Carlo Finucci aiming to repeat play-off heroics with Fife Flyers

The 32-year-old struck the overtime winner in the second leg against Manchester Storm as Flyers recovered from a 4-1 defeat at home to win the away leg 5-1 and reach the final four in Nottingham.

It was one of the most dramatic comebacks in the history of the competition, but Finucci would settle for a more straightforward positive outcome against Nottingham Panthers this weekend.

“Regardless of how things ended up last year, we don’t want to be going into the second leg with that kind of deficit,” he said.

“It’s important to impose our will in the first game, and for us to get a good lead going down there.

“We’re confident playing them, so we’ll be up for it, and it’s play-off hockey so anything can happen.

“Games have been tight all year with them except for the one time we blew them out down in Nottingham.

“I see it being pretty tight this weekend, we’ve just got to make sure we keep going the way we’ve been playing.”

Finucci has shown a knack for producing the goods at the business end of the season and the team will again look for him to deliver in the key moments.

“You always want to step up to the occasion at this time of year,” he said.

“You want to be the guy in play-offs who steps up and brings their game to another level, and that’s what I’m looking to do.

“It’s a quick play-off here, which I’m used to now, but a lot of the guys from North America aren’t. If you can’t step up your game for this, when can you?

“I’m looking forward to it again, and if it’s not me scoring the winner this time then hopefully someone else in the room will, because we’ve got a number of guys who can step up.”

Having experienced the showpiece occasion of the play-off finals weekend last year, Finucci is desperate to return for another crack at winning the silverware.

“Experiencing that last year, it was unbelievable,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people complain about stuff with the league, but to get to that point and see a sold out rink like that, and all the excitement around that weekend, it’s a shining light of the league.

“When you get there and see all the fans you realise you’re playing at a high level, and it’s pretty special to be there.

“I’m hoping to get there again for myself, but also for the guys who haven’t experienced it to see what that weekend is like, and give ourselves a chance to win something.

“I haven’t won anything really at the professional level, and I’m getting a little bit older now, so I’d like to have some kind of trophy celebration, and hopefully that’s what it is.

“Winning the conference last yaer was a good achievement, but a major tropy is something I’m still want to achieve.

“As we say back home, you want to win your last game. That means you’ve won something.

“We want to be winning our last game this year.”