How Hull Seahawks are reaping an immediate benefit from Owen Sobchak

But even he admits the impact made by the 30-year-old Canadian-born centre has been above and beyond what he expected.

In five games so far, the left-handed centre has posted 16 points already.

His latest contribution saw him score a hat-trick and an assist in Sunday’s 6-2 win over former club Bristol Pitbulls.

He also played an influential role across two nights in the Seahawks’ deserved National Cup semi-final triumph over Yorkshire rivals Leeds Knights.

The Seahawks will find out this Thursday who they will face in the March final when Milton Keynes Lightning and Swindon Wildcats conclude their two-legged tie in Buckinghamshire, with the Wiltshire side going into the concluding part 3-2 ahead.

But Davies is not fussed about which of the two NIHL National title hopefuls his players will face in the final - getting there has been an achievement in itself.

He does know, though, that having Sobchak on board gives his team a better chance of picking up their first-ever piece of silverware.

“He’s changed this team,” said Davies about Sobchak, who made the switch to East Yorkshire having spent the vast majority of 2023-24 with Strömsbro IF in Sweden’s third tier HockeyEttan. “He’s exactly what I was looking for.

“And it’s not just his output and his defensive brain and the way he brings other players into the game or his scoring - it’s also his work-rate.

“Last week, against Leeds, he was a warrior out there for us. He grafted so hard - like everyone did - but that kid is doing some real good work for us right now.

“He’s been brilliant - everything and more I thought he was going to be and wanted.

“Like I said, he’s changed this team and added a real spark and real quality to us. You can see how much better he makes Emil (Svec) and Bobby (Chamberlain) and everyone around him, he just brings them all into the game so well.”

Davies was pleased with his team’s performance in the win over bottom club Bristol and was prepared to forgive his players for the slow start they produced, give their heroics in the previous two games when knocking the Knights out of the cup.

Trailing 2-0 to the Pitbulls after 20 minutes, the Seahawks responded positively in the middle phase of the game, scoring three goals in six minutes through captain Sam Towner, Finlay Ulrick and Sobchak’s first of the night at 28.32.

The Pitbulls continued to be stubborn, though, and it wasn’t until the 54th minute that the home fans could relax when Brock Bartolomew doubled Hull’s lead.

It was left to Sobchak to finish his former team off, adding his second at 55.18 before completing his treble just over two minutes later.

“We were always going to have a slight hangover from last week’s efforts and I can’t blame the lads for that as they poured their heart and soul into the two Leeds games,” added Davies.

“We started slow and we didn’t quite get to grips with the game. But then we had a chat after the first period and they got going a bit.

“Once we found our game and our rhythm, we obviously made it hard for them and we put away our chances. Good teams find a way and we found a way (against Bristol) - we didn’t play our best, but we got the job done.”