Newcastle Vipers latest recruit from Lakehead University has rejected a more lucrative offer from another Elite League club to play alongside "character guys" on Tyneside and make an impact up front for his new team.

Dan Speer is another 6ft-plus forward for Danny Stewart's revamped Vipers team, and the player turns pro with Newcastle having scored 199 points in his University career.

A native of Thunder Bay, Ontario - home of ex Vipers boss Clyde Tuyl - Speer is the club's second recruit directly from the Canadian University scene after Dale Mahovsky, and comes with a pedigree of putting points in the board.

In 2007-8 he was the leading scorer in the Ontario University Athletics division, and fourth top scorer overall in the whole Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) system.

The 6'1" 200lbs forward has graduated this summer as the third all-time leading scorer at Lakehead University, with 65 goals and 134 assists for 199 points.  He also picked up the Argus Award as top graduating athlete in the whole University sports programme.

Danny Stewart said of Speer: "Dan has shown offensive talent throughout his college career at Lakehead University. His third season in college he finished fourth in the country in scoring which shows how capable he is of putting up numbers.

"He brings us versatility in that he can play wing and center, has good size and most importantly is another offensive threat.

"Dan has been a very unselfish guy to deal with in negotiations and actually took less money then another team in our League had offered for the opportunity to be one of our producers up front."

Speer himself added: "I liked the first impression I got from coach Danny Stewart, and he has made me feel very comfortable about leaving home and moving to the UK.

"Being in Newcastle with a group of character guys will also help the transition.  I also know I have the ability to make an impact on the team especially in terms of offence.

"I am grateful for this opportunity and extremely excited to get to Newcastle and get the season going."

Dan’s shirt and equipment sponsorship is now available from the Vipers office.  The Home or Away game shirt is £400 while the warm-up shirt is £200.  Equipment sponsorship options are available from just £5.  Interested supporters should contact Jaimie Longmuir by email office@vipershockey.co.uk or jaimie.longmuir@vipershockey.co.uk.