Flyers looking to improve on and off the ice Hutchins tells of lengthy meetings to plan way ahead for Fife side

Jeff Hutchins has revealed Fife Flyers’ coaching staff conducted an intensive debrief on last season.

Flyers’ assistant, who is also director of player development at Kirkcaldy, declared: “We need to improve on and off the ice.”

Hutchins, a former player/coach at Dundee Stars and an ex Edinburgh Capitals player, said: “Todd (Dutiaume, Fife’s head coach) and I have had lengthy meetings and dissected last season.

“Without going into too much detail, we have identified a number of areas that we intend to improve.”

The Canadian-born GB international thinks the club made strides last season.

But he added: “A couple adjustments to the way we approach things will add value and translate into further success.”

And he revealed that his player development role is about working with current team members collectively and individually.

Hutchins explained: “I watched a lot of video of the players and I looked for things in their game that I could help them improve by making subtle changes that would ultimately help the team performance.

“There is an element of junior development involved as well. Steven Lynch and I have developed a process to identify the talent coming up and scheduling training sessions for those identified to train up with us.”

He believes Chad Smith, Reece Cochrane and Andrew Little are examples of the process.

Hutchins added: “Chad Smith is going to be with us this year and we will continue to work with him and help him adjust to being a full-time professional.

“Chris Wands benefited a lot this year from video and I challenged him to be better and take minutes off other guys.

“He did a great job rising to the challenge.”

Meanwhile, former Dundee Stars player Tony Hand has been inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Cologne.

The 49-year-old received the Richard ‘Bibi’ Torriani Award for an outstanding career by a player from a non-top hockey nation as part of this year’s inductees.

The former forward scored more than 4,250 points in a 34-year senior playing career.

Picture: Fife Flyers. Looking for better from Fife Flyers: Jeff Hutchins.