Ice Hockey: Capitals looking to play Scrooge role on the road

Edinburgh CAPITALS ice hockey team enjoyed their Christmas night out this week, but forward Bari McKenzie now expects the season of goodwill to be a ghost of Christmas past as his team begin a stretch of five games away from their Murrayfield home, beginning with an Elite League match against Cardiff Devils today.

He said: “Cardiff is a very hard place to go and play, they’re a physical team and they like to play the body as much as they can.”

The Devils are notoriously difficult to beat on their own ice and McKenzie continued: “The fact the rink is that small makes if tricky, and they’ve got some big players like Brad Voth and Chris Frank. They’re a very good team in their own barn and I think it will be a very difficult game for us.”

Sunday sees McKenzie and his team-mates then make the 100-mile journey from the Welsh Capital to the West Midlands to face the Coventry Blaze who last week announced they were in serious financial difficulty.

The two teams fought out a 2-2 tie in Edinburgh earlier this month, the Blaze eventually winning after penalty shots and McKenzie observed: “I think it will be a different game from the last time we played, as this is their home rink. They’ve got a bit of a cash flow problem this year, I don’t know if that will be affecting the players or not.

“Obviously we’re going to try and win both games this weekend; we’re just going to give it our best shot.”

Capitals are hoping Slovakian defensive duo Martin Petrina and Tomas Valecko return from injury but McKenzie revealed team tough-guy Jozef Sladok will not feature.

He added: “Petrina and Valecko have been skating this week and should be back. Hopefully Jozef will be back soon as he’s a big player for us as well.”

Last season, due to lack of funds, a glut of players left the Capitals resulting in the team struggling and ultimately finishing rock bottom of the Elite League. But there has been something of a renaissance this term with McKenzie, now in his second season at the club, clearly enjoying his hockey again and already scoring ten goals.

On a return to his team being competitive, he said: “It’s a great feeling, everybody at the club from Scott and Matthew down [club owners Scott Neil and Matthew Tailford] are so up-beat, no disrespect to anyone, but the whole organisation this year is a lot better.”