WEEK 2 of the 2024/25 Elite Ice Hockey League season and the Flyers start off with a third consecutive home competitive game when they get their Elite League campaign underway with the visit of the Manchester Storm. On Sunday night it’s the return of Challenge Cup action and the short hop over the Tay to meet the Dundee Stars in their opening road game of the season.
SEPTEMBER 14th FIFE FLYERS v MANCHESTER STORM @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 7.15pm
Recent Form Guide
The Manchester Storm have made a solid looking start to the new season as they won three of their four preseason match ups before splitting their opening two competitive Challenge Cup games last weekend with the Guildford Flames. They came within 6 seconds of taking at least a point at the Spectrum last Sunday and although they have a new coach behind the bench the Storm have returned 13 players from last season, only the Sheffield Steelers have returned more from their Grand Slam winning side, so it is perhaps not that much of a surprise how well they have begun proceedings. Storm have a roster that has the third most experience in terms of games played in the EIHL and along with Belfast and Cardiff also have players who have played in four of the six top leagues around the world which is best across the league. They have the second smallest roster in the league with only Cardiff and Sheffield having a higher average age. They have returned statistically the best goalie in the league from last season along with five of their blueliners as they proved to be a defensively sound team. Ryan Hughes and Cam Critchlow lead their offense so far with 5 points each in their opening two games which shares the overall lead with Belfast Giants Mark Cooper. They have claim on the fastest goal score so far this season when they netted in their home opener against the Flames after just 45 seconds. The game in Fife will be Storms second of the weekend having hosted the Nottingham Panthers on Friday night.
Last League Visit from Storm
Overall League Home Record Against Storm
P 25 W 15 L 10 F 86 A 67
Number Crunching
The Flyers won points in four of the six league meetings with the Storm last season and registered two wins and a shootout loss on home ice against Manchester.
The Flyers have not lost to the Storm at the Auld Barn in their last five matches with their last defeat being a 5-1 Storm victory in September 2022 – since then they have gone 4-0-1 and have outscored Storm 15-9.
Neither side were able to put together two consecutive wins in their encounters last season.
Cam Critchlow, Loren Ulett and Stephen Johnson were Storm’s top scorers last season against the Flyers with three goals each and they all return whilst the Flyers have no active goal scorers against Manchester.
The Storm bookend the Flyers league campaign this season providing the opposition for their opening game on home ice and they will also be the last visitors in the league to the Auld Barn on the final weekend of the season.
SEPTEMBER 15th DUNDEE STARS v FIFE FLYERS @ DUNDEE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 5.00pm
Recent Form Guide
The Stars of course have already crossed paths with the Flyers this season in a pair of preseason games that the Tayside team won, both by two goal margins. The touring UQTR team were Stars other preseason opponents meeting them twice at DIA which resulted in two defeats for the home side. Just as the Flyers did last weekend the Stars opened their competitive campaign with a couple of home Challenge Cup fixtures and played the Giants and Clan whom the Flyers met. Just as the Flyers did the Stars defeated the Clan but lost out to the Giants. One player that the Flyers fans have not seen yet is goalie Richard Sabol who posted a strong 95.45 save percentage in the win against Clan when he faced 44 shots and conceded two. Jarrett Fiske took the defeat in net against the Belfast Giants where his preseason form somewhat deserted him, at least statistically, giving up 7 on just 25 shots for a 72% save percentage. Yet to make his debut for Stars is Kameron Kielly who was with the Sheffield Steelers last term and at the time of writing it is not known if he will be available to take his place in the line up this weekend. With almost 3700 in attendance for their opening two games the Stars are expecting another bumper crowd welcoming the travelling Flyers fans and indications are that this could set a new attendance record for a Challenge Cup game at Dundee Ice Arena.
Last Challenge Cup Visit to Stars
Overall Challenge Cup Away Record Against Stars
P 14 W 4 D 1 L 9 F 32 A 40
Number Crunching
Last season the Flyers won both Challenge Cup matches against the Dundee Stars with a 6-3 home win being followed up the next night with a 4-2 win at DIA.
Flyers are unbeaten in their last five Challenge Cup matches overall against the Stars with their last defeat being almost two years to the day when Dundee shut them out 3-0 at Kirkcaldy on 10th September 2022.
That was one of three shutouts for the Stars against the Flyers in the Challenge Cup whilst the Flyers have blanked the Stars twice in the competition.
Unsurprisingly given his length of service Drydn Dow is the Stars leading active scorer against the Flyers in all EIHL competitions with 9 goals, two of which have come in the Challenge Cup. Lucas Chiodo is the only active Flyers player to have scored against the Stars with his solitary goal.
