raiders roster that includes some familiar faces in Aaron Connolly and Dan Scott, from their own spells as Bison, plus Ashley Jackson and Jacob Ranson, who are former teammates from his three-year stint at Invicta Dynamos.

"I'm very happy to be joining the Raiders for the 2022-23 season," he said.

"After speaking with Sean [Easton] in the summer it was clear he was putting a good team together.

"The Sapphire has always been a difficult place to come and play as an away club, so I'm now looking forward to having it on the other foot.

"The crowd is always excellent and noisy and I can't wait to get started."

Dewey spent most of his junior career playing in Slough and was an EIHA Conference U13 All-Star back in 2009-10.

He made his senior debut with the Basingstoke Buffalo in National League Division Two, while still playing at under-18 level, and also made a handful of appearances for the Bison in the old English Premier League that same season.

And he went on to win the Division One South play-off title during his final year at Invicta, alongside Jackson, in 2016-17, when he also represented Great Britain at the Winter Universiade in Kazakhstan, where they lost to Slovakia, Canada and the USA, before beating South Korea to finish 10th.

Dewey then returned to Basingstoke and claimed a league and play-off double the following season and he has made a grand total of 370 senior appearances to date, scoring six goals and 72 assists while collecting 331 minutes in penalties.

Now he is looking forward to adding to those tallies in gold and blue, as Raiders compete in an extended 11-team National League following the additions of Bristol Pitbulls and Hull Seahawks.

"I would say I'm a reliable defenceman that takes pride in his own end, but is always happy to get involved in the offence when the time is right," he added.

"I think having a new club in Bristol is exciting for the league and also welcoming Hull back after a year away is exciting.

"Having an 11-team league next year should make things very competitive."

Dewey will join Scott, Tom Relf, Jack Cooper and Callum Wells on the Raiders blue line, protecting goalies Ethan James and Brad Windebank, with forwards Connolly, Jake Sylvester, Brandon Ayliffe, Ranson, Tommy Huggett, Erik Piatak, Tjay Anderson and Jackson also confirmed so far.

It was announced in midweek that JJ Pitchley had signed for Bees IHC, following his earlier announcement about leaving the club.

Raiders open the 2022-23 campaign with a challenge match at Peterborough on September 3, before hosting the Phantoms in a return meeting the following night.