Paul Crowder looking to end on a positive note after 'disappointing' season with Fife Flyers

After an impressive debut year in Kirkcaldy, averaging 1.17 points per game in 2018-19, the 35-year-old Canadian has found goals and assists harder to come by this term, as have many of his team mates in a low-scoring campaign.

“It’s been a little disappointing, personally,” Crowder told the Press.

“It’s been a rough year for myself, and there’s been some off-ice stuff, but you still have to come to the rink every day, put everything aside and focus on the job in hand.

“The last little while I seem like I’ve found a little bit of my stride that I had last year, but it might just be too late to help out unfortunately.

“The puck luck has finally come back, it’s just unfortunate it’s taken this long to find.”

Crowder’s recent form was highlighted in Belfast last Friday where he collected the man of the match award after a narrow 3-1 defeat.

“It was an unfortunate result, but it just seems to be the way this season has gone for us,” he said.

“Most games we’ve been in it and could’ve either got one point or won it, but it just seems to slip through our fingers.

“It’s been a rough year, but there’s five games left and hopefully we can make the most of them.”

Flyers are currently bottom of the table and on the brink of elimination for the play-offs, having failed to build on some early season promise.

“I still think we have potential in this team but things just don’t seem to be falling into place,” Crowder added.

“We had a tough stretch with injuries and other things, then we had a big skid there too which was tough on the team, as well as the whole thing with the fans and the management.

“We have the guys to be able to do the job, for some reason we just couldn’t find the chemistry, and when we did, it wasn’t for long enough stretches.”

With five matches left, and play-off qualification unlikely, Crowder is focused on having a positive end to the season.

“In the last few weeks I think we’ve played really good hockey – close to the best of the year,” he said.

“The chances of us squeaking into play-offs are pretty slim, but you never know.

“We still have to come out and play every game like we could potentially make it.

“Each player is playing for a contract next year so we’ve still got to show we can play and produce good results, otherwise it’s going to be rough end to season.

“But I think everyone still wants to win. You always want to win your last games of the year, whether you make the play-offs or not.”

Flyers travel to Coventry Blaze on Friday before welcoming Glasgow Clan to Fife Ice Arena on Saturday.

”You always want to beat Glasgow,” Crowder added. “We’ve had a pretty good rivalry against them.

“They seem to have had the upper hand on us so it will be nice to get a get a good one on them, and maybe be the ruiners for their play-off push.

“They’ll bring some fans too, so I’m sure it will be a lively game.”

Crowder has not looked beyond the end of the season but revealed he has no plans to play through the summer after competing in the Australian league last year.

“I try not to think about next season until the season is over, because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“Australia – I wouldn’t call it a season down there – but the hockey is good for the most part.

“I try and skate that much in the summer anyway, so it wasn’t like I was exhausted coming up here.

“I don’t feel like I’m tired of hockey, but it might be nice to have a little bit of a break.

“The toughest thing was actually the weather down there wasn’t as warm as I thought it was going to be, so I’m kinda hoping for a good summer this year.”