Fife Flyers: Drake Pilon back in line up for weekend tilt with Coventry Blaze

The forward who brings grit and skill to the line-up, missed out on Saturday’s 7-6 overtime loss at the hands of Glasgow Clan as he recovered from a cross-check in the game the night before.

Pilon’s impact was evident with a second minute fight taking out Clan skipper, Dyson Stevenson who also didn’t play in the return game.

His goals and style have also lit up the rink as Flyers keep pushing for a place in the play-offs - and a one-game weekend against Blaze gives them a chance to keep the pressure on among the chasing pack.

“He is back, trained full out today and is ready to go” said coach Tom Coolen.

He saw his team took three points across their Clan weekend, and while the split wasn’t ideal - their goal was back to back wins in regulation time - both Blaze and Dundee Stars emerged with zero points to tighten the pack even further.

Flyers have certainly played more games than their challengers, but the margin of error for all of them is very fine, and Coolen wants to keep their own momentum going. Flyers have taken points in15 of their last 20 games, and that form puts them among the top four in the EIHL, but the actual table shows them in ninth spot; three points behind Clan, Stars and Blaze - underlining the importance of securing wins in the heads to heads.

Flyers were 6-3 up against Clan going into the final ten minutes before the momentum changed and they lost in overtime.

Coolen said: “I didn’t even bring up last weekend in training. Today I told them we have Coventry on Saturday - so let’s go.”

But he admitted: “It wasn’t what we got at the weekend, it is what we gave up to a team we are battling against.”

The coach remained unhappy at some of the third period penalty calls, but said: “We move on. In the first five minutes of the third I thought we did a reality nice job managing the puck, but we have to learn from our mistakes - the hockey gods also intervened - and we go to work.”

Flyers will have a full roster to choose from, and the luxury of a one-game weekend, although they have a midweek road trip to Nottingham Panthers on Tuesday. Flyers and Blaze have met five times, with three head to heads resulting in one-goal hockey games. Flyers lead the series with three wins, one loss and one overtime defeat. - but Blaze won 4-2 on their last visit to Fife Ice Arena.