Fife Flyers’ Teemu Pulkkinen on a fun road & boat trip to Belfast

​He was the sixth new forward signed in summer by coach Tom Coolen, who billed him as a player with speed and grit.

To that, you can add clinical finishing, judging by the rifled penalty shot he put past Glasgow Clan in the recent 5-1 win.

I love taking them,” he said. “You don’t get many chances but when you do, I have a couple of moves I like to make - but I better not tell you!”

The 28-year old Finnish native’s hockey CV includes a season in Denmark and four with the University of Nebraska-Omaha. UK hockey may be a new adventure, but he was able to tap into the knowledge of players who have skated here, including Flyers’ own Finnish imports from last season.

“They all enjoyed it,” he said, “and the guys I knew over here spoke of teams of a good standard.”

A move to Fife came via his agent who reached out to Coolen as he built his team.

“I like Tom as a coach,” he said. “He has a good atmosphere in the dressing room,l and I like how we practice. I’m used to practices that are harder than games - they help to prepare us.”

The focus this week has been on getting ready for a Belfast Giants’ double header.

“It’ll be fun going by boat,” said Pulkkinen. “Belfast are a good team, and out last game against them was good. We need to tidy up a few things but will be ready to go. We have to play good defence and make the most of our chances. I’m looking forward to playing in their rink - it’ll be a fun trip.”

Meanwhile, data released this week showed Jonas Emmerdahl logged more minutes than any player across the EIHL on Sunday. In the road game against Dundee Stars, the defenceman played for 29 minutes nine seconds - almost half the entire match.

That was almost three full minutes more than Jeff Baum of Belfast Giants (26:15) and Marcus Crawford (Cardiff Devils). Kyle Osterberg also logged 25:35 which is a season high for a Flyers forward. The back to back wins over Stars extended their winning streak against their Tayside rivals to four games. Flyers’ six goals without reply against Stars matched the same sequence they fired past Glasgow Clan at this stage last season.