Fife Flyers aim to snap three-game losing streak ahead of Sunday home game

The club kick-started a tough December schedule with a trio of losses on home ice and on the road as performance levels took a dip.

Todd Dutiaume, head coach, is looking for as positive response as he takes his team to Belfast on Saturday before making the long journey home to face Manchester Storm in Kirkcaldy on Sunday.

Flyers sit eighth in the Elite League, and need to keep stacking the wins as the clubs around them have games in hand.

Ninth placed Glasgow Clan are five points behind but with six games to catch up on, while seventh placed Coventry Blaze are one point ahead with four in hand.

Storm currently top the pack in sixth with 13 points from 15 games - and that group will almost certainly be involved in a season-long fight for play-off spots, underlining the importance of taking points on a regular basis.

The return to action will also help to focus attention back on the ice pad after the midweek confirmation of Chase Schaber’s departure without playing a single game.

The only positive to emerge from a two-month long saga is that it won’t affect the number of registrations Flyers have in their hand as they seek additional signings - a search that has so far proved fruitless.

Dutiaume said: “I recognise we are playing short and we are doing everything we can to bring in new players.”

Flyers are tracking a number of possible signing targets ahead of a tough month of fixtures which will be further congested once dates for the Challenge Cup quarter-final ties against Sheffield Steelers are finalised.

“We have to battle through this until we can get guys in to help,” said Dutiaume.

“The last three games we were not at our best, but, up to that point we were playing .500 hockey.

“We are coming up to a crucial stage in the season so we have to get back to that form where we looked strong - that’s the team identity I want.”

Flyers and Storm have gone head to head twice this season.

Fife crushed Ryan Finnerty’s side 8-0 in Kirkcaldy in mid October, only to then suffer a similar fate as they were shut out 5-0 in Altrincham.

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