Whirlwind start for Michael Courts as he steps up behind Fife Flyers bench
Michael Courts had little time to prepare to step up when Jamie Russell quit as head coach.
On Friday morning he was assistant to the Canadian, by evening he was at the helm of the bench with Garet Hunt and Ian Scheid providing key support in the dressing-room. The following morning he boarded the team bus to Cardiff with Russell en route to Boston to watch his son play college hockey.
Courts’ tenure at the helm started as Russell’s had ended with injuries and off-ice problems impacting on his roster.
He headed to Wales minus the injured Johan Porsberger, while former NHLer, Milan Lucic, was scratched - another ‘non coaching’ decision, of which there have been too many this season.
A 5-0 loss at Cardiff was followed by a 3-0 loss at home to Belfast Giants, but there was little he could fault the players over.
He said. “I’m hell of a proud of the guys for their effort. It was a long trip back from Cardiff, they rested up and went to work.
“We gave a very good Belfast team a run until the end. We spoke about what we wanted to take from last night and delivered. We gassed out at the end, but will keep working on key points we identified in Cardiff - do that and we can have a decent push to the end of the season.”
Courts called a time out immediately after Giants’ third goal and pulled his netminder with the best part of four minutes on the clock - and again with 2:14 to play - in a bid to hit the net and take something from the game.
He said: “The scoreline did not reflect the game.”
With so many import forwards out, or gone, - Finoro, Booth, Porsberger and Lucic - Simon Depres became the latest defenceman to play as a forward, enjoying a good game in very different role for Fife.
Courts hopes to see Porsberger skate later this week with a chance of a return next weekend when the team is back on the road to Guilford Flames on Saturday, returning home to host Sheffield Steelers on Sunday.
He has ten games left to help Flyers finish this wretched season on a positive note with some wins.
That schedule includes two games each against Coventry Blaze, Manchester Storm and and Dundee Stars. The fans remain behind the players who have stayed the course - 1700 turning out on Sunday, with many joining the players for a post-game skate.