It was the meeting of two teams who had met just a couple of weeks ago over the Christmas period and for the Flyers this game would be the halfway stage of their league campaign in terms of games played. The visitors were without long term injury victim Alex Tonge and also scratched Alex Robert after taking the warm up. For the home side there was a welcome return of Phélix Martineau who had missed the last seven games and had yet to play for interim coach Johnny Curran. The Flyers were missing Janis Voris, Aiden Wilson, Brodie Kay who was still with the GB U20 squad and James Spence.

The first chance of the game fell to the Flyers after 30 seconds when the puck took a wicked bounce off the back boards and landed out front of the net on the stick of Kieran Craig but Richard Sabol in the Stars net was aggressively out to take away the space and deflect the shot away. The Stars went the other way and Shane Owen was in the game in the 1^st minute when he held a shot on the short side by Brett Gravelle. In the 3^rd minute Lucas Chiodo took the puck for a skate in the Stars zone and he was able to find Michael Cichy but Sabol went post to post to deny his first time shot. The Stars threatened next in the 4^th minute when they broke quickly and Ben O’Connor was the trailing player who received the puck in the high slot but Owen was equal to the task. The visitors did however break the deadlock in the 5^th minute on their next attack when in an odd man rush Philippe Sanche carried the puck down the right wing and picked his spot glove side on Owen. The Flyers responded with an almighty scramble around Sabol’s net on their next shift with Charles-Antoine Paiement and Jordan Stallard thrashing away at the bouncing puck on the edge of the crease before the Dundee keeper covered up. The Flyers kept pressing and in the 7^th minute Daniel Krenželok forced a pad save from Sabol. Owen then had a blocker save to deny Jake Elmer before Sabol let out a big rebound from a Paiement shot but there were no takers in Flyers colours. The Stars doubled their advantage in the 10^th minute when Kyle Pouncy was afforded the space to drift into the slot and get a shot away that beat Owen under the arm on his blocker side. Sabol was in action again a minute later as the Flyers continued to make chances without being able to bury the puck. A pass from Craig was redirected on goal by Krenželok but Sabol stuck out a leg to make an alert save. In the 16^th minute Gravelle found himself with lots of time and space going down main street but he ripped a shot high over the crossbar. The Stars struck again with a couple of minutes left in the period when Brendan Harms picked up the pieces around the net and was able to put the puck past a stranded Owen. The Flyers came back again with another chance before the period ended when Sabol was able to trap the puck in the crook of his arm from another Krenželok try.

The second period opened with a positive breakthrough for the home side with a goal that was down to sheer determination by Martineau who won a couple of puck battles along the boards before he brought the puck out in front of net and was able to slide it in at the far post past a sprawling Sabol. Any momentum that this might have given the Flyers was soon extinguished as 90 seconds later the Stars restored their three goal cushion when Harms was all alone at the side of the Flyers net and when the puck found him he had a wide open cage to chip the puck into with Owen desperately trying to make the save. In the 24^th minute a Noah Delmas shot hit a Stars player in front of the net and just bounced wide. Zach Tsekos broke in on the Fife goal in the 26^th minute but Owen gloved his effort. The first penalty of the game was called in the 27^th minute when Lucas Chiodo went to the box for high sticking. The Stars had some good looks with the man advantage with Spencer Naas going close and then Owen made a big pad save on Jake Elmer. The Flyers goalie made a further three stops but the Flyers survived to complete the kill. The Flyers came close to cutting the deficit in the 31^st minute but Delmas saw his high shot ring the inside of the post and stay out. Within moments the Stars added a fifth goal with the Fife defence flat footed and that allowed Tsekos time to make no mistake with a shot from below the circles. The Flyers went on their first power play of the night as Elmer was called for interference with 90 seconds of the period remaining. The Flyers didn’t get anything set up before the buzzer sounded.

The Stars completed their penalty kill to start the third period. Stars were clearly happy to contain the Flyers at this point and the first serious shot either goalie faced came in the 45^th minute when Sabol paddled away another shot from distance from Krenželok. A minute later and it was the Flyers blueliner again who tested the visiting goalie who made the save. In the 47^th minute Domenico Alberga was given a roughing  minor to send the Flyers back on the man advantage. Michael Cichy had the first two shots on goal, one timers that were well dealt with by Sabol who was able to see the pucks and the Stars completed the kill. In the 53^rd minute the Flyers broke into the Stars zone on a 3 on 1 but the move was broken up by Xavier Pouliot before the puck was cleared and the chance was gone. A minute later and Patrick Kyte was forced to hold Sanche who had a step on the blueliner as he went to the net. The Stars created nothing of note on their power play as the Flyers returned to full strength. In the 56^th minute the Flyers did get another goal on the board when Craig touched a pass from Kyte beyond Sabol. With two minute remaining the Stars were again shorthanded as Pouliot was binned for boarding but the Flyers couldn’t get any quality chances on the Stars net and the visitors ran down the clock.

Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young

Fife Flyers are next at home on  Sunday 19th January when they entertain the Nottingham Panthers – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.