MATT Tipoff mirrored the thoughts of his Edinburgh Capitals team-mates ahead of this weekend’s basement double-header with fellow-strugglers Dundee Stars.
The club’s Achilles heel of late has been a slow start and it cost them dear at Braehead Clan last Saturday when they lost 3-2 after being caught cold in the first few minutes.
It happened again 24-hours later against Fife Flyers at Murrayfield but Capitals mounted a charge and bounced back to collect a confidence-boosting win.
The 26-yar-old, Toronto-born, left-wing is determined to do all he can to ensure that Capitals are switched on when the puck drops against Stars with the first game in Edinburgh tonight (Saturday, 6pm) followed by the return on Tayside tomorrow (Sunday, 6.30pm).
Currently, Capitals look up at the rest from bottom spot in the table with 15 points from 18 league starts while second-bottom Dundee have 17 points from 20 fixtures and goaltender Travis Fullerton (picture by Ian Coyle), who has stood for 1,085 minutes in 18 games and dealt with 652 shots will be a key player.
The Tayside team are on a skid having lost their last three games and Edinburgh aim to increase their woe in their 300th home league game.
Capitals also require two wins to reach 200 in the league and Tipoff would love four points from this weekend.
Tipoff, who arrived at Murrayfield after five years at St Mary’s University, said: “It was a tough first game loss to Braehead, we can’t expect to win games going down 3-0 so quickly.
“It was huge for us to come out with two points against Fife. Again, we didn’t like our start and will have to work on that if we want to be successful this weekend against Dundee.
“These are two huge games in the standings this coming weekend. Dundee is a highly-skilled team, we need to play the right way in all aspects of our game to come out with important points.”
Meanwhile, Fife Flyers have confirmed that Shayne Stockton will be heading back to the USA for Christmas and New Year with a view to also taking some extra time to rest and recuperate after the New Year.
Shayne has a lower body injury which needs to heal, before any treatment can take place.
Fife spokesman Steve McLean said: “At this time we don’t know how long Shayne will be out for but we will keep in contact during his recuperation.
“Unfortunately, we have to let nature take its course.”
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