Tonight: 3 Challenge Cup Games

Belfast, Cardiff, Coventry, Fife, Manchester & Sheffield all in action

Six teams do battle in the Challenge Cup this evening. Belfast and Fife behind a weekend series, eyes are on Cardiff's response to last weekend's defeats, and Manchester host a Pennines derby.

1900 Belfast Giants vs. Fife Flyers (Webcast)

Shane Owen faces his former team for the first time this weekend as the Giants and Flyers begin a back-to-back series in the Challenge Cup. Both sides have just a win to their name from two games played thus far, and with the bottom-ranked team in Group A being eliminated the margin for error is slowly lowering.

It’s been over two years since the Flyers last win, over the Giants – that came in a Challenge Cup game, in Belfast, in late September. If omens are anything to go by, that was also a back-to-back weekend as well!

“Getting our first league win last weekend against Nottingham felt great, we needed to get the first under our belt & hopefully there's many more to come. Right now, we need to focus on ourselves and get ready to go for two important Challenge Cup games against Fife.” – Adam Keefe (Head Coach, Belfast Giants)

“The boys look good and we feel good about the upcoming weekend, we know we are going to have to tie up a few loose ends and upgrade our pace level. Belfast are doing incredibly well in the Champions Hockey League and they are an incredibly deep and well drilled team, so we are going to have to be at our best this weekend. The videos we have seen on them in the CHL and domestic campaign show they have the makings of an impressive team. that looks like it is going to be challenging for the top of the table. It is a great challenge for us and a great benchmark for us as a group.” – Todd Dutiaume (Head Coach, Fife Flyers)

1900 Cardiff Devils vs. Coventry Blaze (Webcast)

Cardiff’s pretty disastrous weekend last time out led to Andrew Lord not mincing his words after defeat in Coventry. The beauty of hockey however, as many coaches often say, is that they have the chance to put things right against the same opposition tonight.

The Devils lead Challenge Cup Group B by a point, and two over the Blaze, with only the top two making the next round automatically. The Blaze have become somewhat of a bogey team for Cardiff in Coventry, but at home the Devils have won eight of the last nine games save for a league defeat in November last season.

The Blaze’s win last weekend ended a four-game losing streak.

“Last weekend was a wake-up call for myself personally, and the players. We can’t take any games for granted in this league anymore, every team is too good now and there is no such thing as an easy game. We’ve had a good week of practice, talked about what went wrong on the weekend and I think we’re all just excited to get this game started so we can put last weekend behind us. We saw on Sunday how good a team Coventry have this year and they’ll be coming into the Viola full of confidence following that win so we have to start strong and play to our strengths.” – Andrew Lord (Head Coach, Cardiff Devils)

“I think we’ll see a different Cardiff team to the one we saw last Sunday, and we are going to have to be ready. We changed some things up in that game, and I liked a lot of what I saw. Our powerplay was big for us and our penalty-kill was excellent too which has been a plus for us so far this year. Every game in the cup is going to be important and this one is no different.” – Danny Stewart (Head Coach, Coventry Blaze)

1900 Manchester Storm vs. Sheffield Steelers (Webcast)

If Manchester Storm are going to get one of the two automatic qualification places from Group C, then they’ll need to start turning the Storm Shelter into the fortress it can be. The only side in the group without a win yet, the Storm risk slipping further back of Nottingham and Sheffield who each have two wins to date.

Manchester’s home loss to Nottingham a week ago was their first defeat on home ice this season. They do however have a good home record against the Steelers, with no defeats in over a year.

Sheffield’s home loss to Glasgow on Sunday ended their run of wins, but they are unbeaten in two straight on the road – scoring 10 goals in those two wins combined.

“We need points in the Challenge Cup, and Sheffield at home is a great opportunity to do that. It looks like it’s going to be a big crowd, and we know our fans will bring the energy we need to be successful.” – Ryan Finnerty (Head Coach, Manchester Storm)

“It’s back to Cup action, and in probably one of the most difficult barns in the league. We took the points off them in the cup a few weeks ago and we think we have improved since then. We also know that going into Manchester is very different to playing at the Arena. The one key word is ‘compete’, do that and you can bring the points home, don’t compete and it’s a long night. We will be ready, and we will compete.” – Jonathan Phillips (Captain, Sheffield Steelers)