The last thing Dundee Comets coach Richard Hartmann expected to do was get suited up for action, but he did just that on Saturday – and scored four goals.

The 47-year-old Slovakian showed the youngsters how it’s done when he helped his team to a 9-3 win over North Ayrshire Wild.

But he get to live his dream as he lined up alongside his son, Richard for the first time as well.

“Just before the game on Saturday, we lost a couple of players who couldn’t make it so I had to make a quick decision to lace them up again,” he explained.

“It wasn’t planned that way, but once I got on there, it wasn’t that bad actually.

“Scoring four goals was nice, but it was more about the guys I had on my line, including my son, Richard, who was playing on the wing.

“The young players played really well and done all the the hard work.  I was just standing there and putting the puck in when it came to me.

“Playing alongside my son was a dream come true and I think every father would love the chance to do that in their career.  I’m so happy I had the chance to do it at last and we did what we did.”

So, after making an unexpected comeback, how did his body take to his return to the ice and is this is start of new phase of his career? Probably not.

He added: “I must admit, days later, I’m still recovering and it was painful, but it was good to get that win and beating a team like that can be difficult.  They always play hard and make life difficult so it was good to get those points.

“I’d played for the Murrayfield Racers in season 2018-19, playing ten games or something so I need a couple of years off between games now.

This weekend, the Comets are off to Braehead Arena to take on Paisley Pirates, but they go in on the back of a four-point weekend, where they defeated local rivals Dundee Tigers 2-1 in overtime on Sunday.

But Hartmann admitted Sunday’s result was more of a grind compared to Saturday’s.

He said: “The mood is high after getting two big results at the weekend, but I don’t think we played as well against the Tigers on Sunday.

“Toni Tammi kept us in the game and when a game goes to overtime, it can be a gamble, but we got the goal after six seconds so it was definitely a great weekend for us.”