First Fife Flyers goal worth the wait for Michal Gutwald

Gutwald broke his duck for the club in the 3-1 away victory over Dundee Stars on Saturday with a booming slapshot from the blue line.

It had been a long time coming for the Czech D-man, with his last strike coming for previous club Glasgow Clan back in December 2018.

“It’s definitely nice not to finish the season with a zero in goals,” he said.

“It comes with the position I have here to be stable defensively, and secure it from the back.

“Of course, I try to score every time from the blue line, and I’ve had a lot of shots this year.

“It was a good set play from the face-off, and we had two guys passing through the goalie screen, so maybe he wasn’t able to locate where I was shooting from or where the puck was, so all I had to do was hit the net. 

“Finally one made it through, and it was an important one as well, so I was happy I was able to help the team in this way.”

Flyers followed up the win in Dundee with a 3-2 home victory over Manchester Storm to complete a first four-point weekend since September.

“It was a feeling we haven’t known for a while, to be 100 per cent successful over the weekend,” Gutwald said.

“It meant a lot for us, and to do it in Dundee and then on Sunday at home in front of our crowd definitely more special.”

With nine points from the last 14 available, Flyers are playing much improved hockey after finally ending a 14-game losing streak.

“Our start was very positive and we were playing good hockey, up and down, and able to outscore teams,” Gutwald said.

“Then we we had a few injuriues, got short on bodies and the rest of us had to play more minutes, which meant we were getting tired.

“When we didn’t get those results and points it was kind of depressing, and it took a long time to get out of it.

“It was not a good time during the season, but every night’s got a morning, and now we can finally see the possibility of doing better.

“We’ve started scoring more goals, getting more opportunities, and working even harder on the way back.

“We didn’t get scored on a lot at the weekend, so we eliminated their chances.

“We stuck to our plan, learned from what happened in the past, and finished both of the games strongly.

“We’ve proved it to ourselves, so I would say things are now turning for the better and we can finish the season strong.”

Gutwald insists Flyers will have no fears heading to Sheffield Arena on Saturday to face a Steelers team vying for the EIHL title. 

“They are speedy and talented and they put a lot into offense, but there is space for us to counter-attack,” he said.

“Now we have nothing to lose and they are fighting at the top of the table, so they are going to be pushed by their crowd at home, so that puts the chances in our hands, and it’s up to us how we stand up to it.

“I have a feeling, by the mood in the locker room, that we know we can achieve anything against any of the teams, so we are looking foward to it.

“It’s only one game this weekend so we don’t have to think about the Sunday game or the travel, just go there and try to get those points.”