By Kris Smith
The Stars kick-off their Group A campaign by facing last year’s quarter-finalists, Belfast and they have completed a summer rebuild after finishing third in the league before losing in the playoff final.
Dundee, who ended the regular season in seventh place and reached the last eight of the playoffs, beat the Giants on two occasions last season but lost the other six fixtures, including their two Challenge Cup contests.
Both teams have a refreshed look this season after adding some new pieces to their squads but they have also retained the core of key players to give the team a strong foundation, heading into the new campaign.
American forward, Elijiah Barriga is back with the Giants for a second year after swapping Tayside for Northern Ireland in the summer of 2023, but this will be his first time playing against his former club as last season, his year was ended in September after an injury he sustained in the Champions Hockey League.
Barriga now joins a Belfast team boasting some notable names such as ex-NHL goaltender, Tom McCollum and ECHL Kelly Cup Winner, Robert Carpenter but they have also secured the return of Scott Conway and J.J. Piccinich to the club after both had spells on the European continent following successful seasons with the Giants.
Meanwhile, the Stars also added a Kelly Cup Champion in Zach Tsekos and Carpenter’s former teammate has found his place on the first line of Marc LeFebvre’s offensive units in preseason.
Through four exhibition games, Tsekos had three points (1g, 2a), as did his linemate, Alex Tonge and also Brett Gravelle, Cole MacDonald and Domenic Alberga.
Dundee now have a wealth of experience in their team and Tonge, Alberga, MacDonald and key signing, Ben O’Connor bring plenty from the European leagues, as does Slovakian goaltender Richard Sabol, who arrived in the city on Thursday.
American shot-stopper, Jarrett Fiske was between the pipes for all four preseason games for Dundee and he made a strong stake for the starting job heading into the competitive games, with two wins, one loss and one shootout defeat.
The Stars were 4-2 and 6-4 winners over their Tayside rivals, Fife Flyers in their first outings before sliding to a 4-1 loss against a very solid, University of Quebec Trois-Rivere side and in a second meeting with the Patriotes from Quebec, Fiske earned a shutout in what was a 0-0 game that the Canadian university team won on penalties.
Whereas the Giants went unbeaten in their preparations for the new season, with Adam Keefe’s men starting off with a 5-1 victory against Cardiff Devils before taking a 4-1 win over Team GB, as the national side warmed-up for their Olympic Qualifiers.
Belfast also hosted some Canadian university teams as they welcomed Carleton University and the University of Alberta but would skate to 8-2 and 6-3 wins respectively.
The Stars will be without forward, Kameron Kielly as he remains delayed in getting to Dundee but the Stars are expected to ice the rest of their full-time squad and goaltender, Sabol could make his first appearance this weekend.
Looking ahead to his team’s first competitive games, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “We are just looking to get our legs under us and get things going, there is such an excitement and build-up towards the season but we cannot forget the task at hand.
“We know two points are critical in the cup standings and we know if we want to do anything this year then we will need to beat Belfast, whether that is come playoff time or in the cup, they are always a tough team.
“They have a tradition of winning over there and they are looking to rebound from last season and both sides have made some changes to their line-ups but we know it will be a good challenge and we are looking forward to it.”
He continued: “It is always nice to play in front of your own fans but we know they will come in ready and they are an experienced team with experienced coaching staff, and just an experienced organisation overall but so do we, we have a lot of experience in our line-up and not only just from our league but from others as well.
“We want to get the cup campaign off to a good start but at the end of the day our big goal this year is to win the playoffs but we still want to do well in the cup as well.”
Making his EIHL debut tonight, Defenseman Cole MacDonald said: “We are all very excited to get the ball rolling.
“After a few weeks of hard work in training camp and getting more key guys added to the lineup this week, I think we are all itching to get into some action here with some meaningful games and take our first few strides towards success.
“It is a high-quality league this year and Belfast is always known to have a strong team.
“However, I think we also have a strong team here this year as well, so we just have to focus on our own style of play and use everything that we have learned from Marc so far in training camp and that should bring us success.”
With two home games this weekend, MacDonald also expressed the excitement and importance of utilising their home ice advantage, adding: “It is always fun to play at home, it should be an exciting game with a good crowd so we just have to take the energy from the fans and use it to propel our game.”
Face-off time for tonight’s home game against Belfast is at 7pm and tomorrow’s home clash against Glasgow starts at 5pm.
All season tickets and corporate tickets are valid this evening.
All Images: Derek Black.
