WEEK 12 of the 2024/25 Elite Ice Hockey League season and the Flyers start the weekend with a home game against the Cardiff Devils before heading to the Midlands on Sunday for the first meeting of the season with the Coventry Blaze.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 23rd FIFE FLYERS v CARDIFF DEVILS @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 7.15pm
Recent Form Guide
The teams have already met twice this season with both encounters taking place on Devils ice. Since Flyers last meeting with the Welsh side in mid-October the Devils have maintained their strong start to the league campaign but at this point are on the outside of the Challenge Cup qualification positions. In the two remaining games on that triple header weekend when they last met the Flyers the Devils narrowly lost in Nottingham in the Cup before returning to the Vindico Arena to handily defeat the Dundee Stars 6-1 in the league. The following weekend saw just the one game for Devils who edged past the Manchester Storm by the odd goal in five to pick up another two league points. Their next three games were for Cup points and they started with a 4-2 loss in Sheffield before winning 4-1 against the Guildford Flames the following night. Coventry Blaze visited Cardiff Bay in midweek to round out October and left with the two points in a 5-3 win. November started with a 3-1 defeat in the league on the road to the Panthers but the next night a much needed two Challenge Cup points were garnered with a 5-3 win against the Steelers. A 6-4 midweek win in Dundee followed before a four league point weekend with a 3-1 win against Guildford and a shutout win against the Blaze at the Skydome Arena by a margin of three goals helped the Devils maintain their top of the table standings. Last weekend the Devils were on Continental Cup duty in Slovakia. In their opening game they defeated German side Rittner Baum 5-1 before downing hosts Žilina 4-1 to secure qualification for the Final with a game to spare. That game was against Kazakhstan side HC Arlan who prevailed 6-3 after the game fell apart in the final two minutes with three Devils players getting ejected and Arlan scoring two late powerplay goals.
Last League Visit from Devils
Overall Home Record Against Devils
P 30 W 9 L 21 F 76 A 106
Number Crunching
The Devils lead the season series 2-0 and they have outscored the Flyers 10-3 in those two games.
The Devils have also won on their last two visits to Fife Ice Arena and have only lost once in their last six visits.
Coming into the weekend the Devils are riding their season high win streak in all EIHL competitions with four consecutive victories.
The Flyers and Devils have five goals each from their respective bluelines in all EIHL competitions this season, only Nottingham have fewer as they have yet to have a defenceman score this term.
The Devils are third in goals scored average across all EIHL competitions this season with 3.7 per game, the Flyers remain bottom scorers with 2.35 goals per game.
The Devils 2.3 goals per game conceded is best of all teams, Flyers have most at 4.7 per game.
The second period for both the Devils and Flyers has been most productive for goals scored. The third period is the Devils leakiest whilst the Flyers have given up most goals in the second period.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 24th COVENTRY BLAZE v FIFE FLYERS @ SKYDOME ARENA – FACE OFF 5.30pm
Recent Form Guide
Despite having played more than a third of their regular season competitive games the Flyers will be meeting the Blaze for the first time this season. Coventry are the final team the Flyers have to meet this term. It has been a solid start for Kevin Moore behind the Blaze bench as they sit in a Challenge Cup qualification place and in 4th spot in the league standings. In the Challenge Cup the Blaze got off to a slow start when they lost their opening four games with road regulation defeats in Nottingham and a 6-0 loss in Guildford but on home ice they picked up points in a shootout loss to the Steelers and an overtime reverse against the Panthers. Since then they have strung together four wins with a 4-3 shootout win in Manchester and a 2-1 home win against the Flames. Two huge road wins 5-3 in Cardiff and a 4-3 overtime decision in Sheffield have them in third position in the standings which is the play in position with a game against the Glasgow Clan. Five straight wins to start their league campaign had the Blaze sitting at the top of the standings thanks to a pair of 4-2 home wins against the Clan and Steelers before picking up road wins with a 6-0 victory over the Clan then a 6-4 success in Belfast before defeating the Storm 6-2 in Altrincham. The Belfast Giants inflicted Coventry’s first league reverse with a 5-2 win at the Skydome and then a point was secured in Tayside as the Stars won 4-3 in overtime. Glasgow were defeated in the Midlands before the last two games which Blaze dropped in Guildford and at home to the Cardiff Devils.
Last League Visit to Blaze
Overall League Away Record Against Blaze
P 29 W 9 L 20 F 73 A 119
Number Crunching
The Flyers have taken five of six points in their last three visits to the Skydome and last season took 9 of 12 points on offer against the Blaze.
The Blaze have had a 6 game winning streak this season which is tied highest along with Sheffield and Belfast.
Only Sheffield have scored more empty net goals than Coventry who have 5 and the Blaze are the only team who have yet to concede an empty netter this term.
The first period is the lowest scoring for the Blaze who have scored 50% of their total goals in the third period.
The Flyers and the Blaze have each conceded four shorthanded goals which along with Glasgow is most of all teams this season.
The Blaze have scored six shorties which is most of all teams and the Flyers are the only team yet to score shorthanded.
