Fife Flyers defenceman Colton Waltz signs for rivals Glasgow Clan and makes debut against old club

The blue liner, who has been an absentee from recent starting line-ups, was snapped up by the Renfrewshire team for the rest of the season.

Waltz only joined Flyers in November and iced in 17 games, but he hasn’t kitted up since a 6-2 defeat at the hands of Coventry Blaze on January 23.

He came from Alberta came to Scotland after being released by East Coast Hockey League side, Cincinnati Cyclones.

The 27-year old old started his pro career in the Canadian Western Hockey League where he first encountered Clan coach, Malcolm Cameron.

“I coached against him when he was with the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL and he was a leader in the team,” said the Clan boss.

“Having leadership qualities is something you can’t have enough of and we’re excited to have him.”

Cameron made his move on the transfer deadline, and believes Waltz will help boost his club’s push for the play-offs.

“We’re happy to add Colton to our line-up and gives us some depth as we make our way towards the end of the season and hopefully a run in the play-offs,” he said.

“With the heavy schedule we’ve had and the weeks to come, we don’t want to run into a situation where we’re running shorthanded for long periods of time.”

As for the player, he will find himself making his debut against Flyers.

He said: “I’m excited for this new challenge as we start to look towards the end of the season,” he said.

“I’m really enjoying life in the UK and when this opportunity came up, I couldn’t wait to jump on it and get to work straight away.

“It’s going to be weird to be playing against guys who were my team-mates until very recently, but it’s going to be a lot of fun at the same time.

“The fact it’s a big rivalry game makes it all the more exciting and I’m thrilled to get the chance to meet the fans in my first game.”

Flyers issued a brief statement which simply confirmed they’d parted company with the player and said: “The club would like to extend our thanks to Colton for his time at the club and wish him well on his future endeavours.”

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V