Defensive grit will be key for Dundee Stars this weekend against the Elite League’s two highest scoring teams, insists Omar Pacha.
A road trip to Guildford Flames on Saturday is up first for the Stars before they return home to host Sheffield Steelers at Dundee Ice Arena on Sunday.
Both the Flames and the Steelers have had their offence firing on all cylinders this season, scoring 26 goals and 30 goals respectively.
However, with his side on a three-game winning streak, Stars head coach Omar Pacha wants to see his side continue their “solid” defensive work this weekend.
He said: “This is a massive weekend for us because it is back to league games now.
“Coming off three wins on the trot in the Challenge Cup is great, but now with three league games in a row, and those fixtures starting to take over, it is important to start Saturday off really well.
“We played in Nottingham (the Stars‘ first and only league game to date), but lost a tight game and now we are going to Guildford, which is another hard, long trip.
“The Flames are a team that are fast, have a lot of upside offensively and we are going to have to be strong defensively.
“However, I like the way we have been playing defensively over the last few weeks. Hopefully offensively, we can start clicking even more.”
🚨 BOX OFFICE OPEN 🚨
The boys will be fighting to get the puck in the net on Sunday night, make sure you are there to watch the battle
🆚 Sheffield Steelers
🏟️ Dundee Ice Arena
📆 Sunday 17/10/21
⌚️ 5.00pm
🏆 League
🎟 https://t.co/EMWQSZNnPT
📺 https://t.co/81Bp2NNFOz#COYS pic.twitter.com/h43qCq40uR— Dundee Stars🏒🥅 (@DundeeStars) October 15, 2021
Pacha continued: “On Sunday, the reality is, we are going to have a long bus trip home and we are going to have to get our rest because Sheffield are going to come here with a purpose.
“Sheffield have been having a lot of success and scoring a lot of goals, as have Guildford, so if we can stay solid at the back and keep creating chances like we have done over the past few weeks, hopefully we put some pucks in the net.
“If we play well defensively across both games this weekend, then we are going to have a chance to win hockey games.”
Face-off times for this weekend’s matches are at 6pm on Saturday in Guildford and it is a 5pm start in Dundee on Sunday evening.
