Edinburgh Capitals ice hockey chief Doug Christiansen explains why he needs to work on one crucial part of his side – the supporters

BACK home in America, one ice hockey team heading into a crucial time of their season tried to catch the fans' imaginations with the slogan: "Be A Witness".

They used it to a great effect. It galvanised the fans, got the community going and the end product was tremendous.

That slogan came back to me as I took a close look at the remainder of our regular season.

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We're going well as a team following a recent run of success, despite being hit by injuries to four key players.

And we have the elements of a team going places. The Murrayfield fans crave a championship-winning team and a team they can be proud of.

They want a team claiming major scalps and want to make the final four in the play-offs. Believe me, everybody in the dressing-room wants to do that just as much.

For us, the fans are the heartbeat of this club. We desperately want to deliver for them and I believe we have the elements of a team which can make history.

Running up to the play-offs is a special time for any team and we want fans to "Be A Witness" to that.

We really believe 2010 can be a history-making year for Edinburgh Capitals.

Why? Because we have the shell of a team which compares with anything in the Elite League. Let's look at what we've got. Starting from the back, we've got Cody Rudkowsky, a guy I believe is the best goaltender in the league.

In front of him we have Mark Smith, one of the best defensive players in the league. Mark puts his hard hat on every night and comes to play. You don't see him make fancy plays like Chris Allen, Joe Dustin or Taylor Christie but he's always there, working hard for the team.

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Marc Lefebvre has been an absolute find for the club. He works hard every night in training and in every shift during games.

Up front, our top point-scorer Simon Lambert and Owen Fussey are two of the quickest skaters in this league and, with Jeff Hutchins and Dan Welch, we have four of the best forwards available in Britain right now.

Not just that. We've got the best 20-year-old in Great Britain in Mark Garside and the best 21-year-old defenceman in Ben O'Connor.

Ben and Kyle Horne are two international defencemen and, when it comes to emerging talent, we have stacks.

Jordan Steel was our best player at Sheffield on Sunday and he will get more ice time if he maintains that level of performance.

Mark Paterson scored a huge goal on Saturday and Scott McKenzie is coming on.

So, I believe the next three months have the potential to be the best in the history of this franchise. Why don't you "be a witness" to it?

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