Fife Flyers: ‘we regroup and go again’ says coach Tom Coolen after Challenge Cup exit

They went down 3-2 at the Spectrum for a 6-3 aggregate exit at the quarter-final stages of the competition. Down to four defenceman and a roster of 13 skaters, he saw his team tie the second period and win the third - close, but just not enough to overhaul the first leg loss and take this tie into overtime. It was the team’s seventh straight loss, a run which underlines the fragility at its heart - a lack of depth, and a core of experienced British skaters.

Imports Jonas Emmerdahl and Johan Erikkson were both out, along with Brits Fynn Page, James Spence and Brodie Kay on the back of a ten-hour bus journey which tested the bench to its limits. That it came up with gutsy finale only underlines how close it is to igniting once more - and the sense of frustration that the potential is, again, in danger of going un-tapped. and the need to bring in more players.

Coolen has only two cards left to play in terms of import signings and one of them has to be a defenceman to replace Reece Harsch who handed in his notice and returned home, and subsequently signed for ECHL outfit Cincinnati Cyclones. There is someone very much on his radar and a push to get him in as soon as possible - but strengthening the depth with experienced Brits is whole new ball game, and Flyers are firmly behind the eight ball; a position the coach inherited.

Post-game at Guildford, Coolen said: “We were short staffed and the guys put in valiant effort on the road. We gave everything we have and are waiting for guys to get better, heal up and ideally have a full contingent. We don’t have a lot of depth. You have to dance with the girl you bring - that’s what we did. We battled and made a game of it. I’m not unhappy with that - pretty proud of my group.

“We had four defenceman, nine forwards and no spares - that’s like old time hockey. It wasn’t easy. We tried to play as well defensively as we could, and it was a 3-2 hockey game - that’s all I looked at. We won the third period, tied the second, lost the first; that was the difference in the game.”

With a road trip to high flying Sherffield Steelers on Saturday and a home game against Cardiff Devils on Sunday, Coolen’s view is the team “moves on to the next one” and recreates the form which saw them push Steelerrs to within one goal. “The whole thing is we regroup,” he said.

Coolen is hoping captain Emmerdahl returns this weekend along with Erikkson. He will continue to ice Latvian centre Vitalijs Pavlovs who is covering for Ben Hawerchuk - currently on the Injury Reserve (IR) list for 28 days - while Fynn Page has only just resumed skating so is not in contention, but James Spence should return after missing the midweek road trip.