Scottish ice hockey round-up: Dundee Stars see off new boys

Dundee Stars head coach Marc Lefebvre was pleased to get a reaction from his players following their Saturday loss to Edinburgh Capitals.

The Tayside men were sunk 4-2 at home to the Caps before thrashing Manchester Storm 7-2 on the road in Sunday's meeting.

And the Stars boss insists he was not worried as his team went 2-0 down to the Storm before things clicked into place.

"I put the defeat to Edinburgh down as a one off," he said. "We never got going and didn't capitalise on our chances so I told the guys I wanted a reaction in Manchester and I got that.

"We're getting a good spread of goals and I was especially pleased to see a couple of our top guys get off the mark in terms of scoring.

"We were wary of what to expect from Manchester and even at 2-0 down, I wasn't worried. Once we got one back, we took it to them and overall, it was a great team performance."

Brett Switzer and Doug Clarkson struck either side of the first interval to give Stars a decent lead, but Paul Zanette pulled one back for the Caps at the end of the second period.

Momentum shifted and the Capitals turned the game in their favour, with Kyle Bigos levelling followed by two from Ryan Hayes to clinch the victory.

Dundee made the trip to Altrincham on Sunday to face the league new boys and the mood among the fans was much different.

Matt Paton and Paul Phillips gave Storm a two-goal advantage, until Riley Wetmore's finish at the end of the opening period triggered a convincing comeback.

Doug Clarkson, Lou Dickenson and Bobby Chaumont all found the net to turn the game around before Clarkson completed his hat-trick with a double.

That just left Wetmore to apply the icing on the cake as Dundee returned to Scotland with a comfortable victory.

Braehead Clan returned to regular season action following their European exploits and took full points from Scottish rivals in the Challenge Cup.

At Fife Flyers on Saturday, Bari McKenzie opened the scoring on nine minutes, before adding a quickfire second to give the Clan a cushion in the first period.

Brendan Brooks added number three prior to the first break, with Marcus Gotz making it four without reply in the second period.

Braehead extended the lead to five through Scott Pitt seconds into the third period, but their goal was breached as Patrick Cullen scored for the Flyers, a consolation in the end.

Flyers coach Todd Dutiaume had no complaints and believes it could be a tight league for every team this season.

Dutiaume said: "The guys were disappointed to lose the game and we knew it would be fast paced, but credit must go to Ryan for the team he has.

"Clearly that month playing in Europe has helped and from our point of view, losing two goals so quick off the bat is hard to recover from.

'The best team won and every team is has a quality about it. There won't be any nights off for any teams this season and weaknesses will be exploited."

Clan finished the weekend in Edinburgh and had to overcome a stubborn Caps defence, particularly Carsen Chubak in goal, but left Murrayfield with a 3-0 win.

They made the breakthrough as Jamie Fritsch finally breached the Caps' rearguard before Scott Pitt made it 2-0 before the second break.

The Clan hitman added the third to complete the scoring on a successful night and weekend for Finnerty's side as they claimed all four Challenge Cup points.

Weekend results:

Saturday

Dundee Stars 2-4 Edinburgh Capitals (Challenge Cup)

Fife Flyers 1-5 Braehead Clan (Challenge Cup)

Sunday

Edinburgh Capitals 0-3 Braehead Clan (Challenge Cup)

Manchester Storm 2-7 Dundee Stars (Elite League)