By Luke McGinnis
The two sides have already met once this season, with the Flyers taking a 4-0 win over the Stars. Since then, Dundee have bounced back by collecting three crucial Challenge Cup points, including a massive 5-2 home victory over the Belfast Giants, to sit firmly at the top of Group B. Meanwhile, Fife have been unable to build on that result, suffering defeats against both the Giants and the Glasgow Clan.
“We had a good start in Glasgow, obviously the last thirty minutes and overtime we weren’t great but we still got a point in a tough building,” said Head Coach Marc LeFebvre when reflecting on the weekend as a whole. “Then to come back and have the response we did on Sunday against arguably the best team in the league, it’s never an easy game against Belfast, they make you work for it, so three points out of four and seven out of ten so far I’m not going to complain about that.”
“It felt really good,” added Hampus Olsson, who scored two points in Sunday’s big home win. “We have a great home crowd and we got two points for the team, so it was a good Sunday.”
The Stars and Flyers faced off twice in pre-season action, with Dundee picking up the win in both matchups. Captain Drydn Dow scored twice, while Keanu Yamamoto, Brad Schoonbaert, Hampus Olsson and Otto Nieminen also found the back of the net. Fife’s goals came from veteran Jonas Emmerdahl and newcomers Didrik Svendsen, Mason Alderson and Josh Winquist.
“The mindset is that once is enough, we really want to prove ourselves and that we can beat those guys,” added Olsson when reflecting on the loss to the Flyers just over a week ago.
“The big thing is work ethic, because they’re a team that works and they’re not going to make it easy for you,” said LeFebvre on the upcoming weekend against Fife. “We know that already, the three times we’ve played them they made us work for it so we have to be ready from the drop of the puck.”
Sunday’s faceoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Dundee Ice Arena, with tickets on sale NOW.
