WEEK 5 of the 2024/25 Elite Ice Hockey League season and the Flyers have their first weekend without any Challenge Cup action as they go looking for their first league points of the season when they firstly welcome the return of the Manchester Storm to the Fife Ice Arena before heading to Nottingham to meet the Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
OCTOBER 5th FIFE FLYERS v MANCHESTER STORM @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 7.15pm
Recent Form Guide
It has of course only been a couple of weeks since we last met the Storm when they skated to a come from behind win in the third period here at Kirkcaldy to grab both points in the Flyers opening game in the league this term. The following weekend the Storm got the action underway when they hosted the Devils on Friday night in Challenge Cup action with the visitors handily winning 5-1 at the Storm Shelter. The following night saw the Storm head North again and take another two league points as they defeated the Stars by the odd goal in nine. Unlike their visit to Fife the Storm built up a lead and had to withstand a late game comeback by the Stars that just fell short. Last weekend it was Friday night action again for the Storm but this time on the road where they kept up their fine form on their travels this season when they registered their third consecutive win from their four away games played. Cardiff were never ahead in this one as the visitors carved out a two goal lead which they held onto until late in the game before the Devils scored twice on the powerplay to take the game into overtime. A face off violation minor penalty on the Devils with 15 seconds of regulation time remaining carried on into bonus hockey and Hebert was the Storm hero with the 4 on 3 game winning goal. The following night the Storm entertained the Belfast Giants in league action and in a reverse of their road form they dropped their third consecutive game on home ice. The Giants took control of the game in the opening period with three goals in the opening ten minutes and the Storm were always chasing as the Giants picked them off throughout the game to win 7-3. Jake Durflinger is their leading points scorer in all games this season with 10 points. Durflinger with 5 goals shares the Storm scoring race with Loren Ullet who will be serving the final game of his three match ban and Dallas Ehrhardt a two game ban from last weekend after hosting the Coventry Blaze on Friday night.
Last League Visit from Storm
Overall Home League Record Against Storm
P 26 W 15 L 11 F 91 A 73
Number Crunching
The Flyers have dropped their last two games against at home against the Manchester Storm – that after winning the previous four on the spin.
The teams are dead level on goals in their 53 meetings in all EIHL competitions to date with 170 goals each.
Each team has also had 72 different players tally up those respective totals.
Storm do have the edge with three more wins over the Flyers in their contests.
Flyers come into the weekend looking for one more win for their 300th all-time in all EIHL competitions.
Storm have had 13 different players find the net this season so far with the Flyers having 10 different goal scorers.
Storm have registered fewest shots on goal per game so far this season whilst they have also given up the second most shots per game behind Flyers.
OCTOBER 6th NOTTINGHAM PANTHERS v FIFE FLYERS @ MOTORPOINT ARENA – FACE OFF 4.00pm
Recent Form Guide
Under new head coach Danny Stewart the Panthers have made a strong start to the season with just one defeat so far in their opening seven games. The first six of those were all in the Challenge Cup with five of them being decided by single goals. Panthers opened their season on the road in Manchester where they shut out the Storm 4-0 before returning home the next night for their opener at the Motorpoint with a 4-3 win against the Guildford Flames. The Coventry Blaze were visitors the following weekend and Danny Stewart saw off his old club by an odd goal in five win before the Panthers headed to Surrey the next night and despite leading the whole way the visitors gave up three goals in the final period, including the game tying goals with just 8 seconds remaining to have the game to into overtime. There was no further scoring but the Panthers kept up their 100% record with Kristoff Kontos getting the winner in the shootout. Last weekend the Sheffield Steelers visited the Motorpoint and in another single goal decision they became the only team remaining with a 100% record as they won 4-3 in a game in which the teams traded goals throughout. On the Sunday evening the Blaze were overcome at the Skydome. Panthers held a two goal advantage after the first which was wiped out by the Blaze before the end of the second period. No further scoring saw Tim Doherty secure the extra point in overtime. On Wednesday night the Panthers opened up their league campaign withy a trip to Braehead Arena to meet the Glasgow Clan and it ended with another one goal decision with the Clan taking the points with a 2-1 win.
Last League Visit to Panthers
Overall League Away Record Against Panthers
P 30 W 10 L 20 F 77 A 97
Number Crunching
The Motorpoint has been a relatively successful hunting ground for the Flyers post pandemic – in 9 games played they have recorded 5 wins and only 3 regulation losses.
The Flyers will be looking to avoid being shutout in back to back games against the Panthers for the first in the EIHL era.
The Panthers is the only current EIHL team that Lucas Chiodo has not yet scored against meaning the Flyers have no active scorers against Nottingham. Otto Nieminen with four goals leads the current Panthers roster in goals against the Flyers.
Sam Herr leads the Panthers in points with 9 and goals with 5 and they have had 8 different scorers to date.
The Panthers are the only team yet to have a goal(s) scored by a blueliner this term – the Flyers have 3 which is best shared with four other teams
The Panthers have the second best goals against per game so far this season at 2.29 with the Flyers 4.25 second most.
