Mallards’ Lovdahl flies in to bolster Hull Stingrays defence

American defenceman Shane Lovdahl has been snapped up by the East Yorkshire club ahead of a 2012-13 campaign which has thrown them into a Northern Conference with four Scottish clubs following the controversial structural overhaul of the league by club bosses last month.

Delays in the transfer of ownership from the Coventry Blaze to new owner Bobby McEwan have not helped Cloutier in his team-building for the coming campaign, having seen a number of his defensive options already depart elsewhere.

Dan Scott and Dmitry Rodin have dropped down to the EPL with Slough Jets and Sheffield Steeldogs respectively, while Sam McCluskey decided one season was enough for him in Hull and returned home to rejoin Dundee Stars.

Captain Kurtis Dulle’s future whereabouts remain uncertain, and there is little to suggest that Martin Ondrej is returning for a second season in Hull.

Step forward Lovdahl, who will arrive in the UK in August on the back of three years with the Quad City Mallards, the last two seasons being spent in the Central Hockey League. On paper, the 28-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska looks a solid, stay-at-home defenceman, something the Stingrays sorely lacked on a regular basis last season.

Last season saw him post three goals in a 13-point haul from 59 games, playing for a second season alongside forward Jason Kostadine, who played for Hull in 2008-09.

“Shane is a solid, all-round defenceman who is a competitor and works extremely hard,” said Cloutier.

“He had three great years in Quad City and put up some decent numbers for a defenceman. He is extremely good in his own zone, he battles and he competes in every shift - that is what I was looking for.”

Prior to joining the Illinois-based Mallards, Lovdahl played three years as a junior in the United States Hockey League with Cedar Rapids Rough Riders, before four years at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the NCAA.

After his first season in Quad City, Lovdahl headed out to Australia to continue playing throughout the summer with Adelaide Adrenaline - where former Hull favourites David and Kevin Phillips both played a year later - taking his tally for that year to an impressive 97 games.