Cheryl Burke’s new beau is a hockey player!

Dancing With the Stars pro Cheryl Burke, who is part Filipina, for those of you who don’t know, seems to be dating NHL player Joffrey Lupul. Here are five things to know about the 28-year-old stud:

1. He’s a Ukrainian-Canadian
Joffrey is from Fort Saskatchewan, way out in the western province of Alberta, Canada. He currently plays forward with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL. He’s also on a list of “Famous Ukrainian-Canadians” so he has something in common with DWTS pro Ukrainians Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Val Chmerkovskiy and Karina Smirnoff.

2. He busted his spinal cord
Before joining the Maple Leafs, Joffrey played for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Edmonton Oilers and the Philadelphia Flyers. Back in 2008, during his first season with the Flyers, Joffrey collided with teammate Derian Hatcher during a game, ironically enough, against his future team the Maple Leafs. The collision left Joffrey with a spinal cord contusion and a mild concussion. The pain earned him a few weeks off, then he got back in the action. Now he’s doing so well he was invited play in 2012 NHL All-Star Game as an alternate captain.

3. He likes to play guitar
Joffrey said he started to play guitar in his first year in Anaheim, ’cause there’s a lot of free time when you get home from practice. He admits he’s not that good, but you can watch him strum and listen to him attempt to sing in this video from 2009. He said he tends to gravitate toward “depressing” music, even though he’s not a dark guy or anything. He likes to play Pearl Jam and Counting Crows.

4. He was involved in a “social media scandal”
That’s what the Vancouver Sun called it, anyway, when Joffrey (@JLupul) had a direct message conversation with an “aspiring hockey writer and model” — and she leaked it all in her blog. He wanted some photos of the girl, who tweets @Princesss_Sass and she shared their conversation online. Fans apparently went nuts over the convo Joffrey had with this girl and she addressed the furor in her blog: “I was not intending on ‘ruining a career’ or anything like that,” she wrote. “You don’t expect something like this to blow up…I wasn’t expecting, or intending on destroying this man. I owe him an apology, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and their fans.” Cheryl and Joffrey have done a little bit of Twitter flirting of their own, but hopefully they keep all their private photo-taking private.

5. He’s up for doing DWTS
You can actually watch Cheryl meet Joffrey for the first time at the NHL Awards, which were held in June. They were supposed to be doing media interviews but they spent their time flirting with each other instead. “You look like you’re in Dancing with the Stars shape,” Cheryl told him. He replied by asking for a quick dance lesson. She didn’t think there was time for a lesson. Later in the video, Joffrey interviewed DWTS alum Erin Andrews for Yahoo Sports and he complained about being “shut down” by Cheryl. Erin noted that DWTS has never had a hockey player and he’d probably be good. She asked if he’d be willing to wear sequins. “I mean,” Joffrey said, “if I’m dancing with Cheryl Burke for day in and day out, I’ll put on some sequins.” Nice. Maybe Cheryl can draft Joffrey for next spring’s DWTSSeason 16.

Source: Wetpaint.com