Hat-trick hero Cameron sends positive message to Fife Flyers fans

Shawn Cameron made himself an instant hero with Fife Flyers fans for his hat-trick at Glasgow Clan which helped claim two welcome Challenge Cup points in a 6-5 win at Braehead.

And the 27-year-old Canadian confirmed there is much more to come as he settles into a new life in British ice hockey.

The 5ft 11in right wing could now be a marked man when he travels with the squad to the Dundee Ice Arena on Thursday (7.30pm) for a televised Challenge Cup clash with arch rivals Dundee Stars.

And the former college star, who developed his game further in the round-tough East Coast and American Hockey League in North America, confirmed that there is a great mood in the camp.

Fife are desperate to erase their 3-0 home defeat by Stars last Saturday, 24-hours after the 6-5 success at Glasgow Clan.

Cameron, who joined the Fifers from Greenville Swamp Rabbits, where he scored three goals in 36 appearances last term, said: “There is a lot more to come from me. 

“People that saw the game (in Glasgow) will have seen that the guys set it up for me to tap it home so I think my shooting and skating and all round play will develop.

“This is a solid team going forward and I think we are going to be very dangerous on the power play as well this season.”  

Cameron believes that not playing since last Saturday has been a positive as it has allowed the guys to gel more and he said: “It is nice that we have another game (against Dundee) this week so we can show them what we can do. 

“Last Saturday was not our best game. We were a little tired. Friday was sapping physically, especially as we went in without some players, and Dundee did not play the night before so went in fresh, but we do not want to make excuses. 

“We have a good group of guys here and we have had a few days away from playing so we will be fresh for the game.”

Dundee, he said, are a good team, they are fast and they transition really well. They also have speed but he added: “We don’t want to make it into a track meet and we have to contain them and we want to control the game a little more.

Cameron acknowledged that Dundee are a good team with a fine goaltender in 6ft-tall, Swedish stopper Anton Svensson and he said: “We did not really press him that much but we have got a great goaltender in Shane Owen and we have got some great defenceman and we players coming back after injury.

“We will have even more transition and we have a lot of speed this year. I believe we can match them (Dundee) for speed.”

Looking longer-term, the Quebec-born forward said: “I have not played in this league before and I do not know much about the other teams and how much of a challenge they will be, but all I know is that we have a hard working team here and making the play-offs is mandatory for us this year.”

Switching to Britain had, he said, been a big change but added: “At the end of the day it is hockey and some of the guys in the locker room have played where I have played before and that has helped

“The transition has not been too hard. Also, training in the morning as we do here (in Kirkcaldy) is the same back home. We trained in the morning, we were out and I like it as you have the rest of the day to enjoy other things.”

Meanwhile, experienced forward Chris Lawrence (picture courtesy of Fife Flyers) looks set to ice in the televised clash on Tayside. The 35-year-old jetted in from Australia on Tuesday after coaching Melbourne Mustangs, but Flyers’ coach Todd Dutiaume confirmed the former Dundee Stars player iced with the squad on Wednesday morning at training.

The inclusion of the 6ft 4in right wing or centre ice is a major boost and Dutiaume knows exactly what he will get from the former Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick who played 16 games for the Kirkcaldy club last term, scoring three goals and setting up two other strikes, before breaking an ankle.

However, 30-year-old Swedish defenceman Jonas Emmerdahl who was a key player last season icing in 51 games, will be sidelined because of an upper body injury.

Dutiaume said: “It is disappointing to be minus Jonas, but we earned two points at Glasgow in a 6-5 win last Friday without him and that showed the character of the team as we were also without two other players.

“I don’t believe we showed what we can do in our 3-0 defeat by Dundee at Kirkcaldy on Saturday. Every competition we enter we want to do well in and so we travel to Dundee looking for two points.”