The Flyers hosted the Glasgow Clan in their final home game of 2024. The home side were along familiar lines with Phelix Martineau still sidelined and James Spence and Fynn Page scratched. The Clan welcomed back Landon Bow after injury as their starting netminder with Matt Berry, Darian Kielb and Kyle Carruth their scratches.

The Flyers opened the game brightly and inside 30 seconds carved out the first chance with Massimo Carozza going down the left wing but he elected to make the pass cross crease rather than take the shot and the puck was scrambled clear. The Flyers went on the power play in the 3^rd minute when Nick Prkusic was called for a hook in the Flyers zone. The Flyers enjoyed plenty of controlled zone time with the puck in the Clan end but the nearest they came was a Patrick Kyte shot from the circles that Bow saved with his shoulder. As the penalty was running down the Clan were called for another infraction with Chris McKay going to the box for a trip. The Clan cleared their zone from the face off and returned to four skaters as the Flyers again had plenty of possession with the man advantage but couldn’t get a good look at Bow who made his only serious save in the final few seconds when he went post to post to deny Jordan Stallard. The game settled into a neutral zone battle with neither goalie being called upon to make a significant save and in the 11^th minute Shane Owen blockered away a shot from the high slot by Steven Seigo. Clan however cycled the puck back up top to Seigo who saw his shot hit a body in front of Owen and it looped over the Fife goalies shoulder and dropped into the net. The Flyers were back on level terms in the 13^th minute following a breakdown in the Clan zone that allowed Massimo Carozza to pick the puck up and feed it over to Ryan Foss who buried a one timer stick side on Bow. Les than a minute later however the Clan were back in front after Rylan Schwartz from behind the Flyers goal picked out Chris McKay who skated into the slot and he fired low into the corner of the net. The visitors missed a golden chance in the 15th minute when the puck was fed out of the corner to Liam Finlay who came in at the back door but he somehow fired wide of the net. Bow had the final save of the period when he denied Chiodo from the left wing with a fine toe stop.

20 seconds into the middle period Owen came up with a fine pad save on a blueline shot by Simon Despres. In the 21^st minute Ben Brown got a clear sight of goal but shot wide from the slot before Clan went the other way and increased their lead when Deven Sideroff went to the net and snuck the puck in at the post on Owen’s glove side. The visitors had their tails up and in the next shift Owen had to scramble the puck away from his net twice as the Flyers were under intense pressure. The Flyers almost got one back in the 24^th minute when Bow falling back into his net managed to stop the puck with his skate blade from a Foss effort in the slot. The Clan went on their first power play in the 25^th minute when Noah Delmas was called for a double  minor high sticking penalty after drawing blood from Matt Stief. The Flyers killed the first two minutes of the penalty without the Can creating anything dangerous around Owen who dealt well with a Tyson McLellan effort. The pressure did finally pay off for the Clan who made their man advantage count when Rylan Schwartz picked the puck up behind the net and stuffed it in on the wraparound. In the 29^th minute Mitchell Heard drove the net and Owen had to stand strong and a minute later the Flyers keeper held on to a one time shot by Liam Finlay from the high slot. Moments later Stief was denied by a blocker save by Owen and the same player then hit the outside of the goal frame. The home side couldn’t hold the visitors who further increased their lead in the 31^st minute when the puck was coughed up in the Flyers zone and the Clan with a 3 on 1 buried it with Finlay giving Owen no chance. The Flyers called their time out in an effort to steady the ship. The Clan almost gave the visitors some hope in the 33^rd minute as the puck was almost redirected into their own net by one of their defencemen. The Flyers did get a goal back however as the Clan were caught up ice and on a 2 on 1 Carozza faked the pass and his release beat Bow through the five hole.  In the 37^th minute Owen made a fine reaction save to deny Robert Lachowicz. Into the final minute and Owen made a good pad save on Schwartz before Brown then forced a blocker save by Bow who then got lucky in the final seconds as he managed to scramble the puck clear.

The Flyers opened the third period with a spell of pressure around the visitors net with Austin Farley and Kieran Craig both going close. The visitors however struck again in the 45^th minute with Schwartz skating into the slot unmarked and he picked the stick side on Owen. A minute later and the Clan had another with the Flyers defence in complete disarray and Tyson McLellan was all alone to once again to beat Owen. Owen left the ice and was replaced by Janis Voris. The Flyers keeper made a fantastic stop in the 53^rd minute as he went post to post to deny what looked like a certain goal for Finlay. A minute later and Voris was in action again as he left McLellan shaking his head as he made a sprawling stop. In the 55^th minute Bow had to be at full stretch to stop a shot from Stallard with his blocker. The Clan added another marker with five minutes to go when a shot from the point by Despres found the corner of the net with Voris looking to be unsighted. Bow made a stick save in the 57^th minute on Delmas but he could do nothing moments later to prevent a consolation for the home side when Farley from the slot beat him through the five hole. In the final minute Sideroff saw his shot from the slot glance the top of the crossbar.

Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young

Fife Flyers are next at home on  Saturday 4th January when they entertain the Coventry Blaze – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.