Tom Coolen, Fife Flyers’ head coach, should be back on the bench after his one-game ban when the Kirkcaldy club entertain Elite League pace-setting Sheffield Steelers on Sunday (face-off 17.15).
Brady Pouteau stood-in behind the bench as Flyers skidded to their third straight defeat in a 2-0 reverse at Manchester Storm.
The Kirkcaldy club were 2-0 down after 12 minutes and were unable to recover. In fact, Fife were caught cold in ten seconds when Loren Ulett opened the scoring and Stephen Johnson made it 2-0 after 12min 42sec.
Flyers blanked a penalty-filled second period but failed to turn the tables on Storm to skid to their third straight defeat after a 5-0 reverse at Sheffield Steelers last Sunday followed by a 4-2 defeat on Wednesday at Nottingham Panthers. Storm move into third position in the table.
Pouteau said it was a rough start and they did not get the bounces but he said: “We have a short bench and there was real effort from the guys and they all gave 100 per cent.”
Coolen was handed a one-game ban after an incident at Nottingham stated on the game sheet to be “abuse” and he said: “I have to control my emotions a little better to see this situation does not happen again.”
The Canadian, in his podcast called Coolen’s Corner on Flyers social media, said it was quite a challenge in Nottingham and his men opened the scoring and they kept it that way until the half-way mark in the game but the home side countered with two yet we battled back. We tied the game up at 2-2. Unfortunately, we turned the puck over late in the game and they capitalised, he added.
Coolen said: “It was a game I felt we should have come out of with a point at least and I am disappointed but on the other hand it is great to play against another team that we have not played against yet and I believe we can compete with.
“Belfast and Sheffield have been the two best teams I have seen but I’ve not seen Cardiff yet so I think we are in the thick of it and it should be interesting.”
He added: “Yes, I have a suspension and I was looking for a call from the referee that we didn’t get. I thought he should have called a penalty shot in our favour with four mintues left in the game. That’s life and we move on. He sees things differently I guess.”
Coolen is expected back behind the bench on Sunday when Flyers play their next game and it is against high-flying Sheffield Steelers at The Fife Ice Arena at 17.15.
Steelers top the ten-strong table with 12 points from seven outings and, to date, they are the second highest scorers with 24 goals. Nottingham, who also have 12 points from seven starts, have scored 28 to top the statistics.
The men from the House of Steel are also mean at the back having shipped only ten goals, the second lowest figure behind Belfast Giants who have let in only eight.
PICTURE: Flyers at Manchester courtesy of the Elite League
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