Jeers as Fife Flyers crash to heavy defeat

A hockey horror show saw fans stream out of the rink long before the final buzzer as the team turned in a dire performance on a night when the outcome of the Glasgow Clan-Belfast Giants game also saw them formally confirmed as the only team not to qualify from their Challenge Cup section.

Flyers checked out of this game worryingly early, and were second best in every single department as Steelers rolled four lines and came at them in every single shift.

Steelers delivered a 60-minute hockey masterclass which the players should be forced to watch again and again until they understand that unless that basic requirement is delivered, it is going to be one very long season.

The final score could have been much higher given the number of chances the visitors created, many on the back of poor passes and poor decision making.

Individual errors compounded into a collective failure, and the groans of despair gradually turned to boos as the goals stacked up.

It was the first time Flyers had conceded double figures since they lost 10-2 at Nottingham in 2013 and 10-1 in Braehead in 2011.

It was an alarming throwback to that very first, tough EIHL season where they struggled to compete against faster, sharper sides with greater depth – a comparison made by more than a few long-standing supporters. Some nailed this as the worst performance they’d seen in 30 years rinkside. It was difficult to disagree.

Flyers lost the opening period 2-0 as Steelers skated with intent and carried a potent threat in every attack, but they got on the boards just 33 seconds into the second period through a Tim Crowder five on three powerplay.

Steelers simply returned to full strength, and changed the game with a killer third goal; Marc-Olivier Vallerand firing past netminder Adam Morrison.

At that stage Flyers started to check out mentally.

Morrison had a poor game, but, to be fair to the goalie, he was hung out to dry by all three lines as Fife turned in a befuddled performance .

They were turned so often they must have been dizzy,

The night was summed up by Steelers’ fourth strike at 26:18 as Anthony DeLuca pounced as three home skaters got caught mid-ice, broke with speed and netted with ease.

John Armstrong then shot home from the right, and Tanner Aberle was left unmarked at the back post for number six.

The third period offered zero respite as Steelers cruised to 8-1 with two powerplay goals, and we’d still only played 46 minutes.

Flyers finally found the net through James Livingston with four minutes to play – they fact that goal came a full 37 minutes after their opening strike summed up the inadequacies within this abysmal performance.

Steelers’ response was to net again, and again, hitting double figures through Nikolai Lemtyugov in the final minute; a landmark that triggered the final wave of departures from the stands.

Flyers’ fans will tolerate defeat, but won’t accept a lack of heart, soul and passion.

It makes tonight’s game against Nottingham redemption day.

Flyers simply must deliver a gutsy, committed 60-minute performance – nothing less will do, and even that can’t cover up the shortcomings within the team which were exposed by Sheffield.

They face a Panthers side which is also under serious pressure after a 2-1 lead evaporated and became a 6-2 loss in Guildford last night.

The game comes almost 65 years to the day these teams first met in Kirkcaldy in 1954.

Panthers eased to an 8-2 victory that night. History cannot be repeated.