Cloutier keen to forget Steelers' mauling as Vipers lie in wait

The East Yorkshire club had gone into Wednesday night's clash at Ice Sheffield in good spirits having beaten 2010 league champions Coventry Blaze 5-1 on the road the previous Sunday night.

But Hull never got going in South Yorkshire and paid the price for some sloppy plays as Ben simon's title-chasing Steelers team eased to a 14th league win of the season.

Only a week earlier, Stingrays' new owners had made their disappointment in results clear after Cloutier's team were hammered 9-4 at bottom club Dundee Stars.

The club are hoping to have former NHL defenceman Drew Bannister in for next Friday's trip to the Cardiff Devils for a match which will be televised live by Sky Sports.

But before then, Hull will tomorrow need to overcome one of their main rivals in the bottom half of the table – Newcastle Vipers – before welcoming league leaders Belfast Giants to Hull Arena on Sunday.

"Our inconsistency is very frustrating at the moment," said Cloutier.

"We followed the gameplan and stuck to the systems against Coventry, but on Wednesday we were nowhere to be found and guys were all over the place.

"As a coach you can't really put up with that for too long – you're going to want to bring guys in who will do the job and follow the gameplan every night.

"I don't mind losing, as long as we work hard for 60 minutes and it's a close match and the other team beats us because they are the better team – that's fine.

"But to lose 7-0 and not to show up at all, well I'm pretty disappointed in that.

"This is a big game in Newcastle – we need to treat our series with them like a play-off series and make sure we come out on top."