Sheffield Steelers: New signing Sebastien Piche is looking forward to a new life on Arena ice - and at home too

The skater’s fiancee Madina is expecting their baby in October.

And his decision to uproot from Slovenia, where he played last year, was partly influenced by the desire to be part of a family-orientated club.

And being in an English-speaking country did not hurt either, as it has been a long and winding road for Piché.

He played the last decade in Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, and America. Now the French Canadian is looking forward to a new, but stable challenge.

His arrival completes coach Aaron Fox’s defensive unit at the EIHL club, and the skater will want to replicate last year’s achievement when he became a champion at HK Olimpija Ljubljana.

Previously, he has been on teams that have won the Kelly Cup (the first ever win for Florida Everblades) and was an EBEL champ in 2013-2014 with HC Bolzano.

In the latter league, he was the highest-scoring defenceman for four consecutive years, (2013-17) which suggests he will be contributing to Sheffield’s already-mobile rearguard.

Piché told The Star that he could not wait to start a new chapter in his life.

“Me and Madina (a Czech national) discussed the possibility and with us having a baby one of the things we wanted was to be able to talk in English and be at a nice place.

“The guys I talked to about Sheffield said it was really nice so it was an easy decision.

“I also wanted a team with a winning mentality,” he said adding that he had signed for teams where there had been nasty surprises.

“You want to have fun when you come to the rink, you don’t want a grind where you go to a rink and nobody can speak to you in English and you cannot express yourself,” said Piche from his home in Prague.

“Once I couldn’t even talk to the coach! It will be easier in Sheffield. I know Brendan Connolly from Greenville, I played with Davey Phillips in Toledo and Martin Latal in Latvia and Czech.

“Also I played with (ex Steeler) Mathieu Roy back home and will be playing against him now (Glasgow Clan).

“He is a warrior. I won the cup in Florida with him and this guy was a good leader. He gave everything on the ice even though his body is in pain all the time. When you see him doing that you think: ‘Ok, I have to do it’.

“He is a good guy, when you play against him you play hard and do everything you have to do to win but after you can say ‘Hi’.”

Aaron Fox described his latest signing as “a solid two-way veteran Dman that can play in all situations.

“He had an outstanding year in the ICEHL last year in Ljubljana leading his team in D scoring and Time on Ice.

“Sebastien is coming in to be someone we can count on to play the right way every night. He has tons of experience in some great leagues, has an outstanding shot, will make plays in transition, and can play a physical defensive game.

“We also think he will be really good on the PK and is willing to eat pucks.

“I really like the way our Dcore looks. We will be able to really push the tempo from the back and we have guys who will really play with the defensive intensity needed.

“This also gives us the flexibility for Evan Mosey to start as a forward and if we run into injuries have him available to move back if needed”.