Key numbers from tricky season for Fife Flyers

It was their ninth EIHL season, and their poorest since their debut bow in season 2011-12 – but pretty much everybody who has been around since then would have known that.

The Challenge Cup saw a return of two wins in six games.

This has never been a yard stick for Flyers in any season. Only once, in 2014-15, have they managed to win at least 50 per cent of those fixtures.

The league campaign showed great promise. In fact, it started with three wins out of the first four – but that would be the team’s best win streak for the season, and we were only in the third week of September.

Then the curse of the Challenge Cup, dropping three of the next four followed by the 10-3 shellacking at home to Sheffield.

That defeat narrowly avoided the club’s worst EIHL league home defeat – a 10-2 reversal to Nottingham Panthers in March 2013.

Win a game, lose a couple was pretty much the pattern until the OT win in Manchester on 21 December which became the last win recorded until Dundee Stars came calling on February 8.

A 14-game losing streak, equalled the previous worst winless streak in the EIHL in the inaugural season, but with only one point recorded now and three from OT losses then it sneaks the accolade as the worst run.

It didn’t create an all-time sequence of misery – that belongs either to the 1950-51 team who suffered 15 consecutive defeats or the 1947/48 squad who were winless in 17, albeit in days before OT when they picked up six draws.

If you ignore the opening season then, in the past seven league campaigns, the team has won 183 and lost 193 of 376 games played. That’s a 48.7 per cent win rate and a rough average of one more game per season lost than won.

The season past saw only 15 wins from 49 so it was understandable why it was a hard watch from the stands where so many clearly gave up as the season rolled along as the club ended with the lowest average attendance.

It was highly probable the team would have failed to make the cut for the post season play offs, something that has occurred only in that very first EIHL season.

But, the stats do throw up some remarkable numbers.

When conceding the first goal – which they did 27 times from 55 matches – they only won twice.

And when behind after two periods they were 0 for 23.

They won 15 of the 28 when scoring first which aligns more with their EIHL history, and, when they had the lead going into the third period, a respectable 15 wins from 20.

Out shot 1940 to 1636 over all games, the first period was most lucrative for goals with 54 then 41 and 44 respectively with only Storm scoring fewer league goals.

Stars and Clan leaked more and goals against, while Flyers concede the fewest in the first with 49 followed by 60 then 75.

A significant reason for the final period goals against were the 15 empty net goals conceded whilst six were scored; 21 games where the result was in the balance until very late on.

The team had a respectable penalty kill on the road at 83 per cent - only 72 per cent at home however, and Flyers were the second least penalised team behind Stars – but with both road and home power plays at 14 and 16 per cent respectively a number of games were certainly decided in special teams battles.

On an individual basis, there were 12 players who were ever present – Adam Morrison, Andy Little, James Isaacs, Scott Aarssen, Bari McKenzie, Michal Gutwald, Dylan Qualie, James Livingston, Jonas Emmerdahl, Kyle Just and both Tim and Paul Crowder. Other than Sam Jones’ long term injury staying healthy was an improvement on previous seasons.

The team lost four games to DOPs suspension behind Devils and Storm with seven and Steelers with 13. Clan were the only team not to take a suspension.

Tim Crowder led the way with 29 overall assists, and his 46 points was only bettered by Danick Gauthier’s 47 as he top scored with 22 goals, one ahead of Carlo Finucci’s 21.

Carlo was also the PP king with a 10+3, and he and Chase Schaber had the team’s two short handed goals - the team conceded six - and both tallied a team leading four game winning goals. Carlo of course broke Bobby Chaumont’s record of all-time leading scorer for Flyers in the EIHL, an undoubted highlight for the season.

Adam Morrison posted two shut outs and, despite facing the most rubber in the league, he posted a fifth place 91.46 save percentage with the top five goalies all within one per cent showing a remarkable run of consistency from the keeper.

“Unprecedented times” and a “new normal” – phrases ingrained in our current social climate which could also sum up parts of last season for the club.

For me you don’t follow this team for more than 40 years without reasonably expecting that things can’t get any worse.

However, over a period of time, optimistic expectations are met and now and again exceeded.

In these times I’d swap what we have now in a heartbeat for what we had from September to February.

Hockey has endured a lot in this town, it hopefully will again and more so than just what the records books will show as a fairly duff season.