Flyers coach hits out at his players after Stars defeats

Todd Dutiaume has again blasted his squad after back-toback defeats by arch rivals Dundee Stars.

Saturday’s depressing 3-1 home capitulation to the Tayside team came in the Challenge Cup, Group B, after Dundee had made the gruelling trip to Belfast on Friday for a fixture in the same competition where they lost 4-1.

And Stars eclipsed Fife 3-2 after a confidence-boosting shootout win at the Dundee Ice Arena on Sunday to complete the misery for head coach Dutiaume.

In contrast, his opposite number, Omar Pacha, could not be more pleased with his men who earned four points out of a possible six during a tough three-game weekend.

Fife now face a long trip to the south of England tonight to face Guildford Flames in the Elite League.

Dutiaume said Saturday’s performance was the same as the one in which Fife lost to Belfast Giants at the Fife Ice Arena in their previous home game.

He said then that was not acceptable and the Canadian thought his men had turned a corner at Sheffield.

Dutiaume said: “Anybody who watched the webcast (from Sheffield) and the feeling I got was that here we go, that was the team we are looking for.

“We figured a few things out as a group and on Saturday we took a big step backwards again.

“It was disappointing because you could see in the small periods, and it was small, that we woke up.

“My concern is that we have a group of guys that don’t want to go get the puck.

“We have only won three games, including our off-season, and it is not good enough.

“We need to find a team identity and recognise that this is our livelihood and I’m not going to let an attitude prevail that we go out there and expect it to happen.

“It is not acceptable and this league is far too good for that. We have got to be able to put in the work.”

Pacha was impressed with the effort on Saturday after a long trip to Northern Ireland and he said the squad responded well in the early stages of Saturday’s game.

They showed high energy and lapsed in the second but upped the tempo in the third to close the game down.

And the win on Sunday in front of home fans was the icing on the cake.