Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Big weekend as Stars look
DunDee Stars continue their push for the play-offs this weekend and face possibly two of the most important games of their season so far.
Tomorrow they travel to Braehead where they take on Clan in the first of a double header (7pm).
On Sunday, the two clash again, this time at Dundee Ice Arena when the face-off has been brought forward from 6.30pm to 5pm in an effort to attract more families to the sport.
Both clubs go into the two matches knowing the winners can open up a significant lead in their efforts to gain that final play-off place.
Clan hold the initiative, sitting one place above Stars in that all-important eighth place — but the Taysiders have three games in hand.
Four points from the two games will elevate Dundee into eighth with a three-point gap in their favour and they will still have the three fewer games played.
Stars’ winning streak came to a halt in Nottingham l ast weekend but Braehead also dropped two points last Sunday when they went down 5-2 to Fife Flyers in Kirkcaldy.
There has been a large increase in crowd levels in the past few matches and indications suggest this Sunday’s game will also follow that trend. The importance of the game for both teams is something coach Omar Pacha is well aware of.
He said: “This is another huge weekend for us with back-t-back games against the Clan.
“We are on our play-off push and they are also chasing that same spot. So, if we have a good result, we can also push for the Gardiner Conference, too. We have a lot to play for this weekend.
“Considering how we have been with injuries and playing with a short bench, if you had told me at that time we would have been one point behind the play-off spot with three games in hand I would have taken that.
“This is a great opportunity for us and I want the players to know that they put ourselves in this position and we need to keep going to get that spot. We have more fans coming into the building and they want to have a play-off team and we owe it to them to get there.
“We are going into this game by game.
“The biggest game is tomorrow and the next biggest game is Sunday and it’s right that we go into every game with the right mindset.”