Free-scoring Doucet makes most of his extra ice-time to boost Stingrays

A goal in Hull’s 6-1 Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat at Belfast Giants on Monday night took the 27-year-old Canadian to 30 goals for the season and above Coventry’s Ryan Ginand – only for the Blaze forward to pinch the lead back again the following day by scoring two in his team’s 5-3 defeat to Nottingham Panthers.

With Hull team-mate Jereme Tendler third in the goal-scoring charts with 28, the Stingrays are suffering from a rare embarrassment of riches in the forward stakes, particularly with Jason Silverthorn (15 goals) and Carl Lauzon (14) also in the top 20.

But it is Doucet who has come in and taken pressure off Tendler, who, for the past three seasons, has been the only reliable goal-scoring outlet for the East Yorkshire club – the Canadian having averaging 43 goals per term.

Doucet was brought in by player-coach Sylvain Cloutier after spending the previous two seasons in France with Morzine-Avoriaz and believes his goal-scoring exploits are a direct result of Hull being forced to play short-benched in recent weeks due to injuries and player unavailability.

“I try not to focus on statistics during the season,” said Doucet, who makes the short trip with his team-mates to South Yorkshire tonight to face Sheffield Steelers.

“Because we’ve been short-benched for so long, I’m getting a lot more ice time than I normally would and so there are more scoring opportunities for me.

“Sometimes you can play your best game and come off the ice with no points, other nights you don’t play so well and score two goals or something – that’s how the game sometimes goes.

“Confidence is high in the room at the moment – it’s always been there since the season began – but putting a string of good results together like we have recently has helped.”

Hull go into tonight’s game with defenceman Pavel Gomeniuk back in the line up after he missed the trip to Belfast.

Fellow defenceman Martin Ondrej serves the last game of a three-match suspension, but injury continues to rule out British players Tom Squires, Sam Towner and Matty Davies.

The Steelers head into the Yorkshire derby on a high after their festive double over Nottingham Panthers, but defenceman Dustin Kohn misses out as he serves the first of a three-game suspension.

The 26-year-old Canadian was hit with the ban following a supplementary discipline request by the Panthers after Steelers’ 3-2 overtime win at the National Ice Centre on Saturday.

After reviewing the incident, league head of discipline Moray Hanson awarded a match penalty for cross-checking.

Kohn will also miss this weekend’s road trips to Braehead Clan and Cardiff Devils.