Fife Flyers change face-off time for some Sunday games
The club has moved five fixtures from 6:30pm to 5:30pm in a bid to make them open to fans with school-age families.
Other Elite League clubs have already opted for an earlier start on Sundays. While the move was welcomed by many fans – who saw it as a key way to generate bigger crowds on Sundays – others, including some season ticket holders, said they would be adversely hit by the change.
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Hide AdFlyers have traditionally played home games on Saturday nights, with Sunday fixtures always less popular among fans.
But the 2012-20 schedule gave them an even split of games across the two nights, prompting a re-think by the club.
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A statement posted on its Facebook page said: “Its extremely important we listen to the fans.
“We have had a lot of feedback around Sunday face off times, particularly this season with so many Sunday scheduled games at home.
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Hide Ad“We hope that by bringing the face off forward to 5.30pm, this will enable and support families with young children who found the 6.30pm very difficult for them.
The first of five games to be affected is on Sunday, October 6 when Dundee Stars come to Kirkcaldy.
The other games confirmed with 5:30 face-offs are:
November 10 – v Dundee Stars
December1 – v Guildford Flames
December 8 – v Cardiff Devils
December 15 – v Guildford Flames
On those nights, doors will now open just one hour before face off.
Flyers opened the new ice hockey season with a bumper 2500 crowd for the game against Glasgow Clan on September 7, but the two subsequent home matches saw that figure drop by almost 1000.
The Sunday game at home to Nottingham had an official attendance of 1650, while Saturday’s match against Coventry drew 1583 fans.