Dorowicz hopes win can spark Stars run

Dundee Stars forward Spencer Dorowicz hopes he and his teammates can start to build consistency from last week’s road victory at Manchester Storm and start a run that can secure them a higher Elite League playoff seeding.

Omar Pacha’s men take on playoff rivals Guildford Flames tonight, before travelling to face old rivals Fife Flyers tomorrow.

This will be Flames’ last league trip to Dundee this season. So far they have won and lost a game on their trips to Dundee Ice Arena.

Stars meet Fife tomorrow for the first time since January 3, with the Dundee men winless in their last three derby clashes.

Dorowicz said: “That was a great result for us on Sunday and a much-needed two points as we continue to try to move up in the standings.

“The guys are feeling good and we are excited to continue to build on our recent play.

“If we focus on ourselves as opposed to who we are facing we seem to get a better result.

“So, that is what we are going to continue to do going into the weekend to give ourselves the best chance of another good set of results.”

Spencer continued: “We have struggled to come home with points on the road this season, but perhaps our most recent win will be the spark we need to continue to win on the road and to ensure ourselves a playoff position, and the highest position possible.”

Despite Fife’s success against Dundee, Todd Dutiaume’s men are stuck at the foot of the table and are seven points adrift as they prepare to face Glasgow Clan tonight ahead of the clash with Dundee.

Last weekend’s depressing double defeat – 7-1 at Belfast Giants and 3-2 at home to Coventry Blaze – leaves Fife anchored at the bottom with 20 points from 34 games and time is running out for the Kirkcaldy club to make a real push for the top eight.

Fellow strugglers Manchester Storm are second bottom, with 27 points from 36 outings, while Dundee occupy the eighth and final playoff spot with 29 points from 33 fixtures.

Glasgow are seventh with 30 points from 33 games, the same points as sixthplaced Coventry who have only played 31 games.

The club’s defence has also been plundered for 118 goals, the second worst in the division, and that is even with highly rated Shane Owen between the pipes.

Despite Fife’s problems, he is sixth in the individual standings with a save percentage of 91.57. Clan’s respected netminder Shane Starrett is seventh with a save percentage of 91.40.

Flyers and Clan have only met once this term in the league, the Glasgow side winning 4-1 on November 30.

However, there is a chink of light for the Kirkcaldy club.

They have won three of their last six games, while Clan have only won two, but Fife assistant coach Jeff Hutchins was frank in his assessment of last Sunday’s home defeat by Blaze.

He said the coaching staff were disappointed at the effort shown and added: “The group must understand that you can’t take shortcuts and you have to play for as near 60 minutes as possible. Consistency has been killing us all year long.”

The stark reality is that the players must find that consistency, otherwise they will be outside the playoffs and looking in at the eight qualifiers at the business end of the season.