Fife Flyers: ‘we left everything on the ice’ says coach after defeat in Wales

It was a long way to go for a one-game weekend, and Fife Flyers travelled minus a number of key imports, sidelined by injury - defencemen Olivier LeBlanc and Patrick Kyte were out, along with forwards Nikolai Shulga and Johnny Curran.

Coolen hailed it as “a good battle out there” adding: “We left everything on the ice - I could not have asked any more out of them, We are missing key guys and are short staffed and felt we gave an honest effort after a 12- hour bus trip. I am proud of our effort under the circumstances.”

The game in Wales was sold out and home town skater Ben Davies starred with two goals.

It took just 50 seconds for Devils to take the lead with Jared Gourley firing past Shane Owen on an odd-man rush. Flyers hit back at 2:47 when Austin Farley fed the puck from below the goal line to Michael Cichy to deflect home in front.

The teams ended the opening period all square, but two goals in just under five minutes swung things in favour of Devils. Davies was in the right place to put home a rebound from a Mark Richardson shot at 23:32 to put the hosts back in front, while at 28:19 Cole Sanford tipped a Gourley shot past Owen at the top of the crease. Davies then beat Owen from below the goal line to make it 4-1 at 35:44.

As the period ran down, Devils took two minors on the same play, giving Fife a 5-on-3 with 1:31 left in the second. Coach Tom Coolen called his timeout to draw up a play, and was immediately rewarded as a sweet passing move set up Daniel Krenželok for a back-post finish.

What Flyers couldn't do, however, was get back to within one on the remaining penalty. With Tyler Busch in the box 8:46 into period three the visitors again had a chance to find a way back into things, but they were caught pressing and Sanford netted shorthanded the other way to put Devils out of sight.