Change in Flyers-Stars rivalry after over 6,000 days

Tom Coolen is the new Flyers Head Coach (Photo: Flyers Images)

The rivalry between Fife and Dundee is long-standing, with only some 30 miles separating their respective arenas. Players have come and gone, but there have been constants to the rivalry, especially since both teams joined the Elite League.

However, when the sides meet on Saturday night in Kirkcaldy, something will be different for the first time in 6,790 days: Todd Dutiaume won't be behind the Flyers' bench. 

The long-time coach in Fife stepped back in the off-season and was the only Flyers coach in their Elite League era. Their rivalry with Dundee, however, dates back further, and Dutiaume was the only coach Stars fans had seen on a Flyers bench since he took the job at the start of the 2005/06 season when the teams were in the SNL. The last meeting between the Flyers and Stars where Dutiaume wasn't coach was a BNL Playoff game on 6 March 2005 - the Stars won 5-4 in OT that night, but Dutiaume nonetheless had two goals in that fixture.

To find the last time the Flyers played against a Dundee senior team without Dutiaume in anyway involved in the game, you have to go back way before the inception of the Stars and the build of the Dundee Ice Arena itself. All the way back to 1989 in fact when the then Dundee senior team, Tayside Tigers, played Fife Flyers in Kirkcaldy on 4 March. For the record, the Flyers won that game 10-5 - and Dutiaume was only 15.

With thanks to John Ross (@flyers_history) for the information in this article.