BRAEHEAD CLAN assistant coach Richard Hartmann concedes he’s not given up his dream of taking to the ice after returning to the Glasgow club.

The former Edinburgh Capitals leader is back at the Gardiner Conference champions for a second season as Ryan Finnerty’s No.2.

While primarily employed in a coaching capacity, the Slovakian was forced to pull on his skates four times last campaign as injury ravaged the Clan bench.

Now he will be on the home bench at the Breahead Arena for yet another campaign, Hartmann has revealed he still hasn’t ruled out the idea of making another cameo appearance.

“It would be a hard decision, but I’ve never said I’ll retire,” he said. “I’m the assistant coach of Braehead Clan which is my main focus.

“I had a great summer of practice, but I didn’t want to leave the Edinburgh area, where I live and there was no opportunity for me to play in Edinburgh.

“Last year, I enjoyed my first game on the ice for Braehead, but not much the other three because we lost those games. I do love to play though.

“Looking ahead, we know we have a lot of work to do in preparation for Saturday. We will do the maximum to get the guys ready for the weekend and hope we can get a four point weekend.”

It has been a delayed return for Hartmann to the purple of Braehead given Saturday’s match up with Manchester Storm will be their fourth competitive game of the EIHL season.

“It’s fantastic to be back,” he added. “Ryan and I have a good friendship going and I feel we have some unfinished business. It’s great to be involved with such a great organisation again.

“Going from being a head coach as I was with Edinburgh for four years to being an assistant didn't matter to me.

“I just love the game and love to be involved in hockey so I’m happy to do whatever is needed and I’m glad to have the opportunity to work at Braehead.

“We had negotiations to work out the right deal, but I was in contact with Ryan a lot over the summer and met up with him too.

“It probably took longer to sort out than we were both expecting, but I’m in and that’s the most important thing.”