Dundee Stars and Fife Flyers back on the ice as new season gets under way

Dundee side to face Belfast and Glasgow

Dundee Stars take to the ice for another home double-header this weekend as the regular season and Challenge Cup action gets under way.

Dundee also opened last season against Belfast Giants and took the extra points after a tense shoot-out, but Belfast would exact their revenge throughout the year.

However, with very different squads on both sides, the results could be very different.

Meanwhile tomorrow’s opponents, the newly-rebranded Glasgow Clan, have won just one of their four preseason games.

They beat Stavanger Oilers 2-1 but have conceded 14 goals in the pre-season and netted seven times.

It could be another year of scrapping for play-off spots between the Scottish rivals.

The Challenge Cup is always the first competition teams take part in and head coach Omar Pacha described the importance of picking up points early.

He said: “It is more about getting better as a team, making sure we do the little things right and perfect the details that we learnt over the last few weeks.

“If we are able to get a few points this weekend and take advantage of home ice, I’m sure it will look good for the rest of the Challenge Cup phase.”

Today’s game faces-off at 7pm and it is a 5pm start tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Fife Flyers coach Jeff Hutchins admitted there is pressure to get an early win in this weekend’s tough Challenge Cup double-header.

The Kirkcaldy club entertain Glasgow Clan tonight and defending cup champions Belfast Giants tomorrow.

Hutchins said: “Naturally, we want to get a good start and there is expectation from last season.

“Whether we can do that remains to be seen, but training has gone well this week and the guys have been working on systems.”

He said Flyers performed well last season and that fans will be hoping that the club kicks on.