Davies hopes to get back in the game soon for Stingrays

The 22-year-old Hull Stingrays centre had to be carried off the ice after being hit into the boards by Dundee Stars’ Jeff Hutchins in a 3-2 win over their Scottish rivals earlier this month.

Davies was one of five players on the sidelines at the weekend when Hull suffered an 8-0 home defeat to leaders Belfast Giants, before returning home from Cardiff Devils on Sunday on the back of a 5-3 defeat.

The Hull-born forward said his frustration at being off the ice only deepened after witnessing the setback against Belfast and is desperate to return to the fray to ensure Stingrays make the post-season play-offs.

“We’re so short on bodies at the moment and it’s tough to watch the guys in games like the one against Belfast,” said Davies. “I just want to get back in the line-up and help the boys out as soon as possible.

“I’ve definitely made progress this past week though. The first week I was under orders not to do anything, even driving my car. When I got back in it I felt like I was 17-years-old again!

“But I’m hoping to get back on the ice around Wednesday for a light skate. Hopefully, I won’t get any (concussion-like) symptoms and if I can get a full week under my belt without any setbacks then I might be in contention by the end of the following week.”

Davies said he was confident player-coach Sylvain Cloutier’s team could secure seventh spot in the Elite League table, enough for a play-off spot and leaving them facing whichever out of Belfast and Sheffield Steelers finish second in the race for the league title.

This weekend sees Hull back in action against the Steelers at the Motorpoint Arena on Saturday night (7.30pm), 24 hours after Ryan Finnerty’s team face the Giants in the first of three remaining top-of-the-table encounters.

Hull remain favourites from the bottom four teams to secure one of the two remaining play-off spots, although all three of their rivals – Scottish clubs Edinburgh, Dundee and Fife – do have games in hand against them, ensuring the East Yorkshire club can take nothing for granted with just seven regular season games remaining.

Davies has impressed at times since returning to his hometown club last summer but, he admits, not often enough in a campaign that has seen the Stingrays fall below the high expectations placed on them when they started out last September.

“I think offensively, certainly, we were expected to perform a lot better than we have,” added Davies. “Overall, the secondary scoring hasn’t really been there consistently enough and I’m blaming myself partly for that as well. It’s been tough and we haven’t been playing as well as we should have done at times.

“But I’m confident enough to think that we’ll still finish seventh. I just want to get back as early as possible in the regular season and then start looking ahead to the play-offs and, who knows, once we’re there maybe we can spring a surprise.”

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Twitter: @philarra