WEEK 31 of the 2024/25 Elite Ice Hockey League season and it’s the final weekend of action starting with the visit of the Manchester Storm on Saturday night who were at the Auld Barn on the opening night of the league season before a trip over the Tay to meet the Dundee Stars.
SATURDAY APRIL 5th FIFE FLYERS v MANCHESTER STORM @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 7.15pm
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The Manchester Storm come into the weekend looking to steal the final play off spot from the Dundee Stars. The Storm last met the Flyers in late February and continued their run of win one then lose one as the next night they dropped a 3-1 decision in Nottingham. A big 4-3 home win followed against the Belfast Giants and the following night in Guildford the Storm returned with two more points after a 5-4 shootout win. The series of one goal games continued as the Stars once again took both points with a 4-3 shoot win at Dundee Ice Arena before Manchester downed the visiting Coventry Blaze by the odd goal in seven. The Panthers then won 4-1 at the Storm shelter before the Storm got another two valuable points on the road with a 4-2 win in Coventry. Defeat against the Steelers in Sheffield was followed by a thumping 6-0 win in Altrincham against the Cardiff Devils which is the Storms biggest win this season as well as joint worst result for the Devils. The following midweek the Storm went down in Nottingham before setting up this tense finally to the season as they came up with another huge win on the road when they defeated the Belfast Giants 5-1 at the SSE last weekend. The Storm host the Guildford Flames on Friday night ahead of their trip to Fife and they must match or better the Stars result in Glasgow to make the match in Kirkcaldy mean something.
Last League Visit from Storm
Overall Home League Record Against Storm
P 27 W 16 L 11 F 94 A 75
Number Crunching
The Flyers will be looking for a win to split the season series with the Storm who currently are ahead with 3 wins to two.
In the 5 games played the Storm have outscored the Flyers 22-17.
Kieran Craig has goals in the last two meetings with Loren Ulett and Morrow also with an active two game goal streak.
Loren Ulett is the Storm top scorer against the Flyers this season with 6 goals whilst Phélix Martineau leads the way for the Flyers in these games with 4 goals.
11 different Storm players have found the net against the Flyers this season with 10 different Flyers on target in the games played so far.
On special teams the Storm are 3 for 12 and the Flyers 4 for 13 on the power play in the games between them this season.
The Storm and Flyers have the fewest even strength goals scored by forwards and are also bottom two in gaols scored by blueliners across all EIHL competitions this season.
Two consecutive wins is the best Storm have managed in all competitions this season, the Flyers have yet to record back to back wins.
SUNDAY APRIL 6th DUNDEE STARS v FIFE FLYERS @ DUNDEE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 5.00pm
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The Stars hold the destiny of their season in their own hands with a two point cushion over the Manchester Storm coming into the weekend. A regulation time defeat for the Storm along with a Stars point from the Friday night games could render their meeting to close the season with the Flyers a dead rubber. That’s all ifs and buts though. The Flyers last met the Stars almost two months ago after which they took three points from their next two games against the Storm and Clan before falling heavily at home against the Guildford Flames. A road win in Coventry was followed by being shutout in Nottingham. Then came a 10-4 thumping at Dundee Ice Arena by the resurgent Sheffield Steelers but that showed to be a temporary blip as the Stars reeled of three straight wins picking up both points in each of their next two on the road against the Storm and Giants before crucially winning in a shootout on home ice against the Storm. The Devils then defeated them 7-3 in Wales but a win the following night in Guildford gave them a handy return on the weekend. The Stars are winless in their last three outings with defeats at home to Coventry and Cardiff last weekend bookending a loss in Sheffield. Ahead of meeting the Flyers the Stars travel to Glasgow on Friday night.
Last League Visit to Stars
Overall League Away Record Against Stars
P 44 W 19 L 25 F 145 A 168
Number Crunching
The Flyers will be looking to halt a seven game losing streak against the Stars which is their longest winless run against the Tayside club in the EIHL era.
The Flyers have only one win against the Stars in nine games this season and have been outscored 19-46.
Patrick Kyte has goals in the last three meetings with the Stars whilst Brendan Harms has found the back of the Flyers net in each of the last four meetings.
14 different Stars players have found the net against the Flyers this season with 10 different Flyers finding the net in the nine games.
Brendan Harms with 7 goals has top scored for the Stars against the Flyers so far this season whilst Phélix Martineau leads for the Flyers with 4 goals.
On special teams the Stars are 7 for 24 and the Flyers 2 for 21 on the power play in the games between them this season.
The Flyers biggest win of the season was 4-1 against the Stars back in September whilst the Stars 7-0 win against the Flyers in October has been their best so far on the season.
The Stars and Flyers are the two lowest scoring teams across all EIHL competitions this season and they have also conceded the most goals of any teams.
