Ice hockey: Pirates have injury worries ahead of double-header

Feb 7 2009 by David Rinaldi, Paisley Daily Express

DINO Bauba doesn’t have his troubles to seek ahead of this weekend’s Braehead double- header – but the Pirates player/coach has challenged his beleaguered stars to put their recent turmoil behind them.

The Paisley side take on Fife Flyers this evening in the Northern League just seven days after they were on the wrong end of a 12-0 savaging by the tournament’s table-toppers.

They then host FFDR leaders Edinburgh Capitals tomorrow and Bauba knows both games will stretch his threadbare squad to the limit.

The Lithuanian himself is set to miss both games with a leg injury while Slovakian sharpshooter Martin Talajka won’t feature as he tries to shake off the multiple injuries he picked up in a bruising encounter with Dundalk Bulls last month.

The Braehead men are also without young starlets Marc Fowley and Chris Wilson who are in China with Great Britain at the World University (Winter) Games.

With results going against them in recent weeks Bauba admits it will be difficult to take anything from the weekend however the Pirates chief isn’t ready to walk the plank.

He told Express Sports: “We’re going to try and make up for last week’s loss to Fife but it won’t be easy after a defeat like that however we always play better at home.

“Last week we were short-benched and then we had Chris Turley and Stuart Miller thrown out early for fighting and we just couldn’t cope.

“There are still a few guys missing this weekend but hopefully we’ll have some guys coming back in.

“At the moment we’re struggling but somebody is going to have to come in and pick up the flag and carry it.

“Team spirit isn’t bad and they are good bunch of guys who are doing what they can in difficult circumstances and we are not suicidal.”

Bauba admits last Saturday’s loss to Fife left him speechless and in the circumstances surrounding the game he believes it would have been pointless to carry out an inquest in the immediate aftermath of such a heavy defeat.

He added: “I just tried to forget about it right away – after a game like that it’s difficult to say anything and you just have to have a beer and try and put it out your head.”

The Pirates main problem since December has been their well-documented lack of ice time and the situation is unlikely to be resolved before the end of the current season.

Braehead has a number of events that have curtailed the Paisley side’s practice time including hosting next month’s Davis Cup clash between Great Britain and the Ukraine.

Bauba refuses to mump and moan about the situation but he does hope it will be rectified for the start of the new season.

He said: “We’ll lose the ice again next week and I think that will be the case until the end of the season.

“If you can’t work on things in practice you can’t improve but there’s nothing we can do about it and it is what it is.

“We’ll try to find something and I’ve been speaking with Scott Neil and we’re still working on it.

“Hopefully for next year we’ll have something in place. We know we’ll still have interruptions at Braehead but hopefully they will be a lot less and we can practice and play without being too hampered.

“I don’t get too downbeat too easily but obviously nobody likes losing and at the moment it’s just about trying to make the best out of a bad situation and trying to win some games.”