WEEK 22 of the 2025/26 Elite Ice Hockey League season and the Flyers make their final trip of the regular season across the Irish Sea to take on the league leading Belfast Giants before returning to play host to the Cardiff Devils who visit Kirkcaldy for the final time on league business this term
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7th BELFAST GIANTS v FIFE FLYERS @ SSE ARENA – FACE OFF 7.00pm
Introducing the opposition & One to Watch!
The Giants made their final blueline move of the off season by adding experienced Canadian defenceman Garrett McFadden to their roster. The 27-year-old Ontario native made the move to the SSE Arena from Austrian side Innsbruck and in McFadden they have a well-travelled and well-rounded defenceman, who last season scored two goals and 13 points for a struggling Innsbruck side. He also boasts experience in the OHL, AHL and Czech Extraliga, as well as in the ICEHL last season. McFadden was not short on reviews of Belfast having played alongside former Giants such as Kyle Baun, Jordan Boucher, Grant Cooper and Blake Speers, while last season he played under Jordan Smotherman at Innsbruck. A strong-skating defenceman, the Canadian came up through the junior ranks with the Guelph Storm, with whom he won the OHL title in 2014 in a team that also included the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi, Jason Dickinson and Pius Suter, and he would go on to captain the side in his final two years with the club. His performances in that OHL-winning season also earned him his first international call-up to the Canada Ontario Under-17 side where he was a team-mate of superstars such as Mitch Marner, Travis Konecny and Jakob Chychrun, among others, as well as former Giants centre Speers. After a brief four-game spell with the Laval Rocket in the AHL, McFadden opted to join Acadia University instead of turning professional and excelled with the Axemen, being named to the USports All-Rookie team in his first year in which they won Universiade Bronze, before earning Second All-Star team honours in his second season. It was his stunning displays with Acadia that earned him his second international call-up to the Canadian Universiade team in 2019, and his performances at college level meant he would leap straight back into the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the end of the 2021/22 season. McFadden would have a ‘C’ back on his jersey to start the following season with the ECHL’s Reading Royals before embarking on his European career, making the switch to Slovakian side Poprad two years ago and ending the season with Energie Karlovy Vary in Czechia, taking the team into the Play-Offs, before spending last season in Innsbruck. But, despite all of his hockey achievements, it is McFadden’s off-ice achievements that are even more impressive, the Owen Sound man being a strong advocate for mental health through his MM27 movement after losing a close family friend to suicide in 2011.
Last League Visit to Giants
GALLERY
Pic Credits – Belfast Giants
Overall Away League Record Against Giants
P 33 W 3 L 30 F 65 A 180
Number Crunching
The Flyers are looking to end a 7 game road losing skid against the Giants who have outscored their visitors 53-7 during that time and have blanked the Flyers 3 times.
A Flyers win however would also give them back to back victories against the Giants for only the third time in their EIHL history with the last time being the 2018-19 season.
The Flyers have had 9 different scorers against the Giants this term with only Ian Scheid with more than one gaol and for the Giants they are lead by Jordan Kawaguchi and Scott Conway who both have scored 6 goals in the fixture with Nicolas Guay being on target in the last three meetings.
The Giants have 11 powerplay goals from 34 attempts against the Flyers so far this term whilst the Flyers are 2 for 17 with the man advantage.
Only Coventry with 40 have more powerplay goals in all EIHL competitions this term than the Giants with 35 and on home ice the Giants advantage record clicks at 35.9 percent which is best of all teams.
Brandon Whistle has the active hot stick with goals in the Giants last three matches.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8th FIFE FLYERS v CARDIFF DEVILS @ FIFE ICE ARENA – FACE OFF 5.00pm
Introducing the opposition & One to Watch!
Conor Caponi certainly made an impact in the last meeting between the teams with his hit on Ryan Nicholson being widely reported and something of a trademark in what is his first professional season. Caponi, 25, recorded nine points on five goals and four assists while appearing in 42-of-44 games as a graduate student for the University of Denver Pioneers in 2024-25. He led the team with a .564 winning percentage at the faceoff circle and registered the most penalties with 65 minutes throughout the campaign. He also added 25 blocked shots and finished with a plus-8 rating. The two-time NCAA National Champion set the program record for career games played by skating in his 169th contest on Feb. 8 at Arizona State. He finished his time at DU with 185 career games, tied for the second-most all-time in NCAA history. Caponi missed only one game last season ending a streak of 62 straight games dating back to the 2022-23 season. The Milwaukee native scored his first career game-winning goal last season and also matched a career high of 15 penalty minutes in a game. As an alternative captain the past two seasons, he posted personal highs in 2023-24 during his senior campaign with five goals and eight assists for 13 points, appearing in all 44 games for the Pioneers. Caponi added 26 penalty minutes and was ranked fifth on the team with 22 blocked shots. For his 2022-23 junior year, he tied a previous career high with two goals and four assists for six points while playing in 39 matchups. He went 262-for-536 in faceoffs and added 26 penalty minutes. He took home his first NCAA National Championship in the 2021-22 season, as he registered four goals and five points and placed fifth on the team in both faceoff wins (108) and penalty minutes (37). In Caponi’s 2020-21 freshman campaign, he was one of seven Pioneers to play in all 24 games, where he tallied four points (two goals and two assists) in the COVID-shortened season. He made his collegiate debut on Dec. 2, 2020 versus Minnesota Duluth and recorded first career point with a goal on Dec. 12, 2020 versus Minnesota Duluth. A five-time member of the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and a 2024-25 NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete, Caponi was awarded DU hockey’s Dr. Ralph Verploeg Most Inspirational Player Award last season for his record-breaking season with the Pios. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance from Denver in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Caponi was part of the winningest senior class in Denver hockey history that won 124 games over the last four seasons, two Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions in 2022 and 2024, the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship, four Gold Pan trophies over rival Colorado College, reached three NCAA Frozen Fours and earned national championships in 2022 and 2024.
Last League Visit from Devils
GALLERY
Pic Credits – Jillian McFarlane and Derek Young
Overall League Home Record Against Devils
P 35 W 10 L 25 F 89 A 133
Number Crunching
The Flyers will be looking to record back to back home wins against the Devils for only the 3rd time in their EIHL history with the last time being the 2015/16 season.
The Flyers are 1 and 3 in the meetings with Devils so far having been outscored 8-19 and outshot 93-159.
Kohen Olischefski with 5 goals is top scorer for the Devils in the meetings with Flyers this term with Josh Winquist and David Booth the scoring leaders for Fife with 2 goals each.
The Flyers have killed 10 of Cardiff’s 13 powerplays whilst the Devils are the only team the Flyers have yet to score a man advantage goal against, going 0 for 7 so far.
Cardiff have scored the first goal in 30 of their matches so far this season which leads all teams
The Devils also have the most road shutouts this season with 5 and 9 overall which against is best of all teams.
The Devils have the stingiest goals against in the opening period of games on the road this season having given up just 9.
Click the image below for your downloadable gamesheet for Sunday’s game against Cardiff Devils
