Hull look to snap losing streak any way they can

Stingrays have lost their opening five games and face a difficult Challenge Cup game in Cardiff on Saturday night before returning home to host Fife Flyers on Sunday (6pm).

“We have been thrown in at the deep end with our opening fixtures, all against the top teams, so we always knew it was going to be difficult,” said Cloutier.

“We’ll take a win of any kind at the moment, just to get something on the board.”

The omens for that first win coming on Saturday are not promising with Cloutier having yet to taste victory in Cardiff in seven visits. The visit of Fife, however – who have conceded 26 goals in losing their opening four games, including Friday night’s 9-1 thrashing at Belfast – should yield a first triumph for his team.

Despite the poor start, Cloutier has faith in his current crop of players, although Wednesday night’s 6-2 reverse at Nottingham saw him criticise them for the first time this season.

“We played so well in the first period at Nottingham and then we killed a 5-on-3 penalty at the start of the second for almost two minutes.

“But then we gave it away. Yes, they’re a good team with plenty of offence but we made a lot of mistakes we don’t normally make and made it a lot easier for them.”

Being placed in the Challenge Cup ‘Group of Death’ alongside Coventry, Nottingham, Sheffield and Cardiff has made qualifying for the last four extremely difficult for Hull but, depending on how seriously their rivals treat the fledgling competition, it could offer the East Yorkshire outfit an outside chance of silverware if they can secure a runners-up spot.

The other group appears to be straightforward for Belfast, who face the four Scottish teams.

Forward Ryan Lake is out indefinitely after undergoing an operation on his back earlier this week. The popular British forward now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Cloutier said it would be another week before young forward Jack Watkins was ready for a return to action.

The 18-year-old winger suffered a hairline fracture of his collarbone during the 2-2 tie with Coventry Blaze at the Skydome in a pre-season game on August 28.

“Jack was keen to come back this weekend, but we’re going to leave it another week,” said Cloutier.

“He was in good form on a line with (Derek) Campbell and Silver (Jason Silverthorn) before he got the injury and we don’t want to take any chances by rushing him back too early.”

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