Praise for Hutchins from rival Adams

Fresh from two wins on his opening weekend in charge at Steelers, Adams takes his players to Tayside tonight to take on a Stars outfit pushing them close for second place in the standings.

After missing out on the play-offs last season along with Hull Stingrays, Hutchins has guided his team to within sight of the Gardiner Conference title, while they sit fourth in the overall standings, three points behind tonight’s visitors

“I think Jeff has done a fantastic job up there,” said Adams. “He and Paul Adey (coach of champions Belfast Giants) are right up there for coaches of the year with what they have done with their teams.

“Jeff has put together a strong team - they’ve got good goaltending, and they are using their location to their advantage. They’ve won quite a few home games.

“They have got a very good ice surface up there and a very good skating team which matches up very well

“I think Dundee have surprised a few people this season. If you look at the players that Jeff has selected this year, quite a few of them were players that maybe other teams probably overlooked. Jeff deserves a lot of credit for getting the right guys in up there because it has obviously worked.”

Given Dundee’s strong home form throughout the year, Adams acknowledges his team will have to make the most of any early chances to silence the home crowd that may come their way.

“If we can get off to a good start up there, it will put us in a good position,” added Adams.

“It’s all about execution. You quite often get an early chance against them and if you can get that first goal it will be a big advantage for us.”

With three games in four dcays ahead of them, the Steelers will do well to hold on to second spot in the overall standings.

After returning from Scotland in the early hours of Friday morning, they will then prepare for Saturday night’s trip to Hull Stingrays, their Yorkshire rivals desperate for points to ensure they don’t miss the play-offs for a second year running.

A day later, the Steelers will return to home ice where they will face Belfast.