Sylvain Cloutier has today completed the signing of former Dundee Stars forward Tristan Cameron-Harper for the Excel Hull Stingrays 11/12 Elite League campaign with the Scot effectively replacing the recently departed Lee Mitchell in a like-for-like trade-off that last week saw Lee Mitchell return to Scotland with Dundee.
22 year old Cameron-Harper becomes the Stingrays fourth summer signing, joining Sylvain Cloutier, Jereme Tendler and Daniel Scott on the Hull roster following the conclusion of his first full season in the British top flight, in which he registered eight goals and nine assists in 39 regular season games with Dan Ceman's first year Stars.
Prior to joining his hometown side for the first time in 09/10 the 6'2 winger opened his professional career in the Netherlands at the age of 17, icing for Nijmegen in both the senior and under-20 league. While he dominated the Dutch junior league, netting 13 goals and 7 assists in 7 games, his professional career began with a bang as he lifted the Dutch championship alongside former Stingrays defenceman Kevin Young, picking up four goals and six assists along the way.
Following his lone season in Holland, the rangy power forward made the switch to North America in 06/07 and spent time in both the junior North American Hockey League, with St. Louis Bandits and Alpena Ice Diggers, and the Maritime Junior A Hockey League in Eastern Canada with the Yarmouth Mariners.
Upon returning to the UK in 2009, Cameron-Harper made his debut in the Elite League against Cardiff while on a trial with the Nottingham Panthers before heading home to record four goals and two assists in eight games in the Northern League with the Stars.
He made the step up to the Elite League alongside Dundee last summer and largely impressed thanks to his size, physical presence, fearless play and effective forechecking as the Stars ended memories of an awful start to the season by qualifying for the playoffs.
Although the only particularly memorable event that occurred to Cameron-Harper in Hull was his high-stick on captain Kurtis Dulle, he certainly caught the eye of Rays player-coach Cloutier, who believes both his size and style of play will make a difference to the Rays next season:
"Tristan is another up-and-coming kid who plays the game with an edge, which I like. He has size and plays physical, he scored eight goals in 41 games last season but I think he can get around 15 for us next year. Tristan players hard every night and pays the price. He brings a physical element which we lacked last year, we were a small team."
It is believed Cloutier was keen on snagging the Scot as soon as it became evident Mitchell was leaving and, while the two are statistically incomparable based on last season, Cameron-Harper appears to have more to his game than putting up points.
Having dropped the gloves with Nottingham Panthers tough guys Alex Penner and Guillaume Lepine in the last year, Cameron-Harper clearly plays the game with a fearless attitude and his added size may be the first in a line of big signings in a change of tactic by Cloutier
With the rush on British players now in full flow following Colin Shields departure from Belfast, it was important the Stingrays player-coach quickly moved to sign a replacement for Mitchell, particularly given demand for quality Brits is at an all-time high following the Elite League's drop in import limit from 12 to 10 for next season.
His signature as well as Daniel Scott's signing from Telford nullifies the departure of both Mitchell brothers, leaving Cloutier searching for at two new Brits to make up for the decrease in non-British players.
One player rumoured to be joining the Stingrays also from Dundee is 20 year old defenceman Sam McCluskey. A fellow Dundee native and a friend of Cameron-Harper, McCluskey is on the verge of the GB squad and is thought to have a bright future in the game, however, demand for him is high with a number of other Elite League sides rumoured to be chasing his signature.
Elsewhere, Cloutier also confirmed that, contrary to popular belief, British forward James Archer, who joined the club last summer only to leave amid the club's collapse, would not be joining the club on a full-time basis next year, instead suggesting he would return on a two-way contract with another English Premier League side.
