Ice hockey – skipper says Stars must build on recent successes

Matt Marquardt believes a pre-Christmas talk-in and the signing of two new players has helped turn Dundee Stars’ season around.

The resurgent squad go head-to-head with Glasgow Clan on Friday (7.30pm) in front of a nationwide TV audience on FreeSports.

The game also faces-off the Elite League’s Pride Weekend and the 32-year-old is supportive, but the inspirational player is also fully focused on maintaining the club’s fine recent form.

The 6ft 3in forward from North Bay, Ontario, believes that the squad must continue to build on their recent success if they want to clinch a place in the top eight and secure a play-off slot.

And the Tayside club’s captain said: “This is the business end of the season and we reassessed things going into the second-half of the campaign.

“We talked a lot about the way the leagues are set up in North America where the number of play-off games can be 20-plus.

“For us, we are down to under 20 games left in the season and every point matters. That makes for exciting hockey.”

The affable Canadian said that this type of game was easy to prepare for as there are play-off implications for both sides.

He added: “Stars v Clan is on Freesports and we are expecting a big crowd. Both teams are well-coached and both teams are good on both sides of the puck. Our job is to keep building on our recent successes going down the stretch.”