Fife emerge pointless from weekend double-header

Fife Flyers lost 8-5 at Kirkcaldy to Scottish rivals Glasgow Clan in the Fife Ice Arena in a Challenge Cup clash in which the home side were outshot 54-33.

Only 24-hours earlier, head coach Tom Coolen (pictured) saw his squad beaten 5-1 at Cardiff Devils in the Elite League.

Clan scored after only eight seconds, through Cole Ully and the Braehead club slipped in No 2 after 8min 11sec when Steven Seigo netted on a power play with Flyers’ forward Drake Pilon called for slashing.

A minute later and Ully was on the mark for his second and Clan’s third, but Flyers hit back after 16 minutes when Michael Cichy netted on the power play with Phelix Martineau setting-up the chance.

And they cut the deficit further when Martineau scored unassisted just over two minutes later, but Clan refused to buckle and Ully scored his third with 18 seconds left of the first session for a 4-2 interval lead.

It became 5-2 after 3min 13sec of period two when Gary Haden, who loves scoring against Fife, found the net before Lucas Chiodo pulled one back after 28 minutes with Nikolai Shulga and Noah Delmas involved in the build-up.

However, Clan were in no mood to surrender their lead and they fired their sixth after 43 minutes when Joe Hazeldine netted unassisted and short-handed with team-mate Mitchell Heard in the sin bin on an interference call.

The goal was given after a video review.

And it got worse for the home side when Cade Neilson, son of Clan coach, Corey, scored the seventh with less than 13 minutes remaining, but Flyers stuck to their task and scored their fourth in the 50^th minute through Tyler Heidt, unassisted, for 7-4.

Flyers closed the gap to two after 52 minutes when Pilon netted unassisted and Clan had a goal ruled off two minutes later following a coach’s challenge for goaltender interference before Flyers withdrew their netminder, Shane Owen, to give them six skaters with less than three minutes left on the clock.

The gamble backfired with Deven Sideroff scored after being fed by Heard with less than two minutes remaining.

Dundee Stars, beaten 5-4 by Manchester Storm on Tayside on Saturday in the Elite League where shutout 5-0 by Belfast Giants in the Challenge Cup on Sunday.