Stockton injury worry as Flyers lose in overtime

For the second night running, Fife Flyers went into overtime with visitors, EC Kassel Huskies.

This time, it was the guests who got the sudden death goal to claim a 2-1 win.

The match was a good workout for both sides, and the weekend, as a whole, will have given the Fife coaching staff an early opportunity to assess their new-look squad, and get some first impressions of it.

Ditto, the fans.

They want to see team leaders emerge, the personalities take centre stage, and the lines gel.

Flyers have a long pre-season spanning some three weeks and need to make the absolute most of the time to get this team ready for its EIHL launch in the middle of the month.

In a low key game, the focus was very much on scraping the rust off the skates and forming new alliances with line mates.

Evan Bloodoff caught the eye with a strong game, while Danick Gauthier put in some good shifts, and it was good to see Chase Schaber pick up where he left off last season.

The opening period threw up a few decent chances, the best of which fell to Liam Heelis who displayed some nifty stickwork to get between two players and make the shot.

The busy Mike Little replied for Huskies with a writs shot after Fife coughed up the puck.

The go-ahead goals finally came after 15 minutes with Heelis netting on the powerplay.

Huskies were level at the half hour stage with a smashing move as they swept the puck across the zone, with Alex Lambacher getting the final touch.

The visitors had the better of the middle period in terms of possession, with Fife coming back on to a decent game in the third, although possibly at a cost as Shayne Stockton took a bad hit and went down on the ice, holding his shoulder.

It happened next to the Huskies’ goal very late on, and the impact was obvious as he went straight to the dressing-room, while James Isaacs sat out a roughing minor for piling in with a punch.

Flyers went into sudden death overtime on a powerplay, but Schaber lost concentration in the offensive zone, allowing Michael Christ to seize possession and skate down the ice for a short-handed winner.