Former room-mates Troy Lajeunesse & Drake Pilon reunited at Fife Flyers - 'we can't get rid of each other!'

They were team-mates at Sudbury Wolves in the OHL in 2017, and then iced with the University of Prince Edward Island for four seasons, and were room mates for a year too. “We can’t get rid of each other” Pilon joked after training this week.

His arrival in Fife this month saw them team-mates once more, and Vitalijs Pavlovs’ shift to defence put them on the same line and combined to deliver the winner in a huge 2-1 victory over Sheffield Steelers.

Pilon, who is fast becoming a fans’ favourite, said: “It was a great feeling to get the win. I expected more from Steelers to be honest as they are a good team. I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the win as I hadn’t played against Sheffield before - but I knew a lot of their guys having played with and against them back home.”

Pilon’s move from Kalamazoo Wings in the ECHL to Flyers in the EIHL came on the back of a text message from Lajeunesse which led to a chat with coach Tom Coolen and a swift agreement to sign.

“Laj sounded me out and told me about the club. Two days later Tom called. I told my club and left the next day. I was meant to get in for Boxing Day but the holidays delayed the paperwork.

"It was a long week waiting on i coming through! The goal was always to get over here, but I didn’t want to play in a lower league - it had to be a top league. I’m loving it so far.”

The switch from North America to Europe was also new to Lajeunesse who has impressed fans across the league with a string of top performances. He sits second top of Flyers’ points charts but is their most prolific shooter with 111 shots so far. He too drew a lot of positives from the Steelers’ weekend.

“The win was huge. I think we’ve now beaten everyone except Nottingham,” he said. “We ran systems that helped as we knew we were short benched - ao at times we had to sit back, but the aim was to keep our legs going for the whole 60 minutes.

"We had a slow start on Sunday which was perhaps which was understandable. We have to figure out how to overcome our bus legs - and fine tune the first ten minutes or so of the game.

“Once we get guys back it will help with the play offs on the horizon. Our main focus is getting that top eight spot.”