New arrival 11th legionnaire

The battle for a jersey with the Innsbruck Sharks

New Haie signing Jeremy Bracco will make his ICE debut on Friday against Villach.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

With Jeremy Bracco, HC Innsbruck now has eleven legionnaires in its squad, but only ten are allowed on the pitch in the league. The newcomer certainly feels at home in the Tyrolean capital. Can he end the goal drought?

From the hotel room to the Tiwag Arena. "I'll go where my agent tells me to go," said ice hockey pro Jeremy Bracco after being released on October 25 in Slovakia and now finding a new employer in Innsbruck.

I'm doing my best to help the team win again.

Jeremy Bracco

Will he end the goal drought?
After four defeats in a row, the striker is supposed to shoot the Sharks out of the crisis: "I'm doing my best to help the team win again." It remains to be seen whether the 27-year-old dual national is the right man to end Innsbruck's goal drought.

"I've been an attacker my whole career. But I pass a lot more than I shoot," is how Bracco describes his game.

Jeremy Bracco(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

"I go on the ice and play"
Jeremy doesn't have much time to get used to his new teammates. A very tough away double-header awaits the HCI with Villach (Friday) and Ljubljana (Saturday). "I go on the ice and play. At the end of the day, the team that scores more goals wins," says Bracco, who is very relaxed about his debut in the ICE League.

"The people are nice, the restaurants are good"
The former junior world champion only played six games for Zvolen, but his involvement in Innsbruck is expected to be longer. "It's a very nice city, the people are nice, the restaurants are good," says the New Yorker, who feels at home in the mountains.

However, he will have to fight for his place in coach Jordan Smotherman's team. With Bracco, the Sharks squad now has eleven legionnaires. If all of them are fit again (Dane Krogsgaard and Japan's Hirano are currently injured), one foreigner will have to move to the stands on match day.