Fife Flyers can confirm that Latvian import Aigars Brencis has left the club by mutual consent. Aigars joined initially on a trial basis but player/coach Todd Dutiaume was highly impressed with his work ethic and his commitment to the team and being part of the Fife Flyers organisation and that trial period was quickly extended.
Aigars, who was living in Scotland at the time of Flyers admittance to the Rapid Solicitors Elite Ice Hockey League and Todd Dutiaume had approached Brencis to take up the trial period. By approaching Brencis this meant that the team would be able to ice with 7 imports instead of an initial 6, as had been agreed with the team owners.
“Aigars joined initially on a try out basis, and his not playing at a competitive level initially hurt him when he joined up, but you will struggle to meet a nicer guy, and I don’t mean that just in hockey. He has shown an unbelievable work ethic, commitment and put in tremendous hard work during his time with us. I know it has meant a lot to him to be involved with this organisation.”
Dutiaume also confirmed that he had struggled to settle to life in Fife as Aigars has a young family in Ireland, where he and his wife have settled. “Aigars approached me a couple of weeks ago and we had a good discussion and he expressed that he was finding it hard being away from his family. I let him take some time to return to Ireland to visit his family and we also agreed together then that he would no longer continue with us.”
Despite coming to the agreement, Aigars continued to show his commitment to stay with the team until a replacement import forward was given the green light. “Aigars and I came to the agreement 2 weeks ago, and he agreed that we would continue to play up until the weekend that has just passed to help the team out.”
Another aspect which Aigars found difficult, was the criticism he was receiving from some fans via the Internet.“He came to me to a month or so ago to talk about the hard time he had been getting from some fans on the forum, but I assured Aigars that at that time he was certainly still in my plans. As I said, he is one of the nicest guys you will meet but unfortunately I didn’t work out for him.” Dutiaume confirmed.
“I avoid the forums, there is a lot of people who only seem to be happy making negative comments. I understand that fans have a right to voice their opinions, and I have always said to come and talk to me directly about it, I am happy to listen to our fans.
“People can post things up without thinking about what they are writing as things can be done in the heat of the moment and if one of the guys reads this then, yes it will get to him.”
