There was certainly a great deal of confidence amongst the ranks preseason:
The visit of Paul Thompson and the Aalborg Pirates was a perfect curtain raiser. Two games in late August prepared the team for the season ahead. A win on the Saturday (4-2), followed by a loss on the Sunday (8-3). After the games though, Todd Dutiaume (despite looking a bit like John Travolta) was happy with the outings from the players:
In the post-match debrief of the game on Sunday, Todd would note it was "good to how these guys losing a game" as September would begin he would get to see this perhaps more than he hoped.
The opening weekend, with promises of a 4-point weekend over the Coventry Blaze would produce zero. With an old foe in the form of Rory Rawlyk scoring the solitary goal on the Saturday. An opening night crowd of 2733 certainly shared a degree of disappointment but at the same time there was some optimism with the team.
Todd noted that the players were a bit rusty and perhaps weren't afforded the space required to be effective. He also pointed out that the crowd was loud when the players came out, this is hardly surprising as the crowd is much larger than previous seasons. In fact there were an extra 1200 fans in stands:
The increased numbers are remarkable, as this series continues the increased attendances will continue to be a trend.
A loss the following night, once again at the hands of the Coventry Blaze would mean that for the third time in four seasons that the Flyers would yield no points. Only the 2012/13 season beat the trend, where a Jason Pitton inspired Flyers would attain the much yearned for 4-point weekend.
Since joining the Elite League, the Flyers have faced the Coventry Blaze 8 times in September. In this time they have won only one match, the shootout victory in 2012. Also, in this spell the Flyers have been blanked on 3 occasions. Although two of these were the opening Elite League contests in 2011.
Moving on from the disappointment of the opening weekend, the Flyers would face up against the Playoff Champions - the Sheffield Steelers. A shootout loss on the Saturday, would offer promise for the season ahead. Josh Scoon scored an excellent goal that would earn him some extra ice time in the weeks that would follow.
Ned Lukacevic once again showed his skills:
Todd Dutiaume was in an upbeat mood, despite the defeat:
In the game, Kyle Horne and Matt Reber would collide resulting in both players missing a large chunk of the season. A "gutsy" performance earned the team a point and they were unlucky to miss out on the win. The game would result in Tommy Muir stepping up and fighting, this would be the first of a number of fighting majors for Muir and Todd made the point to praise him for doing so. Muir was reacting to a hit by Mark Thomas on Danny Stewart, the hit itself would lead to a 1 match ban for Thomas and the Flyers first involvement with the Department of Player Safety (DoPS):
DoPS is something that will discussed at length later in the series, but I would be remiss not to discuss them now. While they are inherently controversial as they are responsible for judging something subjective as an absolute, they have an important role in the game in reducing reckless play in the game. This is something that has been immensely successful in the NHL, however, at this juncture I am not certain that current guise of cloak and daggers is the right set up. Nonetheless, with a few tweaks, there are all the makings for a reputable body.
If the loss at Fife Ice Arena was gutsy, the the loss that followed was gutless. An 8-1 loss stood as a stark reminder that the Sheffield Steelers are formidable opposition and they are relentless - Fife would not be the only team to realise this. These are the only games that Fife and Sheffield have shared in September, the hope is that any future fixtures in this month will have a distinctly different outcome.
Going without a win in the opening four games for the first time since 2011/12 season, the visit of the Dundee Stars proved to be huge blessing. In what would prove to be the only Flyers league game covered by Premier Sports, the Flyers pulled a 4-2 win out of the bag.
With a goal and two assists, the undoubted star of the night was Bobby Chaumont. Although, the entire team attacked admirably forcing EIHL rookie Marc Cheverie to make 31 saves. Cheverie would get his revenge the following night though, back stopping his team to a 2-1 overtime win. The Flyers and Dundee have played one another in 6 contests in September. The record stands as 2-2-1-1, however, three of these contests were friendlies and when it's cut down to the games that matter the Flyers have a 2-0-0-1 record.
The final weekend of September would prove to be the Flyers most successful weekend in their short EIHL history. With the visit of the Braehead Clan, the Flyers would pull off an impressive 4-0 win. Tying Kevin Regan with Bryan Pitton with two EIHL shutouts. The Clan have played at Fife Ice Arena in September on 4 occasions (one friendly and 3 in league/cup), Fife will hope that all matches between the two are scheduled for September in 2015 as they have won every game! In these four game the Flyers have scored 18 and limited the Clan to just 5, of which three of Braehead's goals were in the Autumn Cup of 2012.
The game would be an eventful one, with Matt Nickerson meeting Zack Fitzgerald for the first time.
The final blow from Nickerson appearing to knock Fitzgerald to the ground, but Fitzy cleared it all up for us:
On the road to Hull. Important points tonight. last night behind us. In case you wondering, I slipped at the end wasn't a punch. #purplearmy
— Z FitzGerald (@FitzyG13) September 28, 2014
I'm glad we got that sorted. I really don't care about the outcome of the fight. As regular readers may have noticed for a while, I have had an anti-fighting stance. It's always something that I've been uneasy with (granted, I did enjoy it) and as this season has progressed I have drifted further and further away from it.
The visit of Braehead saw the return of Derek Roehl and he had a brief reunion with his comedy partner from last season, Ned Lukacevic:
They also had a message for their most notable victim, Tim Hartung:
Todd Dutiaume would praise a "fantastic team effort" but was also keen to praise his opposite number Ryan Finnerty. Kevin Regan was fully deserving of his shutout and was able to keep the sheet clean despite a few defensive errors. The crowd is noted as being the biggest of the year, but the 2733 from the opening narrowly beats the 2693 in attendance.
The only way to follow up that win against the win at home, would be to beat the reining league champions in their own back yard....
HIGHLIGHTS - Sun 28 Sept - Belfast Giants vs Fife Flyers from Belfast Giants on Vimeo.
Two goals from Stephen Gunn and a remarkable 6-1 win in the Odyssey Arena. This would prove to be the biggest weekend of the year. With the Belfast game counting for both League and Cup points, Fife would win two games, gain 6 points, scoring 10 and conceding 1 in the process. The goal differential of 9 stands as the best in two win weekends, and was their twelfth all-time two win weekend in the EIHL. In 3 September contests between the Giants and the Flyers this resounding win is the first victory that the Flyers have tasted.
The Flyers earned a 3-3-0-2 record in September 2014, only the 5-2-0-0 record in the 2012/13 season stands as a better record. This season, the Flyers would light the lamp on 22 occasions, conceding 23 (if only we could have written off the 8-1 loss in Sheffield). Once again, the 2012/13 season yielded more goals (23) and only the 2011/12 season had more goals conceded (31).
This is the first in the series of Flyers Year in Review, the next in the series will be Flyers Year in Review: October.
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