Dundee Stars goaltender Dan Bakala should be the Elite League’s Most Valuable Players this season.
That’s the view of Hull Stingrays player-coach, Sylvain Cloutier, whose side come to the Dundee Ice Arena tonight.
Bakala is the leading goalie in the league with a 92.7 saves percentage.
Cloutier said: “Bakala, for me, is the MVP of this league. He has won them games night in and night out.
“He gets the man of the match nearly every game and every game we have played against them he has been the difference.
“They (Dundee) don’t score a lot of goals but they find ways to win games, they shut you down, they collapse in the box, they block shots, they do the little things right.
“They pay the price and, as a coach, that is what you want from your team.”
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Fife Flyers are also at home against newly-crowned Elite League champions, Belfast Giants, and Danny Stewart, the Kirkcaldy club’s associate player/coach, admitted: “It’s a big test.”
Fife have 45 points against Giants’ 83, with both clubs having played 48 games.
Stewart, still smarting from Wednesday night’s disappointing reverse at Hull Stingrays, said: “We have to be ready to play 60 solid minutes against Belfast.
“Our attitude must be right and if we play the way we have been playing in recent weeks then we have a chance.
“If we play as we did in Hull in midweek then we will not pick up any points.”
Flyers are booked into the Dundee Ice Arena on Sunday to face Dundee Stars as they bid to move back into the top eight in the table and claim a coveted end-of-season play-off spot.
Stewart said: “It’s a tough weekend. Dundee is another difficult game for us, but if we want to make the play-offs then we have to pick up points.
“They are a tough team to beat in their own building, but we have a lot of work to do.”