Tonight: Scottish derby opens Pride Weekend
Photo: Derek Black
Dundee Stars and Glasgow Clan kick off the Elite League’s Pride Weekend with their Scottish derby live on FreeSports! Separated by only four points in the league table but three places, it is very much more than local pride at stake tonight in the Dundee Ice Arena.
The Stars have played two games more than both their Glaswegian opponents and Manchester Storm – a win against a team so close in the table is vital if the Stars are going to make a sustained playoff push.
Glasgow, with an injury-hit squad, are trying desperately to keep their place in the playoff positions and not be dragged down into a race to make the postseason. The Clan do have the advantage of games in hand but with another packed schedule in the next seven days their roster is going to be pushed to its limits again.
“We’re very proud to be opening the league’s Pride Weekend. Obviously it is a huge weekend, but to say it’s season-defining games is still a bit early. We have to consider that and have that mindset within the locker room to focus on how big these games are. If Glasgow have Killeen back then they will have some solid goaltending and they have some guys up front who can hurt us, so we have to be at our best and defensively we have to make sure we are as good as we were last Sunday. We have to stay disciplined, play within our structure and have another good start and then we go from there for Sunday’s game. If we get the job done, then that is a huge momentum boost for us going into Manchester.” – Omar Pacha (Head Coach, Dundee Stars)
“There’s no question that we’ve been going through some adversity, and we’ve been very honest with each other as a group about where we need to get back to. A lot of our training sessions have focussed on the basics to ensure that we all know what our systems are and how we should be playing in different types of game situations. It will be a great event this weekend, but we have to make sure we’re focusing on these vital league points as well.” – Zack Fitzgerald (Head Coach, Glasgow Clan)
