Fans set to pack Fife Ice Arena for Fife Flyers’ huge game against Glasgow Clan

Crucial play-off points are on the line for both sides, and Fife go into the game with the upper hand after posting a stunning 7-6 overtime victory over Clan at Braehead Arena last night. They had to come from behind to seal victory with Lucas Chiodo netting the winner 2:27 into sudden death overtime. That game saw a 3000 capacity crowd and Fife is well on track to have more than 2000 rinkside tonight.

A win in regulation time would pull Flyers level with Clan in the race for a top eight spot, and although their west coast rivals do have games in hand, it would increase the pressure on under-fire coach Jason Morgan to steady his ship in the closing weeks of the league race. He cast a downbeat figure after the final buzzer last night, and said his team was “fortunate” to get a point from the regulation time tie - despite never being behind.

“We are in a desperate hockey time right now, and play-off hockey has to be sustained for 60 minutes or into overtime, however long it takes. We can’t do it in stretches and it can’t come from one line - it has to be the whole team”

Morgan criticised the mistakes within his team’s performance as “unacceptably really” and added: “We had a good start at 3-1, but on work ethic and compete levels away from the puck we didn’t match Fife’s - we were fortunate to get one point.”

Clan lost import Dyson Stevenson for almost all of the match after his fight with Drake Pilon on the opening 90 seconds - Pilon also sat a chunk of the game afterwards after both players had served their five-minute fighting penalties. Morgan hinted Stevenson may miss tonight’s game: “He sacrificed the body to spark the team and it worked, but that’s a body possibly out for us. We have four to five imports out so it is not going to be any easier at Fife. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and find ways to get points.”

Tom Coolen, head coach for Fife, happily took the two points, and accepted his team were perhaps fortunate with the outcome.

“It was a wide open game - the kind neither coach wanted their team to play, but that’s the way it works out some nights,” he said. “Fans were happy for win but this was not text book hockey - there were a lot things we did that I didn’t like as a coach, and will address that in the morning,.”

Coolen was pleased with the performance of his special teams, and added: “It was a good interesting game to watch, but not from the purist’s - but we’ll take the two points.”