By Kris Smith
The 19-year-old Dundonian has earned his first full-time professional contract with his boyhood club this year and after an impressive campaign last season between Dundee and Solway Sharks, McBean is eager to continue his improvement.
Last season, Johnny would feature in 26 matches for the Stars, scoring twice and assisting on two more goals, whilst during his time with the Sharks in the NIHL 1, he scored 121 points (65G, 56A) in 49 games and collected four winners’ medals.
McBean would help Solway to claim the NIHL 1 National Championship, as well as being crowned as the; NIHL1 North Champions, NIHL 1 North Cup Champion, NIHL 1 North Playoff Champion and he also picked up a Silver Medal whilst on international duty with Team GB Under 20’s at the World Junior Championships.
Reflecting on a successful two-way season, Johnny said: “It definitely helped me, Solway was probably the best place I could have gone last year and it was a successful year, as we won four trophies, so it just makes me hungry to win more, especially here.
“It is obviously great to be full-time this year but it was good to be here more than half the time last year because I was training with the team all through the week.
“I got the taster of what it would be like and this year and being full-time, so I feel like im ready now.”
Discussing how he plans to impress and repay Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre, McBean added: “Whenever he puts the trust me and puts me out there then I just need to repay him.
“I just need to do good things, do the little things right and just make him believe that I can be out there.”
Finally, now in his second full preseason with the Stars, Johnny shared a few words on this season’s squad as they begin to bond through the first few weeks.
He said: “This group of boys are unbelievable.
“It is easy to gel in with them because there are no real language barriers and everyone is just so friendly, so it is just brilliant to be with these guys.”
You can see Johnny and the rest of the Stars team live in action twice this weekend as we host two European clubs as part of our preseason preparations. Get your tickets to see the Stars against MSC Corona Brasov from Romania and Dutch side, Tilburg Trappers HERE!
