Friday 27 March 2015

Flyers Year in Review: October

Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize for Literature in October 2014, and as you continue to read this article you will realise the selection committee probably made the correct decision. October would prove to be a mixed bag of results, with both some incredible wins and agonizingly close losses. In total, the Flyers would play nine games in this month - including a rare three game weekend.

 The month began with a Challenge Cup double header against the Edinburgh Capitals. The first encounter resulted in a 5-1 victory at Fife Ice Arena:

This is a great opening win in the series between the long-time rivals. This would be a perfect example of what is a quintessential meeting of the two teams in Kirkcaldy. Flyers had a swagger and carefree nature to their game, and the Capitals showed that self-destruct nature that they possess. The second period of the game shows this in abundance conceding 3 goals in the space of three minutes. This is something the Flyers are adept at taking advantage of at home, Hiadlovsky looks like a world beater one moment and then loses his focus when he concedes. Josh Scoon picked up another goal in the absence of Matt Reber, clearly taking advantage of the extra ice-time he has been afforded. A number of fans will argue that someone like Stephen Gunn or Allan Anderson deserved more ice time but the fact is that during this spell Scoon put numbers on the board. Incidentally, please leave your comments below if you wish to weigh in on this.
This game was also the first time Fife fans got a look at Riley Emmerson, his unique frame and skating style certainly made him stick out. Although, he certainly wasn't the player I had expected him to be, or rather his phantom ten match ban at the start of the season created an image that he didn't live up to. One player who came with a reputation and lived up it was Josh Grimaldi - we'll get to him in more detail later in the series. Ned Lukacevic chirping him was a great example of getting someone to bite and he really coaxed Grimaldi in to the game misconduct - this would have been perfect if Ned hadn't talked himself in to a 10 minute misconduct and then another 10 on his next shift. Ned has coaxed players in to throwing punches at him before, most notably Jonathan Phillips in March last season:

The video doesn't show it, but it did happened - honest. Finally, I said in the Flyers Year in Review: September that I'm not a fan of fighting but being a sponsor of Kyle Haines' stick if someone breaks it - they need to answer for that.
The following night in Murrayfield the game would be a completely different animal, with the Flyers grinding out a 2-1 shootout win and this would afford the Flyers the first shootout win. Bobby Chaumont converted his 6th shootout goal which tied Tim Hartung with most goals in the shootout. Since joining the Elite League, the Flyers and Capitals have met 8 times. Edinburgh won the first 4 encounters but have not yielded a victory since October 2012.

The following week, the Flyers would first head to Braehead on the Friday and one of the few 3 game weekends. In order to cope with the extra workload, the Flyers were lucky to welcome back wounded pair Kyle Horne and Matt Reber. The game in Glasgow finished with a narrow 4-3 defeat:

A really close game, that for a while looked to have given Jamie Milam his first goal as a Flyer, although the goal was rightly given to Danny Stewart. The Flyers have played 3 of their 34 matches against the Clan in October losing all 3. In the process the Flyers have scored 10 and conceded 15. The last two meetings have acted both league and cup games (20/10/2012 and 10/10/2014). I know that these games are due to scheduling issues and given Braehead's attendances this year they don't necessarily need another game, but I often feel too much ride on these games. Especially when you consider the weekend that this game fell on, in essence the Flyers are playing for 8 points in the space of three days.
This was the second meeting of the season between the two Gardiner rivals, and although there was zero points gained the result was largely positive. Given the dominant win in September and the close game here, there was a wave of optimism throughout the Fife Ice Arena. As the weekend would continue this wave would continue to gather pace.
Saturday's match was a trip down to Nottingham and an incredible shootout victory:

Not for the first time, the Flyers allowed goals through failure to clear the zone, although there was nothing they could do about the powerplay goal. The three goals the Flyers scored in the regulation showed great perseverance and the two penalty shots showed the class that this roster possesses. In scoring the decisive goal in the shootout, Ned Lukacevic would embark on a remarkable run of success in the shootout. While Bobby Chaumont became the Flyers the all-time top scorer in the shootout - a title he briefly held in 2013 before Tim Hartung got on a bit of roll:

The addition of Ned Lukacevic a week later would make the the Flyers a formidable force in the shootout.
Anyway, back to October 2014 Fife would close off their weekend with a home game against the opposition from the previous night, the Nottingham Panthers:

The Flyers lost narrowly, as they just ran out of steam after the 125 minutes of hockey the previous nights. The opening goal from Matt Reber was exceptional, the weighted pass from Lukacevic was perfect and shows the real chemistry that the two players possess. The equalising goal from the Panthers was another example of failing to clear the zone, and the credit for the winning goal must go to Matt Nickerson who proved to be an excellent screen in front on Kevin Regan. You hear the calls from the fans insulting Greg Jacina but he scored on that play - goals are more important than fights.

