The MKM Dundee Stars are gearing up for their first road game of the season as they head to the SSE Arena in Belfast for a rematch against the Belfast Giants in Challenge Cup action.
By Luke McGinnis
The Stars are coming off a disappointing opening weekend, falling 4-1 to the Giants on Saturday before suffering another 4-1 defeat to the Fife Flyers the following night.
“It is about reflection and evaluation,” began Dutertre. “We identified a couple of things that we needed to focus on this week and had some productive practices.”
Keaton Jameson and Maxim Eliseev scored for the Stars across the two games, while Vladislav Pestov and Carl Stankowski were impressive between the pipes, posting save percentages of .909 and .925 respectively.
“The experience was really cool,” said Stankowski, who made his first professional start against the Flyers. “It was refreshing and fun to play in front of such passionate fans. Playing my first pro game was really cool, and for sure could’ve been overwhelming, but I always just bring it back to saying it’s the same puck that I’ve been facing since I was a little kid.”
“There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement in our team, which is exciting, but it’s still very early and we’re trying to get some systems down and stuff flushed out. That’s the reality sometimes when it comes to having a new team. One thing I know for sure is that we will come and work every single night. The group that Scott recruited has a resume of working hard.”
The Belfast Giants won both of their games over opening weekend, picking up victories over the Stars and Glasgow Clan.
Scott Conway scored three goals over the weekend, including once against Dundee, while Nicolas Guay, Mason Klee and Patrick Guay also found the back of the net against the Stars.
“It’s a long travel day, so we have to make sure we are staying fuelled up and ready to go. We have to take a business-like approach to every game and focus on doing our job,” said Dutertre.
“It’s a great opportunity, we obviously want to get the full points in Belfast and get more back home on Sunday, but we need to focus on the first game,” added Stankowski. “We are all excited, we had a really good week of practice and video.”
A delayed faceoff is scheduled for 8:30pm.
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