Shane Owen wins Fife Flyers Mirror of Merit to join recipients dating back to 1950s

The Canadian was in top from between the pipes and said he was delighted to receive his well deserved Fife Free Press Starcheck Award as the paper’s player of the year from our ice hockey correspondent, Grant Rolland.

“I felt solid for most of the year,” he said.

“I had no injuries, my body held up well.

“I played well all season but of course it didn't go all our way and it was tough coming out with so many losses.

Owen said he had felt ready to resume after a season away from the EIHL after the schedule was wiped out due to the pandemic.

"I trained a bit during Covid and then played in the Elite Series in April with Coventry Blaze so spent five weeks there.

“Getting those 15 games was huge then coming back for a full season was quite difficult, but it was also exciting.

“We all got back to doing what we love so we were excited.

“It was difficult to find your form and game shape of course but it was great to get back.”

Owen says that there were factors that led to the Kirkcaldy side’s underwheLming campaign, but insists that there were positives to take.

“We had a lot of guys who were here for their first time in Europe and we had to make those adjustments early.

“Then we were playing with a bunch of injuries that didn't help, we were short of bodies for a lot of the season.

“We did bring in some veteran guys, players who bolstered our line up, and we started to see some success later on in the season.

“We started rolling and I think we found the way we needed to play.

“We took a couple of points off of the big clubs. Those results always stand out.

“It's just unfortunate that it didn't work out for us in the end.

“We had our ups and downs but you have to stay positive and keep working.”