SCOTT TANSKI said victory in Friday’s televised Elite League clash at Dundee Stars (FreeSports 7.30pm) means everything for Glasgow Clan.

The 29-year-old centre, right-wing or defenceman, claims the Elite League match-up is the most important game of the year so far for the ambitious Glasgow club.

And the former ECHL (East Coast Hockley League) and AHL (American Hockey League) star admitted it has been a struggle for find consistency for the Braehead side this term.

The 6ft 1in player, who has been an assistant captain at Clan for the past two seasons, said: “We haven’t got the results we wanted and it is up to us as a group and as a team and an organisation to turn this around.

“The first thing we can do is prepare for a Friday night match-up in front of the nation in Dundee, a tough place to go.”

Dundee are ninth in the ten-strong league table with 28 points from 37 games while seventh-placed Clan are four points ahead having played two less games.

The match, which faces-off the league’s first Pride Weekend, is critical to both as only the top eight qualify for the showpiece, end-of-season, play-offs.

Tanski, who spent four years at Orlando Solar Bears before switching to Reading Royals and then South Carolina Stingrays and ending up in Glasgow, added: “Dundee is a place where we will have to be at our best and there is no better place to show how we can turn things around.

“We [the team] are all proud. We are all hockey players who want to do the best for our fans and ourselves.

“Also, we believe we have the best travelling fans in the league and  they will be there supporting us even though the results have not gone the way we wanted.”

Tanski from the small town of Athabasca, 145km north of Edmonton, Canada (population 2,900), said a good result in Dundee could act as a springboard and he added: “There is no reason why we can’t climb the standings.

“There are still a lot of games to play but we need to start changing things sooner rather than later. Dundee would be a good place to start.”