Stars’ new-boy tipped to shine

Dundee Stars head coach Omar Pacha believes Emerson Hrynyk will shine in the Elite League.

The 24-year-old has been confirmed as Pacha’s second signing since taking over from Marc LeFebvre.

“Emerson is a strong, stay-at-home defenseman – he’s strong in the corners in front of the net and a big physical guy who works hard on and off the ice,” said Pacha.

“I just felt we needed a big size in the back end and with him being a right-shot ‘D’ man, it will help us. For a guy straight out college, he has a lot of leadership qualities too.

“I’ve worked with guys that played there before such as Eric Galbraith when I was at Hull and Cody Cartier, who I coached at Manchester Storm.

“I spoke to them and Mike Egener, formerly of Coventry, and they all highly recommended him and they are three guys I trust fully.

Hrynyk spent the last four years at Mount Royal in the CIS league, making just under 100 appearances during that spell.

And he revealed what convinced him to agree to Pacha’s offer to come to Scotland as they discussed the move.

“I’m really excited – it was a crazy week last week talking to Omar, but I’m over the moon and looking forward to starting,” he said.

“He told me what the team would be looking like and I know there’s going to be a lot of young guys that are passionate, hungry and want to win. He had me on board when he said that.

“I’ll just be a vocal guy who’ll look after the defensive side of things. I know Dundee have a good fan base and I’m looking forward to starting there.”