WEEK 13 of the 2023/24 Elite Ice Hockey League season and it is another early start with a midweek visit to the Spectrum to play the second leg of the Challenge Cup Quarter final. On the weekend the Flyers make their second trip of the season to play the Sheffield Steelers before returning home for a Sunday tilt against the Cardiff Devils who will be making their first visit of the season to Fife.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 13th v GUILDFORD FLAMES @ GUILDFORD SPECTRUM – FACE OFF 7.30pm
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Since playing the first leg against the Flyers the Flames met the Sheffield Steelers on the road last Saturday night and extended their current win streak to three games and in doing so also recorded their fourth straight win at the Utilita Arena against the Steelers. It was a one game weekend for the Flames.
First Leg Stats
SATURDAY DECEMBER 16th v SHEFFIELD STEELERS @ UTILITA ARENA – FACE OFF 7.00pm
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The two teams met 7 days ago with the Steelers winning 4-3 in Kirkcaldy and the night before as mentioned earlier they went down on home ice to the Guildford Flames. That defeat means they have now lost their last two at home in the league and in fact all three of their losses in the league so far have come at the Utilita Arena.
Last League Visit to Steelers
Overall Elite League Away Record Against Steelers
P 28 W 3 L 25 F 37 A 124
Number Crunching
The Steelers have dominated the results in this fixture, particularly on home ice, with the Flyers winless at the Utilita Arena in their last 13 visits. This is their best sequence of results against the Flyers in all EIHL competitions.
The Flyers last Fife success in Yorkshire in the league was 17th October 2018 when Evan Bloodoff, Brett Bulmer and Paul Crowder were scorers in a 3-1 win.
During this run the Steelers have outscored the Flyers 60-14 and Fife have been shut out 5 times including on their last two visits.
Overall it’s now nine league games without a win for the Flyers against Steelers.
On their last visit the Flyers had only 10 shots on goal which is their lowest shots total on the season, it’s also their lowest ever shots total against Steelers in any EIHL match.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 17th v CARDIFF DEVILS @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 5.15pm
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The Devils were the last of the other nine teams that the Flyers played this season when they met at the end of November in Wales. In league play the Devils opened up with a home win against the Glasgow Clan before a big win in Sheffield against the Steelers. The following weekend however they lost back to back games going down in Nottingham before losing at home to the Belfast Giants. They got back on track with wins home and away against the Manchester Storm but then lost at home to the Storm. Their biggest win of the season so far came in Glasgow when they blanked the Clan 7-0. This was the start of a five game winning streak with wins against Belfast and Dundee on the road and home wins against the Flyers and the Storm who they have now completed their regular season home games against. They started the month of December with back to back losses against the Panthers and Blaze, the first time this season that they had lost two consecutive games showing their consistency. They are currently on a run of seven consecutive games against Scottish sides having played in Dundee and Glasgow last weekend in which they picked up four points and hosted Glasgow midweek with Dundee their visitors last night.
Last League Visit from Devils
Overall Elite League Home Record Against Devils
P 27 W 8 L 19 F 65 A 96
Number Crunching
Cardiff will be looking to record an 8th consecutive win against the Flyers which would be their best ever sequence against Fife in all EIHL competitions.
The Flyers last win against the Devils was 19th March 2022 when Matt Carter was the hero in a shootout after a Mike McNicholas goal had been answered by a late Brandon McNally strike. Since then the Devils have won the last three meetings at the Auld Barn.
Flyers will be aiming to avoid being shutout for a third consecutive game against the Devils, a feat only Sheffield have managed to achieve in Flyers history.
