Telford Tigers player-coach Tom Watkins has announced his first new foreign player for the coming season - Latvian forward Andrejs Maslovskis.

The 26-year-old was attracted to Telford after talking to his friend and former DHK Latgale team-mate Mindaugas Kieras, who now plays for Basingstoke.

Watkins said: "Keiras played with Andrejs in Latvia, and when I talked to him I got a good gut feeling. That was quite early after I was appointed coach and I didn't want to rush into decisions. I needed to keep looking at who was available.

"But as I carried on building my team I kept coming back to Andrejs. I don't like to pile pressure on him, but I think he will be a stand-out guy for us. From talking to people who know him, he skates and stick-handles well, can shoot and will mix it up. This is my one unknown quantity on the team, but my gut feeling was to take the chance.

"He is keen to come over here and prove himself in UK hockey. He will be working hard on conditioning over the summer at home, so I'm expecting him to be in good shape when he arrives for the season."  
Maslovskis - who iced with the Latvian under-18s in the World Junior Championships in 2002 - has also done his homework on the Telford Tigers and UK hockey from other players such as Slough's Darius Pliskauskas, former Hull goalie Martins Raitums and Toivo Suursoo who has signed for Swindon this season