CAPTAIN Matt Davies says Hull Stingrays must get their home form on track if they are to fulfil their potential this season.
Stingrays currently sit on five points from seven games, but have yet to secure any return at Hull Arena.
And a home win cannot come soon enough as far as Davies is concerned, with tomorrow's visitors Dundee the ideal first victim.
"Tomorrow is another massive game, it has to be a win," he said.
"I told everyone after last weekend that when we start winning in our rink it's the best place to play.
"Towards the end of last season everyone on the team realised that.
"Like the Sheffield game late last season, the crowd was big, the place was rocking and everyone was enjoying it. If we want to be successful we have to win at home.
"We've not won a point here yet, it's not good enough, you have to take care of your home games, it's important in any sport."
Stingrays have so far lost to Edinburgh (5-2), Belfast (3-2) and Braehead twice (8-6 and 2-0), so it's been a case of close, but no cigar.
Being short of defencemen hasn't helped, while coach Omar Pacha has accused his team of trying too hard to impress on home ice.
"If you look at the first match against Braehead it was a freak game, you score we score," said Davies. "It wasn't a solid defensive performance because we didn't have enough defencemen.
"The Edinburgh game was unacceptable, we have to win those games every single time, no two ways about it, we should have won.
"Again last Sunday it was not good enough, we have to be better than that. It's only one game this weekend, everything has to go into this game and get that win."
Rapid Solicitors Stingrays face Stars after a mixed last weekend.
A 6-1 pasting of Nottingham Panthers was a stunning result that rocked British ice hockey.
The shine was taken off it by the defeat to Braehead, however.
"I've got mixed emotions about it," said Davies.
"Saturday was unbelievable, it was a bit of a shock result, everyone saw it that way.
"It was brilliant to get that win in Nottingham, it's not something we do every day.
"I've only done it once before while I have been here, it was good to do that, but Sunday was not good enough from the team."
Davies stressed he isn't making excuses, but believes fans should not under-estimate the difficulty of producing back-to-back top-notch performances.
"To win in Nottingham takes a lot of energy out of you, it's a big rink, and obviously we don't have a big team.
"But that's the way Stingrays have always been and always will be, so there's no excuses," he added.
"On Sunday we didn't create enough quality scoring chances, it was not good enough on our part.
"But it's tough to go from Saturday to play against a team like that and then turn it around for Sunday."
However, Davies is determined to take the positives out of the season so far and feels the team can deliver – eventually.
He added: "We always have a slow start, we did last year and the year before.
"Overall, though, it's positive and we have to pick ourselves up and come back stronger.
"Maybe if we'd lost on Saturday and won on Sunday, people would have thought differently.
"If some of those shots had gone in and we'd got it back to 2-2 and we'd won in overtime or on penalty shots it would be seen as a great weekend.
"It's a game of small margins, we just could not get it into our favour, but we will get there, I'm confident of that."
Omar Pacha's view: 'We can be surprise package'THE guys have been so excited in training this week after last weekend's results.
They'll certainly be ready for Dundee tomorrow and are eager to get the first home win.
I am confident in the way we are preparing, although I know Dundee will be ready for us too.
We've been short on defence since the start of the season, but now we've got Brendan Jamison here I'm very happy with the way the likes of Yan Turcotte, Dominic Osman, CJ Chartrain and Jamie Chilcott are playing.
We're giving our goalie David Brown a chance to have a good game and he is making good saves.
Maybe Sunday against Braehead was just a bump in the road and we were unlucky.
The only thing I am really mad at was the fact we tried to be too pretty.
The guys are not selfish, they have good intentions, but maybe sometimes they try to do too much, especially on our home ice.
The guys aren't stupid, they want to impress fans, but sometimes they don't necessarily need to put a good show on, it's about getting the two points.
I'm sure fans would rather us get the win and be a little less pretty.
Don't get me wrong, some guys can be a bit better, but they're working hard so I was disappointed because we lost through two poor goals.
At home we have created a lot of chances, it's just maybe guys are holding their sticks too tight and doing things a little fancy but when we do that the pucks don't go in.
As everyone saw against Nottingham we are a team who can surprise a lot of people.
I don't expect to beat any team 6-1 and I don't think I expect that again, but when we play to our strengths I believe we can beat anyone.
Cathy Wigham's view: Can Stingrays top thrashing of Nottingham?THE Elite League season is barely a month old but surely Stingrays have already rustled up their result of the season.
For Stingrays to beat Nottingham 6-1 any time is just about unheard of.
To do so at the National Ice Centre was not far short of jaw dropping.
Quite how Omar Pacha's side are going to top that is anyone's guess.
Stingrays couldn't replicate their Saturday heroics 24 hours later against Braehead, losing 2-0.
It wasn't that bad a performance, just a disappointing result given the battering handed out to Panthers.
Pacha cut a frustrated figure post-match.
His main beef was too many fancy plays.
He doesn't want his players to strut their stuff on the proverbial catwalk. He wants just bog-standard, get the job done hockey, he wants teamwork.
Maybe, though, if Stingrays had lost 2-0 to Braehead on the Saturday and then stuffed Nottingham 6-1 on the Sunday, everyone would still have been located well above cloud nine.
At the very least, though, it shows what Stingrays are capable of this season.
It also demonstrates what needs to improve ... the less said about Stingrays' powerplay efforts the better.
On a school report it would say "nowhere near good enough."
The same could be said for Stingrays' points return at Hull Arena.
Fortress Hull Arena it ain't.
In fact, Norway get as many points at the Eurovision Song Contest.
All five of Stingrays points this season have been earned away – the polar opposite of last season.
Stingrays must put their own house in order as a matter of priority, starting tomorrow against Dundee Stars.
It's fair to say Dundee had Stingrays' number last season, winning seven times out of eight.
The games were tight, but it was perpetually close, but no cigar for Stingrays.
This season Stingrays have already beaten Stars once, albeit in overtime. An encore would be most welcome.
