Fife Flyers: Challenge cup final adventure for the fans and team in Belfast

“Can Flyers win the cup?” Todd Dutiaume was asked immediately after last week’s thrilling elimination of Sheffield Steelers.

“Why not?” he said.

Expect to see a few fans with #’whynot on the back of their t-shirts this week as the team steps on to the cup final stage for the first time in their EIHL era.

Flyers are used to winning silverware. They’ve been doing it across eight decades - longer than any other pro team in the sport in the UK, and longer even than most NHL teams.

A glimpse at their trophy cabinet isn’t just a trip down memory lane to the era of wooden sticks and netminders with no facemasks, it comes right up to modern times with the 2018 Conference trophy taking pride of place.

The sport has endured in Fife because, to borrow Tom Muir’s words when he took over at the helm in 1996, people care about it. Hockey is their passion. They get involved off the ice, and invest time and emotion in season tickets.

They are Flyers’ fiercest critics and most vocal fans - a combination which can challenge players and coaches, and also spook visiting teams.

Wednesday’s final is their final.

For a club - any club - to take around 700 fans across the Irish Sea for a midweek game in the middle of a cost of living crisis is remarkable. That they all booked their travel and hotels only in the last seven days speaks volumes for the endless hours put in by the volunteers in the Supporters Club who co-ordinated so much of the arrangements to get everyone here.

For many it will be their first final - for the old-timers, a chance to do it all again after the famous Wembley weekends, the finals in Hull, the Findus Cup final in Nottingham, and many more from Streatham Ice Rink to the NEC in Birmingham.

What unites them is a desire to be there rather than watch it live on television.

Cup finals are about much more than just the game, and while they may well be outnumbered by Giants fans, who have the luxury of rolling up to their home arena, they will make their presence felt.

Going in as underdogs suits Flyers down to the laces in their skates.

Their coach’s ‘why not’ was anything but a shrug of the shoulders. It was a statement, and one that was reflected across the dressing room. With each Challenge Cup win there was a focus on the next step.

A team that started its cup campaign with a thrilling third period comeback to leave Glasgow Clan bewildered on home ice back in September.

A team that was so short benched it ought to have been brushed off the ice by Dundee Stars instead eliminated their Tayside rivals.

A team that saw a one-goal lead erased by Sheffield IN Sheffield in front of 9000 fans, and fell 3-0 down after 20 minutes took the game to the very wire before delivering a killer penalty.

On the bench they saw Steelers trying to hold on to what they had rather than going for the jugular. They yelled “one shot, one goal” knowing this game could be tipped back in their favour.

The players share that “why not” sense - why shouldn’t it be their name that is engraved on a trophy that has been the domain of arena teams since its inception?

John Ross, Flyers’ historian, put it in context in Flyers’ podcast chat earlier this week when he pointed out the dominance of the tournament by the big guns.

The team which wins the league usually also wins the cup. Guildford Flames are the only ‘rink team’ to make the final, and only two fifth placed sides have ever graced the final - Nottingham and Belfast.

Fife currently sit eighth, Giants are top of the table. That in a nutshell is the scale of the task that lies ahead.

Giants are a formidable team. They will hit Flyers with everything they have from the puck drop - their three goals in three minutes in Kirkcaldy on Sunday was an example of how ruthless they will be given then opportunity to kill off their opposition.

Flyers played very well in two of the three periods. On Wednesday they need to play well across all three - every shift.

Keep it tight, play smart and this game can easily go to the wire.

And Flyers have a habit of winning in dramatic circumstances and against the odds. From Sheffield last week to John Coyle’s sudden death penalty win over Slough to clinch a British championship, they are a team with a liking for the occasional walk along a high wire minus a safety net. Why not one more?

On Wednesday, the stage is set for someone to emerge as the hero – someone who sets this arena alight with a moment of skill and earns a place in the club’s record books and writes a new chapter in its history

The minute you land at George Belfast City Airport, you are greeted with billboards which promote Northern Ireland as a place to explore.

“A small step to a giant adventure” is the tagline.

Flyers have taken several huge strides to get here. That journey isn’t over yet.

Challenge Cup winners? Why not.