Garet Hunt sees his first competitive action for Fife Flyers at Dundee against arch rivals, Stars, on Saturday (face-off 7pm) and the left-wing makes his home debut at The Fife Ice Arena on Sunday also against Stars (5pm). Both games are pre-season challenges.
Hunt and his new team-mates have tuned into videos of Stars games, and he has also done his homework on British ice hockey. The standard, he said, is high and Flyers’ new-look squad are on a steep learning curve.
They checked in ten days ago and have crammed on information provided by new coach, Jamie Russell. Much-travelled Hunt, a veteran of the rough-tough East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) in North America, has been “amazed” by the fan reaction since their arrival, and Saturday’s busy practice and fan night impressed.
The supporters came out despite their wretched campaign last season when they propped up the ten-strong Elite League.
Fife are starting from scratch, new team, new head coach, new organisation, but Hunt and most of his colleagues are used to slipping into a team and performing.
This weekend is all about trying to find a chemistry together. Once they have 120 minutes of ice hockey under their belts, the real stuff starts.
He said: “I’ve played with four guys in our team in the past, and I know a couple of the guys who play for Dundee, but we are a new team here. He have around 20 guys in the room and we are all here for the same reason and we are all going in the same direction.
“We are all going to work as hard as we can for this organisation. What happened before is behind us, we move on and we have brought in quality guys.”
Hunt, who looks fierce in his team picture but is actually brilliant to chat to, added: “Yes, I’ve watched some video of Dundee and I am excited about starting, so are the rest of the guys in the room.”
The 5ft 9in winger, who had two seasons in Romania with CSM Corona Brasov, the team who were unable to travel to Kirkcaldy last weekend for a pre-season challenge, said: “The standard is pretty high here (in Britain) and British ice hockey has made a big step forward in the last ten years.”
During that time he has logged air miles, a substantial number of them. Moscow is one port of call, an assignment he enjoyed. Hunt said: “The people were very welcoming and it was a great experience.”
A bigger culture shock was China. He was based in Beijing and said: “That was a huge culture shock. There is a lot of history, the dynasties. It is incredible and it was another great experience.
“Now, my wife and I are loving Fife. We have an apartment overlooking the ocean, we’ve been to Edinburgh. I’ve played golf at Burntisland, that is really scenic, and I am excited to be going to St Andrews next week. Scotland is the mecca for golf.
“I was booked to fish on a charter out of Anstruther earlier this week, but the weather was too rough and we’re busy getting used to living in Fife.”
Flyers fans have yet to see Hunt and the new-look team and they are desperate for them to deliver after the trials and tribulations of last season. Face-off time is now.
PICTURE: Garet Hunt courtesy of Fife Flyers and taken by Derek Young
