Fife Flyers: Tom Coolen counts up injuries as Belfast Giants arrive in Kirkcaldy

The teams meet at Fife Ice Arena with a 7:30pm face-off, and it will be a night when Tom Coolen’s side has to dig deep against the group leaders.

He goes into the game minus up to four imports. Defencemen Olivier LeBlanc and Patrick Kyte are both out injured - Kyte is still recovering from the impact of his collision with the nets last Saturday. Also out is Kazakhstan forward Nikolai Shulga who sustained an upper body injury in Sunday’s game at Guildford Flames, and faces a fortnight on the sidelines. Johnny Curran is also set to miss out as he recovers from injury.

James Spence will dress tonight to help shore up the lines, while new netminder Jānis Voris won’t ice. The 24-year old Latvian only arrived in Kirkcaldy on Tuesday, and iced with the Kazakh imports in an optional skate this morning. Coolen plans to let him settle in before giving him ice time. Shane Owwn will start with Cameron Kenny as back-up.

Giants top the mini league and have yet to lose a game in four starts. Flyers sit third, one point behind Glasgow Clan, and need to grab second spot to stand any chance of making the knockout stages.

“My top pairing defenceman are both out,” said Coolen. “They are my go to guys and have been great for us. We are also minus two top forwards and that will hurt. It’s not easy, but we have to find ways to win. We’re playing Belfast and Cardiff back to back - two of the big four clubs - short benched.”