FORMER Arena favourite Mark Stokes has come out of retirement to make a dramatic return to the ice hockey ranks at Blackburn Hawks.

The popular Canadian, who first played for the team during the mid-90s, has agreed to take up the role as head coach and general manager at Hawks ahead of the 2009-10 English National Ice Hockey League campaign.

A new-look Hawks’ management structure, which will fall under the umbrella of general Arena activities, will also include Andy Slater (team manager/secretary), Mark Kinder (team administrator) and Gary Rogers (media/marketing manager).

A prominent figure in the sport after forming Flintshire Freeze in 1998, Stokes has been an avid spectator since leaving his post with the North Wales outfit four years ago.

“I’m very happy to be back,” said Mark. “It’s already clear that I’ve got a lot of support with the day-to-day running of the team, which will make it a lot easier for me to concentrate on the coaching side and working directly with the players.

“The aim is to improve the team and make the players realise that they are very fortunate to be playing a game that they love in a building of this stature and in front of some very passionate fans.”

After moving to England from Vancouver in 1990, Mark played for Sheffield and Chelmsford, before joining the Hawks in 1993.

Following a successful first playing season at the Arena, Mark took on the role of player-coach in his second year, but left three-quarters of the way through the campaign after the club struggled to attract the necessary number of North American imports needed to compete with the top teams.

Following brief spells at Telford, Manchester Storm and Whitley Bay, Stokes set up the Flintshire programme in 1998 and led the Deesiders to the Northern Conference title in 2004.

However, with the increasing physical demands taking their toll – and a full-time job to boot – Stokes, who oversees sports development at schools throughout the Lake District, resigned from his role a year later.

After resisting the temptation to return to Flintshire earlier this year, Stokes, who now lives in Windermere, is excited by the challenge that presents itself at another of his former clubs.

“This is certainly a different situation I’m coming into here, with regards to what the immediate expectations are,” he added. “The main priority is to get the product right on the ice and to get the players playing in a way that will allow us to bring some entertaining hockey into Blackburn.

“If we can play some entertaining games at home, I think that will certainly put us in good stead to start the season off and we can progress from there.

“I’m under no illusions that this league is going to be extremely hard this year – probably the best it’s been for a long time. Without really knowing what the team is going to be like at the moment, it’s going to be difficult. What I want to see is development through the years.

“We can then have that as a platform to progress further, because we’re not going to get a quick fix.

“Quick fixes have never worked in British hockey and I’ve experienced that many times myself.

“Throughout my coaching career, my ethos has always been to keep progressing and to try to develop the local players. I don’t want to bring in outsiders, who will potentially come in with their own ideas. I want to work with these young players here and see if we can build a competitive team.

“I’m really excited to be back in the delivery aspect of sport and what better opportunity could I have than to be head coach of a Division One team, that plays in a fabulous rink and that has fabulous fans.

“Developing the players here is a challenge I’m really looking forward to.”