Fife Flyers: hopes of return for injured imports ahead of Belfast Giants game

Top scoring Phelix Martineau and key defenceman Patrick Kyte skated in training on Wednesday after missing the last fortnight of action - and Evan MacKinnon was aiming to lace up on Thursday in the hope of making the line-up for Saturday’s game against Belfast Giants; the first of three meetings with the title-chasing team.

But while coach Johnny Curran would love to be back to full strength, he has ruled out rushing anyone back.

“We do not want to send any players home hurt for summer,” he said. “We feel the frustrations of the players who are playing, and we want everyone back to knock off some minutes for everyone, but we won’t ask anyone to play injured.” Martineau and Kyte are working to shake off niggling injuries while MacKinnon has a badly bruised foot after blocking a slapshot. It was initially feared he’d broken his foot which would have ended his first pro season after a few games, but is now hoping the swelling will have subsided enough to allow him to lace up. He is due to get more physio this week ahead of any possible return for the weekend.

Giants come to Kirkcaldy on Saturday night, while Sunday’s schedule takes Flyers down the M6 to face Nottingham Panthers.

Curran made Wednesday an optional skate with some players shaking off a flu bug and others resting banged up bodies, but he is happy with the time he has to prepare for the weekend, and is keen to see the team continue to give all it can, regardless of results.

“The guys have been disappointed not to come across more wins. They are deserving of more points and the chance to take a few games to overtime, but this league is tough - even the top teams can show up and still not get the win.

“We want them all to stay healthy and finish on a high. We want to keep playing well at home with some special nights coming up as we honour slime great players and with the owners passing the torch on at the end of the season.

“We also wants to keep teams guessing when they come here. We have opponents playing for the title and for play-off spots - we could have a say in that.”