TALLINN – Strongly influenced by hockey played with a strong Russian flavour, Brian Arroyo's know-how is coming to good use as Mexico looks to push ahead in their development.

The 2015/16 season sees plenty being at stake for the hockey development in Mexico. With Mexico City playing host to two World Championship events this season, at senior and U20 level, the Mexican national team will have a lot to play for in Tallinn at the Olympic Qualification Group K .

While the Mexican roster travelled west to reach Estonia, one player, Brian Arroyo, was the odd one out. Arriving from Russia, 30-year-old Arroyo had travelled to Europe in advance to prepare himself in the country close to his heart which also played a vital part in his hockey development.

Born in Mexico City, Arroyo started with inline hockey at the age of seven in the capital region. He was 13 when he first set his foot in the local ice hockey arena where a new world opened up for him.

"In Mexican sports is mostly about football or basketball, but I wanted to play something different," he said. "When I was a kid Mexican television used to show an NHL game a week. I liked what I saw, got curious about it and when I've mentioned this to my mum, she said I should go ahead and try it. I went to the rink where the local team San Jeronimo Osos was playing and I was lucky as one Russian guy, Valeri Afanasiev was coaching there," said Arroyo.

A late starter in his own words, it was under the guidance of Afanasiev, Arroyo and his new teammates soon found themselves going to Russia, which was the start for his affiliation with the vast country.

"I was 14 when I flew to Russia for the first time. Our team played a lot of games there and I started to become very friendly with Russians. I really liked being there and I had a dream that I really wanted to play in a real hockey country," said Arroyo.

He was back in Russia three times the following year, where contacts in hockey opened doors. One such being Sergei Gimayev, a highly-esteemed coach who helped Arroyo with finding teams to practise with and inviting him to exhibition games. Aged 16, Arroyo accepted an invitation for a-month-and-a-half long training camp for the Druzhba-78 academy based in Kharkiv in the eastern part of Ukraine where he did so well that an offer was put on the table. In July 2001, at the age of 16 saw Arroyo pack his bags and depart the bustling metropolis of Mexico City to the industrial city of Ukraine for the love of hockey.

"The first two months were pretty tough with the culture, country, language all being different," he said. "But I went there because I wanted to play at a high level and when you are young, you are not thinking too much about what is tough and what is easy. I practised, got used to it and loved it. Russia and Ukraine were to become such a big part of me so that I feel that half of me is Russian," said Arroyo.

Arroyo stayed three seasons in Kharkiv. In 2004, at the age of 19 he felt he was ready for the next step. This was the starting point for a remarkable hockey odyssey with try-outs and training camps at a myriad of clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. A Spartak St. Petersburg training camp did not materialize in a contract, he was across the Atlantic practising with the Phoenix Roadrunners, Corpus Christi Rayz, Texarkana Bandits and then playing with Peoria Mustangs in the Midwestern USA. But his name also appears from practising sessions with HIFK Helsinki’s juniors in Finland, Yunost Minsk in Belarus and a contract offer at the now defunct Kombat St. Petersburg, which fell apart during a period he labels as "bouncing".

When he eventually found a couple years of stability it was Finland he decided to call his home as a hockey player between 2008 and 2010.

"I rented an apartment in Helsinki and I visited the Finnish federation who gave me a list of agents. I contacted them all, but it was when I was out skating on a lake and started talking to a fellow skater that in the end helped me out a lot," said Arroyo, who was in Finland until 2010 with his last team being Kettera in Imatra in the south-eastern part of the country.

Despite enjoying life in Finland he decided thanks to contacts that his best move for his career would be uprooting to Kyiv in Ukraine where he played for Kompanion in what was to be his final season as a professional player in 2010/11 as life started to have other priorities with Arroyo getting married and becoming a father.

"The big part in my career was that I was bouncing around all the time. From this city, to this city and so on. But now came a time where I wanted to stay in one place. I had a few offers from Mexico to work with the development of hockey, so I spoke to my wife, and we decided that we would try it for one year, so that is how I decided to end my professional career at 26," said Arroyo.

While still being an active player and an integral part of the Mexican national team, Arroyo is also highly prioritizing the development of players, working out of two rinks, Ice World Lerma and La Pista in San Jeronimo.

"I care about the development for hockey in Mexico, and as I grew up as a hockey player in Europe, I know the system, how to train in Russia and Finland and my goal is to show them what they need to do in order to become better players than me," said Arroyo, who also during the last few years has taken groups of Mexican youngsters to training camps in both Finland and Sweden and is set to continue this during next summer as he feels Mexican hockey is moving ahead.

"From 2005 to 2010 there was a big hole in Mexico, but from let's say three-four years the Mexican federation started to bring more coaches to the team, started to open more rinks and makes increased the competition in Mexico which is what the kids need, to compete in order to become better," said Arroyo.

With Mexico City having hosted the first two editions of the 2014 and 2015 Pan-American Tournaments in the newly opened ice arena rink, Ice Dome Sur in Mexico City, it is also at that very same venue that Mexico is aiming for promotion both at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B and the U20 Division III later this season.

"For the U20 team it is a big challenge and they should win. They have everything and their parents invested a lot of money and they are getting better, so I have good expectations. For us seniors we are tired to play in the Division II Group B. I think everyone wants to play at a higher level and we are a good group of players so I think we should win too," said Arroyo.

As for the Olympic Qualification Group K in Tallinn played this week, Mexico are making the most of what they have got despite some influential omissions.

"We have three, four defencemen missing and two, three forwards out, who all play in our top two lines, but we need to get some experience," said Arroyo as Mexico in the final game of the tournament will be facing hosts and firm favourites Estonia, where he will be reacquainted with a few familiar faces from a brief spell at the new defunct Estonian team Tartu Kalev-Valk-494 during the 2005/2006 season

"I've played with three of the guys who are on the Estonian team. Vassili Titarenko and defenceman Maksim Robushkin while I even used to train Mihkel Sinikas once when I made a skating clinic in Tartu," said Arroyo.

HENRIK MANNINEN