By Kris Smith
The Stars General Manager and Head Coach wants to take “two steps forward” in the upcoming Elite League season and has also continued his recruitment drive for when hockey resumes this September.
Last week, the Elite Ice Hockey League announced that league games for the 2021/2022 campaign would begin on September 25th and 26th, with the Playoff Finals Weekend taking place on April 23rd and 24th.
Revealing his excitement to have set dates to look forward to, Pacha said: “It is great, it has been a long time coming but it is really exciting to get back.
“I think from everyone at the club, to everyone across the league and to the fans, we are all really happy to get back and we have high hopes for this season.
“There have been some tough times and it has been a difficult year for everybody, but we just want to come back as strong as we can and we will be ready for a big relaunch when we come back!”
The Canadian coach also wants his side to hit the ground running when they return to the ice later this year and believes that is the best way to get the club moving forward once again.
“Our goal is to always have the best season we can”, explained Pacha.
He continued: “But as for a main target, it will be to get into the playoffs as usual, but it is also fair enough to say that we want to come back stronger than ever and we want to make sure we are an extremely competitive team.
“We want to be faster and bigger this year and I would like to add a bit of physicality this season and if we can come out of the gates swinging then that is the thing we want to make sure of, that we are ready from the get go.”
As for things off the ice, Pacha once again preached the importance of the fans once again and their strong appetite for hockey in the city.
He said: “We will need to drive the season tickets and we are going to need our fans to comeback.
“It has obviously been a difficult year but we survived and we have had tremendous support from our fans, our sponsors and from everyone around Dundee.
“Are we in the best position we ever have been? No, but we are in a better position now than we thought we would be for a relaunch and that is a positive thing.
“I also think there is a huge demand to get hockey back, so I believe the fans will come back and come back with a vengeance, which will help us grow our sport and the Dundee Stars into what we aspire to be.
“When I arrived here, we had a five year plan to grow the club every single season and now we took a step back but at the same time, it does not mean we cannot take two steps forward and that is what we are expecting this year.
“We want to make sure we come back on the ice as a competitive and strong team, a team that is challenging every night against our rivals, but also off the ice with our new initiatives to get the buzz back in Dundee because we had a huge buzz prior to the pandemic.”
Pacha has also told fans to prepare for some big announcements this week, that will continue to build excitement for the new season.
