FORWARD Eric Galbraith believes "the sky's the limit" for Hull Stingrays– despite the team's roller-coaster start to the season.
A thumping 6-1 victory at big-budget Nottingham Panthers rocked the Elite League, but it has been sandwiched around poor defeats to Edinburgh and Dundee.
However, the Rapid Solicitors Stingrays have been competitive in every game, leaving the Canadian in an upbeat mood.
He said: "I think the team has a lot of potential, the sky is the limit, it's tough, young and has lots of energy.
"We are only going to get better and get stronger.
"As time goes on our team is clicking more and more.
"We're slowly getting the powerplay going, but we have to play for the person beside us and gel together and get some wins.
"If we can do that we can get on a roll and make some room for ourselves in the league."
The 26-year-old has so far notched five goals and two assists in nine matches, after arriving from Mount Royal University in the summer.
At 6ft 4ins, he brings substantial size to Stingrays' ranks.
He's made a satisfactory start to his first season in British ice hockey, but will not rest on his laurels.
"I have found it very competitive, fast hockey, there are a lot of good players in the league," said Galbraith.
"I try to use my size as much as possible
"I've been happy with the way things are going for me but need to be more in the play and in front of the net and stuff like that.
"I feel satisfied with how I've settled in, but I feel like my game is not at the top where it can be.
"You are never really satisfied with your game until the team is winning. If the club is not winning you are not doing your job fully.
"I definitely can bring a better game and I look forward to stepping up my game and taking on the challenge.
"I'm sure all the guys think about it that way. They think their game is not quite where it needs to be."
Stingrays have played nine games so far and have accumulated five points, thanks to wins over the Panthers, Dundee Stars and a point from an overtime loss in Cardiff.
It leaves them comfortably positioned in the Elite League, but having lost 6-3 to Sheffield in midweek, they need points from their fixtures in Cardiff tonight and at home to the Steelers tomorrow to keep their Challenge Cup quarter-final hopes on track.
Unfortunately, Stingrays are yet to click at home, still pointless after five games. Galbraith's side have an increasing need to break that win duck, with turning the tables on the Steelers the top priority.
"After Wednesday, we've got a good taste of what Steelers bring to the table, but we can't look too far ahead," he said.
"We just have to be mentally prepared tomorrow.
"At home it's snowballed, it's getting into our heads too much and we're over-thinking things.
"We have to simplify things and just play it like a road game.
"It's usually easier at home, but we've got into a rut at home, we have to get out of it.
"This is where we need to win, at home."
Omar Pacha's view: Baby steps in the right directionI HAVE told the guys we have had a chance to win every single game.
We give ourselves a chance to win but make a few mistakes, which are correctable.
I believe we are a good team now, but unfortunately when you are a good team and a bit young, you make mistakes. Maybe we won't be making those mistakes in 10 or 12 games time or maybe even next week.
It's better we make them now, rather than in three months' time.
More so than at the beginning of the year, I'm realising how missing those two weeks of pre-season training camp hurt us.
We're making mistakes which maybe could have been corrected then, but these things happen and we can learn and move on.
I would rather have had the Challenge Cup at the beginning of the season like every other team.
At the same time, though, it is what it is, it's our schedule and you have to control the controllables.
You can't control a guy leaving or the visa process, injuries or having no ice pre-season.
You have to control what you can control, the last thing we want to do is be negative and hard on ourselves.
Yes, we want to make good things happen this year, but it will be baby steps and I think we are going in the right direction.
It's only a matter of time before we win a lot of hockey games.
I have most of the pieces of the jigsaw, but still two or three are not there. We are trying to figure it out.
If Zach Hervato cannot make it this weekend due to injury, he should be fine for next weekend.
Cathy Wigham's view: Jury is out on new directionIN the close-season, Stingrays team owner Bobby McEwan decided he wanted to "take the club in a new direction".
Out went coach Sylvain Cloutier and nine of last season's 11 imports.
The returning imports, Omar Pacha and Carl Lauzon – despite no experience – took over the coaching and signed a host of overseas players few had heard of.
It was a brave, bold move, but McEwan believed he had nothing to lose in his quest to take the team to the next level.
As to whether it's worked or not, the jury is out.
Maybe it was always going to be out at this stage of the season.
A rookie coaching partnership, young players in a new country, and a new playing system, plus injuries and a disrupted pre-season all mean it will take time for everything to gel.
There are certainly flashes of brilliance, and Stingrays have been in with a chance to win every game. Equally, though, there are times when there's that nagging doubt they're just as capable of switching off and throwing points away.
Most of the pieces of the jigsaw seem to be there and yet they don't appear to be consistently in the right holes.
For starters, it's mid-October and Stingrays have yet to win at home. Powerplays are woeful and penalty killing isn't a strong point either.
Post-match after a defeat, Pacha is a picture of frustration and is absolutely desperate to succeed.
Whether he can coax Stingrays into being a 60-minute team (with the emphasis on team) without making personnel changes, only time will tell.
If the same questions are being asked in another month's time the answer will surely be no.
By then Stingrays' Challenge Cup fate should be decided, particularly as three out of the next four games are cup ties.
They start tonight in Cardiff, where Stingrays snatched a point from an overtime loss last month.
Then it's another clash with Sheffield and a bid to turn the tables after the 6-3 defeat on Wednesday in South Yorkshire.
Stingrays were in both games and yet still only managed one point – a story of the season so far.
