Former Fife Flyers player set to lead return of Edinburgh Capitals

He has been appointed to rebuild the club as MUrrayfiekld Ice Rink announces plans to re-open after a pandemic-enforced two-year closure.

The move marks a return to the city for Lynch who has deeply immersed in ice hockey.

His vast experience has been noted by the bosses of Murrayfield Ice Rink who have recruited the Kirkcaldy-based ex-player to lead the return of Capitals.

The former Edinburgh Capitals, Fife Flyers and Ayr Scottish Eagles forward is now looking for players to ice in his squad to lace up their boots in the Scottish National League.

And Lynch does not just want to take part, he wants to mould a team which can challenge for honours.

The contracts manager with a leading landscape gardening company last played for the Capitals around 15 years ago and he admitted: "I always said to myself I would be back in Edinburgh one day.

"In that time I've kept myself busy. I was the coach to Kirkcaldy Ice Hockey Club for seven or eight years, I was also coach to the national programme with the Scotland set-up, and last year I ended up coaching under-age players at Dundee and I enjoyed that.

"When this opportunity came I could not turn it down, the opportunity to mould a club, a club that have not played for several years but a club at a rink with history.

"When I got the call and I really started to talk about it it was, in all honesty, an easy decision to make."

He is looking for what he called "the right mix" of players and added: "I've been involved in junior hockey for the last few years and we're looking for some of the best 16 to 18 year-old players.

"I am also looking to bring in some experienced guys, players who have been around the leagues for some years, and we are looking at brining in a couple of imported players to give us a chance of competing, we want to challenge for the league.

"People can get in touch through the Edinburgh Capitals website and everybody knows how to find me on social media. Yes, we'll have a lot of conversations with a lot of players."

Lynch said that the projected opening date for the rink is mid-October and the team will have to train and play on the road until then.

Training will start, possibly at Fife Ice Arena, from the beginning of September.

"We will be looking to play league games away and then we'll have the big homecoming in mid-October. I don't see why we can't ring the great days back to Murrayfield Ice Rink.

"Hopefully, that will attract fans, fans of the Murrayfield Racers, fans of the Edinburgh Capitals, and hopefully ice hockey fans in the surrounding area will buy-in."

Overall, he is pleased that the famous rink, which has housed Torvill and Dean, The Harlem Globetrotters, and the Commonwealth Games boxing in 1970, will be opening again.

He added: "This is great news for Edinburgh that the rink is re-opening and, frankly, I think the whole of Scottish ice hockey has missed having a team at Murrayfield so it is fantastic news.

"It is great for the Murrayfield junior ice hockey club who have been playing with the hands tied behind their backs in the last few years just trying to survive.

"This is an exciting time. You'll have local rivalries back, like Kestrels v Capitals, Capitals v Dundee, Capitals v Paisley, that's great for the sport and after the announcement went out the amount of messages I've received has underlined how popular the sport is and how people have missed competitive hockey at Murrayfeld."