Fife Flyers: home double header to whet appetite as new EIHL season starts

The team open the 2024-25 EIHL campaign with a home double header against Glasgow Clan and Belfast Giants - and the 48 hours of action should ensure big crowds on both nights at Fife Ice Arena.

The matches mark the start of the Challenge Cup round robin qualifiers, and Flyers are keen to make the best possible start. Their rivals Clan have been in pre-season competition in Germany, and come to Kirkcaldy with a new look team, led by new coach Corey Neilson, making his return to the rink on Saturday since departing Nottingham Panthers.

And Sunday’s match brings Belfast Giants, complete with Kyle Osterberg, one of Fife’s stand out skaters last season, to town.

With big points up for grabs, fans will be keen to see a winning start - but also assess how the team will shape up in the Elite League.

Tom Coolen, head coach, has 16 new imports in his line-up, a number of them new to UK ice hockey, and they will quickly find out the intensity and speed of the game this weekend. He declared himself happy with his pre-season build-up which saw Flyers become the only Elite League team to defeat impressive touring Canadian outfit, University of Quebec-Trois-Rivieres.

Former Sheffield Steelers forward Martin Latal missed the build-up through injury - and the impact of a fluke collision in warm up on the opening night at Dundee has kept him off the ice. After also missing out on training, he isn’t in the running to play this weekend either. His speed, skill and experience are a big loss to the team as it goes into the eagerly-awaited opening weekend.

For Coolen, the games give him a chance to assess his side - and the calibre of the opposition.

“I’m interested to see how we match up against Clan and Giants,” he said. “We’ll focus on Saturday first and then look to the next game. I was happy with our pre-season, we tried different things, and the guys got to know each other. They also got to work on getting a good level of conditioning - it;’s an evaluation process, and I’m not unhappy at all with where we are.”

Flyers’ fans will be keen to see if the momentum that carried Fife through the second half of last season can be picked up - if so, they could be in for a great season.

Injuries and some crippling scheduling thwarted much of the team’s early momentum, but when both cleared they were very much the form team of the league.

Saturday’s game faces-off at 7:15pm and Sunday is 5:15pm