The Stars will take on our biggest and oldest rivals, Fife Flyers in back-to-back games and also some new opposition in the form of Canadian university side, Université Du Québec À Trois-Riviéres Patriotes.
The first preseason games will see us welcome the Fife Flyers to the DIA on Saturday 24th, August (Face-off 7pm) and then on Sunday, 25th August we cross the River Tay for the reverse fixture.
The next two fixtures will be a pair of home exhibition games against the Université Du Québec À Trois-Riviéres Patriotes, who currently play in the Canadian university league, USports and we will face them on Thursday, August 29th (Face-off 7:30pm) and Sunday, 1st September (Face-off 5pm).
Discussing our preseason opponents, Stars Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “These will be good tests for us, however playing against Fife it does not matter if it preseason, cup or league games, they are our biggest rivals so you want to win those games.
“You want to get your players used to the atmosphere in their building and even in our rink too when they come here, because they are our biggest rivals and we have to learn to hate them from Day One.
“We saw it went down to the wire last year for playoff spots and it was us against them, jockeying for position on the final day and I am expecting no different this year, so we want to set the tone right from the first day of preseason.”
Talking through his decision to play the Patriotes and what challenge they will provide, he added: “They are doing a tour around the UK playing against different teams, so we wanted to do something different than playing the same teams all the time and like last year when we brought over Tilburg and Brasov, this gives ourselves and our fans a different look at some different competition.
“They have an experienced team, who lost in the national finals last year and they are always competitive and it will be no different this time.
“They are coming over to put in a good effort and good fight, so it is a good challenge for us and to get us ready for our season as well.”
These international exhibitions also have other added benefits other than just helping to prepare for the new season and LeFebvre explained: “It also helps with future recruiting as well, there might be some players who come and like the UK style of hockey.
“It has happened before with Belfast and the Friendship Four tournament that they have almost every year and they have signed players down the road from that because of the experience they had in that tournament and in Belfast, so we are looking to do the same a little bit and there might be some players that we like that we may look into in the future, so it is a good showcase for them as well.”
Fife Flyers
Last season the Stars and Flyers clashed eight times in competitive games with Dundee winning on five occasions and outscoring their cross-river rivals 34-26.
Three of the Stars wins came in Kirkcaldy and club captain, Drydn Dow led the team in scoring against Fife with three goals and five assists, whilst returning forward Brendan Harms notched six points.
Université Du Québec À Trois-Riviéres Patriotes
The Patriotes started playing back in 1969 in the then CIAU (Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Association) which then became known as the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sports) in 2001 and finally in 2016 the league changed its name to USports, which is as we know it today.
In their 55 years, Université Du Québec À Trois-Riviéres have won 14 conference championships, including a five in a row run between 1998 and 2003, whilst also boasting five national championships.
Their most recent national title was in 2022 when they lifted the David Johnston University Cup, adding to their 2003, 2001, 1991 and 1987 titles.
The Patriotes most recent season saw them finish second in the OUA East Conference with a 21-6-1 record, as they netted 121 goals and conceded 61 times.
Marc-Étienne Hubert’s men then won the OUA conference title to progress to the national championships, defeating the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, McGill University Redbirds and Toronto Metro University Bold along the way.
In the national finals, the Patriotes beat Moncton Aigles Bleus (AUS Conference Finalists) and the Redbirds again before going on to fall 4-0 to the invincible University of New Brunswick Reds (AUS Champions) in Grand Final.
