Edinburgh Capitals set crowd target as they return to Scottish Cup action
Edinburgh Capitals are back on the rink this weekend.
After an 8-1 win against Kilmarnock last weekend, the Capitals look to carry their momentum into their first Scottish Cup matchup of the season against the Solway Sharks on Saturday.
The Caps made short work of a young Kilmarnock team as they did last season, with their new and-improved attack firing on all cylinders. It wasn’t just the regulars adding to the stat sheet, scorers included D-man Aiden Paterson, newcomers Scott Jamieson and Marcus Murdoch as well as Scott McKay scoring his second in two games.
Coach Steven Lynch said: “We turned up, we got the job done, they battled hard, so let’s take that as a positive.”
Edinburgh Capitals assess next match
However, with the Caps taking the Scottish Cup home with them last season, the rest of the league will be hot on their heels to claim the trophy for their own. Lynch said: “You know, everybody knows what the goal is at the end of the season here. We will be taking the game very seriously. We certainly can’t underestimate Solway after they just took Dundee to penalty shots a couple of nights ago.”
Solway were one of the weaker teams last year, but managed to pull out several performances that left top teams stunned. They shocked Whitley Bay early in the season with a 2-1 win and had several other close games with top teams the rest of the season including a 5-2 loss to the Caps that came down to the final period.
Lynch said: “That’s another team [Solway] that have improved greatly since last season. They’ll make it difficult, we’ll have to be at our best, so yeah bring it on, let’s go.”
It has been a while since the Capitals had a Saturday home game and while the crowds have been steady- particularly in their preseason matchup against Dundee - Murrayfield hasn’t fully come alive yet this season. The Caps had some of the highest attendance rates in all of Scotland, including the Elite League, and with the Scottish Cup to defend, fans should come out in droves this weekend.
Lynch said: “It’s time for the crowds to start building now the way that we’re expecting them to. We want to see 2,000 plus in here every time we’ve got a game and we fully acknowledge and appreciate that sometimes it takes four or five games for the crowds to start coming like last year. But we’ve had four or five games, so let’s see the fans fill the seats on Saturday night and hopefully we can give them something to go home happy about.”