Fife Flyers: one last hurrah as players set to ship out after wretched season

A season which saw the club win just three league games in 52 starts draws to an end with a home game against Manchester Storm on Saturday, and a road trip to Dundee Stars on Sunday.

The fans will have also one last chance to say their farewells as the team hosts an informal meet and greet at the rink on Monday night.

After that it’s a waiting game as they want for news of new owners and, hopefully a new era – starting next season.

With that process on-going and no formal announcement yet, the standard exit interviews and tentative talks for next year are all on hold as the club’s next step remains unknown. The players are all departing midweek – the dressing-room will be empty after next Wednesday – to either go home or on holiday, after a long, and difficult season saw the club come precariously close to collapse in mid-December when they faced a stark ‘play or fold’ scenario.

The season was wrecked by a perfect storm. Tom Coolen’s Kazakh quartet flopped and he was sacked, Martin Latal quit after a freak collision in a pre-season warm up left him sidelined with concussion for six weeks, and key summer signing Johnny Curran sustained a season ending torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Defenceman Noah Delmas also saw his season ended through injury as well as the team iced short benched almost every game and had to contend with other departures including Drake Pilon and Ryan Foss,

The fact Flyers made it over the finishing line is no minor miracle - there were genuine fears more players would walk leaving the team unable to meet the minimum roster strength required to continue. Much of that credit has to go to Curran, who stepped in as interim coach, and Todd Duytiaume,. general manager, who nursed a broken, exhausted roster through the games as the defeats mounted.

They got as much out of what they had for as long as they could, supported by a fanbase which stuck with them week in, week out -.but it has been tough on all.

Curran said: “The guys have been through a lot of challenges, mentally and physically. I cannot question their commitment at all. They did everything they could to get this over the line. It was an emotional journey, and some took it worse than others. At Christmas time it did not look as if we’d get another home game, but they held it together all the way to April.”

Curran saw the team rally and stay in contention across 60 minutes on some nights, but on others a goal blitz sank them below the hull.

The hammerings many fans feared didn’t entirely materialise - in fact Flyers were the last of the three Scottish clubs to concede double figures.

“We almost got it going in February, results were getting there and then the injury bug hit the line-up again,” added the coach.

His hope is the team signs off on home ice with a win against Storm - a thank you to the fans, and a positive note for the players to end on before they head home to re-charge and then look ahead to next season.

He also wants a win to honour Dutiaume whose number 11 jersey is being retired on Saturday - the last of three ceremonies after similar honours for Mark Morrison and Stecven King. It also marks the last weekend in charge for directors Tom Muir and Jack Wishart who have been at the helm since 1996.

> Monday’s farewell event starts at 6:30pm when fans can mingle with players and grab selfies, while the shop and cafe will be open.