Stars determined to extinguish Flames

Dundee Stars aim to extend their winning run this weekend as they face Guildford Flames in a league double-header.

The Flames make the long journey north tonight (7pm) before both teams travel south to do it all over again tomorrow evening (6pm).

The head coaches are aiming to build off their last games which saw both sides win by two-goal margins.

Omar Pacha’s Stars defeated Manchester Storm 5-3 at home following an empowering 4-3 win over the Belfast Giants the previous night.

Paul Dixon’s men also won at home, beating Fife Flyers 4-2, but they were bouncing back from a 4-1 road defeat against Sheffield Steelers the day before.

Stars are hopeful of having one of their injured defenders back in the line-up for this weekend’s games.

Jagger Dirk missed the last two matches with a lower body injury but has spent the past two weeks recovering and can potentially be cleared to play this weekend.

However, Reilly O’connor and forward-come-defenceman Brett Stovin are going to be out for another few weeks, according to Pacha.

Jesse Craige, Stephen Lee and Jez Lundin did not ice in any of Guildford’s games last weekend.

The Flames will also be missing forward Brett Ferguson who was suspended for one game.

Looking to the weekend, Pacha said: “Well hopefully we see some consistency, we want to keep playing better defensively.

“So it will be important to keep using our speed offensively but play a sound game defensively.

“We are going to have to make sure we stay out of the box and don’t give them many powerplays because their biggest strength last year was their powerplay.

“If we do that, I’m confident we will be successful, but we need to keep scoring goals and keep creating offence.

“Guildford have a lot of skill up front, so we just have to build on last week and being at home on Saturday is a big opportunity to do that as we are aiming to start the weekend off with a win.”

He continued: “I expect the guys to be ready and Guildford are going to have a long travel day, but at the same time you see it every week in this league.

“For example, last weekend we travelled to Belfast and won then travelled back and won again at home, so it is about how you play and how you prepare for the game.”

Dundonian forward Craig Garrigan insists Stars will constantly be pushing themselves to be better despite last weekend’s success.

He said: “Even though we got two wins the past weekend, we still know that there is still room for improvement.”