Sjögren inspires rest of Stars team, says Pacha

ICE HOCKEY: Dundee head coach praises veteran Swede’s impact

Dundee Stars head coach Omar Pacha praised his Swedish veteran shotstopper Pontus Sjögren ahead of tonight’s Challenge Cup clash away to Glasgow Clan.

The goaltender was in fine form again on Sunday in an Elite League meeting between the sides in Dundee, which Stars lost on penalty shots.

Pacha, whose side have secured their place in the next stage of the competition, said: “Pontus gives us a chance to win every game and I hope guys realise that we have one of the best, if not the best goalie.

“We have to push harder to score goals. Scoring an average of two goals a game, you are not going to win many hockey games.

“So fair play to the defence and the goalies, I thought the forwards generated good chances but it just did not seem to want to go in.”

Talking about Sunday’s shoot-out loss, Pacha admitted that the effort was evident.

“Sometimes we get one line scoring and the other two are not – it is almost like we have to play a perfect game to win hockey games. However, we got chances tonight but we could not score and I thought the only chances they got was because of our turnovers.

“If we play like this, we are always going to give ourselves a chance to win and now we have to find ways to win in overtime and shoot-outs.”

Glasgow captain Zack Fitzgerald and Stars winger Matt Bissonnette did not feature over the weekend for their sides and are likely to miss tonight’s game as well.

Stars have won all their games against Scottish opponents so far but lost twice to Belfast Giants.

The Northern Irish side will finish top of Group B and advance as a top three seed.

For finishing second, Dundee will be seeded between fourth and ninth after all three groups have been finalised.

So far Stars, Sheffield Steelers and Cardiff Devils have secured their place in the next round.

Glasgow need to win to have a chance of qualifying as the top two teams from all three groups will qualify but only two of the three third-placed teams will advance to the knockout stage

Both teams that finish in fourth place in Group B and Group C are automatically eliminated.

Face-off tonight is 7.30.