Fife Flyers: goals galore, new strips and rising crowds – 5 weekend takeaways

A costly lesson.

Fife Flyers’ tardy return to the ice for the start of period two on Saturday didn’t just cost them a two-minute penalty - it arguably put in motion a huge momentum shift which led to a catastrophic 20 minutes and a hefty defeat.

It was clear the officials were getting tetchy, and having already gone to the corner for a sharp blast of their whistle towards the dressing-room, they were already gathering at the timekeeper’s bench before the first player emerged. The penalty decision had already been made.

Up until that point Flyers were in command, playing well and en route to a big home win. They ended up with a 7-2 skelping that saw the first grumbles in the stands - and rightly so.

Goals, goals, goals.

The numbers don’t make for comfortable reading. In their last three games Flyers have shipped 19 goals and scored just three. They have also been shut out twice by Belfast with 14 goals coughed on the road.

There are some mitigating factors - key forward Justin Ducharme is still working his way back to fitness, and Johan Porsberger was out on Sunday’s 6-0 shut out at Belfast - impacting on the balance across the lines, but the switch-on, switch-off problem in games has to be resolved.

There is more than enough experience with the team to figure that one out, and get back to the competitive ways which saw them light up the rink.

Crowds: It was good to see over 1900 fans in the rink on Saturday - with just a handful coming from Guildford.

That’s a massive increase on last season and continues a solid trend this season with more fans rekindling their interest in the team and sport.

There has been a huge push on social media to sell the sport, which is absolutely paying off, but the club has to get the players out in the community every day/week, They are the club’s best ambassadors and need to be visiting schools, community centres, doing meet and greets and ticket giveaways in cafes and any places where people gather across the key towns in Fife.

The more interaction off the ice, the more the bonds between the team and town will strengthen.

Kingdom rollcall

Fife Flyers’ new warm-up tops were revealed at the weekend - and immediately caught the eye.

They are adorned with the names of towns and villages across Fife as part of the club’s marketing strategy which has the emphasis on the Kingdom, and not just Kirkcaldy.

The tops were certainly a first for the club - pretty sure it’s also the first time Freuchie, Cairneyhill and Coaltown of Balgonie have all featured on a sports top! The debate over whether Dunfermline should have got a higher billing than Kirkcaldy on the strips continues …!

Face-off champs:

Josh Winquist and Keaton Jameson are more than proving their worth at the dot. They are swallowing the pucks at face-offs at a huge rate, but the need for another centreman with the same win rate is clear when you look at the stats – and it’s a missing link some fans identified at the start of the campaign.

Face offs won in the Challenge Cup - Jameson 119, Winquist 77, but then there is a big drop down to 19 for Ben Brown and 13 for Mason Alderson.