New Season
The hockey season is back, and you can follow it all with us right here on BIH.
Stats Centre
We are working on an archive of matches, stats and players from BIH in the past few years.
Dutiaume curses lack of luck for Flyers
by Craig Anderson of Slapshot Scotland: http://slapshotscotland.wordpress.com.
Todd Dutiaume thought this was going to be his team’s night as Fife Flyers talked in the lead up to the match with Braehead Clan on Saturday – it’s just a shame they forgot to turn up.
After a poor weekend in losing points to Belfast and Dundee, Dutiaume knew his men had to get something from the Clan as they embark on a six-game run against the top four teams in the league.
But the labour and luck that the Fife coach admits they get by on was nowhere to be seen after they were thrashed 7-2 by the Purple Army.
Dutiaume said: “It’s been a disappointing week and a half and up till then, we’d been playing some decent hockey, but we know what we are. We’re a one-dimensional team, but we get by on hard work and a bit of luck.
“We had meetings prior to this game and all the players nodded in the right places and said the right things going into this game, bearing in mind the big games coming up and I genuinely believed the guys were going to show up and play.
“It was basic mistakes made caused by weak plays and the only offensive we generated was from a defenceman, Tim Maxwell so you get weak performances from the Brits, absolutely nothing in offence from the imports equals a heavy loss from the Flyers.
“How long can we rely on the favours from other teams before we do something for ourselves? We take a point here and there and we get ourselves closer. The spot might be up for grabs, but it feels like we’re letting it slip through our fingers.”
It was a solemn night for the Flyers’ players as well who all seem to be baffled as to why they are unable to get themselves on any kind of meaningful run.
Garrett Zemlak, their netminder, made it clear no-one is hiding from this latest setback, but the Flyers’ star man this season found a small positive in a tsunami of negativity.
Zemlak said: “We knew we’d played well against Braehead in the past and we were disappointed after our results last week. But we were making mistakes like the ones we made in the first ten games of the season and it’s really frustrating now.
“The biggest thing is we have 14 games left and some of those against teams like Dundee and Hull and those are just must-wins for us plus try and knock off one or two of the big teams to see if we can sneak in.
No-one is satisfied at all from management to the players, including myself, but we’ve got to have two good days of training then it’s up to me to help steal one in the next couple of weeks and I’ll do my best to do that. It’s just a disappointing night all round.
“The fact Edinburgh and Dundee lost is a positive for us and we’ve still got games to come against them. Edinburgh and Hull are in the same situation as us and we need them not to win any more games.
“There’s still places up for grabs and we have to worry about ourselves before we look at other teams and I think it could go to the last game of the season.”
On the other side, Braehead racked up their fourth win on the trot and look in a good position to strike for fifth place when they play Coventry Blaze next Saturday.
As far as the night’s work goes, player-coach Drew Bannister was a very happy man and felt his team could have had more than the seven goals they got.
He said: “The guys played really well and I was very happy at how we took the play to them. I felt we controlled them from start to finish and I felt it could have been 14-2 if we took more of our chances.
“I thought the third line were fantastic with Ryan Campbell, Matty Haywood and Adam Walker all had terrific games for us and Ryan and Adam got a couple of goals for us as well, which is really big and took the pressure off the other guys. I’m happy with the outcome.
“I don’t think Fife get enough credit and you have to be ready to face these guys and they’re a good hockey team. They sit back and play well in their own zone and they play very confidently in front of their own goalie, who in my opinion, is one of the best in the league on most nights.
“He sees the puck most nights and saves a lot, which can get frustrating playing them and if they get a lead, it’s tough. One of our focuses was to get a lead and open it up and give ourselves the advantage which was how it worked out for us.”
For Clan new boy Lee Mitchell, he’s seen enough of Fife having playing them three times in the last two weeks, including his last match for Dundee Stars and his debut for the Clan against the Kirkcaldy side.
But he was just glad to get an assist on Galbraith’s second goal and felt he owed his new team-mate after missing a couple himself.
Mitchell said: “It was nice to repay the favour to set up Jade’s goal and he’d set a couple up for me that I could put away so I was glad he was able to stick one away.
“It was a good performance and I felt we dominated the game from start to finish. They scored a couple of goals, but other than that, we were the better team. I’ve been here a few times this season certainly and playing Fife three times in a fortnight is a lot.”
And Mitchell also revealed the part Drew Bannister, a former team-mate of Mitchell at Hull Stingrays last season, played in persuading him to join Braehead.
He added: “I knew Drew from our time at Hull so I know what kind of professional he is and what sort of guy he is so when he phoned and spoke to me about coming, it reiterated what I already know about him and I was happy to come.
“It’s an upside to have gone from bottom of the league to sixth place in the one night and it’s a different kind of battle for me now after moving.”
blog comments powered by Disqus0-3 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
||
| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
||
| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
||
| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
5-8 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
||
| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|
- Maxwell & Nicolson out for season
- Fife snap losing streak
- Flyers battle all the way against Panthers
- Stewart positive ahead of Steelers visit
- Clan go seven up as Flyers lose their fizz
