The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stars coach wants more of the same for Blaze clash
Pacha expects Dundee side to follow on from victories over Flyers
The Kitmart Dundee Stars are looking to continue their good league form with a third successive win against Coventry Blaze tonight before heading south to Wales tomorrow.
Following back-to-back victories against Fife Flyers last weekend, Stars were crushed 8-0 by Belfast Giants in the first leg of the Challenge Cup quarterfinals.
Stars have been boosted by the news that their starting netminder, Pontus Sjögren, will return to action this weekend after missing Wednesday’s cup clash.
Outlining his expectations for the weekend ahead, Stars head coach Omar Pacha said: “I expect the same performance we had last week against Fife.
“Having Pontus back, too, gives us confidence and he has that leadership role in our team as well and I hope the guys will know the importance of the game against Coventry.
“Last time we kind of let it slip away, not because of our bad play, just because lucky bounces went their way.
“So I think it is two even teams and we need to catch them in the standings. We really need to get the two points and bring them closer to us.
“As I said, it is just about getting back to our performance that we had against Fife and I think when you play the same way that we played against Fife, we can give ourselves a really good chance to win against anybody.”
Looking further ahead to tomorrow’s clash with Cardiff, the Canadian added: “Cardiff on the road is always a big challenge because they are so good at home, but they lost their last home game against Milton Keynes.
“So they kind of owe one to the fans, but you can see that on any night anyone can beat anyone, so there is no reason why we cannot go to Cardiff and have a strong performance.”
Stars are out for revenge as they look to reverse the outcome of their previous match against Coventry Blaze.
In their last match two weeks ago, François Bouchard and Matt Marquardt both netted for Stars but Pacha’s side were beaten 5-2 after a lucky bounce allowed Kevin Morris to score the decisive goal.
Tim Crowder (two), Justin Hache and Ben Lake were also on the scoresheet for Danny Stewart’s men.
There was some tension between the two teams last time out as some heavy checks lead to Chris Joyaux and Dundee’s Fabrizio Ricci dropping the gloves and their bout raised the atmosphere in the Skydome Arena.
Coventry were also defeated by Belfast in their last match, Blaze were on the wrong side of a 2-1 scoreline as Alex Nikiforuk’s lone goal was not enough to earn any points from the league leaders.
Nikiforuk and Crowder still lead the Blaze in points with 24 and 23 from 19 league games, while Lukas Lundvald tops the Stars’ point-scoring table with 17 points from 18 games.
Today’s game at the DIA faces-off at 7pm and tomorrow’s match against Cardiff Devils starts at 6pm.
Meanwhile, Flyers will aim to halt their alarming slide tonight by snapping a five-game losing streak when they entertain play-off and league champions Cardiff Devils at the Fife Ice Arena (7.15pm face-off).
Fife moved to the top of the league not that long ago but have now slipped to fourth.
They have 28 points from 22 games while Cardiff are two points ahead in third position but have played two fewer games.
Cardiff emerged triumphant with a 7-2 win on October 21 but Fife earned revenge with a 5-4 overtime win at the same venue in early November, then lost 3-2 in Cardiff on November 21.