It’s back to basics for Cloutier’s Stingrays

Hull player-coach Sylvain Cloutier is preparing for a busyweek as he looks to find a way to steer the Stingrays back to winning ways.

The 7-4 defeat by Coventry Blaze at the Skydome on Sunday night was their fourth reverse in a row in Group B of the Challenge Cup and their fourth overall.

It capped a disappointing weekend for Stingrays, who fell to a 5-3 loss at home to Edinburgh Capitals the previous night despite out-shooting them 50-21.

Now Cloutier is ready to go back to basics as he tries to plot a way to beat Belfast Giants at Hull Arena in the Rapid Solicitors Elite League next Sunday (6pm face-off).

Cloutier said: “It is going to be a long week, we will be working on a lot of things.

“Our powerplay is not clicking, we are trying to be too fancy and wanting to score a highlight goal. Our PK started well but we need to improve on that – we are back to square one.

“We are scoring at least three goals a game but we must be better defensively. You have to compete for 60 minutes to give yourself a chance and we need to get back to doing that.”