There is only one mantra to live by in the Elite League this season: expect the unexpected.
Sunday [5 October] provided another afternoon of shocks, with the Dundee Stars adding to the Belfast Giants’ misery and the Glasgow Clan putting the Sheffield Steelers to the sword.
The Cardiff Devils suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Nottingham Panthers, with Paul Thompson apologising for his side’s performance.
Welcome to Around the Rinks: our daily summary of every team’s post-game media remarks.
Around the Rinks: Sunday, 5 October 2025
Sheffield Steelers 2-3 Glasgow Clan
Corey Neilson, Glasgow Clan:
I’m really pleased. I thought there was good energy and solid commitment from our group. We had some good chances from hard work, tracking back to our zone and trying to end plays. I felt that we moved the puck pretty well and, offensively, in the second period I thought we were excellent.
For me, it’s very special. Rob is part of a group of five or six guys who came and trained in Canada in the summers back when I was running my hockey school. To see his pathway and progression over the years has been remarkable — and he’s got a great network of family and love behind him.
Aaron Fox, Sheffield Steelers:
We’re obviously disappointed, but that’s a really tight hockey game. Shots and chances were tied, and two of their goals came off chances where we couldn’t clear the zone the first time.
Again, when you give teams opportunities, they’ll make you pay. We felt that we were just okay tonight. There was positive play at times, but it wasn’t good enough for the full sixty minutes.
Glasgow, in the way they play, are the most similar to us with their system and they just did it a little bit better than us tonight.
Cardiff Devils 0-5 Nottingham Panthers (Challenge Cup)
Ryan Barrow, Cardiff Devils (Image: James Assinder)
Paul Thompson, Cardiff Devils:
What disappointed me is that we took another penalty at one-nil down that we didn’t need to take and they converted on the powerplay.
We had numerous powerplay opportunities, but we didn’t convert and that’s been the story of the weekend. I apologise. Me and the team are in this together — and we’ve had back-to-back home games where we haven’t played anything close to our potential. And that’s the worrying thing.
I don’t know: we’re not playing with the same impetus and passion that we’ve had before. You don’t become a bad team over night, and we’re not a bad team, and I do apologise for the losses. We need to learn how to manage games and that’s my frustration.
Danny Stewart, Nottingham Panthers:
I thought it was a pretty even game for the most part. Our first goal came from a bit of a lucky bounce, but we were rewarded from driving the puck to the net. I loved our response to last night.
Last night, our compete and work rate were nowhere near where we need them to be. We had a really good first period and just got better as the game went on. Having the discipline to play like that for sixty minutes is a good sign for us.
Manchester Storm 6-1 Fife Flyers
Cam Critchlow, Manchester Storm:
It was a good performance by us: Fife made it really difficult for us early in the game and they didn’t quit. We scored a couple of quick goals in succession, which changed the game and meant that they had to chase it a little bit.
I challenged the group to be better before the third period and they responded, which is great to see.
Jamie Russell, Fife Flyers:
I’ve got to give Manchester credit: they played well and they buried their chances.
In large parts, I thought our puck management was horrendous tonight and we did a lot of things to beat ourselves. It’s a small rink where things happen quickly and you don’t have a lot of time and space. But we constantly turned pucks over at the offensive blueline. I think we made a lot of mistakes tonight.
Coventry Blaze 2-1 Guildford Flames — Shootout (Challenge Cup)
Mat Robson, Coventry Blaze (Image: Scott Wiggins)
Kevin Moore, Coventry Blaze:
It was a really exciting one because it was so tight and back and forth. It ramped the tension up, which was good for our group because we’ve got to learn to win different ways.
It was a really gutsy win in terms of killing a penalty in overtime and I’m proud of the group. It was fun [to have a full line-up for the first time this season], you always want your guys out there and you hurt for them when they’re out.
The thing that people miss when players are injured is that it’s a daily grind and it’s admirable when athletes do that. Particularly for Artem [Buzoberya], clawing back the way he has, I’m super proud of him. [Elijah] Barriga has been super detailed.
I’m just proud of those guys, the team are happy to have them back, and I think that’s why we had a little bit of extra effort out there.
Paul Dixon, Guildford Flames:
I’m really happy with our performance. This is a tough building to come into and we obviously haven’t been in great form.
I’m super proud of the guys for their performances this weekend: everyone stepped up and we’re short-benched. I can’t fault the guys for their commitment all weekend and I thought we were where we needed to be tonight.
It comes down to special teams — and we didn’t capitalise on that four-on-three in overtime. In a shootout, it’s 50-50 from there. Both goalies were excellent tonight.
Dundee Stars 5-4 Belfast Giants — Shootout (Challenge Cup)
Jarrett Fiske, Dundee Stars (Image: Derek Black)
Adam Keefe, Belfast Giants:
We played for forty minutes. In the first period, we were okay. In the second period, I don’t think we came out and that’s when we lost the hockey game. I liked our pushback in the third period and it’s unfortunate that we gave one up by turning the puck over at the blueline.
Again, I liked our powerplay — it got us back into the game and gave the bench some belief. We’re trying to focus on that third period feeling. We’ll take the point, but it’s certainly not typical of our standards or expectations.
We have to get much better defensively and we need that feeling that we had in the third period.
Marc LeFebvre, Dundee Stars:
It was a great response after last night. We don’t make it easy on ourselves at times and we had to grind that one out. We had some timely scoring from some different guys.
Obviously, our special teams [play] is letting us down right now — we need to get a lot better. Powerplays are evolving and it’s on me to fix that. Overall, I’m happy that we got the win against a very good Belfast team, shutting the door at the end.
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