Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Tough games keen to keep
FOLLOWING their two wins against Edinburgh Capitals last weekend, Dundee Stars hope to take that winning form into their fixtures over the weekend.
Tomorrow they travel to Milton Keynes to face Lightning who sit in the final play-off spot, just two points ahead of the Taysiders who have two games in hand. A win would see Dundee leapfrog them into that play-off position.
However, on their last trip to MK, Stars found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-1 defeat and they will be looking to reverse that result this time round. On a positive note, when Lightning visited Dundee Ice Arena in October, it was Stars who produced the 5-1 victory.
On Sunday, Braehead Clan are the visitors to the Kingsway rink and the home side will be looking to repeat their 3-2 win over Clan in Dundee on January 2. That night Stars came from 2-0 behind to take the points. Face-off on Sunday is at 6.30pm.
Chris Lawrence and Johan Andersson look like they will again sit out the games through injury but, otherwise, Dundee will look to ice a full roster.
It will include the in-form Gabriel Levesque who, having scored two goals and five assists in his last three games, was this week named the Elite League ‘Player of the Week’.
The 27-year-old played a key role as the Stars began the new year with three wins out of three, beating Braehead Clan and Edinburgh Capitals twice.
Coach Omar Pacha paid tribute to his player by saying: “Gabe has really stepped up for us as we got six points from a very busy week and it’s a welldeserved award for him.
“He’s a player who has performed well for us through the adversity we’ve faced with injuries and the team being short handed.
“He uses his speed well and has great vision, which have been super attributes. I couldn’t be happier for him .”
On this weekend’s games, Pacha added: “We go down to Milton Keynes in a positive frame of mind.
“They beat us down there already this season and we beat them in Dundee. It’s 1-1 in the series so it’s all to play for.
“If we beat them we draw level on points with them with games in hand and it keeps us right in there to qualify for the play-offs.
“Clan on Sunday will be tough, too,