The Stars and the Flyers will be coming together to welcome Romanian side, CSM Corona Brasov and Dutch club, Tilburg Trappers to Tayside on September 16th & 17th , as both Scottish clubs will face each of the teams on home ice.
Additionally, the Stars and Flyers will also face-off in two preseason friendlies, with Flyers firstly hosting Stars on Saturday, September 9th, face-off 7.15pm, then followed by a return fixture at the DIA on Sunday, September 10th, at 5.00pm
The following weekend then sees the Stars host CSM Corona Brasov on Saturday, September 16, face-off 7.00 pm, while Flyers welcome Tilburg Trappers to the FIA at 7.15pm.
Sunday, September 17, then sees the two teams swap as the Stars will play Tilburg at 5pm in Dundee and Fife take on CSM Corona Brasov at 5:15pm. Ticket information and prices are below;
Adults Tickets £18 (18 – 64 years old)
Concession Tickets £12 (Under 18s, 65+ and registered disabled)
Family Tickets £48 (2 Adults and 2 Under 18s)
Tickets are on sale online NOW and from 10am on 26/7/23 at Dundee Ice Arena Box office.
Discussing the preseason schedule, Stars Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We wanted to play some different teams and experience new challenges and this is a great way to do that.
“The thing with our league is, we start so much later than most others in Europe but the two teams we are bringing in, their leagues start around the same time as ours and we are excited to have them.
“Tilburg, I have a great relationship with their GM and when I was in Denmark, we were supposed to be playing a tournament in Tilburg but obviously with COVID it got cancelled but I have kept that contact very close over the years and with Brasov, I know the assistant
coach very well, so I reached out to him to see what they would want to do and then built a new relationship with their GM too.
“I am excited for this because it is something new for us and something new for the fans as well, we have two good teams coming here.
“Brasov are always one of the better teams in the Erste Liga, they are always competing for championships and it is the same with Tilburg, they are a Dutch team playing in the German leagues and the only ones who do that and they have been around a long time with their history.
“We have two historic clubs coming and everyone knows Fife’s business already, so we are just excited to have everybody coming to Dundee for that weekend.”
Speaking about what he hopes his side can take from the four games, LeFebvre continued: “For me, it is not so much about them but more about us and getting prepared for the season, making sure we are correcting our mistakes and making sure we are getting our systems in place.
“So, it is more about us than the other teams and that is what preseason friendlies are all about, so we can carry that on into the season.
“Both of those games are going to be good tests for us and we want to get our systems in place, get everybody getting some chemistry together and get implementing what we have done in practice into games, so we can roll into the season on a high.”
The Canadian Coach also wants to make it a spectacle for the fans and hopes this can open the door for more European competition.
He said: “We want to make it a memorable event for everyone, not just for the teams and the fans but also other teams in the future who would get word of mouth and want to come to Dundee.
“We have a great arena at the DIA and a great fanbase, with great support and a great club, so we are going to host a great event and we are excited to have these guys but not just for now, but for the future as well, we want to attract more great European competition and this is a great way to do that.”
CSM Corona Brasov
Found in the south-eastern part of Romania, the city of Brasov can be dated back to around the year 1235, and now has a population of around 275,000 people living in the medieval style land that is packed full of churches and cathedrals, including Bran Castle which was made famous by Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel.
The city even has its own version of the Hollywood sign, as well as the 2,500 capacity Brasov Icerink where Corona Brașov have won four Romanian League Championships, five Romanian Playoff Championships and was twice in the final of Erste League Championships.
Founded in 2007, Corona Brasov began playing in 2010 in the Hungarian-Romanian league, known now as the Erste Liga but originally as MOL Liga, where Marc LeFebvre coached with Dunaujvarosi in 2014/2015.
They then began playing in the Romanian League as well from 2011 and then in 2014 they added an Under 18 team to compete in the Romanian U18 division.
Led by Head Coach, Dave MacQueen, Corona Brașov have had a number of Ex-Stars at the club, including; goaltender, Ladislav Kudrna, defensemen, Cody Carlson, Rory Rawlyk, Craig Cescon and forward, Mikael Lidhammar but also ex-Flyers, Chase Schaber, Evan Stoflet and Carlo Finucci.
Former Dundee Star, Connor Sills spent time with Brasov last season but also iced with our other preseason opponents Tilburg Trappers, where he began the campaign before making the switch to Romania.
Tilburg Trappers
The southern city of Tilburg is known as the city of textiles and home to around 225,000 people, but also for its carnival Kruikenstad.
In 1938, the Trappers were founded and they would go on to be crowned Dutch League Champions 14 times and Dutch Playoff Champions 15 times.
Playing out of the IJssportcentrum Tilburg, with a capacity of 2500, they share the ice withTilburg II and Tilburg U19’s but in 2015, the Trappers joined the German third tier or Oberliga and would win three league titles in a row between 2017 and 2020.
They also won the first three Germany3 playoff titles they competed for, making it five playoff championships on the bounce for Tilburg, who are currently led by Dutch-Canadian, Doug Mason, who also coaches the Netherlands National Team.
Ex-Stars forwards, Kevin Bruijsten, Jay Latulippe, Scott Kirton and Bobby Chaumont, who also iced with Fife have all played for Tilburg, as well as other former Flyers such as; Brett Bulmer and Kyle Just.