The long weekend coming to an end and three points to show for it against very strong opposition was an undoubted success. Todd's post match comments summed up the weekend, the effort of the players was huge. Once again though, Todd talked about the team clicking and settling in, bear in mind that only 3 members of the roster had not played together last season. The issue with allowing breakaways will continue to haunt the club in the coming weeks, although Kevin Regan will stand tall for most of them With the exception of the two games over this weekend, the Flyers and the Panthers have only met once in October - a 5-3 defeat at the Fife Ice Arena in 2012.

The following Friday, Fife would play their third of four meetings with the Coventry Blaze. Despite Blaze conceding 91 goals away from home in two meetings the Flyers only managed a solitary marker. This time the game would go to overtime, and guess who scored the winner? That guy again, Rory Rawlyk. Rawlyk in his 18 months in the UK was a true thorn in the side of the Flyers. At the time of him scoring he had two goals, both against Fife:

You'll notice that the Flyers had some different attire, this was all in aid of Cancer Research UK raising an incredible amount of money:


The root cause of this awesome amount is the jersey auction, the star attraction at the auction was naturally that of Matt Nickerson's:




The following night, the Flyers would made the short journey north over the Tay to face the Dundee Stars. Although, this is the third time the clubs had met, it was the first league game of the year:

An early contender for goal of the season from Danny Stewart as he ghosts through 4 Dundee players and slots passed Marc Cheverie to make it 2-1. Stars then score two impressive powerplay goals through Rob Ricci to gain the lead in the third period. Just after the Flyers make it 3-3, Tommy Muir is assessed 2+10 for checking to the head. The subsequent penalty kill would once again produce a goal of the season contender. Captain Kyle Haines blocks a shot in his own end and then skates the full length of the ice to score to make it 4-3. Although Haines admits the shot was a mis-hit it was a remarkable effort.
Muir's hit would incur further action from the Department of Player Safety (DoPS). A further example of the Flyers inability to clear the zone. Muir extends his elbow and catches Chris Blight in a reckless manner and is deserving of his punishment:

Muir would miss three games through suspension.

The following weekend, the Stars (minus the injured Blight) would face off against the Flyers (minus Muir) in Kirkcaldy. For the second time this season, the Flyers would lay down a marker to their Gardiner Conference opposition. A second shutout of the season for Kevin Regan, produced a 5-0 win and would breed confidence for the upcoming games:

The Flyers open the scoring through the resilience of Danny Stewart and then in an incredible sequence that lasts 30 seconds - where no Dundee player touches the puck - Ned Lukacevic makes it two. Both goals come on the powerplay after an awful hit by Brad Plumpton on Josh Sccon. Further goals from Chaumont and Lukacevic showed the impeccable ability to score on the counter attack.
Once again, the Flyers would feel the wrath of DoPS, this time Jordan Fulton's foolish cross-check earns him a 2 match ban:

There really is no argument here, the loss of Fulton would prove costly.
Post match, Todd praised the team for getting the win and reserved special praise for man of the match Euan Forsyth who stepped up in the absence of Thomas Muir:

The Flyers and the Stars have met on 4 occasions in October, Fife winning three of these contests at a score differential of 11-6.

The final game of the month saw the Flyers travel to Humberside to play the Hull Stingrays for the first time this season. Those of you who read my article in the Flyers Matchnight Programme will know that I am obsessed with the record between the Flyers and Stingrays. Prior to this game, the Flyers had played each other 16 times in the Gardiner Conference (since 2012/13 season), of these game both Hull and Fife won 8 games (7 at home, 1 away from home). With that in mind, guess what happened this time? Yep, a home win for Hull in a closely fought contest:

This was the fourth meeting between the two sides in October, Hull winning on every occasion.

The NHL season opened to much fanfare in October, and if the EIHL players think they have a tough schedule they should consider their counterparts across the Atlantic. Using the Flyers as an example, they will play 60 games (league and cup) between 6th September 2014 and 22nd March 2015, a total of 198 days meaning a game every 3.3 days. An NHL team will play 82 games between 8th October 2014 and 11th April 2015, a total of 186  days meaning that in addition to logging an average of 41,390 airmiles (2013-14 season) they also have to play a game on average every 2.26 days.
Thankfully the longest journey the Flyers have to cope with is the 440 miles to Cardiff!

This is the second in the series of Flyers Year in Review, you can still read the first in the series Flyers Year in Review: September clicking here

Read the final Flyers Weekend Update of the season here.

Please leave your comments below on your memories of the Flyers in October.

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