By Kris Smith
The Stars were 5-2 winners over Glasgow Clan last Sunday as they claimed their first win in the Challenge Cup Group A and responded to a 7-3 defeat from Belfast Giants the night before.
Dundee had gone back and forth with the Giants through the first 30 minutes on Saturday night as Craig Moore and Jonathan McBean found the back of the net but Adam Keefe’s men had stormed into a 6-2 lead in the second half of the match, before Jake Elmer pulled one back for the home side.
Then on Sunday, Drydn Dow fired the Stars into the lead against Glasgow and Zach Tsekos second period brace had them 3-0 ahead before the Clan responded with two quick strikes to cut the lead to one.
However, Dundee found a fourth goal through Jake Elmer and Domenic Alberga would tap into an empty net to seal the 5-2 win, but now the Taysiders must find a way to overcome the Giants tonight and also their other Scottish rivals, Fife Flyers on Sunday.
The Stars make their first trip of the season to the SSE Arena and face a Belfast side who won both of their opening weekend matches as after defeating Dundee, they then recorded a 4-2 win in Kirkcaldy over the Flyers.
Looking ahead to the weekend, Stars Head Coach, Marc Lefebvre said: “We need to play a full 60-minute game, we cannot take any shifts off and you have to limit your turnovers and your mistakes because they will capitalise on them.
“They are a hell of a hockey team over there and they are always contending for titles but also that building is all is all about momentum and I have been going there for nearly 20 years now and it never changes, no matter who is on their roster or who their coach is.
“That crowd gets them going and especially after a goal, they tend to come in waves for a few minutes after that, so we have to be able to get over anything negative that happens to us and keep pushing forward and keep going after them.”
He continued: “There were many positives from last week but we just kind of switched off, mainly after that fourth goal and stopped playing.
“However, against a team like that or any team in this league you cannot do that or take a shift off because it will end up in the back of your net.
“We need to be ready to put in a full 60-minute effort and they are a tough team to play but it will be a good challenge for us.”
With the first competitive Tayside Derby of the season following on Sunday night, LeFebvre commented: “It is a big derby and a big Challenge Cup game, so you always want to beat your rivals at home and the crowd will be energised like always for these games.”
Stars goaltender, Richard Sabol only arrived into Dundee last week and after only one practice session, he was put between the pipes for Sunday’s 5-2 win over Glasgow, where he made 42 saves as he backstopped the team to victory on his debut.
Looking back on his first game as a Star, Richard said: “I was really happy to get the chance to play, I tried to prepare as best as I can and do my best for the team.
“I was very surprised with the fans and how loud they were and how they cheered us on, so I was happy for us to get a win against our rivals from Glasgow.”
Then discussing the weekend ahead, he added: “This is going to be a really tough weekend but I feel like we are practicing well and there has been a good energy in training this week, so I hope that it will be the same in the games this weekend and we can come out with two more wins.”
Face-off for tonight’s game in Belfast is at 7pm.
