Just 200 fans rinkside again this weekend to watch Fife Flyers as crowd restrictions remain

Fife Flyers face a second weekend one home ice playing in front of just 200 fans.
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With crowd restrictions remaining in place until “at least” January 24, the club will take on Nottingham Panthers at Fife Ice Arena on Saturday in front of another minimal crowd.

The game forms the core of the club’s Pride weekend with the team wearing specially designed jerseys to show their support for the league wide message that hockey is for all.

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All ten teams will be doing their own events rinkside between January 8 and 15, but for Fife, most fans will have to watch via a live stream instead of being rinkside.

Rinkside with Fife Flyers at Nottingham recentlyRinkside with Fife Flyers at Nottingham recently
Rinkside with Fife Flyers at Nottingham recently
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Comment: Ice hockey left in limbo as fans have to wait on rinkside return

Flyers go into the game on the back of a tough 5-1 midweek loss to Sheffield Steelers in the first leg of their Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Much of that damage came in the final period which saw Steelers blow open what had been a close 1-0 hockey game, and built a lead that Flyers will find hard to claw back when the teams meet in Kirkcaldy on Wednesday night - another game which will only be open to 200 fans rinkside.

If they do make the semi-finals, then the planned two legs have been condensed into one in a bid to get some breathing space as the league battles to reschedule games lost when teams were hit by COVID, forcing a slew of postponements and rescheduling in the run up to Christmas.

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Before then, Flyers have to address their league form which has delivered just one win and one point for a draw in regulation time in the last ten games.

Todd Dutiaume’s side are bottom of the table, one point behind Glasgow Clan, but their west coast rivals have four games in hand, while eighth-placed Dundee Stars have one in hand and two points more in the bag.

Matt Carter, team captain, has started skating after injury took him out of the line-up last month - a return to competitive action could be before the end of the month.

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