The Fife Flyers’ season sunk to new lows on Sunday [9 November], suffering their 14th consecutive Elite League defeat in a 4-1 loss to the Coventry Blaze.
Fife head coach Jamie Russell offered minimal analysis after the final buzzer, praising Coventry’s intensity before rueing his squad’s missed chances.
“We generated some chances, but we didn’t convert from our breakaways and two-on-ones,” he told reporters in Coventry.
In a statement released on Monday morning, Flyers president Max Birbraer went further, apologising to fans for the team’s poor run of results.
“There is no hiding or sugar coating,” wrote Birbraer.
“As a club, management, coaching staff and players we all recognise that results so far during this season have been well below expectations to say the least.
“We always envisaged this first season being very difficult, with the late takeover of the club, the resulting late recruitment and the sole focus of ensuring we just had a team on the ice. We expected highs and lows, but certainly not the level of frustrations we’re currently experiencing.”
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Coventry Blaze 4-1 Fife Flyers
Matthew Gleason, Coventry Blaze (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Coltyn Bates, Coventry Blaze:
From three games this week, we’ll take the two wins. I think a big takeaway from tonight is the buy-in: all of the blocks and the invisible stats. There’s lots to build on there, but I’m really excited to see them bite in like that. It was also a big weekend for Dershahn Stewart: he’s been steady for us when he’s got in.
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
I thought Coventry came out and had a really strong start to the game: we weathered it for a bit. Then, we had two penalty shots against, it’s the first time I’ve seen that in a long time. We generated some chances, but we didn’t convert from our breakaways and two-on-ones.
Guildford Flames 3-2 Glasgow Clan (OT)
Colton Poolman, Glasgow Clan (Image: John Uwins)
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
It was a tough game between two very-evenly matched sides and the scoreline tells you that. I’m delighted that we got the win in overtime: we’ve lost four times in overtime this year, so it’s a real positive to pull that off. It’s also two big points for us in the league, so I’m pleased.
Corey Neilson, Glasgow Clan:
I thought it was a good hockey game: Guildford came to play tonight and we defended very, very hard. Our goaltender was sensational and we had lots of chances to score and win the game in regulation. But that didn’t happen and that’s hockey. There have been lots of times where we’ve been on the other end of a result like this and I’m thankful for the effort the guys put in tonight.
Belfast Giants 5-3 Dundee Stars (Challenge Cup)
Ryan Smith, Belfast Giants (Image: William Cherry)
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
I actually thought we were really good tonight. The game was tighter than it had to be: Dundee competed really hard, but we made too many decisions that cost us. I thought we were in control of the entire game, it just could’ve been a little easier on us if we made the right decisions.
I certainly can’t complain: we were great in the third period and [Jordan Kawaguchi] had a big night, allowing us to manage the rest of the game.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
I thought we were on our heels for most of the game: puck possession was probably eighty-to-twenty, but we never gave up and we kept pushing. Offensively, they had us in our zone quite a bit and we can’t just stand and watch a team like that play. We have to close down time and space, and we found opportunities when we did that.
[Emil] Kruse gave us the chance to win tonight and that’s all you can ask for in a goaltender. He kept us in the game for long stretches of the game.
We capitalised on our opportunities, but we need some secondary scoring right now. We scored five goals on the weekend and four of them came from our top line, so we need other guys to chip in too.
Now, we need to focus on the league. There’s plenty of hockey to be played, starting against Cardiff next week.
Sheffield Steelers 0-4 Cardiff Devils
Josh MacDonald, Cardiff Devils (Image: Dean Woolley)
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
I actually liked our first few shifts tonight: we started with some energy, but we obviously only had three lines, with the Brits away and not making it back. Then, we turn the puck over at the offensive blueline and they score a quick goal on the transition. They made us pay with two quick goals in the first period and then I just felt like we never had any life tonight.
It’s pretty frustrating: we lost the second period two-nothing and I don’t actually think we were horrible outside of the three-minute stretch where we gave up those goals. Again, it’s the same mistakes costing us.
Cardiff are good in transition and it felt like we got away from how we want to play.
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
Obviously, we have a plan for every game, but we had a plan for how we could nullify the speed that Sheffield play with and we executed it. That’s credit to the boys. When we had our chances, we took them today. Goals have been tough to come by before this weekend, but [Josh] MacDonald and [Cole] Sanford are up and running now and they’re our two big offensive weapons. It’s been a good weekend.
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