Ice man Lovdahl's right at home in Big Freeze

BEAST from the East, Snow Hell and Big Freeze scream the headlines. Yes, Britain's battling with its annual couple of inches of snow and below zero temperatures.

Looking on bemused by the ensuing chaos is Rapid Solicitors Hull Stingrays' defenceman Shane Lovdahl.

There again, when you hail from Alaska, you tend to be an expert.

Cold snaps can last five months, snow is measured in feet not inches and shifting it to special depots is measured in millions of dollars.

"Last year in Anchorage it was a record of about 11 feet, it's usually six," said the 28-year-old blueliner.

"The snow falls from November to March, but one year it had melted by April and on my birthday (May 4) it was snowing again, it was crazy."

Apparently, British snow is just right for snowballing and snowman building, but Lovdahl has found driving around Hull an eye-opener.

"I was talking to my mum back home the other night, trying to explain how much chaos the snow had caused in Britain.

"People crawl around on the roads here," said Lovdahl, who drives a Chevy 1990 truck in Anchorage.

"I'm not saying that's not a good thing as you guys are not used to it. For us in Alaska it's five months of winter driving.

"We can get our learner's permit at 14, so we can drive but only accompanied by an adult, and a licence at 16. It's to get kids of 14 and 15 used to winter driving for a year or two.

"You can use tyre studs part of the year, but you have to take them off by April 21, otherwise they eat the roads and you get a hefty ticket.

"A lot of people have two sets of tyres, one for the winter and their nicer ones for summer."

Not surprisingly, Lovdahl reels off a list of winter sports as his favourites – snowmobiling, skiing and ice hockey – plus three months of baseball in May, June and July.

He said: "I do a lot of snowmobiling. Every other person I know has a cabin and does things like skiing and snowboarding.

"Dad used to build a rink in the backyard when I was young, like pretty much every kid in Alaska."

Lovdahl started out as a netminder and played as a goalie at the end of each college season, but now mans Stingrays' defence.

It's a handy talent, as he has been listed on Stingrays' game sheet as the back-up keeper twice this season.

"My parents didn't really want me to be a keeper because for a couple of years they couldn't really afford the equipment," said Lovdahl.

"They could now as they've worked very hard and got their own business. But I appreciate everything my parents have done for me. I still thank them for getting me to where I am.

"If it hadn't been for them I'd probably be working 8 to 5 being bored out of my mind."

Instead, his CV has included four seasons at the University of Alaska and three at Quad City Mallards, before moving to the Stingrays this season.

Given his love of snow, the thought of this weekend's double away header in Braehead and Edinburgh holds no fears – on or off the ice.

"I'd say these next five games against teams in our own Conference are make-or-break time," said Lovdahl.

"We have to fight our way back up up the table as we don't want to get too far behind, otherwise it will be way too hard to catch up.

"We have to do what we did last time in Braehead where we played hard and got a point, but last time we lost pretty badly in Edinburgh. We didn't have the intensity and they took it to us on the powerplay and scored a couple of powerplay goals."