Kevin Forshall to end his Capitals career after 18 years

Forshall has seen many things at the club during his 18 years and will bow out following the matches at Sheffield Steelers on Saturday then the final game at home to Nottingham Panthers on Sunday.

As the end nears on his time as a mainstay of Edinburgh Capitals, he admits his sorrow that it’s all coming to an end at the conclusion of the weekend and while he considers it’s been an ‘eventful’ 2017/18, he doesn’t think it’s been as bad as some previous campaigns.

“Looking ahead to the two games coming, the emotion I’m feeling is sadness because it’s the final weekend,” he said. “It’s been an eventful season for sure and I think there’s a few guys that will be glad to draw a line under it after the last game.

“Of course, for my last season, I would have loved to be involved in the play-offs and going to Nottingham for the finals, but things just didn’t go to plan. There was a belief it would work at the start of the season and I feel sorry for Scott (Neil) and the management that it didn’t.

“It’s been an eventful campaign, but I don’t think this season has been quite as bad as the 2010/11 campaign, when the whole club nearly went out of business. Of course, it feels bad for the fans because of  everything that’s happened.

“But I was part of the team that year and a big part of that was the poor weather that led to games being cancelled and, as a result, there wasn’t any money coming in and it was a big hit. Players still had to be paid, with nothing coming in. I always knew for a fact we would bounce back from that.”

If Edinburgh were hoping for a nice, easy end to their season, they certainly haven’t got that against two teams that have underachieved by their standards, but are still playing with the mindset of obtaining as high a play-off seeding as they can get.

Both Sheffield Steelers and Nottingham Panthers can mathematically finish as high as third in the table and wins coupled with some favours elsewhere would help certainly achieve that. Given Edinburgh’s record against both this season, they could well have mentally stored these points in the bag already.

Forshall laughs that they couldn’t have a tougher schedule to close the campaign off, but he also looking forward to the chance to not only get some ice time, but the opportunity to say his goodbyes to the faithful Capitals fans.

He added: “Looking back from what I remember, we always finished with two games against Braehead Clan and going by the way they’ve played, I would have preferred them to be honest.

“The Panthers came out flying last week when we played them down there and I don’t know what position they’re in right now. They’ll need points for their play-off seeding, but how that will affect how they play, I don’t know.

“We can only try and we’ve got it in us to hurt teams when they least expect it. We did it to Braehead a few years ago and it ended their hopes of winning the Elite League title that year.

“Our guys will want to go out on a high and sometimes, the games where there’s nothing really riding on them can be the best ones. Players can play with a certain freedom about them and have fun. In some cases, you can find yourself playing a lot better.

“But to get one last victory before the season finally ends would be amazing. I’d love it to be against the Panthers in my last game. I’m getting some ice time and I’m looking forward to it. I don’t know what ‘Raz’ the coach will do.

“Whether Jordan and I get half the game each, I’m not sure. But it’ll be nice to go and out and say goodbye to the fans, who have been amazing to  me in my years at Edinburgh Capitals.”