Stars coach tells players ‘it’s time’

Pacha stresses need to ‘get back on track’ as away double-header looms

Dundee Stars coach Omar Pacha believes that now is the perfect time for his players to “rise to the occasion”.

His side’s first away double-header of the season takes place this weekend as they head to Surrey to take on Guildford Flames tonight before crossing the border into Wales to face Cardiff Devils tomorrow.

Redemption will be on the mind of the Dundee players and head coach Pacha as they look to make-up for last week’s 5-0 defeat at home to the Flames.

Injuries still plague Stars, who have lost their last four games, and it must feel like a ‘one in one out’ situation as their team sheet has not grown in the past month despite players returning to full fitness.

Just as Cam McGiffin, Joey De Concilys and Johan Andersson each returned to the line-up, Jordan Cownie, Justin Fox and Riley Stadel have all had to miss games to recover from injuries.

Ian Watters opened the scoring against the Stars last Saturday with Brett Ferguson and Liam Stewart extending the lead to 3-0 before the end of the first period.

Jez Lundin made it 4-0 just before the halfway point and Geoff Walker netted a debut goal in the final period for the English side, as Paul Dixon’s men shut out the Stars 5-0.

Dundee will need to be wary once more of John Dunbar, who has 14 points in his last six games and has a total of eight goals and 27 assists for the season.

Pacha said: “We need to get back on track, we can’t control the injuries and that guys are out.

“What we can control is how we adjust and we have now lost four in a row and now is the time to rise to the occasion and show some fight.

“It will be hard but it will be an exciting challenge.”

Dundee defenceman Cam McGiffin has previous experiences with the Flames from his time in the English Premier League, before Guildford made the step up to the Elite League.

“Guildford are a pretty solid outfit but with us looking to burst out of this little bump in the road right now, it will definitely be a hard fought battle,” he said.

Dundee’s last win came against Cardiff, defeating the reigning league champions 3-1 on home ice two weeks ago.

It will not be easy for the Stars as they take on Cardiff at Ice Arena Wales. However, other teams have recently caused some big upsets in the Welsh capital.

Most recently Fife Flyers fought back from 5-1 down to win 8-6, then the Belfast Giants equalised with five seconds left before taking the points in a shoot-out just last weekend.

Joey Martin has been in fine form for Devils as he has 20 points from 18 games.

Both games face-off at 6pm.

Picture: Derek Black. Joey de Concilys is back in Stars’ line-up. He is seen battling with Mike Cazzola of Edinburgh Capitals earlier this season.