Marek Troncinský making his presence felt for Sheffield Steelers

The Czech defenceman was initially brought in as fitness cover for Aaron Johnson and Jonas Liwing but was persuaded to stay for the rest of the EIHL campaign.

In 2017-18 Troncinský had the most assists and points by any defenceman in the Czech top division.

And he has almost caught up with regular defensive points scorer Ben O'Connor - which is no mean feat - with 29 points from 32 League and Challenge Cup games, for Steelers.

O'Connor, who is carrying an injury, has three more points than 'Tron' but has iced in nine more games.

Troncinský also played an important role off the ice to help Steelers this season - he told fellow countryman Josef Hrabal all about the club and the league before he also joined up.

Hrabal clearly looks up to former team-mate Tron who has averaged a point a game over the last eight outings, including a hat-trick of assists against Fife Flyers.

It was the second time this season that he'd nabbed three points in a game.

"Marek is a great offensive player" Hrabal said, but joked that his own shot was stronger than his countryman.

"I used to play offensive when I was younger" Hrabal said but then changed his game to become more defensively-minded.

He said he likes to pass the puck quickly to release forwards saying: "I want to be on the ice all the time"

The new recruit said he could do "much more" offensively, to catch up "Tron" in the points stakes.

Troncinský has played 31 games in League and Challenge Cup action so far, 24 more than Hrabal, who says he made a decision some time ago to play hockey for "fun."

Hrabal, who has starred in the KHL, appeared on the Steelers' scene to coincide with their loss of Mikko Kuukka, who went back to Finland.

Troncinski has made the biggest impact so far, he has scored 12 points in his last ten games, including three against Nottingham Panthers.