Fife Flyers forward Carlo Finucci has issued a rallying call to the fans as they prepare for what looks like a huge game against Manchester Storm on Sunday.
The club are bottom of the Elite League standings with a run of one win in 11 and in the bottom two as they get ready to take on Ryan Finnerty’s side, who are also vying for a top eight berth.
But Finucci acknowledged the frustrations among the fans and has appealed for them to give their all when Storm come to Kirkcaldy for arguably one of the biggest games of Flyers’ season so far.
“We need them,” Finucci said. “We need them big time and we have to get them out of their seats and for us, as players, it’s about working hard, sticking to the game plan, start being clinical and putting games away.
“We’ve been asking for them to stay with us and keep being loud. We might not be giving them the performances and perhaps frustrating them, maybe adding to whatever other things are going on with them away from the rink.
“As a hockey player and as a Fife player, we can only worry about what we do on the ice. The stuff away from the rink is not our issue. We have to do our jobs and block it all out.
Finucci’s overtime winner sunk Manchester Storm in their previous meeting just before Christmas (PHOTO: Mark Ferriss)
“Some people’s frustrations slide towards us as players and rightfully so, with how we’ve been playing. All we can do is concentrate on our own jobs and try not to worry about any other distractions, plus try to bring some of the fans back.
“We need to show that effort all week long and with something like nine home games left, we have to make those count.”
The Flyers are back home after Saturday’s 4-1 loss at Coventry Blaze and will look to get back on track after tumbling to the bottom of the table following the outcome of other games.
Finucci took positives from last week, that saw them take a point in a shootout loss to Glasgow Clan then go down 6-4 at Cardiff Devils.
But the performances they put in encouraged the 32-year-old, but admits those have to be turned into results if they want to pull themselves from the precarious position they find themselves in.
Finucci has called on the Flyers fans to be loud and proud on Sunday against Storm (PHOTO: Mark Ferriss)
He added: “After the weekend, normally just getting a point like that may be a little frustrating, but the way things have been going, we thought we gave a pretty good effort and we’re disappointed not to have got more.
“There were positives to take and we’ve been working on that all through the week and building off that. There’s no sense in taking a step back, which has hampered us in the past when we’ve maybe had good performance or two.
“We’re obviously not where we want to be, especially when you’re starting the season off and not looking at the midway point and seeing yourselves in a dogfight, especially when you should be chasing for something bigger.
“Unfortunately the way we played in November to the end of December has really hurt us and that’s the position we’re in. We don’t want to be fighting for our play-off status in the final weeks of the season, but we have to fight to work ourselves out of it and that needs to start now.
“Any game against a team around you in the standings because it’s a four-point swing. We need to really start putting games together and we hope the effort we put in as a team was a turning point for us.
“It showed what we can accomplish if we put that much solid effort into the two games. There are guys counted on to produce, myself included and if we can put more pucks into the back of the net on top of our efforts then we should start seeing good results.”
