Fife Flyers: injured players skate before coach makes call for weekend games

The club has seen a reversal of results recently with four wins leading to a trio of losses - and it was no no-incidence the defeats came as they battled injuries.

Flyers saw a zero point weekend nudged them down into ninth spot, but the Elite League is tight they are still only five points off second-placed Cardiff Devils, underlining the importance of turning things round.

They travel to Altrincham to face Manchester Storm on Saturday before hosting Sheffield Steelers for the first time at Fife Ice Arena on Sunday - and once those games are done and dusted, they face a lengthy midweek journey to face Guildford Flames in the second leg of the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Heads coach Tom Coolen is hoping his key players will be back in the line up to kick-start the club’s momentum. He had them on ice for a skating session on Wednesday morning, and will assess their recovery from injury before finalising his roster for the weekend games.

Canadian forward Ben Hawerchuk is definitely out. He has been placed on the Injury Reserve (IR) list for 28 days, ruling him out of the December programme. He missed the weekend action, with highly experienced Latvian centre, Vitalijs Pavlovs making his debut as cover.

Anthon and Johan Erikkson both missed the weekend games, as did Kyle Osterberg, while Sunday’s game at Guildford saw more problems as defenceman turned forward Brady Poteau failed to finish through injury, while captain Jonas Emmerdahl spent a chunk of the game on the bench. Defenceman Fynn Page was also an absentee.

Coolen will give them every opportunity to lace up this weekend.

He said: “We will see how they respond this week and how they feel, but I am hopeful of getting guys back into the line up. We will get them on to the ice for a skate to see.”

Coolen remains upbeat and optimistic despite the weekend losses - a 4-2 home defeat at the hands of Coventry, and a 2-0 shut out at Guildford.

“We competed well at Guildford,” he said, “We had a lot of chances despite having guys out of the line-up, and then losing more during the game. We ran out of steam towards the end but we were down on bodies and that isn’t easy.

“I was proud of our effort and told the players that. We had won four in a row, and have now lost three. We need to get back on the right road again - we’re not far off it.”

> Sunday’s game will also be Flyers’ annual toy appeal for the Cottage Centre’s Christmas campaign. Donations can be made at the Supporters Club table.