By Kris Smith
The Stars started the new campaign well but have faltered in the last two weeks as they lost four matches in a row, starting off with their first Elite League fixture and then three Challenge Cup contests to Belfast Giants, Fife Flyers and Glasgow Clanl.
Last weekend, Dundee took a 1-0 lead in Fife through Zach Tsekos but would let the Flyers back in for a 4-1 win in Kirkcaldy before then going 1-0 up at home to Glasgow and losing the match 5-4 after a late comeback attempt.
The Tayside team were 4-1 down with less than five minutes remaining in the game and managed to pull the deficit back to just one thanks to goals from Brett Gravelle, Domenic Alberga, Jonathan McBean and Tsekos.
Although, Liam Finlay (2), Keaton Jameson, Gary Haden and Deven Sideroff’s strikers were enough to secure the two points in Group B for Glasgow, who now sit just one point back from Dundee, who occupy third place.
Corey Neilson’s men have both won and lost away against the Stars this season but this is the first time Marc LeFebvre will take his side to Braehead Arena and a victory could restore them into second place in Group B.
The first contest between the two teams ended with a 5-2 win for Dundee as Drydn Dow, Tsekos (2), Jake Elmer and Alberga all found their way onto the scoresheet, whilst Darien Kielb and Finaly provided the goals for Glasgow – meaning both Tsekos and Finlay have bagged three goals each for their respective sides in two meetings.
Speaking before this weekend’s games, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “It is all about putting in a 60-minute effort and competing, we are good in spurts but that is just not good enough.
“There is a lot more negative things happening in games than positive and you see we got nothing out of those last four games, so it starts with one game and being ready to play that game and being ready to compete.
“We know Glasgow’s arena is a tough building to play in but their our big rivals and we do not want to lose two games in a row to our big rivals, especially with vital cup points up for grabs.
“If we want to achieve anything this year then we know we need to be able to go in there and win hockey games, we know what it takes as we have beat these guys before.
“We match up well against them but it is about putting in a complete performance.”
Tonight’s road game in Glasgow will face-off at 7pm.
All images: Derek Black.
