Ice hockey star Lubomir Vaskovic trained with his new Dundee Stars team-mates for the first time yesterday and declared: “I’m here to help Dundee win.”
The 27-year-old jetted into Edinburgh via Vienna late last night and will make his debut at Hull Stingrays on Saturday.
It will be a baptism of fire against a strong, physical side and the highly-rated player admitted he will be nervous.
Vaskovic, who has played at a high level in his native Slovakia and also in the Czech Republic, said: “It’s my first time in Britain and I don’t know much about British ice hockey and Dundee.
“It’s all been so quick as I only heard about it on Tuesday and now I am here.”
Speaking through an interpreter, the former HC Dukla Senica player added: “We finished second in the league but lost in the first round of the play-offs.
“My target this season is to play as well as I can and to help the team. I want to win things and hope I can do that with Dundee.”
The Slovakian does not speak English but he does not see that as a barrier and neither do bosses of Stars who are fifth in the Elite League.
The Dundee club have three key players on the long-term injured list Canadian Mike Wirll, Rory Rawlyk and Nico Sacchetti. Vaskovic has been brought in to help and his arrival takes Dundee’s import level to nine.
When all the players are fit then one of the imports will have to sit out, but that is in the future.
Vasokvic added: “This is a challenge for me and a big opportunity. The Slovak and Czech leagues could be different from here and I’ll have to get used to it. Here it could be physical but I’ll work hard to adapt and look forward to helping Dundee.”
* Fife Flyers netminder Kevin Regan was yesterday confirmed as the Elite League’s Player of the Week.
The 29-year-old from Boston, who is a former Boston Bruins draft pick, has been a major factor in Fife’s six-game winning run.
The Kirkcaldy club are now only two points behind eighth-placed Cardiff Devils in the race for the last play-off place.